The WPT500 field has fallen below the 200 player count, as the eliminations continue to stream in at a steady pace. Mukul maintains the chip lead midway through level 21, however more and more towers are forming in front of players across the room.
Photographs from levels 20-21:
Fabio Luongo got the last of his chips into the pot in excellent shape. The all-in happened on the flop, and with 
showing on the board, he tabled 
for three-of-a-kind and was up against the 
of Danny Freitas. With over 95% equity to win the hand, Fabio had to dodge only two possible scenarios to win the pot – the case Ace, or running 8s. The 
turn eliminated one of those options, however the river brought an 
from space, sending Fabio home on a 1-outer.
Photographs from levels 19-20:
Players have just taken their first break of the night, and are now returning back to their seats to continue this Day 2 of the WPT500. Mukul Pahuja has a stranglehold lead on the field with his 1,790,000 chip stack, which nearly doubles any other player. Oroson Howard is the only other player currently sitting on a 7-figure stack.
Below are the top 10 stacks entering level 20:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Mukul | Pahuja | 1,790,000 |
| Oroson | Howard | 1,030,000 |
| Geoffrey | Hum | 930,000 |
| Tyler | Carslaw | 930,000 |
| Samuel | Spiwak | 825,000 |
| Steven | Firestone | 816,000 |
| Jesse | Johnston | 803,000 |
| Vasilios | Garantakos | 800,000 |
| Gary | Lucci | 765,000 |
| Fabrizio | Bruno | 718,000 |
Mukul Pahuja came into Day 2 with a less-than-average chip stack, bagging 109,000 in an online starting flight. In less than two levels of play, he managed to increase his holding to over 1,500,000, putting him far ahead of anyone else in the field.
We just saw him pick off two short stacks from his table in back-to-back hands. In the first hand, he open-shoved from the small blind and eliminated the big blind with 
over 
on a 
board.
On the very next hand, he was on the button facing an all-in of roughly 100,000. He isolated by raising all-in himself, and tabled 
. He was racing against 
, however took a massive lead in the hand after catching a set on the window card of a 
board.
“Congratulations, you are now in the money!” – these are the words players love to hear, and our tournament director has just spoken then as the WPT500 field was reduced to 323 runners, officially entering the payouts.
With the event split across 2 poker halls, the tournament director started hand-for-hand when the field reached 325 players. It only took one hand to find the 2 required eliminations, with Mark A and Stephane Edme as the unfortunate two eliminated prior to the payouts.
Action is back underway now with all 323 players having secured a payout of at least $920.
Congratulations!
Event #1 in the WPT Montreal Festival – the WPT500 – attracted a total of 2,536 entries which generated a total prize pool of $1,229,960. This will be distributed among the top 323 players according to the following payout table.
| Rank | Pos | Prize | Bourse |
|---|---|
| 1st | $200,000 |
| 2nd | $138,060 |
| 3rd | $91,000 |
| 4th | $67,000 |
| 5th | $51,000 |
| 6th | $40,000 |
| 7th | $31,000 |
| 8th | $25,000 |
| 9th | $19,500 |
| 10th-12th | $14,250 |
| 13th-15th | $11,000 |
| 16th-18th | $8,750 |
| 19th-21st | $7,000 |
| 22nd-24th | $5,750 |
| 25th - 27th | $4,750 |
| 28th - 36th | $3,750 |
| 37th - 45th | $3,000 |
| 46th - 54th | $2,500 |
| 55th - 63rd | $2,100 |
| 64th - 72nd | $1,950 |
| 73rd - 81st | $1,850 |
| 82nd - 90th | $1,750 |
| 91st - 99th | $1,650 |
| 100th - 108th | $1,550 |
| 109th - 117th | $1,450 |
| 118th - 126th | $1,380 |
| 127th - 135th | $1,320 |
| 136th - 144th | $1,270 |
| 145th - 153rd | $1,220 |
| 154th - 162nd | $1,170 |
| 163rd - 180th | $1,120 |
| 181st - 198th | $1,080 |
| 199th - 216th | $1,045 |
| 217th - 234th | $1,020 |
| 235th - 252nd | $995 |
| 253rd - 270th | $970 |
| 271th - 288th | $950 |
| 289th - 306th | $935 |
| 307th - 323th | $920 |
