Rick Shamshoum had a difficult decision to make versus Chad Gray, but inevitably made the right move to score a double up to well over average stack.

On a flop showing , and with over a million in the middle from a 3bet preflop, Chad lead out with a bet of 500K. Rick tanked for a few minutes, and even had the clock called on him, before he committed the chips, holding 710K behind. On the turn, Chad moved all-in, and Rick again went into the tank. A few moments later he announced call, and they turned over their cards.

Rick:

Chad:

The river changed nothing, and Rick doubled up to over 3.5 million, leaving Chad with just over a millio behind.

We caught up on the turn in a pot where Mike Costa had all his chips in the middle versus Alexandre Lavigne on a board showing . Once they tabled their hand, Mike saw he was in big trouble, and murmured “Come on, river me”.

Alexandre:

Mike:

The river brought no help to Mike, who was eliminated in 14th place for $9,380.

A few hands later, Noeung Troeung moved all-in from middle position for 890K, and got a call from Alexandre in the small blind.

Noeung:

Alexandre:

Noeung paired on the board to double his stack up back into comfort zone.

13th place: Mike Costa, $9,380

Players are bagging their chip after 10 levels of play in this Day 2, and the 35 that remain will be back tomorrow at 12:00pm to continue playing out this Main Event of the Playground Poker Montreal Festival.

Full player reported stacks, as well as the seating assignments for Day 3 will be published shortly.

Level 23 has just begun, and this is scheduled to be the last level of play for today. Once the clock runs out, the surviving players will bag their chips in preparation for Day 3, tomorrow at 12:00pm.

The last break of Day 2 of the Playground Poker Montreal Festival Main Event is just about over, and there are two 1-hour levels left before players bag for Day 3. A number of players have already breached the 7-figure mark, and this is what the leaderboard looks like at the moment:

1. Noeung Troeung – 2,110,000
2. Pierre Daigle – 1,890,000
3. Gabriel Vezina – 1,323,000
4. Alain Jobin – 1,227,000
5. Yannick Lamarre-Delooz – 1,140,000
6. Mike Costa – 1,105,000
7. Dean Murphy – 1,075,000
8. Presten Cloutier – 1,010,000

Other notable counts:

• Alexandre Lavigne – 936,000
• Ami Alibay – 835,000
• Amir Babakhani – 255,000
• Carla Sabini – 769,000
• Derek Lerner – 702,000
• Patrick Braga – 490,000

Here are a few photos from level 21:

We’ve seen a number of players hit the rail since the money has burst, and only 67 remain of the 300 that started Day 2. There are still three 1-hour levels left to play before the tournament goes on pause until Day 3.