The Grand Prix Canada is the marquee event of the 9-Year Anniversary Series and a long standing tradition here at Playground is to have an unbelievably amazing anniversary cake made by the “cake boss”, Fadi Haddad, owner of Wow-Cakes. If you are in the house today, please enjoy a piece of this scrumptious cake that has stunning details for sure (and, it tastes so good too!).
Wow, what a cake, made by Wow-Cakes!
The players have just come back from taking their first 20 minute break of the day and with the flurry of activity early on with the short stacks trying hard to secure badly needed double-ups, there are now plenty of large stacks throughout the room.
With an average stack sitting at 1,265,000 (32 big blinds), Danny Freitas has jumped to the top of the pack with 5,510,000 in chips, good for 138 big blinds.
Here are the top stacks in play:
| First Name | Last Name | Stack | # of Big Blinds: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Danny | Freitas | 5,510,000 | 138 |
| Jean-Pascal | Gauthier | 4,100,000 | 103 |
| Steven | Vinetti Huot | 3,675,000 | 92 |
| Senthuran | Vijayaratnam | 3,280,000 | 82 |
| Ricky | Campanelli | 3,252,000 | 81 |
| Steven | White | 3,170,000 | 79 |
| Nathan | Henry | 3,070,000 | 77 |
The Grand Prix Canada is a $200 + 20 buy in event that represents outstanding value. Players are playing for the top prize of $80,000, unbelievable for this modest buy in event!
Here are the payouts:
| Rank | Position | Prize | Bourse |
|---|---|
| 1st | $80,000 |
| 2nd | $50,000 |
| 3rd | $35,000 |
| 4th | $25,924 |
| 5th | $18,000 |
| 6th | $13,000 |
| 7th | $9,000 |
| 8th | $6,500 |
| 9th | $5,000 |
| 10-11th | $4,000 |
| 12th-13th | $3,500 |
| 14th-15th | $3,000 |
| 16th-17th | $2,500 |
| 18th-23rd | $2,100 |
| 24th-32nd | $1,800 |
| 33rd-40th | $1,600 |
| 41st-48th | $1,400 |
| 49th-56th | $1,200 |
| 57th-80th | $1,000 |
| 81st-108th | $800 |
| 109th-153rd | $700 |
| 154th-216th | $600 |
| 217th-297th | $500 |
| 298th-386th | $400 |
Welcome to Day 2 of the $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada. After a week of 19 Day 1 starting flights, today is the day that all of the players who bagged chips have been waiting for. The event so far has been a tremendous success, attracting 2,697 entries from its various starting flights, allowing the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool to be well surpassed! All qualifying Day 2 players are guaranteed a min-cash of at least $400, and the total prize pool along with the incredible first prize will be announced shortly.
Play will be nine-handed today and then move to eight-handed as soon as possible. Play will continue today until there are only 16 players remaining. Day 3 plays out tomorrow, Monday December 16 at 6:00pm.
Players are taking their seats and the floor staff is just about ready to make the announcement for the dealers to shuffle up and deal!
Good luck to all of the competitors!
In a wild turn of events, Trevor Strutt, who was on top of the leaderboards all night long is out just prior to the bubble. Steven Vinetti Huot, sitting on a stack of close to 2,000,000, opened from 30,000 to 100,000. Trevor Strutt jammed his stack of 1,600,000 and to his surprise, Vinetti Huot insta-called.
Strutt had pocket tens and Vinetti Huot had pocket kings. The board ran out clean for Vinetti Huot who is now sitting on approximately 3,650,000 chips, and, Strutt is eliminated just shy of bagging for Day 2.
The tournament is now down to 45 players with the top 42 moving on to Day 2, The action is tense is all players are trying to protect their stacks and the bigger stacks are trying to put some pressure on to the short stacks.
Play has resumed into level 16 after the third break of the night. The field is ten eliminations away from being in the money and qualifying for Day 2.
Kristopher Chartier has climbed from fourth to first with his stack of 1,325,000 in chips. Chartier and second place Mathieu Legault, have become the first millionaires of tonight’s flight. Legault’s stack is currently worth over 73 big blinds.
The chip average is now 450,000 as the level comes to a close.
| First Name | Last Name | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Kristopher | Chartier | 1,325,000 |
| Mathieu | Legault | 1,175,000 |
| Samy | Elgrably | 860,000 |
| Lachezar | Katev | 855,000 |
The players are now back from their last break of the day and there are now four millionaires who have taken charge. The average chip stack is 549,000 (27 big blinds) and the following four players are playing stacks from 61 to 93 big blinds. Steven Vinette Huot is the leader with a stack of 1,867,000 in chips.
| First Name | Last Name | Stack | # of Big Blinds: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steven | Vinetti Huot | 1,867,000 | 93 |
| Trevor | Strutt | 1,614,000 | 81 |
| Roger | Thibault | 1,437,000 | 72 |
| Marc-Andre | Yelle | 1,214,000 | 61 |
The field is down to 43 players as level 14 comes to a close. Competitors with smaller stacks are definitely feeling the pressure as they watch the rich get richer. Once late registration was closed, a number of big pots and all ins began to happen as the players know it’s now or never.
Here’s a look at who’s still in contention:
Some of the stacks are becoming huge right now while others are feeling the pressure of the blinds and are dwindling down. With the blinds at 8,000/16,000, the action was opened by Christian Rho who made it 40,000 to go. A few seats to his left, Karl Albert ripped it in for his tournament life. It folded back to Rho who instantly made the call.
Albert: 
Rho: 
Albert had a premium hand with his pocket jacks but Rho also was holding a premium with his AK suited. The flop came 
and Rho jumped into the lead after hitting his ace. The 
turn and 
river didn’t change anything and since Rho had Albert covered, he picked up a nice addition to add to his stack while Albert was sent to the rail with his tournament coming to an end.
The tournament is now 18 away from the bubble. A break will be coming up shortly and the last leaderboard of the night will be published.
Late registration is officially closed for Day 1N of the $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada. There were a total of 144 entries (including 39 re-entries) in the final starting flight of the event. It has just been announced that the top 21 players will be in the money and qualify for Day 2. The remaining 73 players are currently battling it out in hopes of returning tomorrow at 1:00pm.
Mathieu Legault finds himself atop of the leaderboard with a resounding 770,000 in chips. Christine Park has moved to second but she is still sitting in a great position with a stack worth more than triple the chip average.
Here are the top stacks in play:
| First Name | Last Name | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Mathieu | Legault | 770,000 |
| Christine | Park | 580,000 |
| John | Huynh | 480,000 |
| Kristopher | Chartier | 475,000 |
| Marc-Antoine | Plaisance | 410,000 |
The players are now back from their third break of the day with an average stack just over 300,000 (37 big blinds), there are now two millionaires in the field, both seated on the same table! Trevor Strutt has nursed one of the top stacks throughout the flight and he is now sitting in the leader’s seat with an outstanding 1,291,000 chips, good for 161 big blinds! Also on the same table is Marcello Iacovella, the other millionaire with 1,063,000 chips (133 big blinds).
Here are the top stacks in play:
| First Name | Last Name | Stack | # of Big Blinds: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trevor | Strutt | 1,291,000 | 161 |
| Marcello | Iacovella | 1,063,000 | 133 |
| Badri | Abboud | 786,000 | 98 |
| Evan | Boxer | 678,000 | 85 |
| Mario | Laurin | 651,000 | 81 |
| Steven | Vinetti Huot | 609,000 | 76 |
