Day 1G of the Grand Prix Canada – Event #8 in the World Cup of Cards – has officially wrapped up with 51 players qualifying for Day 2 action.

There were 362 entries (including 88 re-entries) in Day 1G that included 10 levels of late registration. That’s most entries we’ve had in any of the live flight thus far. Today’s qualifiers for Day 2 action will be added to the Combined Day 1 Results page that now include five completed online flights and eight of twelve live flights. There are still five more Live Day 1 flights remaining.

Today’s qualifiers will return for Day 2 action on Sunday Jan 27 at 3:30pm. Day 3 is scheduled for Monday Jan 27, at 7:00pm.

See the Combined Day 1 Results here.

Congratulations to all the qualifiers!

Here are some pics of some of today’s big stacks.

The players at the WCC Event #8 Day 1G have just wrapped up their last 15 minute break of the flight. During the pause in the action, the chips were counted, and it was determined that a new chip leader has emerged.

Although Joseph Abou Khalil was running near the top of the leader board throughout the flight, he has now relinquished his dominance. In his place Edouard Dupuis has now surged to the front of the back. With a stack that measures 1,350,000 chips he is 80,000 chips in front of Tam Ho, who has amassed 1,270,000 chips.

The players have two more levels two finish before they bag their chips.

Alexandre Lajoie just took a bite out of Joseph Abou Khalil’s stack. Joseph, who has been a front runner throughout tonight’s WCC Event #8 Day 1G flight, raised 25,500, preflop. Alexandre raised to 67,000, and Joseph called.

After the flop came down, , Joseph splashed 105,000 chips into the pot. Alexandre didn’t hesitate; he called. After the dealer revealed the turn, , Joseph checked.

Alexandre pounced, and pushed a busload of chips towards the dealer, but before they could be counted, Joseph mucked his cards.

Francois Tarrab has emerged from the middle of the pack to catch Joseph Abou Khalil. Joseph, who held the lead after both the first and second players’ break, has finally been caught. During the pause in the action, after level 12, we counted the chips and determined that Francois has overtaken Joseph with a stack of 1,100,000. But this evening’s Day 1G early front runner is still close to the top. He is now running a close second with 1,090,000.

Will Francois open up an even wider lead? Will Joseph regain his earlier momentum? We won’t know until the end of the next player break after level 16.

Despite the fierce, and sometimes cutthroat, competition, it’s obvious that most of the players are good sports who really enjoy the game of poker. Take table 17 for example. Francois Tarrab, the big stack of that group, apologized to everyone circling the felt after he took longer than necessary to fold.

Everyone at the table had concluded that he was pondering his next move. But Francois readily admitted that he wasn’t fully aware that it was his turn to bet. Although it wasn’t that long of a delay, he was adamant about atoning.

“It was only a minute,” one player brushed off the indiscretion.

Another competitor added, “It really looked like you were concentrating. We had no idea.”

Francois shook his head, made a reference about time being money, and looking at the player directly opposite him, asked. “You’re a doctor, aren’t you?”

The man nodded. “So for that amount of time, I must owe you a 100 bucks.”

Then he eyeballed the next player over. “As for you, I probably I owe you ten.”

Laughter erupted all around.

We are now climbing towards  400 entries at the WCC Event #8 Day 1G. There have been 82 players who have fired a second bullet, and with an hour left before late registration closes, today’s Day 1 flight already marks the largest  number of entries of all the live Day 1 flights.

As the action continues to heat up, with players battling to qualify for Day 2, at table 22, Denis Leftakis was sent packing by Ben Chen.

After Denis limped into the hand, Ben called.

When the flop came down , both competitors checked.

When the dealer revealed the turn, the , Ben spashed  three 5,000-chips into the pot. Denis looked at his cards, and pushed all of his remaining chips towards the dealer. Ben didn’t waste any time calling.

When Denis turned his hole cards over, he showed, . But Ben’s cards were , .

Denis immediately stood up. He wasn’t helped when the dealer revealed the river, a . The straight he was pulling for didn’t materialize. Denis congratulated Ben before slowly navigating away from the table.

Although there were no monster hands to write about at table 37, the banter between a few of the competitors made it an interesting place to hang around. Without naming names, one player, in particular, managed to keep the mood lighthearted with quirky turns of phrase. For example, rather than saying, I’m all in, he preferred, “I”m all you can eat.”

On another occasion, when he won a small pot with a pair of pocket threes, he quipped, “Check out the Marty McSorely.” It was a reference to the NHL journeyman who played with the Oilers, Rangers, Kings and Penguins, whose uniform number was 33. Most of the players at the table understood the reference, but for those who were in the dark, he began a diatribe about Marty McSorely’s hockey career and the brawlers lack of puck handling skills. “God, that guy was awful! He could barely skate.”