After just under 12 hours of play, Day 1A of the $1,500 + $150 WPTDeepStacks Day has come to a close.

From a field of 159 entries (including 41 re-entries) there are only 27 players still alive. Those 27 players will join the surviving players from Day 1B and 1C (which will be played tomorrow and Sunday, respectively) to battle it out on Day 2, which occurs Monday, February 4th at noon.

Below are photos of some of our chip leaders. Up top is Alex Fortin Demers, who managed to accumulate 392,000 before the end of the day. The top six players are listed below the photos.

View the Combined Day 1 results list.

First Name | Prénom	Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Alex	Fortin Demers	392,000
Walter	Asatoorian	319,000
Marco	Caza	314,000
June	Jenkins	308,000
Michael	Khan	286,000
Kevin	Rivest	279,000

Danny Ibrahim and Michael Khan were in a battle of the pocket pairs recently on table 24. Of course they didn’t know that until the very end.

The hand started off with a late-position preflop raise to 35,000 by Danny. With the big blind at only 3,000, this was already a valuable pot  – and there weren’t even any cards on the board yet! Michael Khan called and the flop came down .

The action was to Michael, who bet 40,000. It didn’t take long for Danny to shove over top, jamming for the rest of his stack. He was easily covered by Michael, who called. When the players flipped over their cards it was vs , with Danny holding the Aces.

The turn and river were a and a , and Danny doubled up. Just in time too, as there remain only 6 minutes until the end of Day 1A, and only 28 players.

As we now move into our final hour of this Day 1A, players have to think long and hard about their choices. One mistake could end all the progress they’ve made over the first 11 hours. Then again, taking the right risk could catapult them up the rankings and help their starting position for next week’s Day 2.

On table 19 just now Kevin Macdonald faced just such a question. While all his chips were not at stake, he still seemed flummoxed about what he should do at the end of the hand.

It started with an UTG + 1 raise from Giuseppe Corapi to 6,000. Nobody was game to play except Kevin in the small blind. The flop was dealt and Kevin checked. This time Giuseppe bet 9,000. Kevin called and a came down on the turn.

With only a Jack required to make a straight, both players held off and checked. The river was a , potentially complicating the matter further. Kevin checked over to Giuseppe, who bet 12,500 this time. Kevin took his time, and couldn’t decide what to do. In the end, he decided to put in 12,500 to call.

Giuseppe flipped over pocket Kings, and Kevin mucked. No one had a Jack after all!

On table 24 just now we saw Francis Collins flirt with disaster, shoving all in with less than two hours to play. Luckily for him, he came out unscathed in a battle against Ernest Kelly.

The hand had begun with an UTG raise to 6,000 from Dominic Lussier. The table folded around to Francis on the button, who shoved for his final 24,500. Next to him, Ernie raised over top, which ended up chasing Dominic from the hand.

Turning over their cards, Ernie had a and Francis a pocket pair of red 9s. In the photo below you can see Ernie in disbelief, as he is perhaps used to hitting on A-K for the win. This time it was Francis who took it down with a set, as the board was dealt .

Play continues…

As the players went on break for the fourth time tonight, we noticed two players in the corner of the room that had not yet left their seats. They were Srinivas Gottiparthi and Pablo Mariz. There was about 15,000 in the pot.

The flop was dealt and both players checked. The turn was a and this time Srinivas, first to act, bet 7,500. Pablo was not interested in folding. The river card was a . This time Srinivas checked.

Pablo took this opportunity to bet 5,000, and Srinivas had to smile. Something about the hand told him he shouldn’t call, but he couldn’t help but satisfy his curiosity and take a stab at collecting the not unsubstantial pile of chips in the middle. He tossed in his 5,000.

Unfortunately for Srinivas, Pablo flipped over pocket . It was enough. The two players were now free to get up and stretch their legs along with the 51 others still left in the tournament. But not before Pablo scooped up all the chips.

This hand was a three-way battle from start to finish.

Battling it out was Kristina Litmola, Dave Jeanneau-Cyr and Mitchell Besharah. We joined the hand with already on the board and a solid amount of chips in the pot.

All three players checked the flop, and a came down on the turn.

Kristina checked the action to Dave, who bet 3,400. Both Mitchell and Kristina tagged along, calling. The river was a , which led to two cautious checks by Kristina and Dave, perhaps worried about the paired 5s. Sensing an opportunity to push his opponents off a hand, Mitchell raised it to 8,900.

It was enough to scare Kristina away, but not Dave. He contemplated it for a while, going over the hand in his head and making up his mind. Ultimately, he judged the situation to be worth the risk in chips.

He guessed correctly.

After Dave’s call he flipped over his pocket pair and Mitchell tossed away his losing . It was a great read and a great call by Dave. Well done! Play continues, now with only 56 players remaining, and two and half hours left to play.

The hand was already in progress when we approached the table.

With 10,000 in the pot and the board showing , three players were still in the hand. The first player to act checked, at which point Noeung Troeung jammed. He was called immediately by Guillaume Lucien Labelle on the button. The other player folded.

Guillaume flipped over aces, accompanied by an audible sigh from Noeung.

Noeung:

Guillaume:

There was no help for Noeung, with only a and dealt out on the turn and river. With that, Guillaume collected the chips, and Noeung collected his coat.

Today’s WPTDeepStacks Day 1A is a long day of poker.

Players started at 11AM and will be at the tables almost a full 12 hours. For that reason we give them an extended dinner break. Players will return at 6:30PM to start level 10, at which point registration will officially close. Fuel up players! We still have hours of poker left to play!