Tomaz Kalinowski open-shoved an unopened pot from the button with 
, but unfortunately for him he ran into a brick wall, as Francis Dery woke up with 
in the big blind.
Tomaz found no help on the 
board, and ended his deep run one spot shy of the final table. With that pot, Francis Dery took over the chip lead, and holds roughly 7,725,000.
There is a seating redraw in place.
11th place: Tomaz Kalinowski – $2,390.
Tomaz Kalinowski
Johnny Mazzaferro opened to 18,000 from the button, and was faced with an all-in from Josef Ares from the small blind, who had 93,000 to his name. Johnny hesitated for a while, but finally made the call, and they were off to the races.
Johnny: 
Josef: 
Johnny paired on the 
board, and extended his chip lead on this final table by adding over 100,000 chips to his stack.
10th place: Josef Ares – $325
Event 2 has reached it’s final table of ten players.
Final Table:
Seat 1. Patrick Fortin
Seat 2. Yan Fantinato
Seat 3. Maxime Cyr
Seat 4. Jennifer Brooks
Seat 5. Johnny Mazzaferro
Seat 6. Josef Ares
Seat 7. Andre Pelletier
Seat 8. Eddie Daldalian
Seat 9. Steven Saab
Seat 10. Bill Kontaratos
Final tableists:
Francis Dery opened to 225,000 from utg, and was 3bet to 600,000 by Dominic Gadoury from the small blind. Francis responded with an all-in, and was called by Dominic, who started the hand with roughly 1,500,000.
Francis:
Dominic: 
The pair of queens held up on the 
board, and Dominic was sent to the cashiers to collect his $2,390 prize. Francis is now just over the 4,000,000 chip-mark.
With 11 players left in the tournament now, we are but 1 elimination away from the unofficial final table of 10.
12th place: Dominic Gadoury – $2,390.
Dominic Gadoury
Brian Bond was still stacking chips from the last hand, where he 3bet Dominic Gadoury from the small blind and won the pot with a c-bet on the flop, when he opened his button to 210,000. Frederic Charest then announced an all-in from the big blind. Brian asked for a count, and tanked for a moment before committing the extra 695,000 more.
Brian: 
Frederic:
Board: 
Brian now has roughly 4,350,000, but still trails the chip leader Jean-Francois Marin, who has in the mean time chipped up to nearly 5,000,000.
13th place: Frederic Charest – $1,900.
Frederic Charest
Eleuterio De Miranda Guedes came in as the short stack, and made an early exit as he moved in with 
, and lost versus the 
of Francois Gratton-Valiquette.
14th place: Eleuterio De Miranda Guedes – $1,900
Eleuterio De Miranda Guedes
Event 2 – The Escalator – is about to resume, after going on break last night after having just reached the money. Of a starting field of 111, 12 players are back today, and will play it out until only one remains.
Johnny Mazzaferro has monopolized the chip lead for the last few levels, and returns today with 332,500 in chips. Eddie Daldalian has maintained a healthy stack leading to the bubble as well, as is currently in second place with 207,000. He is closely followed by Yan Fantinato.
Everyone is guaranteed a prize of at least $275, however the winner will be awarded a cool $3,510 for his efforts.
Good luck to all the remaining players!
In a few moments, Day 3 of Event 1 – The Wild $150 – will begin. 14 players remain out of a starting field of 1,441, and everyone has their eyes on the $31,320 first prize, but at the end of the night only one will survive.
Leading the way is Jean-Francois Marin (4,285,000), who managed to bag over 1 million more than any of the other players. Next in chips is Brian Bond (3,155,000), followed by Francis Dery (3,150,000) and Tomaz Kalinowski (3,050,000). However there is still a lot of poker to go before we crown a champion, and it still is anyones games. Full chip counts can be found here.
There will be a seating redraw when we reach the unofficial final table of 10.
Good luck!
The Escalator is now in it’s last level of play, and blinds have switched to 50-minutes long. From here on, they will remain this length. 16 players remain of the 111 that started the day, but only 12 of them will earn a piece of the prize pool.
Shortly after the completion of this level, we will be publishing the list of player-reported chip counts.
Day 2 of the Wild $150 is now over, and 14 players will be back tomorrow for the completion of this opening event of the Playground Winter Festival.
Jean-Francois Marin (4,285,000) will return with the chip lead, and has a fair lead on his opponents. Second in chips is Brian Bond (3,155,000), who is closely followed by Francis Dery (3,150,000) and Tomaz Kalinowski (3,050,000). Full player reported chip counts can be found here.
Jean-Francois Marin leads the field with 4,285,000 in chips:
