As the players return to their seats from the second break of the evening, Richard Skrodzki holds the chip lead with more than triple the current chip average.

The late registration period came to a close shortly before the break, but that did not put the brakes on the action. The players show no signs of slowing down, as big raises and multi-way pots have become standard in this flight.

Although the re-entry period has closed on Day 1C, the action remains loose and aggressive.

Here is a good example: With the blinds at 250/500, Junior Roberts opened the pre-flop action to 2,250 and picked up 5 callers. The flop fell , and Philippe Anglade led out for 3,500 from the small blind. The next player to act folded, and the action came Roberts who moved all-in for nearly 8,000. Tu Kham Tran, the next to act, quickly made the cold call before Ayaz Khan moved all-in for nearly 20K. All the raises chased Anglade out of the pot, and Tran reluctantly made the call.

Roberts:

Tran:

Khan:

The turn, , and river, ,  didn’t affect any of the hands involved, and Roberts multiplied his stack.

There is a lot of energy in the room as we approach the end of the late registration and re-entry period on Day 1C. There are huge pots being shipped left and right, and the players are trying everything to build their stacks.

A hand that just played out between Andre Vezina and Michael Marinaro shows all these dynamics at work. Marinaro put out an aggressive bet of 11,000, as the first to act on a board. His neighbour, Andre Vezina, moved all in for roughly 15,000. Marinaro was priced in at this point and made a begrudging call. Vezina slammed his on the table, and Marinaro told him “you’re ahead.” Vezina jumped out of his seat in shock and exclaimed “I am?!” He was ahead of Marinaro’s , but he had to fade a lot of cards. Vezina stood and leaned over the table calling for a black card at very high volume. And the poker gods answered his call with a black card, the , making trips for Marinaro. The table gasped, and Vezina made his exit.

Play continues in level 7 with 167 players remaining.

During the first break of the evening, hockey legend Larry Robinson graciously indulged a number of photo requests from fans in the field tonight. They will certainly appreciate the souvenirs, just as we appreciate the hall of famer coming out in support of such a great event!

It was back to business for the players once the buzzer sounded to end the break. Here are some more photos of the steadily growing field:

The players have just returned to their seats following the first break of the evening. A few more players joined the field during the break, bringing the total number of entries up to 234.

The action was fast and loose throughout the first few levels, allowing many players to run their stacks beyond double the current chip average. Philippe Anglade is first among them, playing a stack that is nearly triple the average.

As the action heats up in the fourth level of play, there are over 5,000,000 chips in play here on Day 1C, thanks to the huge turnout of 202 entries. This event features an extended late registration and re-entry period so players have until 10:15 pm to (re-)join the field.

Many players came out firing tonight, trying to build their stacks as quickly as possible. This “boom or bust” approach paid dividends for some and sent others back to the cage, as shown by the 21 entries at this stage.

The end of the fourth level approaches, stay tuned for the first leader board…