Usually hand-per-hand in the tournament lasts a few hands at most; especially if a few players have short stacks. Some players asked that the bubble be paid to avoid hand-per-hand but not all the players were in agreement. Since this kind of deal has to be unanimous, the deal was rejected.

Thus started the hand-per-hand format. This format was to continue until we had 23 players left. In other words, until the next elimination. Quick and easy, right?

After an impressive 11 hands in this mode, we almost broke the bubble.
On table 72 Elio Saade went all-in for 38,000 and got a call from Kristofer Coulombe who covered him.
Elio Saade:
Kristofer Coulombe:
Board:
So Elio doubled up and play resumed on all tables.

In the next 10 hands no fewer than 8 all-ins were called and every time the shortest stacks would either double up, or chop.

After 25 hands we almost had a bubble, again. Tomas Larivée Magni and Ron G. went head to head in a pot where Ron covered Tomas.
Tomas Larivée Magni:
Ron G.:
Board:
So Tomas doubled up with an ace-high flush.

In the end, it took an unprecedented 27 hands before we broke the bubble:
We got to the table where all action had been halted, as is the standard procedure in hand-per-hand format. No less than 5 people were involved in the pot; an obvious sign that everyone was hoping to eliminate Michael Chouinard who had the least chips in this instance.
Once the tournament director gave the go to proceed with the hand, the dealer took out the board.
Board:
On the flop and the turn, all four players checked, as we often see in this type of situation. But the hand was not over yet, grunts of disapproval and hooded stares were directed at Philippe when he made a small bet on the river. His bet made every active player fold their hand. Philippe then tabled his hand.
Philippe Drouin: :
Michael Chouinard:
So Philippe Drouin sent Michael Chouinard to the rail with a queen-high straight.

After a record setting 27 hands in the hand-per-hand format, the bubble was done and normal play resumed.

As the players went on break after level 12 we went searching the tables to update our leader board. As expected, Gino Roland Frenette was the chip leader by a huge margin at this stage of the tournament, with 885,000 chips in front of him.

We noted 3 other stacks above 300,000.  What was the most impressive, though, was that all four players were on the same 8-handed table.  This put a lot of pressure on the other 4 players at the table.  In fact, among the other 16 players, that were on the other 2 tables, only one single player had a stack above the 193K average, barely.

So the leader board has the same 3 players that were on the board at the previous break, plus the addition of Frenette at the top of the list.

UPDATE: A lot of things have happened since level 12. We had a break, hand per hand, bubble, last 2 tables and with that the move to the main tournament hall. We will be posting everything that happened as soon as possible.

In level 12, with 25 players left, we got to table 82. The board was out and all the chips were in the pot, a lot of them. Ray Haddad was up against Gino Roland Frenette who could not seem to loose a hand today. Hands were out and the dealer was revealing the board.

Ray Haddad:

Gino Roland Frenette

Board: :

So Frenette scooped up the huge pot with a ten-high flush to send Ray Haddad to the rail. The third break was in a few minutes and there was no doubt that Gino Roland Frenette would be the chip leader.

The elimination of Haddad meant that we were on the bubble with 24 players (23 places paid). The Tournament director informed us that play would be “hand per hand” until the bubble.

Things are running smoothly in the PLO tournament as the 27 remaining players chip away in hopes to snag the last WSOP-C ring up for grabs.

We are in level 15 but got a few more photos of the players in prior levels.

We are down to 36 players in the Tournament Tent, and the players are hitting their stride for the long stretch to the finish line.

We went around earlier and snapped a few shots of our players in action.

We are down to 40 players in Event #7 PLO and Carter Swidler is the current chip leader after 12 levels.  It`s now the last 5 tables and play has slowed down a little since the re-entry period has closed.

At the last break we went to see who was in the lead and were looking for stacks over 200,000.  In the last 2 hours the chips have changed hands, a lot. The updated leader board only shows new names!

Keeping in line with this tournament’s trend, there is still only a slight margin between all the players on the leader board.  Obviously it’s still anybody’s game!