After about 10 hands of hand-for-hand play – interrupted by a break in the middle – Xin Qi has been eliminated in 28th place in Event 4. Xin had been short for a few levels already but he came back from the break with under 3 BB and as the blinds came around to his position in Seat 5. He folded both of his blinds as well as the Cutoff and Hijack positions, but with just 14K remaining he called Graham Lupton’s preflop raise to get his last chips in the middle.

Graham:
Xin:

The board started out pretty well for Xin when the were dealt, but the turn and River didn’t give Xin his flush and he was out of the tournament.

The rest of the players are now in the money and tournament staff has performed a full redraw with just 3 tables remaining. Play continues in level 19.

Players are now back from break, and we are on the bubble! Here are the complete chip counts of the remaining 28 players.

Table 27

Seat 1. Jessie Wheatley – 276, 000
Seat 2. Ioannis Pentefountas – 77,000
Seat 3. Lonnie Hallet – 112,000
Seat 4. seat empty
Seat 5. David Barter – 201,000
Seat 6. seat empty
Seat 7. TJ Ulmer – 446,000
Seat 8. Edouard Dupuis – 141,000
Seat 9. Chanso Munn – 321,000

Table 28

Seat 1. Mike Lafable – 458,000
Seat 2. seat empty
Seat 3. seat empty
Seat 4. Joshua Abiscott – 224,000
Seat 5. Asem Alsaadi – 200,000
Seat 6. Kuo Hui-Chen – 131,000
Seat 7. Dustin Centanni – 75,000
Seat 8. Gary Lucci – 220,000
Seat 9. Sasa Stancic – 89,000

Table 30

Seat 1. Francois Goulet – 200,000
Seat 2. seat empty
Seat 3. Vlad Faubert – 308,000
Seat 4. seat empty
Seat 5. Xin Qi – 35,000
Seat 6. Erik Lemarquand – 372,000
Seat 7. Domenico Scalamogna – 43,000
Seat 8. Louis Boutin – 92,000
Seat 9. Graham Lupton – 363,000

Table 31

Seat 1. Julien Fauteux Delorme – 476,000
Seat 2. Daniel Jason Strelitz – 329,000
Seat 3. seat empty
Seat 4. Douglas James – 220,000
Seat 5. seat empty
Seat 6. Nikki Price – 325,000
Seat 7. Jonathan Barette – 192,000
Seat 8. Fabio Luongo – 335,000
Seat 9. Faisal Khan – 465,000

Some pre-bubble photos

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(14 Photos)

The WPT Warm-up is only a few eliminations away from being in the money, which means the bubble is almost here! With 33 players left still in contention, 6 of them will go home empty handed, while the rest will be assured of at least a $2,160 payday. The eventual winner will take home a whopping $61,390 prize, and of course a Playground Poker Fall Classic bracelet!

Of the 4 tables remaining, it is interesting to point out that table 31 is quite stacked. With the tournament average at 203.8K, only two of the eight players seated at this table sit below this number, and hold roughly 185K each. The six others find themselves way above the curve, and this should make for an interesting dynamic as the bubble approaches.

During the last break we also found out what has happened to the players who started the day in the lead.

First is Julien Fauteux Delorme, who is the only one among the top 5 to remain among the leaders today.

Among the other leaders to start the day:

• François Goulet has moved from 248K to 182K
• Craig Einarson has moved from ~238K to 125K
• Gary Lucci has moved from 227K to 200K

None of the chip leaders to start the day have been eliminated, but other than Julien, another group has taken over their positions – and there’s still a long way to go today.

With only 46 players remaining in Event 4 – The WTP Warm-Up, here is how the chips are distributed at the top of the leaderboard.

1. Faisal Khan – 331,000
2. Jonathan Barette – 292,000
3. Julien Fauteux Delorme – 271,000
4. Vlad Faubert – 265,000
5. Louis Boutin – 247,000
6. Fabio Luongo – 246,000
7. Chanso Munn – 240,000
8. Sasa Stancic – 228,000

Play will continue until we’ve reached our final table of 10 players today, which will be played out tomorrow at 3pm.

Level 15 photographs

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(10 Photos)

Noy – he uses only his first name – is a talented regular in daily tournaments in the Montreal area who is known for going deep very often – but also for his unconventional play, particularly when he has a short stack.

In this case he raised preflop from middle position to 25K – with just 1.5K behind. Action folded to the small blind – Justin Mandair – who called. The big blind folded.

On the flop of both players checked. When the turn came , Noy checked again, only to face a bet from Justin big enough to put him all-in. Noy reluctantly called and turned over – but Justin held the and took the pot on a river . Noy was eliminated in 50th place.

Photographs taken during level 14

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(27 Photos)

The WPT Warm-up has had its first player eliminated for the day and it was pretty spectacular.

We arrived at the table to see a flop of and Lonnie Hallett, in Seat 5 and early position in the hand, had put Chi Tsun Chan (button) to a decision whether to call Lonnie’s reraise from 15K to 35K.

Chi Tsun Chan did call and the dealer dealt the turn: . Lonnie thought for a few seconds and bet his whole stack. Chi Tsun Chan didn’t have to think about it for long: “Call”.

When the cards were flipped over, there was no doubt. Lonnie turned over for the turned straight and a re-draw to a flush – while all Chi Tsun Chan could counter with was . He was drawing dead, and the insignificant river gave Lonnie the pot – and all of his opponents chips.

Since then, there have been a few other eliminations and the tournament is down to 63 players.

The 67 players who qualified for Day 1 in Event 4 of the Playground Poker Fall Classic are slowly filtering in and claiming their seats at the re-drawn 8 tables that will start the day. A couple of players are intently working on their phones – no doubt trying to find out information about their new table-mates. Others are getting coffee or ordering breakfast to be served table-side – anticipating a long day.

From the 67 players who start the day, the tournament will play down today to 10 players (i.e., to the final table). There will be a full seating redraw at 27 players, and play all day will be 9-handed though 5 tables will start 8-handed for balancing reasons.

Good luck!