The money bubble has burst on the 50/50 Bounty. It only took a few minutes of hand-for-hand play to dispatch with the bubble. It came to a dramatic three-way all in before the flop where the big stack woke up with pocket kings on the button and was able to make an easy call to put two players at risk.

Zachary Macaro woke up with pocket eights and was the first to move all in, before the action came to Michael De Luca, who was also playing a short stack, went deep into the tank before putting his tournament life at risk with pocket jacks. The action quickly folded to Ricardo Cavallieri, on the button, who made the easy call with pocket kings. No players connected with the board, and pocket kings were good enough to capture two bounties and burst the money bubble.

Any time the first player to act puts his bounty chip in play, there’s always the potential for fireworks.

And that’s just what happened when  Yan Gohier put his eleven-big-blind stack in the middle from under the gun. Genia Frenkel made the flat call, and the action folded around to Shawn S. Shawn took a moment to consider his options before tossing his own bounty chip in. Shawn’s raise to something in the neighbourhood of 120K chased the rest of the table out of the pot, and the action came back to Frenkel. Without hesitation, she made the called off her stack and put her tournament life at risk.

Gohier:

Frenkel:

Shawn:

Board:

The big call worked out for the best for Frenkel, as she captured a bounty chip and more than doubled her stack.

As the players return from their third break of the evening, Charles Rivest-Beaudoin has taken the chip lead.

Less than a quarter of the starting field remains in contention, with only 48 of the 222 entries remaining. The prospect of the money bubble is starting to exert its influence on the players, but with the chip average only providing around 23 big blinds at this stage, the players cant afford to tighten up too much.

Here are the current chip leaders:

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Francis	Rivest-Beaudoin	280,000
Charles-Etienne	Trudeau	220,000
Donald	Lee	206,000
Gerardo	Jimenez	195,000
Michael	De Luca	190,500
Kevin	Quincy-Adams	163,000

More than two thirds of the starting field has been eliminated in the 50/50 Bounty, but the players show no signs of slowing down or tightening up. The $100 bounty chips have been working their magic and every hand dealt has the potential for big action.

With the blinds at 1K/2K, there was a fairly standard open from John Dubuc in early position to 4.6K. He picked up a call from Andrew Forest before Andrew Bracy moved all in from the button for slightly more than a minimum raise. Charles-Etienne Trudeau promptly put in another raise to 12K from the big blind. Forest made the call and the three players saw a flop with a side pot brewing between Forest and Trudeau.

The flop fell , and Trudeau led out with a bet that chased Forest out of the pot. Hands were tabled to reveal that Bracy, with his tournament life at risk, had the best of it with and was up against Trudeau’s . The turn, the , gave Trudeau more outs, and he got there when the hit the river. Trudeau rivered the straight, good for a bounty and a hefty pot.

Play continues in level 11 with 66 players remaining.

The players have just returned from the second break of the evening, and more than half of the starting field has been eliminated. Many players have benefited from the loose, early action, but none more than Gerardo Jimenez who has managed to accumulate an impressive stack of more than four times the current chip average.

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Gerardo	Jimenez	189,100
Kevin	Quincy Adams	126,000
Vincent	Danis	94,000
Arnold	Yaxley	85,500
Alain	Neveu	77,000

Tonight’s stellar turnout has built a prize pool that easily exceeded the guarantee. In all, 28 players will cash this event, and the winner will take home nearly $5,000 on top of the bounties (s)he accumulates along the way. Quite the pay day for a one-day event!

Rank | Pos	Prize | Bourse
1st	$4,968
2nd	$3,480
3rd	$2,140
4th	$1,300
5th	$1,000
6th	$830
7th	$710
8th	$610
9th	$500
10th-12th	$440
13th-15th	$380
16th-18th	$310
19th-21st	$250
22nd-24th	$190
25th-27th	$160
28th	$140