Day 2 has come to an end, and of the 314 runners who started out in the 4 Day 1 flights, the tournament is down to the final 8 players who return tomorrow (Saturday) @ 3 PM for Day 3, where they will play down to a winner.  Players are now guaranteed at least $4,040 in 8th place, and of course all have the ambition for the 1st place prize of $32,025 (plus a Step 3 ticket).

The action has picked up and over the last 20 minutes we have now lost Pablo Mariz (12th), Ruben Perceval (11th), Antony Pelletier (10th).

Here are the final table players:

Here are the payouts:

The tournament has just returned from the last break of the night and a new leader has emerged.  Jose Gomez has bolted to just over 2.7mil, and is followed by Christian Rho sitting on just over 2.4mil.

There are two more levels of 40 minutes each and then the remaining players bag for day 3.

The action had already taken place and the river was being dealt when we arrived at the table.  In a heads up battle between Diana Shamshoum and Christian Rho, Diana pushed her stack all-in on the turn and Christian went deep into the tank before making the call.

Diana was holding and Christian had

Diana had flopped trip deuces on a flop, and Christian had top-top (pair of Queens, Ace kicker).  The on the turn hadn’t changed anything and Diana was way ahead when Christian made the call, but the on the river had now given Christian a full house and that would put Diana’s day to an abrupt and unfortunate end.

Christian is now sitting on just over 2.7M and has the clear lead, and is way ahead of the rest of the pack.

It’s a tight race for sure, but we have a new chip leader: Christian Rho, who has managed a slight edge over Diana Shamshoun, but only by a hair. Michael Korovine has also chipped up nicely and is right behind Diana.

Some recent bustouts include Antoine Simon, Yann Prevost-Dumont, Pierre Olivier Guay, Nicolas Lareau-Lessard, and Mitcheal Ferguson.

The play has been very active since the tournament has been in the money. The chip average right now is just over 35bb’s, so the play is deep and there is a lot of room to maneuver around. The next break is in just a few minutes so there will be a chance to update chip stacks.

Notables still in include Diana Shamshoun, Antoine Simon, Pablo Mariz, Ruben Perceval, Jean Rene Plante, Shaan Siddiqui, JS Penven, Nick Soller and Christian Rho.

Recent bustouts include Tam Ho, Etienne Leduc, Grant Ellis, Gylbert Drolet, Philippe Belley, Michael McKinnon, and Louis Boutin.