LIVE EVENTS

Play is moving along and you can hear all kinds of noise in the room as there have been all ins happening left and right by the short stacks, and all kinds of suckouts have taken place. Although a few players have understandably not been delighted as they hit the rail, the spirit has been high to say the least.

The players just had their third break of the night and it gave us a chance to check out where the big stacks are located. The new chip leader is Richard Paradis, sitting on a cool 244,000 chips.

Here are the top stacks currently in play:

The action has continued on table 72 and it just keeps getting crazier and crazier. First Aaron Parsons got it in with and was called by Patrick Azevedo holding . A classic hand with cowboys against the big slick. When players have pocket kings, and some else has an ace, they always are fearful of an ace hitting the board. Well, that wasn’t the case this time.

The flop came down   and Azevedo picked up a flush draw. The turn was safe for Parsons bringing the . The river however wasn’t what he wanted to see: the dealer put out the , making a heart flush for Azevedo.

A few hands later, Jesse Grill opened in early position for 2,500, and found a call by Parsons. It folded to Khalil, who moved all in for his last 9,500, after having had his aces cracked a little bit earlier by Boulanger-Vaugeois. Kit S. thought about for 20-30 seconds and decided to flat call. Grill folded. Parsons then announced he was all in for another 34,000. Kit S. had agony written all over her face, and she went deep into the tank, counting and re-counting her stack. Finally she grabbed a stack of red 5k chips and put them in the center to signal a call. The hands were then tabled.

Parsons:
Khalil:
Kit S.:

The dealer put the flop: the and Khalil was on cloud nine having hit his eight. He also had the nut flush draw. The turn brought the , and the river brought the , making a flush for Khalil, who walked around in cirles, doing a happy dance. An action table for sure.

Table 72 has been the most active table over the last level and chips keep moving back and forth. Action folded to Boulanger-Vaugeois who opened for 2,800. It folded to Ahmed Khalil who raised it up to 7,000. Boulanger-Vaugeois decided that he would have none of that and moved all in for 50,000. Khalil snap called and the hands were opened.

Boulanger-Vaugeois:
Khalil:

Boulanger-Vaugeois walked into pocket rockets and was covered by Khalil. It wasn’t looking good for him. The dealer fanned out on the flop and Khalil stayed in the lead. The turn brought the which changed nothing. Then came the river: the . Boulanger-Vaugeois laughed as he just sucked out, making a set of 4’s. Khalil walked in circles in disbelief. Lucky, lucky for Boulanger-Vaugeois. Not so lucky for Khalil.

Eric Schanck had a healthy stack earlier on but after a few coolers, he was looking for a badly needed double-up. The dealer delivered!

Philippe Binette picked up a premium hand and lead out with his . Schanck looked down at and decided “it was the hand to shove”, not knowing that he was up against a monster. None the less, it seemed like a classic flip.

Eric was behind and needed to hit either an ace, a straight, or perhaps a flush. The dealer spread out on the flop and all of the sudden Schanck had some hope. The turn was magical for him as it brought the , making Schanck his flush. And just for fun, the dealer put the on the river, and Schanck is still alive and kicking after having received his double-up. Luckily for Binette, the shove was only for 13,500 so he wasn’t badly damaged.

Philippe Binette on the left in this photo, Eric Schanck on the right

On table 72, everyone in the hand had intense focus as the hand played out. Ami Alibay had lead out UTG and received calls from Mathieu Boulanger-Vaugeois in the cutoff as well as from Frederick Poirier in the big blind.

The flop came and Alibay continued out, once again receiving calls from both Boulanger-Vaugeois and Poirier. On the turn, Alibay again lead out. Boulanger-Vaugeois made the call and Poirier folded.

The river brought the and this time Alibay lead out for a little more than one third of the pot. Boulanger-Vaugeois went deep into the tank, and after close to a full minute, Boulanger-Vaugeois moved his stack forward and announced that he was all in. Alibay smiled and folded his hand, and then told Boulanger-Vaugeois “thanks for the bet, now at least I don’t have to bluff the river”.

As this post was being written up, we noticed Alibay getting up as he was just sent to the rail.

The late registration and re-entry period has come to a close and here are the final numbers for tonight’s Day 1D: there are a total of 226 entries (including 51 re-entries), which brings the total of all of the Day 1 flights to 1,410 players, with the largest flights expected to take place both tomorrow (Saturday) and on Sunday. With a total of five more flights left to go on the two last and busiest days, who knows what the total number of entries will be? The one thing that all of the players do know is that the prize pool is guaranteed at $1,000,000, which is unbelievable for a tournament with a modest buy in of $330+$30.

With the average stack now hovering a little bit below 40,000 chips, the player who has taken a clear lead is Sinisa Stajic, from Windsor, Ontario, a regular visitor here at Playground during the numerous festivals that take place every year.

As the re-entry period has now come to a close, play is expected to tighten up between the big stacks, although there are many short stacks in play who will be looking for a premium spot to make a needed double-up.

Play will continue until the field drops to 15%, which means the top 34  players will bag for Day 2 and be guaranteed a min-cash of at least $600.

Here are the 10 players at the top of the leaderboard right now:

There are a few tough players hanging out on table 78. Michael Korovine seated UTG+1, opened to 1,400, and it folded back to Danie Lachance who made the call in the small blind, as did Jean Francois Alexandre in the big.

The flop came and both blinds checked. Korovine continued out for 2,000, and Lachance folded his small blind, with Alexandre making the call in the big blind. The turn brought the and Alexandre checked. Korovine fired again, this time for 5,500. Alexandre folded.

Ami Alibay was seated on the same table and just busted out, however we saw him walk over to the cage as he decided to re-enter and give it another shot. Tomas Magni also just re-entered, as, the players are now going on break meaning there is just another 15 minutes left in the late registration and re-entry period.

The players have just returned from the first break of the evening and the field is now up to 179 entries (including 24 re-entries). With the average chip stack at exactly 25,000, one player has managed to work it up north of 100,000; Fariborz Torbati has just a little over four times the average with an impressive 101,600 chips. That’s close to 30,000 above the second place runner, Carl Lafontaine, who currently has 69,200 chips.

There is still almost two full hours left in the late registration and re-entry period, and with the slow structure, the blinds are still only at 150/300, so you would still have over 60 big blinds to enter or re-enter at the moment.

Here are the leaders at the first break: