Event 1 Day 1b has just entered level 11, which means there are only three levels left to play today. The field has dwindled down to 161 entries, with the average stack being just over 50K.

There are still two chances left to make your seat to Day 2, with Day 1c at noon tomorrow and Day 1d at 7:30pm.

After 8 levels of play, a little more than half of tonight’s field has been eliminated, which means the average stack is just over twice the starting stack of 20K. A few players have climbed over the 100K mark, including the following (with their estimated stack size):

• Camille Jr. Lefebvre – 162K
• Tony Stratopoulos – 142K
• Robert Vaillancourt – 111K
• Andrew Humphrey – 106K
• Chheng Bun – 105K

Camille Jr. Lefebvre

Chhen Bun

Andrew Humphrey

Robert Vaillancourt

Tony Stratopoulos

There are five levels left to play before the end of Day 1b.

The second break of Day 1b is fast approaching, and there are still 219 players remaining in the field out of the 426 that started. There will be five more levels left to play before the surviving players bag and tag their chips for Day 2.

Here is an album of photos taken during levels 6 and 7. You can always visit the Playground Poker Flickr page to see all the albums from the Playground Poker Spring Classic, or to navigate through photos from our previous events.

Registration is now closed for Day 1b of Event 1 in the Playground Poker Spring Classic, and 426 players have participated in tonights flight. With this afternoon’s 329 entries, the total number of entries thus far is 755, which means that the $100K guarantee has already been surpassed! We can expect this number to double with tomorrow’s two flights, therefore creating an impressive prize pool to kick off this series!

This tournament is a Re-entry tournament, which means that if you weren’t able to qualify for Day 2 today, you still have two chances tomorrow, with our Day 1c at 12:00pm, and Day 1d at 7:30pm. Register early to secure a seat!

Players in Day 1b are back from their short break, and a few have already more than doubled their stacks.

Here are estimates of four of the biggest stacks we came across during this break:

1. Robert Vaillancourt – 85K
2. Matthieu Boucher – 67K
3. Yannick Sanscartier – 63K
4. Chheng Bun – 62K

Day 1b of Event 1 is well underway, as we are now nearing the end of level 4. Upon completion of this level, the players will go on a 15-minute break before returning back to action at 150/300/a50.

Here are a few photos taken during levels 2 and 3:

Day 1b is now in Level 3 and the number of entries has pretty much settled on 422 although alternates may continue to be seated until the end of the first break after Level 4. Of those who started tonight, 390 remain on tables throughout the tournament hall – there are even two tables in use on the stage!

We’ll be posting some photos of the action tonight in just a few minutes.

Day 1a has finished and almost as soon as the first flight of players were finished, the players for Day 1b were gathering in the tournament hall, ready to take their seats.

And now that the announcements have been made, cards are in the air for Day 1b, the second flight in Event 1 of the 2014 Playground Poker Spring Classic. There are already 367 players seated with a published maximum of 400, and we expect to surpass the cap through alternates who may be seated until the end of the first break.

With Day 1a of Event 1 of this year’s Playground Poker Spring Classic almost complete, attention will soon shift to Day 1b, which begins at 7:30 this evening.

The surprising attendance figures for Day 1a suggests that flight 1b will also be huge – and all the more so considering that while the cap today was 250 (we seated 79 alternates), the cap tonight is 400 players.

According to the most up-to-date figures from the cashier’s desk, over 150 seats for tonight have already been sold, so if you are planning to play tonight we would suggest that you start making your way to Playground soon to ensure that you can get into the tournament.