There was a loud commotion over on Table 69, so we went to take a look. Stuart Taylor informed us of what happened.
Sammy Chao held pocket aces, Louis Boutin had kings and Jonathan Cohen had ace-king. All players were all-in before the flop.
The flop brought a queen and a ten, and while the turn was a brick the river was a jack to give Cohen a straight and send Boutin to the rail. Chao is still in with 50,000.
Matthew Paplyk raised to 7,000 from the cutoff and action was on Xuan Huy Phan in the small blind. He paused for a moment and then moved all-in for about 100,000. Gregory Hartwick was in the big blind and moved all-in for 108,500. Paplyk folded.
Phan was the player at risk with 
, up against Hartwick's 
.
The flop came 
and Hartwick remained in the lead with two queens. The turn was the 
, pairing Phan's jack and giving him the nut flush draw. The river was the 
and Phan was sent to the rail.
After scoring a huge double up in the first few minutes, Thomas Lefort has just eliminated Jiachen Gong to take a monster chip lead. Nathan Hall, Steven Martin, Michael Flanagan, Blaise Googoo, and garret Dansereau have also found early exits.
Brady Hinnegan returned for Day 2 as the second shortest stack. After a recent hand against chipleader Michael Malm, Hinnegan is sitting a little more comfortably.
Malm opened to 7,500 from middle position and called a three-bet jam from Hinnegan one seat over worth 37,000.
Hinnegan: 
Malm:
The board fanned out 
and Hinnegan raked in the double up.
We got to the table as short-stacked Luc Bellerive was all-in with before the flop. His opponent had him dominated with 
, but the flop came 
and Bellerive took the lead with a pair of queens.
The turn was the 
and the river was the 
to give Bellerive a double early in the day.
With about 100,000 already in the middle on the river of a 
board, Thomas Lefort moved all-in for 95,000.
After taking some time in the tank, Garrett Dansereau eventually check-called and mucked when Lefort tabled 
, flopping trips.
Dansereau no sits with just over one big blind while Lefort catapults to the top of the leaderboard.
The players have taken their seats and cards are in the air.
Level: 15
Blinds: 1,500/3,000
Ante: 500
Welcome to Day 2 of the Card Player Poker Tour (CPPT) World Cup of Cards. Just 43 players will return to the felt when cards hit the air at noon local time inside Playground Poker Club. World Series of Poker bracelet winner Michael Malm has a sizeable lead over the remaining field.
Along with his WSOP bracelet, Malm also captured a World Cup of Cards (WCC) title back in 2016. Malm starts the day with 414,500, miles ahead of Blake Tarbell (274,500) who will start the day second in chips.
Also topping the leaderboard are Jonathan Marrie (267,000), Jake Labonte (248,000), Jiachen Gong (226,000), who also won a 2016 WCC title, and Gregory Hartwick (221,500).
The defending champion remains in contention. Brady Hinnegan (42,500) topped a field of over 350 players in 2016 to claim a $110,000 first place prize. Other former WCC title winners returning for Day 2 include William Blais (169,000), Andrew Watt (111,000), David-Valcourt Dube (57,000), and Nathan Hall (48,000).
The top 24 places will walk away with a prize today. All of them will be guaranteed $3,600 with the Champion's trophy and a top prize of $98,000 awaiting the eventual winner.
Day 2 is scheduled to play nine 60-minute levels though that number could be extended or reduced depending on the outcome of the early stages. With just 43 players left, a champion could very well be crowned late Sunday evening.
PokerNews will be here throughout the festival, bringing you all the news and updates. Follow @pokernews on Twitter for live updates and more. Also, follow PokerNews on Facebook and Instagram.
| First Name | Last Name | Table | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick | St-Onge | Table 62 - Seat 1 | 68,500 |
| Garrett | Dansereau | Table 62 - Seat 2 | 145,500 |
| Thomas | Lefort | Table 62 - Seat 3 | 141,000 |
| Tam | Ho | Table 62 - Seat 4 | 126,500 |
| Frederic | Cossette | Table 62 - Seat 5 | 79,000 |
| Patrick | Braga | Table 62 - Seat 6 | 156,500 |
| Jiachen | Gong | Table 62 - Seat 8 | 226,000 |
| Ha Van | Nguyen | Table 62 - Seat 9 | 46,000 |
| Rong | Xu | Table 65 - Seat 1 | 175,000 |
| Tristan | Bergeron | Table 65 - Seat 2 | 59,500 |
| Samuel | Chartier | Table 65 - Seat 3 | 97,500 |
| Andrew | Watt | Table 65 - Seat 4 | 113,000 |
| David | Baba | Table 65 - Seat 5 | 144,500 |
| Matthew | Paplyk | Table 65 - Seat 6 | 177,000 |
| David | Valcourt-Dube | Table 65 - Seat 7 | 57,000 |
| Xuan Huy | Phan | Table 65 - Seat 8 | 50,000 |
| Gregory | Hartwick | Table 65 - Seat 9 | 221,500 |
| Paul | Scott | Table 66 - Seat 1 | 211,000 |
| Steven | Martin | Table 66 - Seat 2 | 38,500 |
| Blake | Tarbell | Table 66 - Seat 3 | 274,500 |
| Jonathan | Marrie | Table 66 - Seat 4 | 267,000 |
| Michael | Malm | Table 66 - Seat 5 | 414,500 |
| Brady | Hinnegan | Table 66 - Seat 6 | 42,500 |
| Jake | Labonte | Table 66 - Seat 7 | 248,000 |
| Douglas | Watson | Table 66 - Seat 8 | 185,500 |
| Blaise Nigel | Googoo | Table 66 - Seat 9 | 67,000 |
| Sammy | Chao | Table 69 - Seat 1 | 112,000 |
| Louis | Boutin | Table 69 - Seat 2 | 75,000 |
| Edouard | Dupuis | Table 69 - Seat 3 | 85,000 |
| Jonathan | Cohen | Table 69 - Seat 4 | 121,500 |
| Stuart | Taylor | Table 69 - Seat 5 | 195,500 |
| Jean-Philippe | Piquette | Table 69 - Seat 6 | 137,000 |
| Michael | Flanagan | Table 69 - Seat 7 | 48,000 |
| Luc | Bellerive | Table 69 - Seat 8 | 33,000 |
| Robert | Laberge | Table 69 - Seat 9 | 175,000 |
| Nathan | Hall | Table 70 - Seat 1 | 48,000 |
| Andrej | Markovinovic | Table 70 - Seat 2 | 187,500 |
| Michael | Korovine | Table 70 - Seat 4 | 75,000 |
| William | Blais | Table 70 - Seat 5 | 169,000 |
| Viken | Artinian | Table 70 - Seat 6 | 54,500 |
| Maxime | Flibotte-Blanchard | Table 70 - Seat 7 | 201,000 |
| Lucas | Drolet | Table 70 - Seat 8 | 103,000 |
| Thomas | Cemm | Table 70 - Seat 9 | 68,500 |
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