Event 1 Day 1a – final chip counts

Day 1a of Event 1 of the PokerStars Canada Cup started at 11am on May 16 and played through 13 half-hour levels before the remaining players bagged their chips to take to Day 2, on Sunday.

Of the 237 players who started today, 56 remained at the end of the day.

Rank First Name Last Name Chip Count
1 Michael Pitcher 200,000
2 Patrick Bernier 192,200
3 David Garcia 169,700
4 Mathieu Gariepy 159,000
5 George Evans 149,800
6 Michel Gramigna 137,500
7 Martin Giguere 136,200
8 Claude Comtois 136,000
9 Leo Mantas Ragusa 131,400
10 Nicola Merlo 129,700
11 Jeffrey Bartlett 124,200
12 Gilbert Ouellette 123,400
13 Ren Zhe Jin 123,300
14 Alek Stasiak 117,300
15 Blake Tarbell 108,500
16 Francis Mercier 107,400
17 Vitaly Rimmer 98,900
18 Dany Saba 97,500
19 Maurice Simard 96,800
20 Luc Morissette 90,900
21 Sylvain Blais 90,600
22 Nigsan Thavalosan 90,100
23 Alexandre Morel 85,800
24 Julien Giguere 84,900
25 Salomon Ponte 84,100
26 Pierre Gauthier 83,400
27 Mark Fitzpatrick 81,800
28 Aberdeen Parro 80,500
29 Alain Rondeau 79,000
30 Andre Pronovost 75,100
31 Jordan Perlis 75,100
32 Jean Yves Demers 73,600
33 Mario Bourassa 70,300
34 Michael Moussis 70,000
35 Andrew Chen 69,900
36 Eric Richer 67,700
37 David Guay 64,200
38 Lesley Amos 63,500
39 Vincent Mimeault 63,500
40 Travis Robertson 61,700
41 Daniel Clairmont 58,500
42 Mathieu Jawirnycki 58,500
43 Said Michailidis 55,000
44 Luc Ratelle 46,800
45 Etienne Leduc 46,300
46 Tristan Bernier 45,900
47 Jessie Wheatley 40,200
48 Simon Malenfant 39,600
49 Jason Mottershead 39,100
50 Matthew Brunskole 38,600
51 Francois Cote 36,000
52 Alexander Richmond 30,800
53 William Perrault 29,800
54 Alexandre Caron 23,800
55 Remy Scalabrini 23,400
56 Rong Xu 23,400

Last 6 hands

  • Level: 13
  • Small Blind: 1K
  • Big Blind: 2K
  • Ante: 300
  • Chip Average: 81.7K
  • Remaining: 58
  • Entries: 237


  • The TD called for tables to play 6 additional hands a few minutes ago, and once those are done players will bag up their chips. We’ll have final chip counts for the day shortly.

    Last level of Day 1a

  • Level: 13
  • Small Blind: 1K
  • Big Blind: 2K
  • Ante: 300
  • Chip Average: 67.7K
  • Remaining: 70
  • Entries: 237


  • The 70 players remaining in Day 1a have begun their final 30-minute level of the day, at which time the remaining players will count and bag up their chips, ready to come back and play on Day 2, Sunday. Of course a player who bags a short stack may try to do better in an additional Day 1 – probably not tonight (due to fatigue) but tommorrow’s Day 1c or 1d would be possible.

    Some leaders…

  • Level: 11
  • Small Blind: 600
  • Big Blind: 1.2K
  • Ante: 200
  • Chip Average: 46K
  • Remaining: 103
  • Entries: 237


  • There are still a couple of levels left before the end of Day 1a but a few players have built stacks that set them apart from the field. At least four players have 100K or more in chips, with several others right on their heels.

    Here are the players with stacks over 100K:

    • Maurice Simard
    • Miguel Goncalo
    • Michael Pitcher
    • Said Michailidis

    Update: Since gathering these counts, Said Michailidis has won a lot more chips, making him the clear chip leader at this point in the flight.

    Said Michailidis

    Second break of Day 1a

  • Level: 9
  • Small Blind: 400
  • Big Blind: 800
  • Ante: 100
  • Chip Average: 35.6K
  • Remaining: 133
  • Entries: 237


  • Players have left their seats to go on their second 15-minute break of the day. While the players take their well-deserved break, tournament staff is colouring up and racing off the green T25 chips.

    A few notable players

  • Level: 7
  • Small Blind: 250
  • Big Blind: 500
  • Ante: 75
  • Chip Average: 27.4K
  • Remaining: 173
  • Entries: 237


  • There are some notable players in the field considering the $150 total buy-in. In the Main Event next week we’re expecting many “name” pros, but for a side event there are quite a few players who have had significant poker achievements in the past.

    • Carla Sabini – Carla plays here at Playground often, but is most well known for her amazing parlay of a 30th place finish in the EPT London Main Event into a 4th place result in the High Roller a few days later!
    • Phil Plouffe – Phil is a member of the Playground Players Club and has had a lot of success both live and online, including a final table appearance at the PCA Main Event in 2011.
    • Ami Alibay – Ami is an accomplished player and local nightclub owner who’s best known in the poker world for a deep run in the WSOP Main Event last summer as well as a final table at the EPT Deauville in 2012. He also bubbled the final table of a WSOP 6-Max event last summer.
    • Ricky Tang – Ricky hails from Toronto and is a regular Playground visitor when big events come around. He’s had immense success here in the past as well, counting a 2nd place finish in a $1.1K event and a 3rd place finish in a $150 event (similar to this event)

    In addition to these players are others like Josh Kimmel, Jennifer Brooks, Yifan Dong, Travis Robertson, Said Michailidis, Cole Skye, Jean-Guy Boyer, and Mark Fitzpatrick who can do a lot of damage.

    Entering level 5

  • Level: 5
  • Small Blind: 150
  • Big Blind: 300
  • Ante: 50
  • Chip Average: 23.5K
  • Remaining: 202
  • Entries: 237


  • Players have returned from their first break of the day and with the end of the break came the end of the late registration period.

    The final number of entries for Day 1a is a very healthy 237 players which gets the event off to a great start towards meeting (and likely far exceeding) the $100,000 guarantee!

    Players who bust out of any starting flight may re-enter in any or all of the following flights, and any player who manages to qualify twice for Day 2 will simply forfeit her or his smaller stack and move forward with the larger one.