Event 1 has just come back from a short break, and a few stacks are now over the 1 million chip mark, with the following players currently leading the field:

1. Yannick Grondin – 1.3M
2. Jessie Wheatly – 1.12M
3. Guy Yvan Bourgouin – 1.1M
4. Nicolas Couture – 975K
5. Michael Pitcher – 925K
6. Samuel Gismondi – 900K

Just before the break there was a typical hand for this stage in the event – though the result wasn’t as standard. The small stack (we didn’t get his name) shoved and Angelo Amato, which only slightly more chips, shoved over the top. Everyone else folded and the players revealed their hands.

Player 1:
Angelo:

The flop was almost perfect for the first player: . The turn gave Angelo some chop outs – and some outs for the win. It was revealed to be the – which meant something different to everyone at the table (at least based on snap reactions). For Angelo, he made his flush. For the very frustrated other player it initially looked like a card that had brought the chop. For much of the table, it looked a lot like Angelo had actually made a straight flush…

In any case, his one-card flush was good enough, and his frustrated opponent made his way to the tournament desk for his payout slip.

We are now mid-way through level 21, and the field has been reduced to just 88 players on 10 tables. The million chip mark has already been breached, but for the moment only by one player – Yannick Grondin.

Here are a few photos from the last levels:

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(24 Photos)

The players are back from their third break of the day and there has been some amazing movement now that the bubble has passed. The top stacks in the event are approaching 1M chips and there are at least 20 players with double the chip average at this point.

1. Yannick Grondin – 945K
2. Joel Moreau – 880K
3. Michael Mousis – 720K
4. Michael Pitcher – 635K
5. Glenn Sauve – 620K

The Tournament Director and Staff were all ready to move the tournament to hand-for-hand action when there were a flurry of green lights (indicating seat open) and 3 players were eliminated in the same hand… players in position 166 to 163. Little bubble action is common in big-field low-buy-in events but it must be said that this was even quicker than usual.

In any case, the remaining 162 players are all in the money! Congratulations!

As you might imagine with the rate of players being eliminated today, quite a few players have managed to build huge stacks. There are now at least 15 players hovering around the 300K mark and the following chip leaders have surpassed that number.

1. Saad Lakhasassie – 365K
2. Chheng Bun – 360K
3. Carmela De Ciantis – 355K
4. Patrick Tardif – 350K
5. Jonathan Poissant – 335K
6. Andrej Bachynsky – 330K

Andrej Bachynsky

Carmela De Ciantis

Saad Lakhasassie

Jonathan Poissant

Patrick Tardif

Chheng Bun

The players have started their first break of the day. We’ll be back soon with the new chip leaders as the bubble approaches.

Play continues at a blistering pace as the tournament has entered level 16 with just 240 players and the bubble (163) approaching quickly.

Here are some photos of the early action in Day 2.

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(58 Photos)

As we often see in multi-day events, especially at lower buy-ins such as this, the tournament is moving extremely quickly as players try and improve the short stacks they started with and are eliminated by the larger stacks. From the 347 players who started the day the event is already down to about 300 players, and from 39 tables to start the day (play is 9-handed) there are now just 34 still active.