Day 1C of the Strangers in the Night brought out a huge field of 259 entries, in what was by far the event’s largest starting flight.

Hockey legend Larry Robinson made an appearance and went on a good run, but he did not advance to Day 2. While he was here, he indulged fans with handshakes and photos so many in the field were able to leave with a souvenir, if not chips in the bag.

The mood was electric during the early levels as the loose action let players build stacks quickly and generated 59 re-entries before the late registration period finished following level 6. Predictably, the mood settled down after that point. The dynamics changed later in the evening when the blinds crept up high enough to begin to pressure the short stacks; the result was some bloated pots and numerous short stack shoves. This dynamic gave way to very conservative play during the last level of the evening, as the players were deep enough to not have to worry about the blinds and began to set their focus on returning for Day 2. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the fourteenth level, 58 players remained to bag chips.

This flight saw the chip lead change hands on many occasions, with a new chip leader at every break. When the chips finally went in the bag, Kyle Runnings emerged as the chip leader for the day with 378,000 in chips ready for tomorrow’s Day 2.

An open shove lead to a bloated pot that let two players multiply their respective stacks and deal the former chip leader a heavy blow.

With the blinds at 1K/2K, Francois Croteau open shoved his 30K stack from early position and picked up flat calls from both Stephen Valitalo and Omar Shammout. With a potential side pot between Valitalo and Shammout, the players watched the flop of hit the table. Valitalo checked to Shammout, who put out a bet of 24K. Without hesitation, Valitalo raised all in, and Shammout made the call for roughly 30K more. Hands were tabled to reveal that Valitalo had the lead thanks to his , Shammout had an over card and a gut-shot straight draw with and Croteau had two live overs with . The turn, the , gave Croteau the lead. The river, the , gave Shammout a pair but it was too little, too late.

Croteau managed to triple his stack, and Valitalo nearly doubled his stack thanks to the big side pot with Shammout.

Although many players have tightened up their ranges for the final few levels of the evening, many other are beginning to feel the pressure of the blinds. Now that the blinds have reached 800/1.6K, some players find themselves in the red zone with no options other than folding or moving all in.

Here’s an illustration of how this plays out; Michael De Luca opened the action to 3.8K from under the gun. The action folded around to Mathieu Ruel, who moved all in for roughly 9,000. It then folded to Jean Lafortune who moved all in for significantly more, well over 20,000. These actions put De Luca in a tough spot, and he took his time to consider the situation. After a few minutes in the tank, De Luca made the call and hands were tabled.

De Luca:

Lafortune:

Ruel:

Board:

The jacks stood, and De Luca sent two players to the rail.

As play resumes in level 12, we have a new chip leader on Day 1C. Omar Shammout has managed to run up a stack of more than four times the current chip average.

Now that only 86 players remain in this flight and many of them are already thinking about bagging chips, it will surprise no one to see the action tighten up over the next few levels.

Here are the current chip leaders:

As level 11 winds down on Day 1C, 90 players remain in contention, however, Larry Robinson is not among them. The hockey legend had a good run on Day 1C and just recently made his exit. Throughout the evening, he was friendly and accommodating with his fans, posing for photos and shaking hands during every break.

This evening’s impressive turnout of 259 runner put well over 6 million in chips in play so there will be some huge stacks advancing from this flight to Day 2. At each break we’ve seen the chip lead change hands and that trend will likely continue, as the final break of the evening approaches.

Stay tuned for the leader board…

Now that more than half of the original entries have been eliminated, the boisterous atmosphere of the early levels has given way to a more subdued vibe. The stacks are deep-the average provides nearly 70 big blinds-and the players have settled in for the grind to the end of the flight.

Here’s a look at some of the remaining players: