LIVE EVENTS

The first live flight of Event #1, the $300 + $30 Colossus, has just wrapped up for the night, having attracted 221 entries. Players had unlimited re-entries available to them and 42 players took advantage of re-entering before the late registration period closed for the flight.

Play started off conservatively but by the first break, two players had the clear lead; Jishant Sapra was the leader at both the first and second break of the evening and Crystal Abouhanna was right behind him in second place. Both players made it to the end of the flight and bagged for the night but lost some ground in the late stages.

The players were to bag their chips for the day once the field dropped to 34 players so play tightened up considerably when there were 40 players remaining. As soon as they were down the final 35, play went hand-for-hand. Hand-for-hand play lasted for over 20 minutes until finally Alessandro Gentile got it in with , and was snap called by Laurence Louie holding .

Louie looked at the dealer and requested “an ace from space” and the dealer delivered on the flop. The on the turn and on the river were of no help to Gentile and he unfortunately became the Day 1A bubble boy, bringing the rest of the field into the money and bagging for Day 2. All players who bag from Day 1 are assured of a $600 min-cash, and should they choose to play additional Day 1 flights and be able to bag and tag again, they will play their largest stack on Day 2 and will also receive a $600 min-cash for every other bag.

The bubble hand:

The chip leader for Day 1A is Travis Robertson, a local player with a solid reputation. Robertson came onto the radar midway through the tournament and was the chip leader during the last hour of play. He bagged an impressive 342,000, followed very closely by Jonathan English, hot on his heels, bagging 340,000.

Here are the top 10 stacks for Day 1A:

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Travis	Robertson	342,000
Jonathan	English	340,000
Laurence	Louie	255,000
Jishant	Sapra	250,500
Stephen	Rosen	231,000
Andrew	Kristoff	207,000
Brian	Hodhod	197,000
Ralph	Abou-Nader	187,000
Albert	Desroches	156,000

To see all of the combined updated chip counts, click here

Day 1B is currently playing out this evening and there is still plenty of time to join the action with a still another seven more Day 1 flights left to go. Click here to see the structure sheet and full schedule.

Here are some of the players who were nursing larger stacks at the end of the evening:

The field is down to 61 players and the chip lead has finally changed hands. Laurence Louie has taken over the lead and is the only player to break the 200,000-mark with a massive stack of 218,200. Following closely behind in second place is Bang Tran, with 192,100 chips. There are also now many other stacks in the 150,000-200,000 range.The chip leaders from earlier on, Jishant Sapra and Crystal Abouhanna, have dropped off of the leaderboard but are still alive and fighting to come back. Sapra just took down a massive pot after having turned a full house and, once again, his stack is looking very healthy.

Here is the latest leaderboard:

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Laurence	Louie	218,200
Bang	Tran	192,100
Jonathan	English	188,400
Benjamin	Croteau	181,200
Brian	Hodhod	164,900
Michael	Pitcher	157,100
Steven	Rosen	144,100

Brett Hart had been having a tough go at things today and he did his best to try for a badly needed double-up, but Phillpe Belley had other plans in mind.

The action folded to William Kelly in the hi-jack position who opened for 3,000, and Philippe Belley made the call in the cutoff. Brett Gregory Hart, sitting on the button, looked down at his hole cards and moved all in for less than 25,000. Kelly folded and Belley, shook his head and said, “OK, I call”. The hands were opened:

Hart:
Belley:

The flop came , making a set for Belley. Hart had at least a back door straight draw and needed to make runner-runner, but he was drawing pretty thin. The on the turn gave some hope, but the on the river was of no help to Hart.

Arriving at table 22, the chip leader, Jishant Sapra, opened from 1,200 to 2,700, and the action folded to Aladdin Hammoud in the small blind who made the call, followed by Dave Bonneau in the big blind who also made the call.

On a flop, both blinds checked and Sapra made a continuation bet of 5,500, only to be met by a min-raise from Bonneau to 11,000. Sapra called, and Hammoud folded.

The turn brought the , and this time Bonneau led out for 14,000. Without any hesitation, Sapra moved a 100,000 stack forward while announcing that he was all in. Bonneau snap called and the hands were tabled.

Sapra:
Bonneau:

Both players had flopped trip 3s, however Bonneau was way out in front. The river brought the , boating up Bonneau, and the dealer pushed the chips across the table, with Sapra’s stack now severely damaged.

The players have just returned from the second break of the day, which also brought the re-entry and late registration period to a close. There are 221 entries (with 42 re-entries) in today’s first flight, and since the first flight is typically the lightest turnout of all of the Day 1 flights, the Colossus is shaping up to be a massive success. The second of today’s flights (Day 1B) has also just started and there remains another four full hours to jump in and join the action. Play will continue in Day 1A until the field drops down to 34 players, all of whom will be “in the money” for as they bag for Day 2, with a guaranteed min-cash of $600.

