Action started off from the very first hand once the final table was formed. There were a few short stacks and Nick Frascarelli was the first casualty exiting in 10th place for $300. The next bustout was a bit of a surprise as Ghislain Pigeon, who had one of the better stacks, got into a hand against Dany Phelps and lost his stack to exit in ninth, collecting $400. Then it was Jean-Luc Joseph’s turn to pick up his pay slip for $530 in eighth place, which was a formidable feat considering he was one of the shortest stacks when the final table started.

Nick “Shooter McGavin” Soller picked up a huge double-up when action had folded to Jean-Francois Laramee on the button who limped in. Dany Phelps folded his small blind and Soller checked his option in the big blind. The flop came AK3 and Soller checked, prompting a bet from Laramee of 50,000. Soller replied with a 3-bet to 150,000, which Laramee called. The turn was a brick and Soller again gave it long thought, and finally decided to shove his remaining 332,000. Laramee made the call after having tanked for some time, and opened up K4, but unfortunately for him, Soller had limped AK and had smashed the flop, taking down a huge pot and putting him into first place just before the break.

Here are the chip counts from the break: