LIVE EVENTS

Day 1C of the WPTDeepstacks was the final starting flight of the three Day 1s and although it started off slowly in the opening levels, in the end there were 158 entries (including 32 re-entries) to put almost 5,000,000 chips into play. The night saw the lead move from one player to another but at the final break of the evening, it was clear that one player was in a solid position ahead of the rest of the field; Michel-Claude Baroud went on a serious heater in the last four levels of the night and by the final break, he had more chips than all of the combined Day 1A abd 1B qualifiers, with still two full levels of play to go. He lost a huge hand late in the evening when he flopped a set of kings and lost to Wait Kit Ngai’s turned set of aces, but, he did not let that bring down his spirits and he maintained his positive and focused attention to the rest of the game. He started to chip up again and got into a huge hand with Kyle Ferguson on the last hand of the night, which he ended up taking down.

When it was all said on done, Michel-Claude Baroud bagged 549,600 chips (183 BB’s), to take the lead heading into day 2.

Here are the top five stacks from 1C:

1. Michel-Claude Baroud, 549,600 chips (183 BB’s)
2. Samuel-Louis Gagnon, 430,000 chips (143 BB’s)
3. Mohammad Abu-Hadbah, 293,300 (98 BB’s)
4. Andrwew Ostapechenko, 230,700 (77 BB’s)
5. Wai Kit Ngai, 226,300 (75 BB’s)

Day 2 plays out Sunday at 2:00pm. Tonight’s chip counts will be added to the combined chip count results on Sunday morning, along with the seating draw. Click here to see the list.

Day 3 will play to a winner on Monday at 1:00pm.

Good luck to all of the competitors.

Chip leader Michel-Claude Baroud:

Some of the top stacks from Day 1C:

And the chips keep flying back and forth! Michel-Claude Baroud, the Day 1C massive chip leader, opened under the gun raising it up from 2,000 to 6,500. Action folded to Wai Kit Ngai who three-bet to 13,000. Baroud thought about it and decided that he wasn’t going to let Ngai get away with that, and he four-bet to 35,800. Ngai called.

The flop came and Ngai led out for 23,000, Baroud just flat called. The turn came the and this time Ngai shoved his stack, only to be snap called by Baroud.

Ngai:
Baroud:

Baroud had flopped top set of kings, and Ngai turned a set of aces. The river was the was a brick for Baroud, and he sent another 67,900 over to Ngai. Luckily he had a killer stack to start the hand and although he shipped over 125,000 to Ngai, he remained totally composed and just kept smiling while he shrugged his shoulders. Ngai was heard saying “wow, I guess I got lucky on the turn”.

A few hands later, he picked up pocket queens and ended up heads up with a short stack who took him all in for 37,500 with AK. The queens held and he is adding chips back to his stack.

Play is now entering the last level of the night.

The players have come back from their last break of the night, and not only does Day 1C have a new chip leader, the entire tournament now has a new leader! With the chip average at just under 90,000 chips, Michel-Claude Baroud is on top of the world with a whopping 507,000 chips (253 BB’s)! That is more than 300,000 ahead of the second place runner, Michael Dentale, who has 188,800 (94 BB’s).

Although we missed all of the wild hands that put that monster stack together, in talking with Baroud, he tells us that he chipped by winning a combination of massive hands. In one hand, he had flopped a set. In another, he flopped the nut flush and bet each street, only to be taken all in on the river by his opponent! He also made another nut flush hand as well. What a heater!

Here are the leaders going in to the last two levels of play for Day 1C:

Phillip Vera raised it from 1,500 to 5,000 under the gun and received  calls from Wai Kit Ngai and then from Kyle Ferguson in the big blind. The flop came and Ferguson checked, followed by an “insta-shove” by Vera. Ngai made the call without any hesitation and Ferguson folded. The hands were opened:

Vera:
Ngai:

Ngai had flopped top pair and turn and river were bricks for Vera who had to send 51,000 over to Ngai.

There will be a break shortly and it will allow us to look around the room for the bigger stacks in play.

With the blinds at 600/1,200, Albert Nguyen opened for 2,500 under the gun and found calls from both Kamran Malekpour and Tommy Nguyen. When it was Said El-Yousfi’s turn to act, while playing a stack of about 65,000, he put out a three-bet of 41,200. That caught the attention of the three other players in the hand and without any hesitation, they all folded their hands. El-Yousfi picked up an easy 10,500 extra chips and just grinned as he added the chips to his stack. Timing is everything.

The late registration period has come to a close and in the end, the WPTDeepstacks has attracted a total of 704 players, smashing the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool! As soon as the prizes are announced they will be published here in a post.

The chip average is now just over 50,000 and the leader of the pack is Omid Shahbazian, playing a stack of 174,400 chips (174 BB’s). He is followed in second place by Mohammad Abu-Hadbah with 136,300 chips (136 BB’s).

With the blinds now becoming more serious, and with almost 5,000,000 chips in play, there will be many large pots coming up and the chips will certainly be moving around the felt from player to player. The next break will offer a good indication as to where the big stacks really are as it is still anyone’s game.

Here is the new leaderboard:

Tommy Nguyen has been very active on table 80. Tony Lei decided to keep it honest on the table.

Action folded to Nguyen who raised it up from 800 to 1,700. Said El-Yousfi made the call as did Tony Lei in the big blind. The flop came and Lei checked. Nguyen fired 2,200,  El-Yousfi folded and Lei made the call. The turn was the and this time the action went check-check. When the hit the river, Lei made a bet of 5,500 and Nguyen looked down at his cards and gave up on the hand. Lei smiled as he gave a look over to Nguyen.

The players will be going on break shortly giving us a chance to update the leaderboard.

There is still one full hour left in the late registration period which will come to a close at 11:30pm. If you have been thinking about playing the WPTDeepstacks, the prize pool will be simply outstanding!

Here are a few player photos from around the room:

The players have now returned from the second break of the night and there are currently 97 players remaining out of 141 entries (including 22 re-entries). This brings the total entries over the three starting flights to 546 and there remains more than one more left to go in the late registration and re-entry period. The prize pool for this event will be outstanding!

With the chip average now at 43,600, Laurence Louie, a regular visitor to Playground during the numerous events that take place each year, is now playing a stack of 129,175 chips (258 BB’s) and is the new chip leader. he is followed in second place by Omid Shahbazian with 119,125 chips (238 BB’s).

Here are the current leaders:

The players have just returned from their first break of the evening and with an average chip count of 34,900, one player, Alexander Puchalski, has almost triple the average sitting on a stack of 99,900 (333 BB’s).

Here are the top stacks in play right now:

The tournament now has 66 entries and with late registration open until 11:30pm we can expect a lot more players to join the field. The players are just about to go on their first break of the evening which will allow us to scan the tournament room and put together the first leaderboard of the night.

There are now 49 players from the 51 entries as the tournament is in level two. The players are taking their seats minute by minute and the temperature in the tent is perfect today, so the players should e very comfortable.

The late registration period will remain open until the start of level 10 at 11:30pm when the blinds will be at 500/1,000, so there is plenty of time to jump in and join the action.