When we got to the table, the river was out and nearly 30K were in the pot. Ramsey Belmaaza bet 7K into 2 people. His first opponent was none other than Charles Laboissionnière, who took 4th place in Event 1, a 670-player brawl. La Boissonnière took a few moments to make his decision, then raised all-in.

When the other player folded, Belmaaza, perplex, was looking right at La Boissonnière, trying to read him. He ended up mucking his hand, and La Boissonnière pushed his hole cards towards him and asked him to pick one.

Board:

Belmaaza chose the card on the left: !

Steve Alexandre had an an impressive start, now counting 4 stacks in front of him. In only 4 levels, and with very low blinds, he managed to quadruple up, leaving everyone behind. Here is our current top 3:

• Steve Alexandre – 78,000
• Mathieu Daigneault – 67,300
• Joshua Brueckner – 67,900

When we got to the table, the turn was out, and Rong Xu had placed a 4K bet. Christian Barrett called, and checked again on the river. Xu threw in 10,200, which was not an all-in because he kept 2 T100 chips to protect his cards. Barrett tanked for a long time, fiddling with 4 chips that constituted the calling amount. He finally called.

Rong Xu:

Board:

What a turn for Xu. Barrett mucked his cards, but the fact that he called those 2 heavy bets leads to believe that he was way ahead on the flop. Xu climbs to almost 40K, while Barrett, who started the night strong, is now left with about 10K.

 

Jeremy Guay-Ly has lost a good portion of his stack early, and rolled the dice with the rest of it. Pre-flop, he threw his chips forward, and Sébastien Labbé decided to contest the pot.

Jeremy Guay-Ly:
Sébastien Labbé:

Board:

Labbé’s flush draw came home, giving him a little boost in ammunition for future battles.

Level 3 photographs:

 

Day 1B is now at level 2, and the tables are filling up. 33 players started on time, and we now count 77 in the tournament room. Of course, we expect many more to come during the next few levels, as registration remains open until 9h15pm.

Here is an early look at the field: