PokerStars Canada Cup Main Event Day 1a: Jeremy Thompson Leads
The first of three starting days of the PokerStars Canada Cup $3,300 Main Event just outside of Montreal, Quebec at Playground Poker Club began on Thursday. The event has an enormous $2,000,000 guarantee on the prize pool. The event will need to see almost 700 entries pass through registration to avoid an overlay, and only 129 came out for Day 1a.
The tournament allows next-day re-entry, meaning players cannot fire a second bullet on the same day, but can return on Day 1b or 1c to start over with another stack. They would take just the largest pile of chips to Day 2 if they happen to survive more than one Day 1.
Ten one-hour levels were on the schedule for Day 1a, and late registration was permitted until the end of dinner break after Level 6. As players trickled in and filled the field throughout the day, plenty of recognizable names were added to the field. Among them were Timothy Adams, Eric Afriat, Ami Alibay, John Andress, Canada Cup High Roller winner Samuel Chartier, Andrew Chen, Yann Dion, PokerStars Team Pro Jonathan Duhamel, Antonio Esfandiari, Sam and Lucas Greenwood, Jeff Gross, Paul Klann, PokerStars Team Online Pro Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Jonas Mackoff, Johnny Mazzaferro, Chris McClung, Nick Petrangelo, Jeff Rossiter, Sylvain Siebert, Carter Swidler, Mike Watson, Jordan Westmorland, and [Removed:17].
Day 1a @PokerStars "Canada Cup" @PlaygroundPoker - by far my favourite poker venue to play at each year. Comfy chairs/great food/great city.
— Jonas Mackoff (@donut604)
Glad to be back @playgroundpoker I feel so at home here. Without a doubt the BEST place to play in Canada. @Jkmontreal @Jgross5
— Antonio Esfandiari (@MagicAntonio)
PokerStars knows how to put together a world-class event, and Playground Poker Club clearly knows how to host one. When these two join forces, one of the best events of the year for Canadians is sure to unfold. It is expected that the poker room will be flooded with eager participants from near and far on Day 1b and 1c before play progresses to Day 2 on Sunday.
At the close of the day, Jeremy Thompson bagged up the largest stack of chips with 260,000, far ahead of the rest of the field and the only player above the 200K mark. There were 47 survivors out of the original 129 players.
Some notable players who have secured a seat in Day 2 are Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Steve Silverman, Will Molson, Lucas Greenwood, Johnny Mazzaferro, Paul Klann, Jonas Mackoff, Carter Swidler, Kevin MacDonald, Jeff Gross, and Chris Back.
The top 10 stacks are as follows:
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Thompson | 260,000 |
| 2 | Marco Caza | 191,400 |
| 3 | Marc-Andre Ladouceur | 174,400 |
| 4 | Steve Silverman | 163,200 |
| 5 | Amer Sulaiman | 158,800 |
| 6 | Gary Lucci | 154,300 |
| 7 | Will Molson | 152,200 |
| 8 | Lucas Greenwood | 150,000 |
| 9 | Pierre Guenette | 149,000 |
| 10 | Danny Boyaci | 135,200 |
Despite having a large pile of chips early on, 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel was unable to survive the day. The silver lining was found in the fact that he was free to watch his Montreal Canadiens defeat the New York Rangers 3-2 in the Eastern Conference final of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
From chip leader at dinner break of @PokerStars Canada Cup to busto in 3 hours... thats hurts, back tomorrow for day 1B #GoHabs
— Jonathan Duhamel (@JonathanDuhamel)
Day 1b got underway at 11 a.m. on Friday and we��ll have an end-of-day recap for you to keep you caught up on all the action. Keep watching PokerNews for your PokerStars Canada Cup updates.
Photo and data courtesy of the Playground Poker Club Blog.
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
![PokerStars Canada Cup $10,400 High Roller Day 1: [Removed:17] Leads Star-Studded Field](https://pnimg.net/w/articles/1/537/cb17d2290c.jpg)
