As we are getting closer to the second break, the field is getting smaller. Smaller stacks feel pressured and try to seize opportunities to double up. That’s what Martin Jacobson did when he found himself in a perfect spot against Nicola Basile. Basile raised his ladies pre-flop to 900K and Jacobson went all-in with his bullets. The board came in Jacobson’s favor, with nothing on it to threaten his hand.
Jacobson: 
Basile: 
Board: 
As we approach the end of level 18 on Day 2 of the MILLIONS Open, the field is down to less than 200 players and the money bubble now looms on the horizon. The current chip average provides roughly 40 big blinds so there is still lots of room to maneuver but the bubble pressure will begin to mount steadily.
This event easily surpassed its prize pool guarantee thanks to the 1,231 entries which will allow 143 players to qualify for the money, with a massive first-place prize of $210,000 waiting for the winner.
Here are some more photos from level 18:
We are half way through level 17 with 220 players left. Some stacks are getting quite imposing – so is Ken Ransom’s. He just took Albert Nguyen’s entire stack. When I got there, the flop and turn were already out 
. Nguyen pushed all-in with over 2,000,000 in chips behind and Ransom made the call with his set, holding 
.
Nguyen showed his straight 
, but unfortunately the river didn’t go his way when the 
came and gave Ransom a boat.
Three levels have passed and the players just had their first break. There are 262 players left after 60 minutes of play. We went around during the break and took note of the names and chip count of our current leaders.
Griffin Benger is taking the lead after the first three levels with a stack of 15,725,000 chips.
Here is a top 10 of the biggest stacks so far:
| First name | Prénom | Last name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Griffin | Benger | 15,725,000 |
| Jason | James | 15,445,000 |
| Francois | Goulet | 12,800,000 |
| Brandon | Shane | 12,750,000 |
| Medhat | Ramzy | 12,010,000 |
| Trevor | Delaney | 11,050,000 |
| Sebastien | Drolet-Poitras | 10,600,000 |
| Frederic | Normand | 10,500,000 |
| Michael | Skinner | 10,400,000 |
| Jeffrey | Blenkarn | 9,800,000 |
The number of players remaining is decreasing at a very fast pace. The day started with 392 players – a little more than two levels in and we are already down to 281 players. Tables are slowly breaking but the Tournament Hall and the tent are still very busy.
Here are a few shots of Day 2:
Some big hands can be seen on the tables of the MILLIONS Open Day 2. I just witnessed one of them – where Trent Hopper hit a runner runner quad with his 
against Carl Diveglia’s set on an all-in action with a pot over 7,500,000 chips. I got there on time to see the dealer open the river and award the pot but unfortunately, i wasn’t lucky enough to see the entire action.
