The bags are in and Zeyu 'Skytrain' Huang is officially back from his wedding/honeymoon in China. He bagged the big stack today with 450k on Day 1a. He was the only payer with more than 400k in a bag but Gary Sandhu came as close as he could with 395k for second. Deven Lane was short earlier in the evening and I saw him double up with queens into sixes. He seems to have run that up even further with the 3rd biggest bag of 367k. Ryan Comely and Jimmy Lee round out the top five with Jon Jacquard and Garett Maybery also bagging 300k+ today.

One other notable stack is Ryan Cairns, winner of the July Main Event. He bagged a respectable 224k for Day 2, but two-time winner Eric Wasylenko wasn't able to survive the night. He was in action until late in the day, and stacking pretty big for part of it, but he'll have to come back and try again tomorrow if he wants to take the title back. One further note -- Taran Parmar busted at the end of the night for 23rd place, so he will get a min-cash on Sunday.

Full stacks are loaded in the Chip Counts tab, as well as detailed below. Seat assignments won't be available until after Day 1b is complete.

The bags are out with 22 players left alive. Marc Lavergne was the bubble to Day 2 today, but Taran Parmar also busted after Lavergne, so he will get a min-cash on Sunday. The bags are currently being collated by Tressa so I should have eyes on the stacks shortly.

They are down to 24 players left now with about 30 minutes to play in Level 17, so the next elimination will bring out the bags.

It looks like Ryan Comely is the bog stack right now with more than 300k in front of him. Many of the other big ones have evened out a bit now, but Ryan Cairns, winner of the July Main, is stacking up nicely with more than 200k.

They are down to 26 players, three off the bags, at the start of Level 17. The average stack is about 25 big blinds right now, and it looks likely the bags will come out sometime in this level or early Level 18.

They are down to 27 players left now with Level 16 about five minutes in. That puts them just four eliminations away from the end of the night.

They are down to 28 players to start Level 16 with Jon Jacquard in the lead. He has 465k right now and is the only one in the 400k range. Gary Sandhu and Zoran Pribilovic are both in the 300k range while Jimmy Lee and Zeyu Huang are in the 200k range. The bags will come out after 5 more players lose their stacks. The average stack at the moment is just over 30 big blinds.

They are down to 29 players with 15 minutes to play in Level 15.

There are 31 players left alive in Day 1a as Level 15 starts. That puts them 8 players away from the end of the night. The average stack is around 35 big blinds right now.

Both Main Eent champs from this year are still in the mix, but they've been broken up now as Eric Wasylenko got a table switch to balance during the previous level. Zoran Pribilovic has even more chips than he had earlier, and it looks like the ever dangerous Jimmy Lee is stacking pretty big right now as well.

They are down to 36 players left now with just under 20 minutes to play in Level 14. That puts them 13 off the bags coming out. It seems likely they will play through the next break following Level 15 but the bags will almost certainly be out before the break after 18.

It looks like most of the previous big stacks are still sitting with similar chip stacks on my last trip through the room. Cliff Green's seat was empty but Zoran Pribilovic is still playing at least 300k with Eric Wasylenko also still looking to be at about 250k. Pav Braich is getting a massage, and still hanging out with 200k. It looks like Mike Smith might be down some from my previous count, but he's still at the table in the battle.

The average stack is a bit more than 30 big blinds as they start Level 14 with 41 players left in the action.

I forgot to add the "+1". The bags will come out tonight at 23 players, not 22 as previously reported, so they are 21 off the bags at the start of Level 13. It looks like the big stack in the field right now it Zoran Pribilovic with 335k but double-champ Eric Wasylenko is sitting with just shy of 250k for what looks to be second. Gary Sandhu, Zeyu "Skytrain" Huang, and MIke Smith all have 200k or more as well. Pav Braich is just below that threshold while CLiff Green looks to be on around 160k.

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They are down to 50 players remaining in Day 1a now with a few big names still hanging around. 2024's Main Event winners, Eric Wasylenko (x2) and Ryan Cairns, ae both still battling it out and they are on the same table and it's at least the second time today they've been seated together. Steven Dauphinais, who had a big score in Vegas this summer at the WSOP, is in the mix along with Mike Smith, Russ Sluchinski, Gord Pettit, Taran Parmar, Brian Anderson, Colten Yamagishi, Mike Malm, Ryder Marzyk, Marc Lavergne, Michael "Berny" Bernstein, Geordi Lobe, and Ryan Comely are also all still battling for a bag.

Level 12 is just about to get underway with 54 players still alive today. They'll take another break following this level, and I'll try to find some big stacks during that break.

They are down to 56 players left now and the 176 entries is confirmed. That means the bags will come out with 22 players left later tonight. There are now about 15 minutes to play in Level 11.

There are 64 players left in the action at the start of Level 11. Play will continue tonight until there are just 22 players left with chips. There is a break following Level 12 and I'll have a wander around the room then to find some big stacks.

The final tally on the board at the start of Level 10 is 176 entries. That puts the Day 1a prizes at just over $165k. The numbers are still unofficial, but I'll confirm them shortly once all the money is counted.

They are now into the freezeout portion of the day, and action will continue until there are 22 players left alive tonight.

There are about 10 minutes left in the dinner break and the field is up to 173 entries for prizes of $162,707. Entries will be closed when they sit down again for Level 10.

There are just under 10 minutes to play in Level 9 and this is the final level to enter the game. Entries will be open through the 45-minute dinner break following this level but Day 1a will be closed once they sit down for Level 10 at about 8:15 pm.

There are still 90 minutes left to enter today's flight to the Main and the field is at 165 entries for prizes of more than $155k. Level 8 has about 5 minutes to play and Level 9 is the final level of entry. Players can still register through the dinner break following Level 9, but once Level 10 begins, they''ll have to wait until tomorrow to get into the Main Event.

There are just under 15 minutes to play in Level 7 and the field is now over 150 entries. With 154 on the board right now, the prizes are at $144,837, one entry away from $145k and 6 from $150k. It seems likely there will be more than $150k in the prize pool before they close entries in just over 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Day 1a of the Main Event is on their second break of the day with just shy of 3 hours left to enter the game. The prizes are now over $130k and growing. Among the other players I've spotted today are Rob Lothian, who has a win and a second so far this series, Thomas Taylor, who is fresh off his recent WSOOP win online, Russ Sluchinski, Sean O'Reilly, Qingwei "Justin" Meng, Taran Parmar, and Maddie Sharma.

There are just over 15 minutes to play in Level 6 with the second break of the day scheduled following this level. The field is up to 135 entries now with 92 players still at the felt for prizes of more than $125k. Once they sit down for Level 7 in about 30 minutes, there will be three levels of poker, plus the dinner break, left in today's entry period, so things are looking good for 150+ entries today.

They are just four away from 130 entries to start Level 6 today with prizes closing in on $120k. July's Main Event winner Ryan Cairns is in the mix today looking to defend his title and among the other players I've spotted today are DJ Sharma, John Donnelly, Leo Zhang, Cliff Green, Michael "Berny" Bernstein, Lee Clark, and Daniel Lefebvre.

There are 115 entries on the board to start Level 5 with prizes now just shy of $110k. Entries for Day 1a are still open for about 4 hours and 15 minutes and players can take a second shot in tomorrow's 1b. It's looking like today's flight could push 150 entries, but at least 130 seems like a lock at this point.

There are just under 20 minutes to play in Level 4 and the prize pool just capped $100k with 108 entries on the board. There are still 92 players at the felt ad a bit less than 5 hours left to get into today's flight.

Level 4 is just beginning and they are up to 100 entries to start the level. That puts the prize just shy of $95k with about 5 hours left to get into today's flight. There is a second flight tomorrow and just a reminder that players can play and bag both flights if they choose. Players with two bags for Day 2 will play the biggest stack and take a min-cash for their small one, which comes out of play at the start of Day 2.

The Main Event players are now on their first break of Day 1a with 96 entries on the board and 87 players still at the felt. When they return in about 10 minutes there will still be six more levels of entry before registrations close for the day.

There are about 5 minutes left in Level 2 with 83 entries on the board and 81 players at the felt. They'll take their first break of the day after Level 3 with entries open until the start of Level 10, which should be about 8:15 pm.

Level 2 has about 30 minutes remaining and the field is at 73 entries with 71 still in play. Among the people I spotted on my way into the room are PPT ambassador Haven Taylor, Stephen Dauphinais, Nick Malkovich, Marc Lavergne, Hiro Harada, and Julius Roque.

The big weekend is here with the opening flights of the Main Event. Day 1a runs Friday at 1 pm with a second chance to bag on Saturday's Day 1b. Players can play and bag both flights if they choose, playing the biggest stack on Day 2 and taking a min-cash payout for their smaller stack.

The game starts with 30k in chips and 40-minute levels for Day 1 play. Late registration is open for the first nine levels of each Day 1 flight, putting the last chance to buy in at about 8:15 pm. Day 1 play will continue until the field is down to 12.5% of the starting field for each day.

The defending champion from the July series is local son Ryan Cairns, but Eric Wasylenko, who won the first two Mains this year, is also in the house with one win already this series. Several other players have been running hot this week like Kevin Schell with three cashes and a win, and Rob Lothian with a win and a second. Gary Rooprai ran red-hot in the PLO Bounty game to take the win and he was 3rd back in July's Main, so I wouldn't count him out of the mix either.

The Ottawa crew is also running well so far with Marc Lavergne booking a win, and Michael Khan, Manfred Gunther, and Duff Charette all final tabling the PLO game so there is a lot of heat going into the Main this time around. I will probably be late to the game again for Day 1a, but it's the only thing on my agenda once I get there.