Will Failla has joined the action recently and was just involved in a hand where he raised preflop to 500. The player in the big blind called and the dealer slid out an all-paint flop of .
The player in the blind checked, then called Failla's bet of 500. The dealer burned and turned the . It checked to Failla again and he continued for a bet of 800, which was called.
The river was the and Failla fired again when it checked to him. He made it 1,500 and his opponent quickly folded.
When the first player to act preflop limped, Charles-Alexandre Sylvestre raised to 1,000 and got calls from the player on the button, the big blind, and the under-the-gun limper.
The dealer turned over and action checked to Sylvestre. He continued for 2,000 and only the preflop limper made the call.
The turn was the and both players checked, bringing out the on the river. Sylvestre quickly mucked when his opponent threw in a blue 5,000 chip for a bet.
Jeff Madsen was heads up and looking at a board of when his opponent checked. Madsen bet 1,600 and his opponent raised to 5,000. Madsen slid out matching chips to call.
The river was the and Madsen's opponent spent half a minute in thought before checking. Madsen then spent nearly as long thinking as well, but eventually checked behind.
Madsen:
Opponent:
Madsen's red ace-five and his opponent's black ace-five chopped the pot with their matching straights.
Two of the shortest stacks in our counts have been eliminated. Darren Elias and Guy Carbonneau have both hit the exit and will have opportunities on Saturday and Sunday to try again.
There are 97 players left out of today's 117 entries as they head to their second 15-minute break of the day. They'll return for Level 5 with the blinds at 150/300 with a 50 ante.
Here are a few more notable players to add to the counts who are all currently sitting on more or less their starting stack. We'll keep you updated as they go along.
Anthony Zinno already won a WPT event in Canada this year, which he followed up with going back to back and winning WPT L.A. Poker Classic. He's back again for another title shot, late registering here in Day 1a.
Jonathan Duhamel and Mike McDonald are the top two Canadian players according to the Global Poker Index. Last week, McDonald held the top spot. This week, Duhamel is No. 1. They're neck and neck as the nation's best.
In a recent hand, they were neck and neck as well.
Duhamel min-raised to 600 from the cutoff and McDonald, sitting on his direct left, raised to 1,600 from the button. When action came back around to Duhamel, he pushed all in for a little under 8,000.
McDonald sat back in his seat to think for a moment, and eventually paid the call.
Duhamel:
McDonald:
The flop of gave Duhamel a flush draw, but McDonald was currently ahead. The turn of was effectively a blank, but the river put two pairs on the board, causing both players to only contribute their ace kicker to the winning hand.
As they chopped the post, Duhamel said, "I wanna win or lose," looking down at his short stack and hoping for a double-up or an elimination to come back tomorrow.
![[user263659]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
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. It checked to Failla again and he continued for a bet of 800, which was called.
and Failla fired again when it checked to him. He made it 1,500 and his opponent quickly folded.
and action checked to Sylvestre. He continued for 2,000 and only the preflop limper made the call.
and both players checked, bringing out the 
on the river. Sylvestre quickly mucked when his opponent threw in a blue 5,000 chip for a bet.
when his opponent checked. Madsen bet 1,600 and his opponent raised to 5,000. Madsen slid out matching chips to call.
gave Duhamel a flush draw, but McDonald was currently ahead. The turn of 