Just 17 players remain in Event 5, meaning that just 3 more players must be eliminated before the rest of the field is in the money… it’s bubble time!

The players have just taken a break and we got a full chip count for all players during the break.

The players in the $550 Freeze have reached the final two tables! The players are seated according to the following table as they work their way towards the money bubble in the event.

Play in today’s $550 Freeze is just on the verge of moving to 2 tables as play continues in level 17. As a one-day event, there will only be a full redraw for the 10-handed final table, but tournament staff is diligently ensuring that players are moved to keep the tables balanced as quickly as possible.

As soon as the tournament becomes a 2-table affair, the money bubble will be officially upon field – at that point there will be 18 players left and only the top 14 will get paid.

The next break for the players will be after the next level – level 17 is not quite half-way finished – and we’ll get a full update of the leaders at that time.

The players have just taken another break as tournament staff removed the T100 chips from play, and we found several players had taken quite a lead on the field as we slowly start to approach the money bubble. Sebastien Proulx is the leader with over 3x the chip average. He and Kathy Sawers have both been among the chip leaders for most of the day.

1. Sébastien Proulx: 315,000 chips
2. Andreas Kanakis: 273,500 chips
3. Kathy Sawers: 197,500 chips
4. Yohann Wagner: 189,000 chips
5. Christopher Willis Jackson: 183,500 chips

Just as the recent break approached we witnessed a huge hand between three players. Richard Edwin Mask went all-in for his last 15K and was called by Wayne Ward. Action was on Tony Stratopoulos, who thought for a few moments and then shoved over the top for around 80K. Wayne spent some time in the tank… and made the call for the rest of his 50K stack.

Tony Stratopoulos:

Wayne Ward:

Richard Edwin Mask:

The flop was a disaster for Tony: – not only did Richard’s Ace get there, but Wayne’s pocket Tens REALLY got there… and the turn and river didn’t provide any respite from the bad news. Wayne scooped the main pot and the side pot between he and Tony, who fell to around 30K in chips. Richard hit… but hit the rail nevertheless.

Wayne is now among the leaders in the tourney, though he’s still behind a few other players including Kathy Sawers who continues to lead overall.

1. Kathy Sawers: 197,000 chips
2. Francesco Maltese: 168,000 chips
3. Sébastien Proulx: 164,000 chips
4. Wayne Ward: 149,900 chips
5. Yohann Wagner: 129,000 chips

Wayne Ward

Kathy Sawers was the champion of Event 2 in this year’s Spring Classic, but that’s clearly not enough for her – she has now taken a nice lead on the field in Event 5 with a 40K chip lead on her nearest competitor.

1. Kathy Sawers: 134,400 chips
2. Peter Labib: 90,900 chips
3. Andreas Kanakis: 87,000 chips
4. Samuel Louis Gagnon: 85,100 chips
5. Alexandre Audy: 73,200 chips

There’s a proverb that says, “you can’t choose your parents” and in poker we might say, “you can’t choose your table…” On table 67 there is a group of tremendously talented players, each with an impressive history behind them. Here’s a look at this “feature table”

1. Patrice Mailloux
2. Rodney Ramalho
3. Kim Kilroy
4. Alexandre Lavigne
5. Shaun Bowring
6. Mike Lafable
7. Ruben Perceval
8. Sausha Mohammadi
9. Jean-Philippe Piquette