As we were circling the tables looking for heated hands, one of the players behind us said: “All-inning should be a sport”. This just about sums it up nicely. Approximately one player every 2 minutes is heading for the rail right now, and there are absolutely no signs that the action is slowing down any time soon. We can hear the players and dealers saying “all in” from every direction.

One example is table #61, where almost every hand is subject to an all in.

As we arrived at the table and there was an all in card in front of Mario Robert, with 11,900 chips in front of him. Action was on Gal Kvil who was in the tank. When Gal called, it was up to Christian Brousseau who called pretty quickly. After Christan’s call Mario almost exposed his hand but the alert dealer had just enough time to stop him. However, the damage was done, both Christian and Gal understood the message: Mario had a strong hand that he was anxious to throw down. Time would inform us that Mario was sitting on a pair of .

Both players checked on the flop which undoubtedly pleased Mario Robert. The on the turn also received two checks from Christian and Gal. Although Mario was happy to see the Jack; he was definitely not thrilled to notice it was a 3rd spade. Christian and Gil both checked the on the river, quite visibly not willing to stretch their necks on a 4th spade, which also doubled the board.

Mario quickly tabled his pocket jacks for a boat. Being the shorter stack, Mario did not eliminate anyone but the win clearly was a welcome gift at this point in the tournament.

Christian Brousseau:
Gal Kvil:

Players are heading into a break so we will be sure to update the leader board.

The eliminations are steady and continuous as players get sent to the rail one after the other. As predicted the action is heating up and the numbers have dwindled down to 100 players.

Here are a few photos of the players from level 7.

Players went on break and we took the opportunity to go around the tournament floor and see who’s in the lead. With the average at approximately 30K, we were in search of stacks of 75,000 chips or more.

Sure enough, a few elite players made their way into the leaderboard.

Albert Havitov is off to a great start and has taken the lead after 6 levels, with a total chip count of 89,400

The arrival of level 7 means that the registration period is closed, so expect the action, and the eliminations, to be hard, fast and unforgiving. There are currently 109 players of the original 166 entries, as play resumes.

The boards are now showing 144 entries, with 128 players still in the running. We haven’t noticed any major hands, but it’s still very early.

Here are a few photos of the players in level 4.

Level 3 just got under way and players are streaming into the tournament hall. As is customary in freezout tournaments, the players are a little more cautious with their chips. Only 2 players have been eliminated since the start of the tournament approximately 45 minutes ago.

Players have until 5:15 pm to get into the action, so come down to Playground and see what all the fuss is about!

Here are a few photos of levels 1 and 2.

The ball just got rolling in event #4.  This is a $80 + $10 Freezout and players start with 20,000 chips.  Blinds will increase every 20 minutes and the action will be 10-handed throughout the tournament.  The late registration period will be open until the beginning of level 7, so players have until 5:15pm to register.

Here we go!