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:

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!

Event 2 is a two day event, and Day 1 wrapped up after the scheduled 17 levels of play. Of the 111 players who began the event, just 8 players remain. When action resumes at 7pm tonight, the players will be seated according to the following table.

Note that the final player eliminated on Day 1 was the player on the bubble, so all of the players remaining are now in the money in the tournament.

[eztable width=”100%” colwidth=”25%|25%|30%|20%” colalign=”left|left|left|right”]
First Name,Last Name,Seat [attr sort=”asc”],Chip Count
Johnny,Mazzaferro,Table 37 – Seat 1,”332500″
Eddie,Daldalian,Table 38 – Seat 5,”207000″
Yan,Fantinato,Table 37 – Seat 2,”195000″
Andre,Pelletier,Table 38 – Seat 8,”155000″
Simon,Bissonnette-du-Cap,Table 37 – Seat 6,”142000″
Bill,Kontaratos,Table 38 – Seat 1,”136500″
Josef,Ares,Table 38 – Seat 3,”128000″
Maxime,Cyr,Table 37 – Seat 5,”120000″
Jennifer,Brooks,Table 38 – Seat 2,”99500″
Patrick,Fortin,Table 37 – Seat 3,”99000″
Steven,Saab,Table 38 – Seat 6,”51500″
Martin,Messier,Table 37 – Seat 8,”8000″
[/eztable]

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.

Here are the estimated chip counts after 15 levels of play in Event 2:

Table 49

Seat 1. Tina Howie – 51,500
Seat 2. Yan Fantinato – 71,500
Seat 3. Andre Pelletier – 192,000
Seat 4. Eddie Daldalian – 133,500
Seat 5. Pierre Remillard – 93,500
Seat 6. Maxime Cyr – 89,000
Seat 7. Francois Guerin – 20,500
Seat 8. Josef Ares – 125,000
Seat 9. Sylvain Gauthier – 52,000
Seat 10. Sean Ramsaroop – 36,000

Table 50

Seat 1. Bill Kontaratos – 77,000
Seat 2. Carl Laberge – 77,500
Seat 3. Alain Mathieu – 65,500
Seat 4. Steven Saab – 55,000
Seat 5. Johnny Mazzaferro – 173,000
Seat 6. Simon Bissonnette-du-Cap – 62,500
Seat 7. Martin Messier – 72,000
Seat 8. Patrick Fortin – 84,000
Seat 9. Jennifer Brooks – 92,000
Seat 10. Madis Pugi – 55,000

The Escalator is now down to it’s final two tables, and here they are:

Table 49

Seat 1. Tina Howie
Seat 2. Yan Fantinato
Seat 3. Andre Pelletier
Seat 4. Eddie Daldalian
Seat 5. Pierre Remillard
Seat 6. Maxime Cyr
Seat 7. Francois Guerin
Seat 8. Josef Ares
Seat 9. Sylvain Gauthier
Seat 10. Sean Ramsaroop

Table 50

Seat 1. Bill Kontaratos
Seat 2. Carl Laberge
Seat 3. Alain Mathieu
Seat 4. Steven Saab
Seat 5. Johnny Mazzaferro
Seat 6. Simon Bissonnette-du-Cap
Seat 7. Martin Messier
Seat 8. Patrick Fortin
Seat 9. Jennifer Brooks
Seat 10. Madis Pugi

The Escalator is now in level 13, where the blinds have been increased to 40-minutes each. The depth of this structure is starting to take place, and the increasing blinds will allow for much more play in the levels to come. Although the field has been reduced to 32 players from the 111 that started, the average stack is of 26 big blinds, and will deepen over time.

Only two players have reached the 6-figures so far, as Nader Ammar and Carl Laberge share the chip lead, sitting on roughly 110,000 each. The third largest stack is of 84,000, and belongs to Eddie Daldalian, and he is followed closely by several other players.

Photographs taken during levels 11 and 12:

The Escalator is on it’s first break of the night, and blinds will be up to 30 minutes when play resumes. One player has managed to take a massive lead on the field, as Simon Bissonnette-du-Cap and his 96,000 stack dwarf any other player at the moment. Second in chips is Martin Messier, who holds 53,000.

Late registration is now closed for this second event of the Playground Winter Festival, and the final count is of 111 players. The prize pool will be published shortly.

Event 2 – Escalator is now into level 7, and blinds have been increased to 25 minutes each. There are two more levels plus the break left to register, which means that registration will close around 7:30pm. The field is up to 107 entries for now, and slowly climbing.

Photographs from the early stages of the Escalator: