New Dad Patrick Serda Reigns Supreme at WPT Montreal!

When Patrick Serda took down the massive first prize of CAD$855,000 (US$652,801) at the WPT Montreal stop this week it wasn’t quite the biggest score of his life, but it was certainly one of the most impressive…and a very timely victory too given that just last month he became a dad!

Before we delve into how Serda pulled off his Canadian scoop at the $5million guaranteed biggie, we should really take a quick peek at little Henrik James Serda – the 2040 WSOP Main Event champ if proud dad Patrick has anything to do with it!

Montreal a month later, and Patrick found himself on a deep run in the $5300 buy-in Main Event, a swathe of fellow Canadians peppered with the occasional US, Irish and English flags flying in the search for the coveted title and a spot in the Tournament of Champions.

Among them, Ema Zajmovic, the first-ever female winner of a WPT Main Event, who was looking to land a remarkable double at the very same Playground Poker Club venue as her historic victory last February.

There were plenty of other big names in the mix, Sorel Mizzi and Mike Leah among them, the latter now a www.888poker.com/canada/ team veteran with almost $8million in career earnings to his name and flying the ‘GoLeafsGo’ banner all the way.

It was Mizzi, however, who found himself at the final table, and the action was brutal all the way – huge hands and even bigger bustouts disposing of Gong, De Silva and Ehamparam to leave the big trio of Serda, Zajmovic and Mizzi fighting for the trophy.

When Mizzi hit the rails it was by way of a nasty river card, Serda later admitting “I coolered Sorel three-handed, obviously” - but more than happy to have a heads-up shot at a WPT title, Zajmovic joining in on the good-natured game…

WPT titles don’t come easy, of course, and it would take all of Serda’s poker powers to deal with the aggressive young former-Bosnian who has made Canada her home.

After reversing a small chip deficit, Serda and Zajmovic played ‘one of the most memorable hands in recent WPT history’ according to the live updates.

Zajmovic: K♦ 9♠

Serda: 7♦ 5♦

With Zajmovic piling on the pressure, Serda just flatted her 4-bet…and it went check-check after the flop of

Flop: 10♠ 7♠ 6♠

Turn: A♣

Again Zajmovic took the lead, a 3million bet which Serda called, but when the river came...

River: 3♥

And Serda checked again, Zajmovic showing she had balls of steel and shoving 8.5million into the middle and forcing Serda to go into the tank.

Two time-bank chips later, Serda made the hero call of a lifetime – his sevens miraculously proving good when all Zajmovic could table was king high from her busted flush draw!

♠ ♣ ♥ ♦

“It’s great; it feels a lot better than previous wins,” a part-shocked, part-ecstatic Serda said afterwards, adding: “I’m not really sure why it feels like this but I worked for it more this time around”.

It was Serda’s biggest win, but not his biggest payday - that honour belonging to his 2016 Prague EPT High Rollerrunner-up spot to now beleaguered Englishman William Kassouf. For Zajmovic it was a second close-but-no-cigar WPT of the year, narrowly missing out in Amsterdam back in April.

For Canadian poker players it was almost a clean-sweep of the final table prizemoney, only US pro Upeshka De Silva allowed a share of the massive prizefund, and the season ending WPT Tournament of Champions seat also belongs to Serda – can he make it a remarkable double?

Or perhaps we should say treble – new-born son Henrik James Serda at least a match for a poker trophy!

WPT Montreal Final Table Results