There are 10 tables left in the tournament, and the action continues to move fairly quickly. The chip leader, Albert Bassal, has passed the million-chip mark which could take him very deep in the event.

Here are some more photos of the players still in the action.

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Ahmad Baalbaki has been among the chip leaders for most of the day after having started with 181K tonight. A recent tour of the remaining 12 tables found that he’s still the chip leader in the tournament and he has now grown his stack to over 900K – and closing fast on the million chip mark.

Update: Playground regular Luigi Fantigrossi has moved to the same table as Ahmad… and brought his own 940K stack with him. Time will tell if these two huge-stack players will be able to avoid one another.

Here’s a photo of Ahmad from a bit earlier this evening:

When players returned from their break there were 159 players left in the tournament, and with the bubble at 154 and everyone finishing better than 153rd getting paid, the tournament flew right past the bubble as players busted one by one.

The remaining players are all in the money!

Players have returned from their second break of the evening and during the break we found two other players who have also built up huge stacks for this point in the tournament. The top 4 entering level 19:

1. Khaldi Hachem – 730K
2. Ahmad Baalbaki – 660K
3. Jean-Sebastien Labonte – 650K
4. Jean Rheaume – 535K

The bubble is fast approaching and as it approaches two players have broken away from the field. Ahmad Baalbaki and Khaldi Hachem are both over the 600K mark while we haven’t found anyone else with over 400K.

Event 1 is about 10 minutes in to level 18 and the money bubble is approaching fast with only 24 more eliminations required before the tournament gets to that point. Based on the rate of eliminations so far tonight, the bubble could come before the end of this level or early in the next level.

There are 22 tables left and the tournament is starting to approach the money bubble. Here are some photos of some of the chip leaders coming back from the last break. Some huge stacks are starting to be built!

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Players have just returned from their first break of the evening as tournament staff removed the black T100 chips from play.

During the break we found the top 5 chip leaders in the tournament to this point.

1. Yonathan Moryoussef – 465K
2. Jean Rheaume – 390K
3. Jean Bernard Audet – 380K
4. Jean Sebastien Labonté – 330K
5. Carl Laberge – 330K
6. Khaldi Hachem – 320K

Right out of the gate tonight the action has been extremely quick as 45 players have already been eliminated from play. This is not unexpected in a tournament of this size, and experience tells us that the bubble will arrive quickly.

The players will go on their first break of the night at the end of this level as staff removes the black T100 chips from play.

Here are some photos taken during the first level played today.

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(15 Photos)