Day 1a of the Main Event of the PokerStars Canada Cup started at 11am on May 22 and played through 10 hour-long levels before the remaining players bagged their chips to take to Day 2, on Sunday. Of the 129 players who started today, 47 remained at the end of the day.

Players who did not manage to qualify for Day 2 today may re-enter the tournament either (or both) tomorrow and/or Saturday.

The players are well into level 10, which is the final level to be played in Day 1a of the PokerStars Canada Cup Main Event. After a gruelling 10 hours of poker there are just 52 players left in the action.

There have been some big eliminations in the last level or so, but none bigger than Jonathan Duhamel, who tweeted about his experience:

From chip leader at dinner break of @PokerStars Canada Cup to busto in 3 hours… thats hurts, back tomorrow for day 1B #GoHabs

— Jonathan Duhamel (@JonathanDuhamel) May 23, 2014

Other recent eliminations of note include Players Club member Chris “d0r1t0s” McClung and, perhaps ironically, the 1st and 2nd place finishers in the High Roller event that finished earlier today – Samuel Chartier and Ami Alibay – were both eliminated one after the other in the Main Event.

One of the really great things about welcoming the poker world to Playground Poker Club is the fantastic reactions we get from so many players, from pros who travel the world to players who might be at their first big event.

Here’s a sampling of tweets about Playground from the past day or so:

Glad to be back @playgroundpoker I feel so at home here. Without a doubt the BEST place to play in Canada. @Jkmontreal @Jgross5

— Antonio Esfandiari (@MagicAntonio) May 22, 2014

Here at @PlaygroundPoker And right away I'm reminded how much I love this room.Great friendly staff,very well ran and amazing food!

— Ronnie Bardah (@RonnieBardah) May 22, 2014

Can confirm @PlaygroundPoker is a great poker room and happy to recommend it!

— David Yan (@missoraclepoker) May 22, 2014

Day 1a @PokerStars "Canada Cup" @PlaygroundPoker – by far my favourite poker venue to play at each year. Comfy chairs/great food/great city.

— Jonas Mackoff (@donut604) May 22, 2014

Let's do this! @PokerStars @PlaygroundPoker pic.twitter.com/EdlR6DqLhy

— Adam Tuk (@jigsflippin) May 22, 2014

The players entered in Day 1a of the PokerStars Canada Cup Main Event have completed 6 levels of play and have settled into the 45 minute dinner break. As the players are enjoying a meal from the buffet provided, we toured the room to find out the leaders at this point in the day. (Chip counts approximate)

1. Jonathan Duhamel – 138K
2. Gary Lucci – 127K
3. Kevin MacDonald – 127K
4. Paul Klann – 115K
5. Jeffrey Rossiter – 96K

There are also several players in the 75K-85K range – by rough count, there are at least 12 hovering around that mark and poised to join the chip leaders with one or two good pots.

Late registration ends at the end of this break (in another 20 minutes) but it doesn’t seem that there are too many waiting to register at the last minute.

After 4 levels in the Main Event of the Pokerstars Canada Cup, a few players have started to separate themselves from the average. The field is led by the following 4 players, with dozens more inches behind:

1. Billy Kontaratos – 104K
2. Gary Lucci – 78K
3. Daniel Whitby – 75K
4. Paul Klann – 74K

Here are a few photos taken prior to the break:

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We are now on a short break here in the Main Event, as two levels have already passed us. Registration is up to 114 and counting, with still 4 levels of 1 hour to go before late registration closes.

The Pokerstars Canada Cup Main Event Day 1a is now in is second level, with more and more players joining by the minute. Registration is up to 110 entries, and there are still just over 5 hours left to enter Day 1a.

Below are a few photos taken in the first levels of play:

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It’s a star-studded affair today as we’ve noticed players like Mike Watson, Will Molson, Paul Klann, Steve Silverman, as well as players with notable past results here at Playground like Geoffrey Robert McNeely, Players Club member Jean-Philippe Piquette, Chris Back, Benoit Pesant and more.

Players have taken their seats and the opening remarks have been made and without any further ado, cards are in the air for Event 6 of the PokerStars Canada Cup, the $3000 + $300 Main Event.

The schedule for the day is to play 10 levels of 60 minutes each, with breaks after every second level and a 45-minute dinner break after level 6. Late registration is open until the end of this dinner break, so there’s lots of time for players to get out to Playground and jump in the event.

As the tournament was starting we looked around the room for some well-known names and there were more than a few. Some of the notable players in the field so far:

• Team PokerStars pro Jonathan Duhamel
• Two of the three poker-playing Greenwood brothers, Sam and Lucas
• recent WPT Champion Eric Afriat
• Quebec’s online and live phenom, Yann Dion
• Players Club member Chris “d0r1t0s” McClung
• Playground Poker Event legend Sylvain Siebert

So far there are 100 players in the event but with 6 levels of late reg (and over 220 satellite winners to accommodate) that number is sure to grow considerably for this first flight of the Main Event.