David Dongwoo Ko Leads from Start to Finish in the WPT Montreal Championship
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It has been quite the 12 months for David Dongwoo Ko. The British Columbia native became a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit ring winner in July 2023 before adding a second piece of WSOPC hardware in Calgary in January 2024. And now, he's bagged another accolade, taking down the WPT Montreal Championship. Ko has already racked up almost $500,000 in live tournament earnings during his short live poker career; this will not be the last time you hear about him.
The CAD $3,500 buy-in WPT Montreal Championship drew in 882 entrants who created a CAD $2,822,400 prize pool that the top 111 finishers shared. Darryll Fish, Mike Leah, Xuan Liu, Jonty Willis, Sam Chartier, and three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat were among the in-the-money finishers.
The televised final table was played six-handed, and all eyes were on Dan Stavila, who had finished fourth in the WPT Prime Montreal event the day before. Ko led the way after bagging up the chip lead on Day 1A, Day 2, and Day 3, but victory was far from guaranteed.
2024 WPT Montreal Championship Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize (CAD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Dongwoo Ko | $434,900 | $319,217 |
| 2 | Dan Stavila | $280,000 | $205,520 |
| 3 | Tommy Nguyen | $205,000 | $150,470 |
| 4 | Rayan Chamas | $155,000 | $113,770 |
| 5 | Tamer Alkamli | $117,000 | $85,878 |
| 6 | Charles Kassin | $89,000 | $65,326 |
It took almost two hours and 27 hands before the final table lost its first player, and then three players busted consecutively.
First, Tommy Nguyen min-raised to 250,000 from under the gun with pocket kings, Charles Kassin three-bet to 755,000 from the cutoff with pocket queens, only for Nguyen to make it 7,750,000 to go. Kassin called all-in, and the community cards missed him, sending him to the rail in sixth place.
The very next hand, Ko raised to 300,000 with ace-king from the cutoff, Tamer Alkamli three-bet to 1,050,000 in the small blind with a pair of black queens in the hole, and then snap-called for his 5,275,000 stack when Ko set him all in. A king on the turn sent Alkamli to the cashier's desk and Ko to the top of the chip counts.
Ko extended his lead one hand later after helping himself to Rayan Chamas' stack. Again, Ko raised to 300,000 from the cutoff, this time with ace-nine. Chamas moved all-in from the big blind with king-nine for 1,950,000, and Ko looked him up. Neither player improved, and Ko's ace-high scooped the pot.
Weathering a Literal Storm
After the 74th hand was dealt, the tournament was paused indefinitely after a storm caused a power outage throughout the Playground. The power remained out for more than two hours but resumed shortly after 8:00 p.m. PDT.
Three-handed play lasted almost 100 hands before something finally gave. A short-stacked Nguyen open-shoved from the small blind with what turned out to be queen-three of clubs. Ko called from the big blind with ace-ten, and proceeded to flop trip tens; Nguyen was drawing dead on the turn.
Ko went into the heads-up battle with Stavila holding a 67 to 43 big blind advantage. Twenty-one hands later, Ko had his hands on the trophy. After limping in for 500,000, Ko called the 1,800,000 raise from Stavila, and it was off to a ten-eight-deuce flop with two clubs. Both players checked, leading to the nine of clubs on the turn. Stavila checked, Ko tested the waters with a 2,450,000 bet, and Stavila called.
The three of hearts completed the board, and Stavila checked again. Ko bet 2,450,000, Stavila paused before moving all-in for 16,025,000. Ko snap-called and showed king-trey of clubs, a cooler because Stavila held queen-six of clubs for a lower flush. Stavila busted in second place for CAD $280,000, while Ko captured the CAD $434,900 top prize, which included a seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
Zhang Denies Owen the WPT Prime Montreal Title
Jikai Zhang helped himself to a career-best score of CAD $165,070 by taking down the WPT Prime Montreal event. Zhang outlasted a star-studded field of 1,291 players to get his hands on the lion's share of the CAD $1,291,000 prize pool.
The six-handed final table exploded into life on the 25th hand when Zhang's pocket kings held in a three-way all-in involving the ace-king of Marc Lavergne and the pocket fours of Steven Martin. The kings held to send Martin home in sixth and Lavergne to the showers in fifth.
Dan Stavila's ace-queen failed to stay ahead of Zhang's king-ten of spades, and fell in fourth almost 100 hands later before Brad Owen's king-trey of hearts couldn't get there against Adam Cader's king-nine two hands later.
Zhang led by almost three to one going into heads-up, and he fully pressed home that chip advantage on the 177th hand of the final table. Zhang raised to 2,000,000 at the 400,000/800,000/800,000a level and instantly called when Cader moved all-in. Cader revealed ace-ten but was in a world of pain against Zhang's pocket aces! No help arrived for Cader, and he bowed out in second place, leaving an overjoyed Zhang to lift the trophy and help himself to a career-best payout.
2024 WPT Prime Montreal Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize (CAD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jikai Zhang | $165,070 | $120,744 |
| 2 | Adam Cader | $131,300 | $96,042 |
| 3 | Brad Owen | $88,000 | $64,369 |
| 4 | Dan Stavila | $66,000 | $48,277 |
| 5 | Marc Lavergne | $50,000 | $36,574 |
| 6 | Steven Martin | $38,000 | $27,796 |
The next WPT Prime stop sees the popular tour head to Sanremo, Italy. WPT Prime Sanremo runs from May 31 through June 10 at the Casino Sanremo. You can win a $1,500 WPT Prime Passport online at WPT Global each week and do so for a few bucks. Sign up for a WPT Global account via PokerNews' links to secure a generous welcome package.
