WPT PARIS: WAX ON, WAX OFF - MATTHEW WAXMAN WINS OVER PARIS

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

Matthew Waxman is good ... Matthew Waxman has been good in 2011 ... I mean, really, really good.

After winning the Isle Classic and the WSOP Circuit Atlantic City Main Event in the past nine months (add to that a few more quality scores), Waxman has finally captured a big one, the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris NLH Main Event.

Waxman`s win propels him onto the 2011 PTPR Tournament Player of the Year Leaderboard. Waxman moves into sixth place on our charts, one single point ahead of defending WSOP Poker Player`s Championship winner Brian Rast. Waxman earns his sixth PTPR Score of the year, one less than Jason Mercier and Maxim Lykov.

The French were certainly hoping that native son Hugo Lemaire would pull through but, Waxman was not going to lose this one heads up.

Although Byron Kaverman was unable to turn the final table chip lead into a win for the second time this year, he does pickup his fifth PTPR Score and joins Tim West tied for 16th on the PTPR Leaderboard, three points behind Scott Seiver.

Swedish pro Martin Jacobson moves into the Top 40 Leaderboard with his fourth score of the year.

WPT GRAND PRIX DE PARIS FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS:
Matthew Waxman $729,886
Hugo Lemaire $442,645
Frederic Magen $299,834
Byron Kaverman $218,860
Mikko Sundell $187,597
Martin Jacobson $125,083

RELATED:
GRAND PRIX REACHES THE FINAL SIX
WAXMAN TAKES CHARGE OF GRAND PRIX
MATT WAXMAN WINS ISLE CLASSIC
WAXMAN RULES AC - WINS WSOPC MAIN EVENT

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Rendez-Vous A Paris
WPT Grand Prix de Paris NLH Main Event
September 5-10, 2011

Aviation Club de France | Paris
Buy-in: $10,490 | Prizepool : $3,077,380 | Entries: 312

PTS AT STAKE:
MATTHEW WAXMAN 128
HUGO LEMAIRE 78
FREDERIC MAGEN 48
BYRON KAVERMAN 38
MIKKO SUNDELL 33
MARTIN JACOBSON 28
DORI YACOUB 28
ALAIN GOLDBERG 13
NESRINE KOURDOURLI 13
ALEXANDRE BRIVOT 13
ANDRAS KOVACS 13
JOE CASSIDY 11
JEAN NOEL THOREL 11
STEPHANE BENABIDA 11
FRANCK PEPE 11
GUILLAUME DARCOURT 8
AHMED DEBABECHE 8
DMITRY STELMAK 8

WPT PARIS: GRAND PRIX REACHES THE FINAL SIX

PHOTO/SOURCE: WPT.com

It's time for final table play at the WPT's Grand Prix de Paris live from the Aviation Club de France.

We've had a great tournament so far and have the makes of what should be a fine final table. Chips stacks are very similar, we should have some strategic play right out of the gate on Saturday.

Byron Kaverman, fresh off PTPR Scores at the Florida State Poker Championship and the Bellagio Cup 5K Side Event, picked up the chip lead late into Day 4 Friday. Kaverman, who won Event 17 - NLH 8-max at the PCA in January, also held the chip lead heading into final table at the FSPC last month but was unable to close the deal.

Hugo Lemaire's Thursday surge crept into Friday's play. The Frenchman will start the day with the second highest chip stack.

Mikko Sundell, the man who has been at or near the chip lead right from the get-go, is still alive and doing fine - he was the chip leader for a while on Friday. No matter what, this will be the biggest score of fourth place Frederic Magen's career.

Rounding out the traditional WPT 6-man final table are Matthew Waxman and Martin Jacobson. Both players have had a great 2011 - they both will hope that their experience will guide them to their first WPT title.

FINAL TABLE SEATING ASSIGNMENTS / CHIP COUNTS:
Seat 1: Martin Jacobson: 482,000 chips
Seat 2: Mikko Sundell: 1,791,000
Seat 3: Matthew Waxman: 1,423,000
Seat 4: Frederic Magen: 1,554,000
Seat 5: Hugo Lemaire: 1,962,000
Seat 6: Byron Kaverman: 2,079,000

2011 PTPR RESULTS (YEAR TO DATE, PRIOR TO WPT GRAND PRIX):
24th - Byron Kaverman: 175 PTPR Points
T-39th - Matthew Waxman: 156 PTPR Points
T-98th - Martin Jacobson: 130 PTPR Points
T-1154th - Hugo Lemaire: 18 PTPR Points
T-2024 - Mikko Sundell: 5 PTPR Points
N/A - Frederic Magen: First PTPR Score of the season

REMAINING WPT GRAND PRIX DE PARIS PAYOUTS:
1st $729,886
2nd $442,645
3rd $299,834
4th $218,860
5th $187,597
6th $125,083

The World Poker Tour will carry a live stream of the final table starting at 10:30AM Eastern Time:
WPT LIVE STREAM

RELATED:
WAXMAN TAKES CHARGE OF GRAND PRIX
LELLOUCHE WINS OMAHA CUP
LET'S RENDEZ-VOUS A PARIS, SHALL WE?
KAVERMAN, PANTLING, ULMER WIN AT PCA

