LIVE EVENTS

Day 2 of the Montreal Open is now down to 188 players, and they are all in the money now.  The bubble hand was a grand affair, with 21 tables filled with players eager to see one of their opponents head for the rail.  Not to mention the lights, cameras and action!

When our attention was turned to table #32, the flop was out: 

Brian Flood had all of his 5,800,000 chips in front of him and an all-in card on top of his face-down hole cards.  At the other end of the table, Azim Popatia was leaning back, with a grin on his face, and his hole cards face-down in front of him as well.  As is standard in hand per hand play, the dealer had instructed the players to keep their cards face down until they received the “go” from the tournament director to proceed with the remainder of the hand.

When all the other tables had finished their action, play resumed on table #32.  Both players opened their hole cards.

Azim:

Brian:

Azim’s smile was explained by the fact that he had hit a straight on the flop.  Brian needed a divine intervention from Lady Luck to pull this one off.  The rest of the board was revealed: and held no miracle for Brian.

So Brian Flood become the bubble of the event.  Always a gentlemen, Brian exited the tournament hall smiling, as the remaining 188 players applauded their new “In the Money” status.

As is often the case after the bubble hand, eliminations start piling up and players hit the rail at an impressive rate. The action is going to get even more intense as the field shrinks and the players approach the end of the 12 scheduled levels of play today.

During tournament breaks the usual drill is to survey the tables and see who’s doing well, in order to update the leaderboard. With over 200 players still in and the average stack at 7.5 million, we decided that only stacks above 20,000,000 would go up on the board. Sure enough, five players managed to jump on the board.

Without a doubt, Adil Atif Morkos has the wind in his sails and can be seen on table #28 sheltering a staggering 32,125,000 stack. That’s more than four times the average and is quite sight to see. Also on the board are Scott Ahonen, Romeo Mikhael, Kliment Tarmarkov, and Sean Satar, all of whom don’t have as much as Morkos, but more than enough to have fun with.

Many other players have interesting stacks too. Not quite enough to make this leaderboard, but quite a few contenders have between 17,000,000 and 20,000,000 stacks. Obviously the 1.5 billion chips will end up somewhere, but it’s been quite interesting to see how the players get their hands on them.

With 260 players left, just about 17% of the total field, things are heating up on all fronts.  Here are a few photos of the players taken just before level 20.

After three levels of play, the players took a short break which allowed us to survey the field. The bar was set at a cool ten million chips in order to make the first leaderboard of the evening.

Adil Morkos is the clear chip leader with 16,470,000, his closest rival is Bernard Harvey who is presently sitting on 15,120,000 chips. In all, 21 players have more than ten million chips and the heat is on!

The field has just passed under the 300 mark and there is still a lot of poker to be played before the players are in the money. This should happen before the end of the action today, since there are 188 places paid.

Play has just resumed and it will be very interesting to see if the leaders manage to hold on to their loot.

The action is fast paced and intense on the felts. Tournament personnel can be seen breaking tables one after the other and there is no doubt that everyone has their eye on the top prize!

Here are a few photos of the players from level 17.

The action is spread all over the Playground complex; every table in sight is full. Day 2 of the Montreal Open started with a huge crowd of 473 qualifiers, but, after only one 40-minute level of play, the field has been narrowed to less than 400 runners. Play will continue for a total of 12 levels today before the survivors bag chips for Day 3 tomorrow at 12:00pm.

The top 188 finishers will reach the cash in this event. Although the money is still far away, it is likely to be reached before things wrap up today.

Here is a look at some of the Day 2 field:

Coming into Day 2, David Bolduc Hamel is the chip leader, with 13,865,000 chips. Five other players managed to bag more than ten million chips during the Day 1 flights: Mario Dardis (11,790,000), Singh Gagandeep (10,905,000), Kalpesh Raichura (10,835,000), Vadim Rozin (10,540,000), and Mitchell Dredge (10,225,000).

Today the 473 players have 1,536,000,000 in chips to play with. There will be a total of 12 40-minute levels of play before the bags come out for Day 3. The total prize pool is a whopping $1,494,555 and the top 15 players will receive a MILLIONS Main Event seat, worth $10,300, in addition to their prize money.

The room is buzzing with excitement, the cards and chips are flying and the players are settling down for a hard session of serious poker.

Here are the payouts: