The player who bagged the big stack is someone who usually likes to remain anonymous (assuming my memory for names is good tonight lol). He has more than 750k to start Day 2 and WSOP-C ring winner Michael Khan from Ottawa is the second stack with 720k. Those are the only two stacks in the 700k range, with Van Le a about 650k in 3rd. Taran Parmar and Maddie Sharma round out the top five with stacks in the 400k range.

Full stacks for the 30 Day 1b qualifiers are loaded under the Chip Counts tab and seat assignments for the full 52 players returning will be posted shortly. Note that there are only 52 live stacks in the game for tomorrow as Taran Parmar busted in the final hand of Day 1a for a min-cash, but he also bagged a solid 1b stack.

They are down to 30 players now with 8:26 left in Level 16. The bags are now being collected and collated and I'll have eyes on the big stacks shortly. Stay tuned for the Day 1b counts shortly, and the Day 2 seat assignments shortly after that,

It looks like Michael Khan is the 1b chip leader right now with 32 players left alive at the break. The action likely won't last much longer after they come back with just 2 eliminations before the bags come out.

There are a few other big stacks out there including Van Le at 585k, Maddie Sharma at 465k, and Malcolm Bolger at 470k.

While I don't have a handle on all the big stacks, at least on big stack is in front of Maddie Sharma. Shouts of "Sharma TIME!" are common in the poker room when Maddie's husband DJ is playing, but she just showed she's capable of some Sharma Time of her own.

She was in a pot with Ryan Smith holding king-jack on a jack-high flop. After a bet from Smith, she shoved overtop with a covering stack and he called her off with aces. It looked bad for Sharma until the it went running kings for the boat to send Rybo to the rail and put more than 400k in front of Sharma. Tablemate Jolnar Teliani joked "The ladies are taking over" when I was over chatting with Maddie about the hand, and Teliani has more than 200k sitting to Sharma's left.

There are about 30 minutes to play in Level 15 with 37 players left in the game. That puts them just 7 players off the bags coming out, so it's very possible 1b will end earlier than 1a did. They'll likely play through the break following this level, but the day will likely end in Leve 16 or early Level 17.

There are just under 10 minutes to play in level 14 with the field now at 42 players. That puts them 12 off the bags coming out with the next break following Level 15. I'll have a look around then to find some big stacks.

Level 14 has just begun and they are down to 47 players left, just 17 off the bags tonight. Action will continue until there are 30 players left.

Level 13 is half complete and they are down to 53 players left in the game. Day 1a finished with 22:42 remaining in Level 17 which is about four levels from the current time. Day 2 will start tomorrow at the earliest end time for a Day 1, and with just 23 players left to get through tonight, it could be that 1b finishes before 1a did.

There are 60 players left in the action as Level 12 comes to a close with another 15-minute break scheduled after this level. The numbers for 1b are now confirmed and the winner tomorrow (or Monday) is set to pocket about $75k for the win. There are a total of $383,724 to play for with $252,374 reserved for the final table players.

Full prizes will be loaded under the Payouts tab shortly but below is a look at the top end of the list.

They are down to 76 players left in Day 1b now with the action scheduled to play down to 30 players left. Level 12 has just begun with another break scheduled for the end of this level.

I am still waiting on confirmation of the numbers but if 232 entries holds fro today's flight that will mean that 30 players will bag at the end of the night. Level 11 is just underway with 94 players left in the game.

Dinner is now over and they are back in action for Level 10 after a very touching tribute to Ryan Snyder from Joanne Jost and Haven Werner with special words from his family. I made a video of the tribute which I'll be posting to YouTube shortly.

There are just under 20 minutes left in the dinner break and the field now has 400 total across both days. It seems likely there will still be a few more entries before dinner is finished, so prizes of $380k+ is in sight.

Dinner has just begun so there are a bit less than 45 minutes left to enter this Main Event. The field is now at 297 total for both days with 221 in the battle so far today. If they hit 400 entries over the dinner break, that will put the prizes higher than $275k.

There are 391 entries in the mix now from both starting days for prizes of $367,736. It looks like a pretty decent bet that we'll hit 400 entries before it closes in just under an hour. Players will be heading out for their dinner break in just over 10 minutes.

There are about 30 minutes to play in Level 9 with the combined field now at 387 entries. There is about 1.25 hours left to enter today's game, and just a reminder that the tribute to Ryan Snyder will take place at 8:15 in the Pearl Room.

The 1b field is over 200 now with 205 on the board and Level 7 nearing completion. That puts the two-day total at 381 entries fro prizes of $358,331 with just over 2 hours left to enter the game.

The Prize pool is now more than $345k with 192 entries for 1b and 368 in total. Entries are still open for a bit more than 2.5 hours so it looks certain the prizes will be well over $350k before the dust settles tonight.

They are on the second break of the day following Level 6 with the 1b entries at 188. There are just under 3 hours left to enter today's flight with the registration desk closing at about 8:15, just before the tribute to Ryan Snyder.

The combined field is now up to 350 entries with 174 on the board for today alone. That is just 2 entries away from yesterday's total with just under 3.5 hours left in the entry period. The current total prizes are just shy of $330k.

There are 169 entries on the board for 1b now for a two-day total of 345. That puts the combined prizes just shy of $325k with 3 hours and 40 minutes left to enter. The  Pearl Room is packed to the rafters and they've had to spill over into the poker room to get more tables.

Level 5 has just begun with the combined field up to 330. That puts the total prizes over $310k and if they get 50 more entries today, prizes will be more than $350k. With 124 players still at the felt, the Pearl Room is pretty much full to the rafters right now with all tables in play.

The prize pool is now more than $300k with 319 entries across both starting days. 1b is already up to 143 entries with about 4 hours and 45 minutes left to enter the final flight. Zhi Jiang, who was 4th in the July Main Event, is among the players I spotted in the field recently, along with Justin Pennell, Bash Ramahi, Edmonton's Paul Brar, Skyler York, Pete Fylyma, and two-time Main Event champ Eric Wasyenko, who played late into the day on 1a, but couldn't quite find a bag.

Level 4 has just begun and the prizes are over $290k and growing. The feature table on the stage is also in play now with some media (other than me) present, including local radio personality and influencer Pam Kirby.

Among the players at the feature table are PPT ambassador Haven Taylor, local McDonald's magnate DJ Sharma, WSOP-C ring winner Rob Limpert, PLO crusher Dylan Descheneaux, and Melissa Sekulich.

Also, today is the day we will be honouring our departed friend Ryan Snyder. At 8:15, following the dinner break, there will be a short presentation honouring Ryan's life and his over-sized contribution to the Alberta poker community. Please come and join us to say goodbye to Ryan and sign the Condolences book we've set up for his family. It will all happen in the Pearl Showroom, and the Main Event clock will be paused so that players needn't worry about missing the action to say goodbye to a friend.

The two-day field is now up to 300 with 124 in for Day 1b. There is about 5 minutes to play in Level 3 with the first break of the day to follow this level. There are still about 5 hours and 20 minutes left to enter the Main Event.

The combined prizes are just shy of $275k but they'll be over that very shortly as there are players in line at the reg-desk. The current combined field is at 292 entries with 116 of those from today's flight.

The 1b field is now over 100 entries with about 5 minutes to play in Level 2. That puts the combined total for both days at 279 and growing for prizes of $262,400. The prizes from today alone are already nearing $100k.

Among the players I've spotted in the field today are Malcoml Bolger, in for his first event so far this series after spending most of the week working on his lake house. Also in the mix today is Johnny Yu, Kelly Snyder, Brett Worton, George Broumas, Marc Lavergne (who bubbled Day 2 in yesterday's flight), Michael Khan, Thomas Taylor, Keith Schultz, Ryan Smith, Russ Sluchinski, Francis Fan, Darrell Moore, and Michael "Berny" Bernstein. That's not even close to a complete list, but I'll add more through the day..

There are 85 entries on the board at the start of Level 2 which makes the two-day total 261. That puts the prizes at more than $245k and growing.

Skytrain is back, on track, and the stack to beat for Day 1b players. He was the only 1a player to bag more than 400k with Gary Sandhu barely missing that mark. July Main Event winner Ryan Cairns also has a seat on Day 2. See the Day 1a tab Chip Counts for a full look at the 1a stacks.

It was a pretty big 1a with 176 total entries, eclipsing last year's Sep 1a total. That put a bit more than $165k into the prize pool from the opening flight, and 1b promises to add at LEAST $200k more so the final prize pool at the end of tomorrow could easily hit $400k

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.

As a reminder, everyone can play Day 1b, even if they bagged a Day 1a stack. If they end up with two bags, the big bag will play on Sunday while the small bag will be taken out of play and awarded a min-cash. Last series, Kris Steinbach took advantage of that and bagged himself two cashes in the same event.