With an average stack in level nine slightly above 40,000, Jishant Sapra maintains the lead, with a stack of 158,100, which is almost four times the average. Crystal Abouhanna, who was following him in second place at the first break, still sits in second with 140,100. Notables Ami Alibay and Travis Robertson, along with Didier Delvil, have also joined the leaderboard.

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Jishant	Sapra	158,100
Crystal	Abouhanna	140,100
Didier	Delvil	105,300
Travis	Robertson	87,200
Ami	Alibay	82,400

With still one full hour left to late register (and to re-enter), the field has now surpassed 200 players! With a total of 213 entries (and 37 re-entries), the average chip stack is now exactly 30,000. There will be a break in 45 minutes, which will give us a chance to look for the big stacks in play and to update the leaderboard. The two chip leaders from the first break, Jishant Sapra and Crystal Abouhanna are still very active and chips keep moving their way, so hopefully for them they will still be in the front of the pack later on.

Looking around the room we see Ami Alibay, Simon Assouline, Brenda Blackburn, Sebastien Comtois, Mathieu Daigneault, Hicham Hammoud, William Kelly, Eric Ranger, Ken Ransom, and Sergio (Sir-Gio) De Dominicis, just to name a few.

Some of the recent bustouts include: Joshua Thomson, Mario Lepine, Bruce Redfern, Mitcheal Ferguson, Xin Qi, Jonathan Robinette, Albert Bassal, and Isham Yamini.

Here are a few more player photos taken in level seven:

 

The players have just returned from their first break of the day and with 194 entries (including 26 re-entries), the average chip stack is now hovering just below 26,000. Looking around the room, we found four players that have amassed chip stacks more than double the average, and the chip leader, Jishant Sapra, is now well above triple the chip average, sitting on a cool 87,600 chips. Following close behind is Crystal Abouhanna with 77,100.

Here are the top four stacks in play:

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Jishant	Sapra	87,600
Crystal	Abouhanna	71,000
Aladdin	Hammoud	60,800
Dominic	Toupin Belisle	55,500

There are now a total of 167 entries (including 10 re-entries), and with a full three hours left in the re-entry period and for late registration, the first Day 1 flight already looks like it will have a huge field. Who knows what the total number of entries will be? Last year records were set when there were a total of 3,503 total entries, and Jason Mandanici-Turcot was the event champion, taking home a cool $125,130 in cash and the first-ever WSOP-C Playground Championship Ring! With a guaranteed $1,000,000 prize pool in place, all that we know is this year’s event is sure to attract another enormous field!

A few of the latest players to enter into Day 1A include: David Cadoch, Robert Gariepy, Laurence Grondin, Lucas Braga, David Bonneau, Louis Boutin, Marc-Etienne McLaughlin, Hunter Montoya, Ryan Rempel, Joseph Sabbah, and Bang Tran.

Here are a few of players battling it out on the felt:

 

 

The tournament is now nearing the end of level 2, and the first two bustouts have already taken place. With unlimited re-entries available, one of the players decided to jump back into the action.

Players have another three and half of hours to re-enter and to late register, which means you can join the action right up until 4:30pm.

Some of the players seated for today’s flight include: Eric Ranger, Brett Hart, Isham Yamani, Xin Qi, Travis Robertson, Mario Lepine, John Pentefountas, Mario Page, Leo Hackenbroch, Rene-Charles Angelil, Tanvir Ahmed, Natalia Nogina, Mitcheal Ferguson, Sebastien Drolet-Poitras, David Assouline, Ron Farber, and Richard Fife.

For any player that needs assistance using their partypoker LIVE dollars to enter the tournament, or for any other partypoker LIVE player related issues, there is a full support team here on location to help with all of your needs.

The action is just getting under way for the first live flight, Day 1A of Event #1 of the WSOP-C Montreal festival, the $300+$30 Colossus. The event started online on partypoker on Sunday, August 18 and the four online starting flights proved to be very popular, gathering over 500 total entries and allowing 80 players to qualify for Day 2.

Players start with 20,000 chips and play through 30 minute levels until 15% of the field remains. The tournament features unlimited re-entries as well as late registration until the start of level 9, which means you have until 4:30pm to join the action.

This tournament should be a colossal success and with a guaranteed $1,000,000 prize pool, the value is simply outstanding.

So far 84 players have taken their seats and the tournament director has just announced, “Dealers…shuffle up and deal!“.