Piccioli, who won his first WSOP bracelet in Australia last month, ran over the competition on Day 3 and amassed a tournament-leading stack of 3.4 million chips.
Amir Babakhani is second with 3.3 million but right behind him is Harder who picked up 1.9 million chips.
Harder is celebrated online as Charder30 but has yet to break through with a major title. Charder came very close to nailing his first WPT title at the 2011 WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods but eventually finished second for $248k.
Some of the other notables still chasing the latest Montreal title are Ravi Raghaven (1,394,000), Josh “JJProdigy” Field (656,000) and Ronnie Bardah (405,000).
All 18 players left still have a shot at the $438,607 first-place prize.
Klann, Ma Among Busted on Day 3
A total of 26 players busted on Day including noted pros Paul Klann and Will Ma.
Klann was the Day 2 chip leader so his elimination was particularly surprising.
Klann nearly stumbled into Day 4 but instead finished in 21st place when he lost a coin flip for his last 600,000.
Meanwhile Ma busted in 33rd place when his ace-king failed him against Christian Harder’s pocket queens.
Ma actually turned an ace but then Harder rivered a set in heart-crushing fashion.
Action resumes tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET as the final 18 will play down to a final table of six players.
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Here’s a look at the chip counts heading into the penultimate day of the 2013 WPT Spring Championship:
1. Bryan Piccioli – 3,441,000 2. Amir Babakhani – 3,321,000 3. Christian Harder – 1,922,000 4. Brant David Kostandoff – 1,795,000 5. Ravi Raghavan – 1,394,000 6. Carter Swidler – 1,310,000 7. Danny Suied – 1,200,000 8. Allen Butkovic – 1,015,000 9. Jason Duval – 1,015,000 10. Tao Liang – 956,000 11. Martin Leblanc – 822,000 12. Jonathan Bardier – 789,000 13. Brian Beggs – 745,000 14. Josh Field – 656,000 15. Barry Kruger – 628,000 16. Ronnie Bardah – 405,000 17. Jaspal Brar – 345,000 18. Stephane Alaire – 259,000Visit www.pokerlistings.com