Day 1c of Event 1 in the PokerStars Canada Cup ran today starting at 11am. Play continued through 13 levels with a total of 349 entries to start the day. Of the 349, 79 players have qualified for Day 2 on Sunday.

The total of all of the entries in Event 1 so far adds up to 992, of whom 244 have qualified to move on. Of those 244, 2 players qualified twice, so the smaller of their two stacks will be removed from the tournament. This leaves 242 players who have officially qualified as of the end of Day 1c.

Level 13 is coming to an end and the TD has called for 5 more hands to be played on each table, and once those hands are done, that’s it for Day 1c.

Day 1d will be starting in about 90 minutes – this is your last chance to qualify for Day 2 on Sunday!

The tournament is about 10 minutes in to level 12 – the next-to-last level to be played today – and there are just over 100 players remaining while the top stacks on the tables are approaching – and in some cases surpassing – 160K in tournament chips. The current chip leader is Chheng Bun with about 180K, while Xavier Chavier and Carmela de Ciantis are close behind at around 160K.

Players are just returning from their second break of the day and during the pause we found the following chip leaders.

1. Michael D Brown – 145K
2. Richard Moreau – 140K
3. Ghislain Soucy – 120K
4. Carla Sabini – 105K
5. Gaetan Perreault – 95K
6. Marcel Basset – 95K

Gaetan Perreault

Michael D Brown

Carla Sabini

Richard Moreau

Marcel Basset

Ghislain Soucy

Some more shots of Event 1’s Day 1c taking place this afternoon including some of the bigger stacks that players are growing. Level 8 has just begun and there are still 214 players in the action… and a long way yet to go…

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Late registration has closed following the break after level 4 and the final tally of entries is in for today – there were 349 total who entered, adding up to a whopping 992 total entries so far!

The great thing about that number? The prize pool has already surpassed the guaranteed $100,000! Every entry after #741 has built the prize pool above and beyond the guarantee. By the time the final number of entries is in, it’s sure to add up to an impressive total!

Day 1c is through two levels of play and the number of entries has grown to 318 with more still joining every few minutes.

Here are some shots of the early action.

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Day 1c has almost reached the end of level 4, following which players will take their first break of the day. Late registration will end after this break, at which time we’ll be able to share the final number of entries for this flight.

A quick survey of the room found some early leaders in the day. Patrick Laquerre, Gaetan Perreault, Konrad Gloge, Edin Cekic, and Ghislain Soucy all have stacks passing 60K!

Players are now seated and the TD announcements have been made and play has begun on over 30 tables with more filling up by the minute.

In just half an hour, cards will be in the air for Day 1c of Event 1 of the PokerStars Canada Cup here at Playground Poker Club. The first two starting flights had a total of 643 entries, and of those, 165 have qualified for Day 2. As a “Next Day” re-entry tournament, anyone who played yesterday may try to qualify again in one or both flights today. If a player were to qualify from two different days, only their largest stack would move to Day 2, with the other chips being forfeit. For the record, in the first two flights no player qualified multiple times.

Today is a very special day at Playground beyond Event 1 though. As much as Montreal is a poker town, it’s 100x that much a hockey town – and today at 1pm, Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers will be taking place downtown. Every TV set in Playground will be tuned to the action and you can be sure that loud cheers will erupt every time the Habs score.

With both the hockey game AND a great tournament on tap, it’s already buzzing at Playground, so come on down and join in the fun!