Photo: Danesh Luthra

It became clear at the dinner break of today’s flight that the $1,000,000 put on the Canadian Poker Championship would be hit with no problem. As the next three hours of registration continued, the overall number for this flight shot up to 487, bringing the overall prize pool number to $1,055,000. Only 54 ended up putting chips in a bag by night’s end, meaning that those who busted will have to look at the following MSPT tournaments to claim a main event title of their own.

Leading the way is Danesh Luthra, who ended the day with 1,704,000. Hailing from Mississauga, the poker tournament regular had a ten year gap in his Hendon Mob resume before starting to grab a number of cashes in the 2024-2025 season. With $160,853 in lifetime earnings, Luthra secured himself his first MSPT cash tonight as well as a lofty stack to set him up for a deep run. Time will tell to see if he can leave a lasting impression upon the MSPT tour.

Sitting just behind him is Scott Babbitt, who ended with 1,057,000. Showing a no fear cavalier attitude towards his play that earned many murmurs from his tablemates throughout the day, Babbitt’s initial ascend involved his pocket kings holding for a near 180 big blind pot in the earlier goings of the day. He became the first player to cross the seven figure mark of the day and has at least doubled his overall lifetime earnings with his first ever MSPT cash. With his sizable stack here today, he looks to continue his ascent through the

Others that bagged today included Jean-Francois Khalil (937,000), Lily Lotfy (459,000), Stuart Taylor (362,000), and Pablo Mariz (293,000). Each one will be looking to become the inaugural Canadian Poker Champion here at Playground Casino in Montreal.

The sun did not shine on everyone today, as many of the game’s familiar faces dropped by the wayside. Defending MSPT POY Umut Ozturk’s top pair ran into a set to lose his whole stack towards the end of the night, leaving him short of ending up with another Main Cash to add to his already incredible year. He will look to the remaining events on the schedule to grab some more points in the hotly contested race.

MSPT all-time casher DJ Buckley was unable to add another cash to his decorated resume and joined the rail with players like Anne Bui, Bradley Smith, and Christopher Keem. They will have to look to the other events coming up to take down the title of MSPT champion.

Play ended today at Level 18, so play on Day 2 will return to exactly where it was on Wednesday. Day 1A ended with 39:35 in Level 15 with blinds at 3,000/6,000, with a 6,000 big blind ante. Levels will last 40 minutes and continue until a winner is crowned.

That will conclude today’s coverage of Day 1D in the Canadian Poker Championship.

Be sure to check back into MSPTPoker.com tomorrow for Day 2 coverage of the championship!