LIVE EVENTS

There are now six millionaires in the field, as the Day 1E enters level 17.

This flight is only eight eliminations away from the end of play, so the tension is mounting. The pressure of the blinds is beginning to be felt, as an average stack gets players only 29 big blinds.

Although there are six players above the seven-figure mark, Philippe Laudy leads them all with a stack of over 70 big blinds.

Known by many as “Mama Poker,” Walleta Anstey is having a solid run on Day 1E. But, more importantly, we just learned that Mama Poker has reason to celebrate other than the big stack of chips in front of her, so she decided to make her first visit to Playground.

Good luck and best wishes!

The blinds are slowly but surely catching up to the field. An average stack provides nearly 37 big blinds at this point, which means that many players are well below that mark and beginning to feel the pressure.

Now that this flight is only 25 eliminations away from the end of play, each decision is taking on greater and greater importance. The players are taking their time to consider all possibilities before putting chips in the middle.

Here is a look at the action from level 15:

There is a new chip leader on Day 1E. Gil Levy fell of the incredible pace he set out with and has been overtaken by several players. The new chip leader, David Richard, is the only player in the field with a seven-figure stack, but he is closely followed by Maxime Hartout. Both of these players are way out ahead of the blinds, with stacks above the 120-big blind mark.

The top 42 players will advance from this flight, meaning that nearly half of the remaining players will qualify for Day 2. For the time being, an average stack gets players 40 big blinds.

The late registration and re-entry period for Day 1E has just ended, but there was time for this flight to collect 292 entries before the timer sounded to indicate the start of level 11.

The 120 remaining are now vying for the top 42 spots in order to qualify for Day 2 and secure a payout of at least $400 from the Grand Prix Canada. There is still lots of poker to be played before that moment arrives, as an average stack is worth nearly 49 big blinds at this stage, leaving lots of room to maneuver for most of the players still in contention.

Here is a look at the action from level 10:

As play resumed in level 9, Gil Levy was still head and shoulders above the field, with a stack approaching the seven-figure mark. But many other players have found success on Day 1E, as there is no shortage of stacks far above the current chip average of 201K.

An average stack gets players nearly 60 big blinds at this point, which is plenty to work with but a far cry from the hundreds of blinds that the chip leaders have at their disposal,

Day 1E is showing no signs of slowing down, as this flight adds new players and re-entries at a brisk pace.

Most of the players who hit the rail so far have opted to re-enter. The 66 re-entries collected so far have helped push the total number of chips in play beyond the 26-million mark, which means that this flight has a good chance of producing a new overall chip leader.

The late registration and re-entry period will be open until 5:30pm, leaving nearly two hours to get in on the action.

Check out the action from level 6: