The field continues to grow as the late registration period comes to a close. There have been 118 entries (including 26 re-entries) so far, equating to 11,800,000 chips in play.
This is your final opportunity to enter the $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada, late registration will officially close in 30 minutes at 11:20pm.
Here’s a look at some competitors in action.
The late registration and re-entry period has finally come to a close in day 1M and the total number of entries reached 291 (including a whopping 71 re-entries). With one in seven advancing on to Day 2, 42 players will bag their stacks and be in the money, trying to spin it up and make the final table and ultimately take home the championship title.
With the 291 entries the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool has now been well surpassed. In addition to the Day 1M flight, there are also 110 entries at the moment in the last starting flight, Day 1N, with still another full hour to go in the late registration period.
Play is halfway through level six with 89 entries and counting. Even though the re-entry period doesn’t end for another 90 minutes, there is tension on the floor as many players know this is their final chance to qualify for Day 2.
Christine Park has taken a huge lead after the first break with a stack of 460,000 chips which is worth 230 big blinds. Dale Guenette sits comfortably in second with 388,000 in chips.
Things are heating up and there’s still plenty of poker left to play!
| First Name | Last Name | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Christine | Park | 460,000 |
| Dale | Guenette | 388,000 |
| Jishant | Sapra | 241,000 |
| Warren | Goldstein | 221,000 |
| Samy | Elgrably | 204,000 |
Day 1L of the $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada has officially wrapped, with 44 competitors making it through to Day 2. Each of those qualifiers are “in the money,” and will return tomorrow at 1:00PM to take their places and play down to Day 3’s final table.
Tomorrow’s Day 2 action will undoubtedly make Playground a very busy place, as over 350 players will have qualified by the time our final two flights are completed tonight. That said, a large portion of the 350 qualifiers won’t have more than a few big blinds when they start off, which will probably cut the crowd in half within a couple of hours.
Today’s action was led for most of the day by Alexandre Lajoie, who finished the day with 1,480,000 chips, putting him a great place to start off Day 2 tomorrow. However, the player with the most chips at the end of this flight was Francois Gauthier in the brown leather jacket. He managed to pick up 2,181,000 chips over the course of the day, putting him in the top ten of all the Grand Prix Canada qualifiers. Well done!
There were also several others with large stacks at the end of Day 1L, shown below. The full list of results can be seen here, and will be updated with the Day 1L, Day 1M and Day 1K Turbo flights by Sunday morning, before the start of Day 2 at 1:00PM.
The players have returned from another break and there are now 140 players still grinding it out from the 283 entries in Day 1M.
The chip average is now 202,100 (58 big blinds) and none other than Tu Kham Tran leads the way with 689,000 chips (197 big blinds). As a note of interest, Tran has been seen playing many of the starting flights in the Grand Prix Canada and it seems to be paying off in dividends for him as he has taken advantage of the tournament structure and has already bagged chips in three of the flights. Each bag has earned him a min-cash of at least $400. So far his largest Day 2 stack is 850,000 in chips. He used the same strategy earlier this year when he fired three bullets during the $2,000 + $200 No Limit High Roller this past summer during the WSOP-C at Playground and earned the championship ring for the event.
Trevor Strutt, another highly skilled player who is a regular at all of the Playground events is only 2,500 chips behind Tran, so it is obviously still anyone’s game.
| First Name | Last Name | Stack | # of Big Blinds: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tu Kham | Tran | 689,000 | 197 |
| Trevor | Strutt | 686,500 | 196 |
| Simon | Delarosbil | 642,000 | 183 |
| Lachezar | Katev | 509,500 | 146 |
| Jean | Roy | 448,500 | 128 |
Day 1N is off to a great start with 62 entries as level four begins. Players are trying to solidify their spot at Day 2 to stay in contention for the $500,000 prize pool.
There is still time to enter as the late registration and re-entry period will stay open until the beginning of level 11 at 11:20pm.
Here’s a look at what’s happening on the floor.
With the blinds at 1,000/2,500, Trevor Strutt opened to 8,000 and found a call by Christian Rho seated a few seats over to his left. When it was Louis Crete’s turn to act, he moved all in and was called by both Strutt and Rho.
Crete: 
Strutt: 
Rho: 
The situation was looking really good for Trevor Strutt until the flop came down 
, making a set of jacks for Rho. Strutt still had outs, but when the 
hit the turn, it wasn’t looking so good for him as he was now only drawing to an ace on the river to win the pot. Unfortunately for him, the river was the 
, and Rho picked up a really nice pot.
The final starting flight, Day 1N, of the $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada has begun! Tonight’s flight is bound to be exciting as it is the last chance for players to qualify for Day 2 and compete for the guaranteed prize pool of $500,000.
Over 2,465 participants have entered this tournament so far, today being the busiest day with 575 entries. For a look at who has qualified for Day 2, click here for the combined Day 1 results.
Tonight’s event is a 10-handed turbo flight that features 20-minute levels. Players begin with 100,000 in chips and will play until the number of remaining players has been reduced to 1 in 7 entries, at which point the money will be reached.
This is a re-entry event with unlimited re-entries permitted until the end of the late registration period at the beginning of level 11. Re-entry is permitted for any player that loses all their chips or chooses to forfeit their stack. Players who qualify for Day 2 more than once will resume Day 2 with their largest qualifying stack.
This is the last chance to enter so don’t miss out! Late registration is open until 11:20pm.
Good luck to all players!
Over on table 20 a few minutes ago, three players were in the middle of a hand when one of them, the smallest stack at the table, shoved for a negligible amount after seeing the flop. The other two players, Luciano Iacovella and James Brown, easily covered him and were happy to simply make the call. Although we didn’t record the exact cards on the table, when Luciano and James both checked, and fourth street revealed a second king on the board.
James was quick to shove all in, and Luciano folded in the face of his aggression. However, when James flipped over his cards to face off against the short stack, all he had was a 
(with no sevens or fours pairing on the board). It was safe to say that Luciano was not happy – at both James’ play or his own decision to fold. Even worse, the small stack flipped over his cards to reveal only a six and a three! A few expletives later, the short stack took down the hand and Luciano could do nothing but stew while the table twittered in bemusement at James’ decision to shove with nothing and his ability to come out of the hand without a scratch.
This was Luciano’s frame of mind when, a few hands later, he found himself in another hand with James. It began with a late-position raise from Luciano to 25,000, which was called by chip leader Alexandre Lajoie on the button and James in the big blind. The flop came down 
, the table checked and a was dealt on the turn.
When James decided to open with an oddly-sized 53,000 bet, Luciano was eager to take back some chips from James and push his weight around, shoving for his remaining 400,000. But to Luciano’s surprise, Alexandre shoved over top with his million chips before the action returned to James. The two all-ins were too much for James, who smartly bowed out.
Luciano flipped over his pocket queens, but Alexandre’s pocket pair of tens matched the ten already on the board, leaving Luciano with only a few outs to make either trip-queens or the ace-high straight. Unfortunately for Luciano, the final card was a dud and he was eliminated in 64th place, just 20 from the bubble. James remains at the table, and is very close to making the bubble. That’s poker!
Play continues…
The tournament is now in level five and there are still 161 players left in contention of the 203 total entries. Late registration is open until the start of level 11 at 9:30pm.
With an average chip stack at 126,000 (79 big blinds), Steve Khoury has jumped out in front of the pack with the only stack above 400,000; he is currently sitting on a stack of 428,400, good for 267 big blinds.
Here are the current leaders:
| First Name | Last Name | Stack | # of Big Blinds: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steve | Khoury | 428,400 | 267 |
| Jean | Roy | 390,300 | 244 |
| Marc-Andre | Yelle | 372,100 | 233 |
| Manuel | Fernandez | 308,500 | 193 |
| Gregory | Baksic | 300,200 | 188 |
Alexandre Lajoie is the only player at the third break to have accumulated more than one million chips so far in Day 1L of the $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada. As we move into level 13, there are now fewer than 100 players still seated, and about 40 eliminations to go before the rest qualify for Day 2.
Keep pushing folks, there’s lots of poker left to play!
| First Name | Last Name | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Alexandre | Lajoie | 1,058,000 |
| Clinton | Morrisette | 839,000 |
| Mitchell | Besharah | 833,000 |
| Francois | Gauthier | 814,000 |
| Luciano | Iacovella | 744,000 |
| Corbin | Avery | 713,000 |
| Alexandre | Nadeau-Lesvesque | 683,000 |
The tournament is now up to 185 entries (including 22 re-entries) and the stacks are building.
With the blinds at 600/1,200, Giovanni Moscuto opened under the gun to 1,200 and found calls from Trevor Strutt and Dave Brochu. When the action was on Panagiotis Prahalis, he bumped it up to 3,600 and the other three players made the call to see a flop.
The flop fell 
and it checked all around. On the 
turn, Moscuto checked and Strutt put in a bet of 5,500. All three other players made the call. The river was the 
, and it checked around to Prahalis who fired 10,000. Moscuto made the call while the others folded and the hands were opened:
Prahalis: 
Moscuto: 
Moscuto had flopped top pair, but Prahalis’ pocket rockets stood tall.
There will be a break coming up shortly and we will publish the first leaderboard of the day.
