Xuan Liu opened the action preflop, and found a parade of calls as play went six-handed to the flop. It checked around to the turn, where Xuan fired 3,800 and found calls from Nimer Ltaif and Ian Tang. Once the river brought the , action checked to Ian in position, who slid forward his 25,200 stack. The wheels started turning in Xuan’s head, and after a few minutes of silence she made the call, forcing Nimer out of the hand. “Nice call”, announced Ian who seemingly missed his draw, prompting Xuan to table her for the win.

The players are now part-way through their last level before the 45-minute long dinner break – and at the end of the dinner break, registration will be officially closed in this year’s WPT Canadian Spring Championship. For now, though, late registration is still available and players are still joining the field.

It should be noted that the pace of the eliminations today has been particularly slow – now that it’s a freezeout tourney, players are taking great care to play snug and not take chances. Obviously that’s a great opportunity for a player who wants to open things up a little and put their foot on the throttle. So far there’s little evidence of anyone taking that route – but as blinds and antes grow, that’s sure to change.

The players in Day 1c are taking their first break of the day and as they are away from the tables we were able to ascertain that the current chip leader is Ivan Fazal Karim, who is already playing a stack totalling 73,200 tournament chips. There are many players lurking in the 50K to 55K range as well, including Andy Frankenberger and Mark Guerbilsky among others.

There are “personalities” on every poker table, everywhere in the world, but today in Day 1c we have some players who bring extra colour to every table they join.

• Isabelle Tremblay – Isabelle is a committed poker aficionado, but she’s also a race car driver. There’s no point looking for stress tells from Isabelle – racing at speed tends to put the stresses of the poker table in perspective.
• “Cowboy” Joe Gualtieri – Joe is a regular big-event player at Playground Poker Club, and always impresses with his amazing black outfits and matching hat. He has gone deep in big events here in the past – he looks good, but it’s all about the poker for Joe.
• Michael Hunter – Michael was given the nickname “Mister Smiles” earlier in this year’s Spring Classic, and the name should stick because he’s one of the friendliest, happiest guys to ever be seen at a poker table. He’s also fond of wearing the brightest sweaters he can find!
• Carter Swidler – Carter is one of the best of the best all-time online pros, but as his recently-débuted Twitch channel demonstrates almost daily, he’s always having fun. We haven’t noticed if he has brought one of his trademarked hats with him today – but it’s always a possibility!

The opening announcements have been made and players have taken their seats – and the dealers have now been commanded to “Shuffle up and deal” – and just like that, action is underway in Day 1c of the partypoker.net WPT Canadian Spring Championship!

To get thing started there are already 94 players seated with a steady stream arriving after their preliminary stop at the cashier’s cage.

The chip average after 10 levels for the first 2 starting flights is 70,400 tournament chips while the big stacks from the previous starting days are north of 160,000. The players today are trying to join the 96 players who have already qualified for Day 2, which is set to begin at 12:00pm on Monday May 2nd.