François Côté is sitting on the heavy table, where the top 3 stacks were sheltered at the last break. Presumably, he did not feel very comfortable with 20K in front of him, surrounded by monster stacks. Understandably, when he found a middle pair, he went right in.

François Côté:
Antoine Gauthier-Wells:

Board:

Gauthier-Wells, who was second at the last break, took a 20K hit when Côté hit a 2-outer on the flop. He’ll survive, but Côté is now equipped to hurt everyone at that table, except maybe for Karim-Olivier Kamal, who keeps adding to his lead.

After 6 levels of play, one player stands out from the field. Karim-Olivier Kamal, a regular achiever at Playground Poker Club, holds 50% more chips than anyone else in the field. The second break is now over, and the tally for Day 1A is 234, including 50 re-entries.

Here is our current top 3, all sitting at the same table (!):

1. Karim-Olivier Kamal – 158,500
2. Antoine Gauthier-Wells – 105,500
3. Mina Gerges – 105,000

Play in Day 1A continues at a quick pace as the entries and re-entries continue to accumulate, and with 232 entries including 47 re-entries, Day 1A has set a solid benchmark for participation to which the remaining Day 1s will be compared. Registration will remain open until the beginning of level 7, which is to say until the end of the break following level 6. This is just over 30 minutes away – so there’s just enough time for someone to leave home or work now and still make it in today’s flight.

Even if you can’t make it out in time for Day 1A, however, there’s always Day 1B – which is set to begin almost exactly when Day 1A registration is set to close. No matter when you arrive – there will be plenty of poker still to be played.

Play in Day 1A of the Colossus has only progressed through 3 levels, but there is already one player – Gianfranco Giordano – playing a stack of over 100K and the top 5 are all playing more than double the current chip average.

Nearly 3 levels have passed in the first live Flight of Event #1 in the WSOP-C Playground, the Colossus, and the cool 200-entry mark has just been reached. 27 players have taken advantage of the single re-entry option, with a lot more to come during the next stint.

Here are some early shots of the field:

Play is currently about half-way though level 2 of Day 1A in the Colossus, and attendance continues to impress with the field already surpassing the 160 entry mark – and more players joining every few minutes. Players aren’t playing a shy, retiring game either – there are already 8 re-entries and during our last tour of the room we already witnessed a few called all-in bets!

The field is as impressive as it is large – there is at least one WSOP bracelet winner in the field (Pablo Mariz) and at least one Circuit Ring winner, June Jenkins! There is one “corner” on table 26 that would strike fear into any player in any event – Patrick Braga, Carl Martel, and Pablo are seated in seats 3, 4, and 5.

Here are some additional shots of the field.