September 11 2012, Rich Ryan

On Tuesday, the World Poker Tour Season XI Grand Prix de Paris continued with Day 1b at the Aviation Club de France. There were 132 registrants, creating a total player pool of 228, but only 92 survived the day. No player finished with 100,000 chips or more, but French singer Grégoire Boissenot ended with 95,000 chips. Biting at his heels are Peter Jetten and Matt Salsberg, both of whom bagged exactly 83,575 chips.

The overall chip leader in the tournament is Jacques Enjoubault, who finished Day 1a with 225,200 chips.

Other notables who survived the day include 2009 November Niner Antoine Saout (77,795), PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final Champion Mohsin Charania (72,250), two-time $50,000 Poker Players Championship Winner Michael Mizrachi (69,750), 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Fabrice Soulier (62,500), and Tony G (62,450), who finished runner-up in this event in 2004.

Tony G sat down and immediately won a nice-sized pot off of 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event runner-up Kyle Julius. Tony G opened to 1,100 from early position, and two players called, including Julius on the button. The flop was , and the action checked to Tony G who tossed out 2,000. Only Julius called. Tony G fired 3,000 when the turned, Julius called, and Tony G fired a third bullet worth 4,000 when the completed the board. Julius folded tens face up, and Tony G flashed a black eight, announcing that he flopped a set.

Salsberg got off to a rough start, losing more than two thirds of his stack in the first few hours, but doubled through Vanessa Selbst. Salsberg turned a set of queens and called an all-in bet from Selbst who held straight a flush draws. The river bricked, shooting Salsberg’s stack above 40,000 chips.

Dan O’Brien, Guillaume Darcourt, Guillaume Rivet, Roberto Romanello, and Selbst all busted on their second bullet, and JC Alvarado, Ludovic Lacay, and Darren Elias all busted in their only try.

Day 2 is scheduled for 1500 CEST (0600 PDT) on Wednesday, and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there providing up-to-the-minute updates from the Aviation Club de France.

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September 10 2011, Donnie Peters

The final table of the 2011 World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris was set after the completion of Day 4 on Friday at the Aviation Club de France. Leading the final six players is Byron Kaverman with 2.079 million in chips. He’ll be joined by Huge Lemaire, Mikko Sundell, Frederic Magen, Matt Waxman and Martin Jacobson.

Coming into the day, Waxman led the charge of the final 18 players. The first player to be eliminated on Day 4 was Ahmed Debabeche. According to the WPT Live Update Team, Debabeche moved all-in for his last 51,000 over the top of a raise to 21,000 from Magen with the blinds at 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante. Jean Noel Thorel reraised all-in from the button and that isolated Debabeche, who held pocket eights. Torel held . Debabeche’s eights ended up going down in the battle and he was sent to the rail first on the day.

Next to go was Guillaume Darcourt. First, Darcourt ran his pocket kings into Andras Kovacs’ pocket aces for half of his stack and then he was eliminated by Lameire shortly thereafter. On his final hand, Darcourt got the money in with a flush draw holding on a board of . He was up against a pair plus a better flush draw for Lemaire who was holding . The turn brought the and the river the to finish things off.

Joe Cassidy finished in 13th place and took home “44,445. With the blinds at 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante, he moved all-in for 126,000 over the top of Sundell’s opening raise of 22,000. Action got back to Sundell and he made the call with the . Cassidy, holding , was dominated. The flop, turn and river ran out to leave Cassidy second best.

The last woman standing was Nesrine Kourdourli and she hit the rail in 10th place. Following her out the door was Alain Goldberg in ninth, Dmitry Stelmak in eighth and then Dori Yacoub in seventh to officially set the WPT final table.

With the blinds at 10,000/20,000 with a 3,000 ante, Lemaire raised to 40,000 on the button and Yacoub called out of the big blind to see the flop. Yacoub instantly moved all-in for 203,000, holding , and Lemaire made the call with . The hit the turn and the fell on the river leaving Yacoub with just jack high. That was unable to best the Lemaire’s pair of fives and Yacoub was out the door in seventh place for “77,700.

Final Table Seat Draw

The final table will commence on Saturday at 1600 CEST (1500 BST). There will be a live stream of the event on a 30-minute delay beginning at 1030 EDT (1530 BST) on the WPT website if you’d like to watch. Someone will be walking away with “518,750 in first-place prize money, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the recap to find out who earned it.

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*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters