Here are some photos taken throughout the day:
Day 3 photos
2014/05/26 1:06pm by
Rush to the cashier
2014/05/26 11:51am by
As expected there has been a rush to the cashier as 9 players have already been eliminated.
Eliminations, 72nd to 64th, $6,010
- Medhat Ramzy
- Nick Nickoletopoulos
- Louis Boutin
- Jean-François Bouchard
- Eric Place
- Ellis Polsky
- Ronald Eaton
- Ian O’Shaughnessy
- Daniel Denghel
Cards are in the air
2014/05/26 11:26am by
Play has begun in Day 3 in the Main Event of the PokerStars Canada Cup. They’ll play 20 minutes in level 17 and then the tournament will move to 90-minute levels.
Keep in mind that you can follow all of the action via live stream. Visit the Live Stream page here on the blog or go directly to the source at PokerStars.tv to tune in.
Day 3 is set to go
2014/05/26 10:51am by
We’re about 20 minutes from the kick off of Day 3 of the Main Event of the PokerStars Canada Cup here at Playground Poker Club. Yesterday the tournament played all the way down to the money bubble (elimination in 73rd place) and no further, so to start Day 3 everyone left alive is in the money. However, with just over $6K for a min-cash and $366,660.00 for first place there’s still a lot to play for.
Expect the action to start out extremely quickly as players who have been nurturing short stacks make their move to get healthy stacks or get paid, but as the day progresses the action should start to slow down as the pay jumps become more substantial.
The tournament will play down today to 27 players, at which time those remaining will bag up their chips and return for Day 4 on Tuesday.
PokerStars Canada Cup Main Event Day 3 seating chart & counts
2014/05/25 8:18pm by
Day 2 of the Main Event of the PokerStars Canada Cup has been completed and there are 72 players left with chips who will return for Day 3 tomorrow. At the outset of today’s play the Tournament Director announced a slight modification to the published tournament schedule – today’s play would continue either a) until the players reached the money at 72 players remaining or b) until the end of the 10th level of the day, whichever came first.
The bubble came (and went) while the tournament was in Level 17, and when the bubble player was eliminated, play stopped and all 72 players in the money bagged their chips to return tomorrow, when play will resume at 11am.
With a new day comes a new random seating draw. Play will resume in the event with players seated according to this chart. Click on a column heading to re-order the table.
| First Name | Last Name | Seat | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alec | Brandstatter | Table 30 – Seat 7 | 123,000 |
| Alek | Stasiak | Table 30 – Seat 1 | 47,500 |
| Alemu | Makonen | Table 34 – Seat 6 | 68,500 |
| Alexandre | Lavigne | Table 35 – Seat 2 | 183,500 |
| Amer | Sulaiman | Table 31 – Seat 9 | 299,000 |
| Ami | Alibay | Table 33 – Seat 8 | 70,000 |
| Amirmasoud | Babakhani | Table 29 – Seat 3 | 241,500 |
| Ankush | Mandavia | Table 31 – Seat 4 | 321,000 |
| Antonio | Esfandiari | Table 33 – Seat 4 | 158,500 |
| Benoit | Pesant | Table 35 – Seat 3 | 156,500 |
| Carter | Swidler | Table 33 – Seat 7 | 343,500 |
| Chang Whan | Sohn | Table 39 – Seat 1 | 304,000 |
| Christian | Paradis | Table 39 – Seat 4 | 133,000 |
| Daniel | Denghel | Table 29 – Seat 8 | 25,000 |
| David | Assouline | Table 30 – Seat 6 | 112,000 |
| Domenico | Agatiello | Table 29 – Seat 5 | 504,000 |
| Doris | Charlebois | Table 39 – Seat 2 | 213,500 |
| Doug | Hartwick | Table 30 – Seat 8 | 97,000 |
| Ellis | Polsky | Table 30 – Seat 4 | 85,000 |
| Eric | Place | Table 33 – Seat 5 | 112,000 |
| Francis | Labonte | Table 38 – Seat 5 | 199,500 |
| Francois | Binette | Table 38 – Seat 8 | 613,000 |
| Francois | Goulet | Table 29 – Seat 1 | 222,000 |
| Frank | Katana | Table 29 – Seat 6 | 115,000 |
| Ian | O'Shaugnessy | Table 31 – Seat 6 | 94,000 |
| James | Armstrong | Table 34 – Seat 3 | 189,000 |
| Jason | James | Table 38 – Seat 7 | 46,000 |
| Jean Francois | Bouchard | Table 31 – Seat 5 | 31,000 |
| Jeffrey | Kennedy | Table 33 – Seat 1 | 269,500 |
| Jeremie | Bilodeau | Table 35 – Seat 1 | 819,500 |
| Jeremy | Thompson | Table 34 – Seat 5 | 175,000 |
| Johnny A | Benehoutsos | Table 30 – Seat 3 | 228,000 |
| Johnny | Mazzaferro | Table 30 – Seat 5 | 275,000 |
| Jonas | Mackoff | Table 31 – Seat 3 | 290,000 |
| Jonathan | Driscoll | Table 39 – Seat 3 | 635,500 |
| Jonathan | Duhamel | Table 35 – Seat 5 | 240,000 |
| Jonathan Richard | Crute | Table 39 – Seat 6 | 300,000 |
| Justin | Miller | Table 39 – Seat 8 | 326,500 |
| Kevin | MacDonald | Table 33 – Seat 9 | 169,000 |
| Laurence | Grondin | Table 38 – Seat 3 | 132,500 |
| Levon | Dedeyan | Table 34 – Seat 8 | 129,500 |
| Louis | Boutin | Table 29 – Seat 7 | 183,000 |
| Marc Andre | Ladouceur | Table 29 – Seat 9 | 301,000 |
| Marc-Olivier | Carpentier-Perrault | Table 31 – Seat 8 | 63,500 |
| Marcello | Delgrasso | Table 38 – Seat 4 | 249,500 |
| Marco | Caza | Table 39 – Seat 5 | 304,500 |
| Mathieu | Boulanger-Vaugeois | Table 38 – Seat 2 | 106,000 |
| Maxime | Ouimet | Table 38 – Seat 1 | 225,500 |
| McKenzie James | Liebzeit | Table 34 – Seat 4 | 520,500 |
| Medhat | Ramzy | Table 39 – Seat 9 | 165,500 |
| Micah | Johnson | Table 35 – Seat 6 | 194,000 |
| Michael | Watson | Table 33 – Seat 2 | 219,000 |
| Nick | Nickoletopoulos | Table 34 – Seat 9 | 101,000 |
| Pascal | Lefrancois | Table 29 – Seat 4 | 304,000 |
| Raffi Don | Dayian | Table 33 – Seat 3 | 85,000 |
| Rayan | Chamas | Table 34 – Seat 2 | 776,500 |
| Robert | Mcadam | Table 35 – Seat 4 | 92,000 |
| Robert | Notkin | Table 35 – Seat 9 | 497,000 |
| Ronald | Eaton | Table 31 – Seat 1 | 97,500 |
| Ryan | Pignatelli | Table 29 – Seat 2 | 123,000 |
| Ryan | Rivers | Table 34 – Seat 1 | 389,500 |
| Spencer | Stacey | Table 38 – Seat 9 | 215,500 |
| Steven | Silverman | Table 33 – Seat 6 | 309,000 |
| Sylvain | Siebert | Table 31 – Seat 7 | 677,000 |
| Tamer | Alkamli | Table 34 – Seat 7 | 435,500 |
| Theodore | Doukas | Table 35 – Seat 7 | 380,000 |
| Thiago | Nishijima | Table 30 – Seat 9 | 644,000 |
| Thomas | Lefort | Table 30 – Seat 2 | 63,500 |
| Viktor | Leonov | Table 35 – Seat 8 | 94,500 |
| Vincent | Bellissimo | Table 38 – Seat 6 | 77,000 |
| Vincent | Jacques | Table 31 – Seat 2 | 276,000 |
| William | Molson | Table 39 – Seat 7 | 107,000 |
Bubble has burst; Day 2 over
2014/05/25 7:03pm by
Two simultaneous eliminations occurred with 74 players remaining, and just like that the Main Event of the PokerStars Canada Cup is now in the money! Tam Ho and Mario Lepine were the unlucky ones who just missed a payday, but they made 72 others very happy.
With these eliminations, Day 2 is now over, and players have bagged their chips for Day 3. When they return, they will play the remaining 23:01 left in level 17 before changing to 90-minute levels.
Final chip counts and seating assignments for Day 3 will be made available shortly.
Dans l’argent @PokerStars #CanadaCup Quelle remontée! À demain! Ps:@JDogDriscoll is a boss.
— Laurence Grondin (@LadyLuckPoker) May 25, 2014
In the money #CanadaCup @PlaygroundPoker finish with 80k 16bb tommorow 11ham and GO Habs GO …
— AmiAlibay (@AmiAlibay) May 25, 2014
In the money, but not yet the profit, with 219k. 240k average coming back tomorrow #GoHabs
— Mike Watson (@SirWatts) May 25, 2014
Early end to day 2 in the money. I got 635k average stack 240k. Can go back home and enjoy the pool with my baby.
— Jonathan Driscoll (@JDogDriscoll) May 25, 2014
Bubble burst and day 2 ends. Bagged up 290,000 coming back to 5k bb. Chipped up nicely on bubble/feature table 🙂
— Jonas Mackoff (@donut604) May 25, 2014
ITM of the @pokerstars #CanadaCup , day 3 tomorrow 320k avg 250
— Ankush Mandavia (@AnkushMandavia) May 26, 2014
Chamas makes a hero call near bubble
2014/05/25 6:48pm by
Rayan Chamas just made the call of his tournament, and it took him nearly 8 minutes to decide that his hand must be good.
With the board showing 
, and around 150K in the pot, Rayan checked to Danny Boyaci for a third street in a row, and Danny announced he was all-in for 234K. Rayan looked a little surprised with this move, and proceeded to think… and think… and think… A small crowd began to gather around the table, as players from other tables were getting intrigued with the action. Rayan stood up, shook his head, and eventually slid some chips forward to signify a call.
Danny turned over 
for ace-high, and Rayan tabled 
for a winning set of 5s. Rayan is now sitting on a comfortable 525K+ stack, while Danny fell 4 spots short of the money.
Update on chip counts
2014/05/25 6:08pm by
We have completed 6 levels so far in this Day 2, and we are only 8 players short of bursting the money bubble. Once this point is reached, the players will bag and tag their chips onto Day 3, which is scheduled for 11am tomorrow, Monday May 26th.
Here are the current chip leaders:
- Jeremie Bilodeau – 904K
- Sylvain Siebert – 617K
- Jonathan Driscoll – 560K
- Domenico Agatiello – 525K
- Thiago Nishijima – 514K
- Robert Notkin – 473K
- McKenzie James Liebzeit – 444K
- Francois Binette – 443K
- Carter Swidler – 435K
- Steven Silverman – 409K
Other stacks worth mentioning:
- Alexandre Lavigne – 160K
- Antonio Esfandiari – 112K
- Jonathan Duhamel – 171K
- Laurence Grondin – 125K
- Michael Watson – 164K
- Pascal Lefrancois – 260K
- Rayan Chamas – 268K
- Will Molson – 100K
Play will resume in 5 minutes, and the tournament should enter hand-for-hand play fairly soon.
And a second huge leader
2014/05/25 5:22pm by
Piotr just wrote about a huge pot that vaulted Jonathan Driscoll into the chip lead – and sitting at the next table over almost back-to-back with Jonathan is another huge leader, Domenico Agatiello – known universally at Playground simply as Agi – who also has well over 600K. The two of them – Driscoll at over 680K and Agi at over 630K are both about 200K ahead of the player with the 3rd highest stack.
We’ll be doing a full survey for the big stacks during the next break in 20 minutes.
Driscoll springs into the leaderboard
2014/05/25 5:13pm by
Jonathan Driscoll was considering not playing in this Main Event of the PokerStars Canada Cup, as he had made plans to go to the Spartan race this weekend with his friends, but a last minute change of heart brought him here to Playground Poker Club. Given his run today, it is looking like he made a +EV decision. Having started the day with 121.9K, he has managed to chip up to over 600K, largely due to a recent huge pot he won.
Recent big stack Riyaz Abdulla opened from the cutoff to 10K, and was 3bet by Jonathan to 25K from the big blind. Riyaz 4bet to 68.5K, holding roughly 155K behind, and went into the tank when Jonathan 5bet shoved (Jonathan had Riyaz’s stack covered). He eventually made the call, and it was a flip for a pot upwards of 450K.
Riyaz: 
Jonathan: 
The board ran 
, and Jonathan scooped the massive pot, eliminating Riyaz.
Jonathan Driscoll (AK) Vs Riyaz Abdulla (77) 
Jonathan Driscoll
À la table du @JDogDriscoll ,c'est beau le voir owner ça comme un boss! @PokerStars #CanadaCup
— Laurence Grondin (@LadyLuckPoker) May 25, 2014
