Patrick Serda Wins Maiden WPT Montreal Title For C$855,000

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  • Attreyee Khasnabis November 5, 2018
  • 6 Minutes Read

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal, which was hosted at the Playground Poker Club, came to a close with the C$5,300 buy-in WPT Montreal event. The event ran from October 28 till November 4 and pulled in 792 entries through three starting flights. Canadian pro Patrick Serda (cover image) topped the huge player pool to take home his first-ever WPT title, along with an impressive top prize worth C$855,000 which includes a $15,000 entry into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

The Winnipeg, Manitoba native had won his very first live title in C$1,000 No Limit Hold’em – Main Event at the 2013 Manitoba Lotteries Poker Open, Winnipeg for C$40,575. However, Serda’s best live cash came in the €10,300 No Limit Hold’em – EPT High Roller at the EPT – 13 – EUREKA – 6 – Prague where he finished runner-up for €719,000.

Serda had entered the final table as the chip leader and faced off against the likes of Sorel Mizzi, Kauvsegan Ehamparam, Upeshka De Silva and Jiachen ‘Jack’ Gong enroute his victory. Serda squared off against WPT Champions Club member Ema Zajmovic in the heads-up play and defeated her to claim a seat at the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Reacting to his win, Serda said, “It’s great; it feels a lot better than previous wins. I’m not really sure why it feels like this, but I worked for it more this time around. I coolered Sorel three-handed, obviously, but a lot of my other spots weren’t standard, and I feel like, especially, on Day 3 and 4, I overcame some adversity and tough spots.”

When discussing his future tournament plans, Serda said he is interested in chasing the Hublot WPT Player of the Year title. With the win, Serda picked up 1,200 points toward that effort.

Featuring a C$5 Million guarantee, the event offered payouts to the top 103 spots which included Jonathan Little (8th for $80,623), Michael O’Sullivan (10th for $63,810), Amir Babakhani (12th for $51,201), Kliment Tarmakov (14th for $41,267), Brent Roberts (15th for $33,625), Mike Leah (18th for $27,893), Jared Griener (23rd for $23,308), Mark Bradley (26th for $19,869) and Bradley Smith (33rd for $17,194).

Pierre-Paul Paulin (7th for $103,549) bubbled the six-handed final table.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Patrick Serda – 8,260,000

2. Ema Zajmovic – 7,450,000

3. Upeshka De Silva – 6,800,000

4. Sorel Mizzi – 3,870,000

5. Jiachen Gong – 2,935,000

6. Kauvsegan Ehamparam – 2,350,000

WPT Montreal Final Table

Final Table

Final Table Recap

Short-stacked Jiachen Gong was the first casualty of the final table. When Ema Zajmovic raised to 200,000 from the hijack, Gong called from the cutoff and Kauvsegan Ehamparam moved all-in from the button with . Zajmovic re-shoved for approximately 7,700,000 with and Gong called all-in holding . The board ran out . Ehamparam and Zajmovic rivered clubs flushes but Ehamparam secured the pot with his ace kicker, while Gong was eliminated in sixth place.

On the 86th hand, Ehamparam raised to 300,000 from the cutoff and Upeshka De Silva jammed for 3,750,000 from the button. Sorel Mizzi asked for a count in the small blind and then re-shoved for 4,700,000, forcing Ehamparam to fold.

Upeshka De Silva

Sorel Mizzi

The runout missed both players and Mizzi’s higher pair of jacks knocked De Silva out of the competition in fifth place.

Six hands later, Zajmovic raised to 425,000 from the small blind with and Kauvsegan Ehamparam shoved for 2,000,000 from the big blind holding . Zajmovic snap-called to see the board open . Zajmovic hit a set of nines on the river to seal the deal, bringing about Ehamparam’s fourth place elimination.

A little over an hour later, Sorel Mizzi moved all-in for 3,200,000 from the button and Patrick Serda re-shoved for 12,600,000 from the small blind. Mizzi tabled and Serda turned over . The community cards fanned out and Serda’s stronger pair won him the pot, leading to Mizzi’s third place exit.

The heads-up play between Patrick Serda (16,150,000) and Ema Zajmovic (15,675,000) commenced with Serda enjoying a marginal lead over the latter. Zajmovic, who was the first woman to win an open WPT event at WPT Playground Main Event for C$241,500 in 2017, was gunning to take home her second WPT title, but after 11 hands she eventually conceded the title to Serda.

Patrick Serda & Ema Zajmovic

Patrick Serda & Ema Zajmovic

On the 125th hand, Zajmovic raised to 500,000 on the button and Serda 3-bet to 1,600,000 from the big blind. Zajmovic tanked for a while before she 4-bet to about 3,800,000. This led to Serda deliberating over his options and ultimately decided to call, increasing the pot to nearly 8 Million. The flop fell and both players checked through to see the turn . Serda checked and Zajmovic bet for 3,000,000. Serda promptly called and on the river completed the board. Serada checked yet again and Zajmovic used a time extension chip and thereafter announced all-in for 8,500,000. In return, Serda used one of his time extension chips as he went deep into the think-tank and then eventually used another time extension chip. As his next 30 seconds were about to expire, Serda dropped in a few chips to signify a call. Zajmovic showed against Serda’s . Serda’s flopped pair of sevens was enough to get him his career-first WPT title for a handsome payday of C$855,000.

Patrick Serda

Patrick Serda

Final Table Results (CAD)

1. Patrick Serda – C$855,000*

2. Ema Zajmovic – C$556,000

3. Sorel Mizzi – C$410,000

4. Kauvsegan Ehamparam – C$305,450

5. Upeshka De Silva – C$230,250

6. Jiachen ‘Jack’ Gong – C$175,500

*includes $15,000 entry into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions

You can watch the live stream of the final table here.

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