LIVE EVENTS

After a few suck outs took place, the three remaining players asked the floor to stop the clock so that they could look at ICM numbers.  With a deal, the players must still leave 2% of the prize pool and play down to a winner. After looking at the numbers, the three have decided to do the ICM chop.

Here are the details of the ICM payouts:

• Claude-Andre Martel, 1,710,000 chips, $3,575
• Geremie Gauthier, 895,000 chips, $3,020
• J.B, 1,980,000 chips, $3,865

They will now play down to a winner for an additional $453.

Glen Duncan was the next to fall, collecting $1,880 for his efforts

Glen Duncan

The action continues and it is still happening at 150 kmh. Since the last post, the field has dropped to four players.

Here are the bustouts since the final table was formed:

• 10th place: Christian Valkonen, $360
• 9th place: Marco Grimard, $470
• 8th place: Bang Tran, $660
• 7th place: Dave Hamel, $910
• 6th place: Marc Lavergne, $1,160
• 5th place: Bernard Bouchard, $1,490

As so many players have been super short stacked, the bustouts have been happening faster than a speeding bullet, with pretty much an all in happening every hand and one or two players dropping at the same time.

Here are the players on the final table:

• Dave Hamel
• Claude-Andre Martel
• Marc Lavergne
• Bernard Bouchard
• Glen Duncun
• Geremie Gauthier
• Bang Tran
• Christian Valkonen
• J.B

Once the bubble burst, the bustouts started to happen in a fast and furious pace. Bob St-Cyr started to play almost every hand and before long, his 300,000+ stack was gone. Others have been hanging on and waiting for prime spots, however the average stack right now is only slightly more than 10 big blinds, so, that means that there are many very short stacks in play.

Here are the top stacks in play, with Claude-Andre Martel in charge with is 700,000 stack, followed by Glen Duncun:

Claude-Andre Martel

Glen Duncun

Once the field was down to 30 players, the tournament went hand for hand as the next elimination would bring everyone into the money. After about 20 minutes of hand for hand play, some of the players asked the others if they would make a “bubble deal” in order to get things moving. A few players right away said “no”, and play continued on.

A hand developed on table 35 when Bob St-Cyr, who has been sitting on one of the larger stacks in play, limped in early position, only to see Denis Scott push his chips forward as he announced “all-in”. Everyone else folded and when it was St-Cyr’s turn to act, he made the call, telling Scott “I’m sure you are ahead, this is probably a donation”.

Well, when the cards were tabled, it certainly appeared as if St-Cyr was correct, he was behind.

St-Cyr:
Scott:   

As fate would have it, the flop was in St-Cyr’s favour; , as St-Cyr flopped a Jack to take the lead. The turn was the , and the river, the didn’t change anything. The best hand pre-flop does not always win, that is the reality. The chips were sent over to St-Cyr, and Denis Scott left the room as the “bubble boy”, putting everyone else into the money.

Bob St-Cyr

With only 31 players left in play, the tournament is approaching the money bubble and the pressure is on.

There is a new leader, Geremie Gauthier, who was on the leader board at the last break, has now climbed to the top and sits on 366,000. Eddie Daldalian who led at the last break is right behind Geremie, with a healthy 323,000.

Here are the current leaders:

Geremie Gauthier

The tournament is now down to only 38 players and as expected, there is a lot of pressure on the short stacks and there have been many all ins during the last hour of play.

On table 31, Real Cantin decided that it was time to make a move as he pushed all of his chips forward. Dave Hamel Bolduc, an experienced and savvy tournament grinder with a solid track record during Playground events, looked at his cards and said “I’m pretty sure that I am ahead”, and then proceeded to shove his stack to isolate. The other players folded their hands and the two were heads up.

Cantin:
Hamel:

Hamel’s assumption was correct; he was ahead pre-flop, but all poker players know that being ahead pre-flop is one thing; staying ahead is something else.

The flop came and boom, Cantin hits his Q to move out in front. The turn was which didn’t change anything, nor did the on the river, and Hamel sent 36,000 chips over to Cantin.

Real Cantin

Dave Hamel

There is a new sheriff in town, and his name is Eddie Daldalian, currently the only player with a stack over 200,000. Daldalian is nursing a 221,000 stack, and the first break chip leader, Farbod Nematkhah, is now sitting in second place with 169,000.

There is still lots of play to go before the final table will be reached, and with the large field tonight, this tournament is bound to go to the early hours of the morning.

Eddie Daldalian

The field has thinned out and it is now down to only 88 players. With the 229 entries, the total prize pool is $22,213, with $4,983 up top in first place, and a min cash of $160 in 28th – 29th place.

Late registration has finally come to a close and the official number of entries is a whopping 229 players, creating a sweet prize pool totaling $22,213! The prize payouts will be posted shortly.

During the break we were able to find the bigger stacks in play. Where as seven players were able to build stacks above 50,000, two players have run away from the pack and are north of 100,000. Farbod Nematkhah is currently in the lead, sitting on 110,100 chips, and is followed closely by Roger Thibault, with 103,400.

Here are the top stacks currently in play:

It should be noted that with almost 5 million chips in play, the lead will possibly change as the night carries on and with the decent structure in play tonight, any of the smaller stacks can still propel to the top of the leader board. Stay tuned for more updates.

Farbod Nematkhah

Roger Thibault