The remaining 5 players have made a deal in Event 3. The rules in place state that players must leave at least 2% of the remaining prize pool and the Champion’s Trophy to be played for, but otherwise deal-making is permitted and the results of deals will be made public.

In this case, the players decided to reserve $150 and the trophy for the winner and divide the rest of the prize pool evenly, i.e., $1012.00 each.

Since the deal was made, Gabriel Beaudoin has been eliminated. Play continues.

The players have taken their final break of the daily tournament with just 6 players remaining. Here is the seating draw for the remaining players and their chip counts.

With 15 minute long blinds in play the breaks come along frequently – and after this 4th short break (during which tournament staff removed the blue T500 chips from play) we were able to update the leaderboard once again.

Benjamin Bracken has taken a considerable lead on the field as it has been reduced to just 2 tables, but he is trailed by 4 other players who also have large stacks. And with several relatively short-stacked players at the tables, it will be very possible for any of these players to catch up with Benjamin very quickly.

Play in Event 3 has begun in level 14 with just 40 players remaining. During the break we took the opportunity to update the leaderboard. There are quite a few very small stack in the field, and only the following 6 players are up over 100K – and Antony Roberge has taken a big lead with 220K in his stack.

The players in Event 3 are now back from their first break of the afternoon, and as anticipated, new entries continued to jump in the action until the very last minute. The grand total this afternoon is 117 players, attracted no doubt by the hefty prize pool – but also the very nice trophy that will go to the winner of the event!

Montréal Poker Expo Champion’s Trophy