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Rendez-Vous A Paris
WPT Grand Prix de Paris NLH Main Event
September 5-10, 2011

Aviation Club de France | Paris
Buy-in: $10,490 | Prizepool : $3,077,380 | Entries: 312

PTS AT STAKE:
WPT Grand Prix de Paris Champion 128
Runner-Up 78
3rd position 48
4th position 38
5th position 33
6th position 28
DORI YACOUB 28
ALAIN GOLDBERG 13
NESRINE KOURDOURLI 13
ALEXANDRE BRIVOT 13
ANDRAS KOVACS 13
JOE CASSIDY 11
JEAN NOEL THOREL 11
STEPHANE BENABIDA 11
FRANCE PEPE 11
GUILLAUME DARCOURT 8
AHMED DEBABECHE 8
DMITRY STELMAK 8

WPT PARIS: PEPE MAINTAINS LEAD, LEMAIRE TRENDING ON DAY 3

SOURCE: WPT.com

Day 3 play has started at the Aviation Club de France. WPT Grand Prix de Paris is still under Franck Pepe's control. Pepe, the overnight chip leader, has continued to stack chips and currently sits with 660k in chip as of the time of this post.

But the player that has caught fire during the past level is popular Frenchman Hugo Lemaire - seems like all that Lemaire has touched has turned to gold and he is on a serious heater. He has sky-rocketed to second overall with his 540k chip stack.

Still, 45 players remain and there is still a lot to be determined as final table play is set to begin on Saturday.

NOTABLE ABOVE-AVERAGE UNOFFICIAL CHIP COUNTS:
Franck Pepe 660,000
Hugo Lemaire 540,000
Mikko Sundell 520,000
Matthew Waxman 345,000
Martin Jacobson 340,000
Farzad Bonyadi 310,000
McLean Karr 280,000
Guillaume Darcourt 208,000

RELATED:
LET'S RENDEZ-VOUS A PARIS, SHALL WE?
WE'RE IN THE MONEY IN MADRID

PTPR PREMIER EVENT
World Poker Tour Rendez-Vous A Paris
WPT Grand Prix de Paris NLH Main Event
September 5-10, 2011

Aviation Club de France | Paris
Buy-in: $10,490 | Prizepool : $3,077,380 | Entries: 312

PTS AT STAKE:
WPT Grand Prix de Paris Champion 128
Runner-Up 78
3rd position 48
4th position 38
5th position 33
6-7th position 28
8-11th position 13
12-15th position 11
16-18th position 8

EPT GRAND FINAL: WE'RE IN THE MONEY IN MADRID

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Ole-Kristian Nergard (pictured) leads the way for the second straight day at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid. Nergard was the Day 1B chip leader following Sunday's play; he kept things going today and will come into Tuesday's action as the chip leader!

The group chasing Nergard includes Kristoffer Thorsson, who sits second in chips, about 15k in chips behind the leader.

French pro Hugo Lemaire is fourth in chips while US pros Melanie Weisner and the electrifying William Reynolds are right behind Lemaire.

EPT Berlin champ Ben Wilinofsky refuses to go away - he is 8th in chips and is looking to make it two EPT titles in two months.

There are a bunch of other big names also in the race as Day 3 action approaches - Weinman, Ramdin, Gomes, Karr, Sunar, Reinkemeier, Palovic to name a few.

We're down to 104 runners, here are some of the notable chip stacks:

Ole Kristian Nergard 726,000
Kristoffer Thorsson 701,500
Daniel Weinman 676,000
Hugo Lemaire 658,000
Melanie Weisner 543,500
William Reynolds 541,500
Ben Wilinofsky 533,000
Victor Ramdin 494,500
Alex Gomes 476,500
Juan Maceiras 430,000
McLean Karr 422,000
Surinder Sunar 381,000
Tobias Reinkemeier 334,000
Dag Palovic 289,500
Tim Finne 218,500
Lucien Cohen 198,500
Ivan Demidov 198,500
Xuan Liu 168,500
David Sonelin 155,000
Ted Forrest 130,000
Allen Bari 127,000
Pierre Neuville 110,900
Leo Fernandez 106,000
James Bord 96,000
Will Molson 90,500
Eugene Katchalov 66,500
Daniel Heimiller 60,000
Mikhall Shakhnovich 56,500
Raymond Wu 39,000
Fatima Moreira de Melo 26,000

We lost many big names on Monday as well - the list includes: Pastor, Thorson, van Zadelhoff, Busquet, Brooks, Lundmark, Tureniec, Strassmann, Chouity, Boeken, Cajelais, Medic, Kravchenko, Lewis, Margets, Boeree, de Wolfe, Brenes, Vamplew, Langhamm, Phillips, Black, de Korver, Jason Mercier, Luske, Vandersmissen, Naujoks, Visser and Mattern.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Grand Final
May 7-12, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $15,295
Prizepool: $9,833,810
Entries: 686

Defending Champion: Nicolas Chouity

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 156
2nd position 96
3rd position 81
4th position 71
5th position 66
6th position 61
7th position 56
8th position 51
9th position 41
10th position 31
11th position 26
12-14th position 24
15-17th position 21
18-20th position 18
21-23rd position 14
24-27th position 11