Level 9 is mid-way through completion, and one player in particular has leaped ahead of the field. Chan An Luong is sitting on a stack north of 230,000, which is far ahead of any other player at the moment in this Day 1b of the Main Event.
There is a scheduled break in less than 30 minutes, during which we will be bringing an update on the leaderboard.
Chan An Luong
Photographs from levels 8 and 9:
Play has entered level 8 here in the second flight of the Main Event of the Montréal Poker Expo, and we saw a total of 200 players take their seats, 124 of which are still in play.
Photographs taken during level 7:
Time is up for Day 1a in the Main Event of the Montréal Poker Expo, and 34 players have qualified for Day 2 out of the 144 that began the day.
Leading the field is Leandre St-Laurent, who bagged a whopping 329,800 in chips! Other big stacks for the day include Jean-Francois Bouchard (262,100), Rejean Grenier (242,000), Azim Popatia (218,300) and Albert N (211,300). TJ Ulmer doubled up an opponent in the last moments of the day, but still managed to bag a healthy 180,000.
The full list of player-reported chip counts will be made available shorty.
Next flight is tomorrow, as Day 1b will begin at 11:00am. Players will have until the start of level 7 to register.
Leandre St-Laurent
Online phenomenon TJ “1bigacehole” Ulmer was grinding an average stack for most of the day, but has recently sprung up the leaderboard when he eliminated Richard Leger, and is now amongst the chip leaders of Day 1a.
TJ opened the action to 5,400 from middle position, and was faced with a 3bet to 13,300 from Richard in the big blind. He 4bet to 30,400, and instantly called a 5bet shove of just over 105,000.
TJ: 
Richard: 
They both flopped two-pair on a board of 
, but TJs big slick was the best hand all the way. He climbed up to over 240,000 chips with that hand, eliminating Richard in the process.
TJ Ulmer
Leandre St-Laurent just added a few more chips to his already chip-leading stack, as he eliminated Jonathan Poissant in a battle of the blinds.
We caught up to the action on the flop, with the board showing 
. Jonathan lead out for 4,500, and was raised by Leandre to 11,000. He 3bet to 29,500, and quickly made the call after Leandre announced the all-in.
Jonathan: 
Leandre: 
Leandre managed to fade the straight-flush draw of Jonathan, as the running cards came 
, and added around 70,000 new chips to his stack. He now holds around 340,000, which is miles ahead of anyone else in the field at the moment.
Leandre St-Laurent
Level 13 is underway in the Main Event, and those who still have chips upon the completion of this level will bag their chips onto Day 2.
Photographs from level 12:
The last break of Day 1a has just finished, and only two 45-minute levels remain before players bag their chips for Day 2. There are still two more flights for this Main Event of the Montréal Poker Expo, with Day 1b scheduled for tomorrow 11am, and Day 1c on Sunday at 11am.
Here are the top stacks at this last break:
| Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Leandre St-Laurent | 202,000 |
| Rejean Grenier | 187,000 |
| Jean-Francois Bouchard | 186,000 |
| Russ Radom | 164,000 |
| Michael Noor | 162,000 |
| Jonathan Poissant | 157,000 |
| Levi Stevens | 143,500 |
We are mid-way through level 11, and by peeking over the shoulders, we determined that the chip leaders at the moment are Leandre St-Laurent (~250,000), Russ Radom (~175,000) and Rejean Grenier (~170,000).
Photos from levels 10 and 11:
The tournament staff is racing off the T25 chips as the players are on a short break, and Russ Radom has chipped up into the chiplead, and now holds 187,500. Former big stack Sylvain Siebert has been quite volatile lately, and has dropped below the 100,000 mark as he doubled up a few opponents on his table, however his stack is still above average and quite healthy.
Here is a look at the leaderboard as play enters level 10:
| Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Russ Radom | 187,300 |
| Réjean Grenier | 173,400 |
| Marcello Rosa | 166,000 |
| Jean-François Bouchard | 157,000 |
| Denis A Roussy | 131,000 |
| Claudemir De Oliveira | 112,200 |
| Jonathan Poissant | 105,000 |
Photos from level 9:
Time has just run out in level 8, and at the moment it is still Sylvain Siebert who is leading the field, as he has climbed to nearly 200,000. Marcello Rosa and Jean-Francois Bouchard are also maintaining their position amongst the leaders. Rejean Grenier has joined them recently, as he has been stacking quite a few chips lately, breaching the 100,000 mark.
Photographs from levels 7 and 8:
