We’ve reached the 45-minute dinner break – buffet provided for all players – and of the 281 who registered so far today there are 198 remaining in the tournament. Late registration is allowed until the end of this break so it’s likely that numbers will still climb a little bit.

Half-way through level 5 (blinds 150/300/a50) some of the stacks are starting to grow. There’s still a long way to go today, but based on a quick tour of the room, here are some of the larger stacks we’ve found. By table order (not relative size):

• Derek Lerner
• Alan James Percal
• Martin Leblanc
• Jakub Drag
• Jino Veizi
• Sarah Brochu
• Andre Leclair
• Denis Gnidash
• Christopher McClung
• Carla Sabini

Throughout the day we’re going to be adding photos to the Day 1b Facebook Album. Since the WPT Live Updates site and Canada Poker are both doing such a good job, the focus here will be partly on well-known players but also on some of our local players of note who might not grab their attention.

Here’s a sample:

From PPSC – WPT Canadian Spring Championship – Day 1b, posted by Playground Poker Club on 5/04/2013 (Showing 16 of 31 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher 2
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"transitionIn" : "elastic",
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{
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Day 1b is most of the way through level 2 of the 10 that will be played today and the number of entries continues to edge upwards. We just passed 250 for the day (the current number is 254) and registration is still open for another 4 levels following this one (plus the dinner break).

It’s a beautiful day in Montreal and a beautiful day for Day 1b of the PartyPoker WPT Canadian Spring Championship! Action is set to go in a few minutes as players are filing in and taking their seats. Yesterday there were 194 players who registered and today will see more new entries plus a lot of players who won their seats in satellites plus a good number of re-entries by players who didn’t make it to the end of level 10 on Day 1a.

Good luck to everyone playing today!

Mike Sexton gives his opening remarks prior to Day 1b