The final six players ended up all staying alive for the last 15 minutes. On top of the pack was Steven Polyblank with 800,000 and Sherif Saad with 750,000. Both are very decent chip amounts to go into Day 2 with, especially considering the disadvantages of the Turbo format.

Sanford Brill ended up with the short end of the stick, holding onto just 105,000 chips at the end of level 18, or 5,000 more than what he started with five hours ago. Oh well! Perhaps Sunday will be a rags to riches story for him.

Good luck to these six gladiators. We’ll see you this Sunday at 3:30!

Below are the photos of our final 6 players in the Turbo flight Day 1E .

At least a few of them will last the final 15 minutes, when the day is officially over and the surviving players get a seat at the Day 2 event, played this Sunday January 27th at 3:30PM.

At the one and only table left in this Turbo flight we just witnessed two short stacks go heads up against each other. Nick Soller (in the baseball cap below) had shoved his remaining 76,000 with an almost unbeatable J-6. Alas, fate was not on his side, as he lost to Sebastien Khoury’s pocket pair of queens.

When the board was dealt Sebastien collected everything but a lonely 2,000 chips, which still belonged to Nick.

The next hand Nick shoved his last 2,000 with basically nothing, but accidentally won the pot, multiplying his stack by 9 with the blinds, rising to a respectable but still precarious 18,000 chips.

The next hand he shoved for the third time in a row. The table seemed to want to keep him around, as six players out of nine left limped in to see the flop. If Nick were to win this one he would be back in the game and above 100,000 again!

Unfortunately it was not meant to be, as he bricked the board and gently took his leave into that good night.

All of a sudden we’re down to 10 players in the Turbo Day 1E! The players have migrated over to one common table, and for the first time tonight will be playing 10-handed.

This will likely tighten up the play of the players, reducing the number of typically playable hands. However, this trend towards conservatism will contrast with the urge some players will feel to play more aggressively, as the blinds eat up a larger and larger percentage of each player’s stack.

With only 35,000 left in his stack, Sebastien Khoury shoved preflop halfway through level 13. With only four BBs left, it was a no brainer. He was holding pocket 6’s.

Sebastien found one (very reluctant) caller in Aleksandar Copovic. He turned over only one of his cards (an ace) and decided to call blind. He ended up being disappointed.

Sebastien:

Aleks:

The board came down at which point it looked like Aleks was going to take it. Sebastien jokingly asked the poker gods for a heart, and they obliged. A completed the board, and Sebastien abandoned his pocket pair in favor of a runner-runner-runner-runner flush. Wow!

His night continues, albeit with a short stack.

In today’s Day 1E Turbo flight there were only 29 total entries (including 4 re-entries), and registration has now officially closed. At this point, there are only 16 players left, but there are still more than two hours left to play.

While it is uncertain how many will make it to the end level 18, the number of participants has remained steady for the last 90 minutes or so, meaning it is entirely possible that we won’t lose too many more before the end of the night.

However, if the number of players (and thus the chip average) is maintained, many of these Turbo players will not have a lot of chips to work with moving into Day 2, especially considering the fact that the blinds will begin at 10K/20K in level 19 (the first level of Day 2).

We’ll see what happens, and keep you updated for any significant changes.

With only 22 total entries so far, the size of the Grand Prix Canada Turbo Day 1E is much smaller than usual.

By contrast to our regular Day 1 events, at this point in the other tournaments (level 8) registration is still rising, and usually includes well over 100 participants. For example, both of today’s other Day 1s had 194 and 195 total entrants respectively.

This difference in the size of the field will likely lead to some variance in the way our Turbo players approach play.

For example, with fewer total players it will be more likely to see play 4 or 5-handed at the mid-point of the tournament, whereas in the regular Day 1s play is 9 or even 10-handed for most of the day. So when it comes to tonight’s Turbo flight, those players who are more experienced with a smaller group at the table may have an advantage. Players will certainly be obliged to play a wider range of hands.

Another difference will involve the total amount of winnable chips.

In a tournament with 200 participants, each with a 100,000 chip starting stack, there will be a total of 20,000,000 chips to share amongst the players that last until the end of the day. So if, for example, you have 25 players left at the end of a regular Day 1, the average chip stack per player will be 800,000. And as has occurred on almost every Day 1 flight to date, some players will accumulate more than 2,000,000 chips with which they can begin Day 2.

However, this is not possible in a smaller field of 22 total participants. In this relatively small field, one player would have to eliminate every single other player to accumulate more than 2,000,000 chips – a much more difficult prospect.

We’ll keep you updated on the progress of this tournament as it continues on.

This evening marks the first Turbo Day 1 flight of the $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada. There are 18 levels, all 15 minutes long. We are currently at the end of level 7, less than two hours into play, and we are already down to only 14 participants.

Below are some photos of those still left at the tables.