The first of 7 Live Day 1 flights in the WPT500 has wrapped up with 45 players qualified for Day 2 out of the 244 entries (and re-entries) today. When time ran out on level 16, the tournament director called for 3 more hands to be played.

The Day 1A chip leader was Jonathan Bussieres with a huge stack of 542,000 chips. The full results of Day 1A have now been added to the WPT500 Combined Day 1 Results table.

It has already been a day full of action here at Playground Poker Club on Day 1A of the $500 + $50 WPT. Presently the average chip stack is approximately 150,000, with blinds at 2K and 4K. There are only fifteen minutes left in the final level of the day, level 16, and the field of 244 entrants has been whittled down to only 49 players.

Anyone still holding chips at the end of the day will have earned the opportunity to come back for Day 2. However, there are still 6 Day 1s scheduled to take place before then (including tonight’s Day 1B). Come on down and try your luck!

The following photos were taken during level 13, and include some of the bigger stacks left in play. Good luck to all those players who will make the cut for Day 2!

Excitement occurred at table 32. Preflop, Sylvain Lessard bet 6,500. Chip leader at seat 8, Thomas Zanot called. Pryde, sitting to Zanot’s left went all in.

Sylvain didn’t hesitate. He also pushed his entire stack into the pot. Thomas debated for a moment, shuffling his chips, before he folded.

Both players revealed their cards.  Sylvain revealed and John showed .

The dealer dealt the flop and John flashed a smile. The turn was a and the river . John’s set of fives helped him to more than double up.

The players in Day 1A of the WPT500 took a break recently and we were able to get refreshed chip counts of the leaders going into the final stint of the day. Each Day 1 is set to play through 16 levels – the break following level 12 was the final break of the Day.

Thomas Zanot has again taken the lead with well over 200K in chips to this point in the flight, and the players behind him still waiting to hit the 200K mark. There’s still plenty of time for someone to catch up, though – and then some!

Level 12 just wrapped up and the event is now rolling towards  the final stint of the Day. The 244 entries have now been reduced to 98 players. Here are some photos taken during level 12.

Late in level 9, Mathieu Boulanger-Vaugeois got the better of Donald Maloney after Donald went all in from late position.

After the hole cards were dealt Donald pushed his stack of 8,300 into the pot. Mathieu pondered for a moment, before calling. Donald flipped his , but shook his head when Mathieu revealed .

After the flop was dealt :jd, Donald stood up. He wasn’t helped on the turn when the dealer revealed a . He began to walk away before the was dealt on the river.