Photos of the leaders

  • Level: 26
  • Small Blind: 20k
  • Big Blind: 40k
  • Ante: 5k
  • Chip Average: 750.8k
  • Remaining: 39
  • Entries: 1464


Here is the most recent list of chip leaders in the tournament during the last level of Day 2.

  1. Stephane Durocher – 2.32M
  2. Robert Amireault – 1.34M
  3. Daniel Mackay – 1.2M
  4. Jean-Sébastien Labonté – 2.1M
  5. Jason Robineault – 1.36M

Up next: 5 tables and the last level of the day

  • Level: 25
  • Small Blind: 15k
  • Big Blind: 30k
  • Ante: 5k
  • Chip Average: 636.5K
  • Remaining: 46
  • Entries: 1464


There are 46 players left and the tournament is just about to begin its last level of the day. There is a lot of action, but in particular on two tables. On the first, there are 3 players with over a million chips each, and the fighting is fierce. Right next to that table, 2 new large stacks have joined the leaders in the tournament. Photos to come…

The penultimate level of Day 2

  • Level: 25
  • Small Blind: 15k
  • Big Blind: 30k
  • Ante: 5k
  • Chip Average: 532.4k
  • Remaining: 55
  • Entries: 1464


The tournament has reached level 25, with 6 tables (55 players) still alive in the tournament. The action seemed to stabilize for a while, but ended picking back up in pace during the last level, and some former chip leaders who had surpassed the million chip mark have nevertheless been eliminated.

Stéphane Durocher and Jean-Sebastien Labonté continue to build their stacks – both have now passed the 2M mark. Stéphane grew his stack substantially by eliminating one of the earlier leaders, Luigi Fantigrossi, who lost due to a pretty bad beat.

Level 24 update

  • Level: 24
  • Small Blind: 12k
  • Big Blind: 24k
  • Ante: 4k
  • Chip Average: 418.3k
  • Remaining: 70
  • Entries: 1464


Level 24 has begun and there are two new “tournament chip millionaires” – Stephane Durocher and Jean-Sebastien Labonté, who have been dominating their table. Jean-Sebastien has done a good job of maintaining his stack throughout the night to climb to second chip leader. There are 8 tables remaining and the action seems to settling down somewhat as payouts start to grow.

Counts at the final break tonight

  • Level: 23
  • Small Blind: 10K
  • Big Blind: 20K
  • Ante: 3K
  • Chip Average: 370.6K
  • Remaining: 79
  • Entries: 1464


The players have returned from their final break of the night and during the break we took the opportunity to update the leaderboard – and we found that there has been quite a shift among the leaders through 22 full levels.

  1. Albert Bassal – 1.06M
  2. Jeffrey Bartlett – 930K
  3. Luigi Fantigrossi – 905K
  4. Kaven Fontaine Bernier – 880K
  5. Jean-Sebastien Labonté – 830K

Update and photos

  • Level: 22
  • Small Blind: 8k
  • Big Blind: 16k
  • Ante: 2k
  • Chip Average: 325.3k
  • Remaining: 90
  • Entries: 1464


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.

Approaching the million mark

  • Level: 21
  • Small Blind: 6K
  • Big Blind: 12K
  • Ante: 2K
  • Chip Average: 287.1K
  • Remaining: 102
  • Entries: 1464


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:

Ahmad Baalbaki

The bubble has burst

  • Level: 19
  • Small Blind: 4K
  • Big Blind: 8K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 200.5K
  • Remaining: 146
  • Entries: 1464


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!

The big stacks after break #2

  • Level: 19
  • Small Blind: 4K
  • Big Blind: 8K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 184.2K
  • Remaining: 159
  • Entries: 1464


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

Dominance

  • Level: 18
  • Small Blind: 3k
  • Big Blind: 6k
  • Ante: 1k
  • Chip Average: 180.7k
  • Remaining: 162
  • Entries: 1464


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.