Sunny Lubana is no stranger to big scores. While this was his first Circuit ring, it marks his fourth win on the live felt, and the $51k first place prize will push his lifetime earnings over $650k.

Lubana dominated for much of the final table with he chip lead, and at one point when they were four-handed, he had more than half the chips in play. In the final hand, he was able to get there after runner-up Claire Leclerc slow-played flopped two pair and Lubana found a bigger two pair on the river, when the money went in.

Lubana is one of the good guys of poker. Not only is he a joy to cover with his positive attitude and friendly demeanor at the tables, but off the tables he and his family are big philanthropists, sponsoring an education fund for underprivileged youth in his family homeland of India. They select specific kids in need to fund education expenses, and 10% of Lubana's poker winnings always go to the fund. The win today will be helping some kids get an education, and it's hard to complain about that.

It was a pretty massive hand to end it all. Claire Leclerc flopped two pair with six-three against Sunny Lubana's king-six, but Leclerc slow-played it. The saw a brick turn, only for the to hit the river, giving Lubana the bigger two pair. The money went in on the river, and Lubana had her stacked for the win.

Leclerc was looking for her first live win here tonight, with her best previous finish a couple of seconds. This was her biggest score by quite a bit, however, as she was on $37k USD lifetime coming into this series.

Sunny Lubana and Claire Leclerc are nearly even in chips now. Lubana still has a bit of a lead, but Leclerc has been picking up chips consistently throughout heads-up. She just check-raised flop and turn on a board of and got the fold on the turn after she check-raised from 550k to 1.3 million

Johann Jacquard just ended his run today in 3rd place shortly after Brett Worton's exit. That leaves the game heads up between CLaire Leclerc and Sunny Lubana with Lubana in the lead.

There are just three players left in Day 2 of the $1k now after Brett Worton hit the rail. I missed the action writing up the Leclerc double.

Claire Leclerc shoved the button and Sunny Lubana called from the small blind. Leclerc was ahead with against for Lubana. The board kept the ace-queen ahead for Leclerc to double.

Sunny Lubana is the big leader right now with about 4.5 million in front of him. That's more than half the 8.04 million total in play right now, so he's in a dominating position right now as they are about to move into Level 27.

They are down to 4 now after Srinivas Gottiparthi shoved under the gun plus one for 415k and Johann Jacquard called from the big blind with more. Gottiparthi was dominated with ace-six into ace-jack and the board bricked for hands, leaving the jack kicker to play for the win.

They went from 7 to 5 in a single hand after Sunny Lubana's queens held for a huge pot against short stack Youssef Hmama, who was looking for his second ring this series after winning the Mystery, and Greg "Greg Goes All In" Liow. Hmama was in for about 250k with king-nine while Liow was playing ace-queen. Lubana's queens held and they are down to 5 with all players now guaranteed more than $10k.

Johann Jacqaurd is managing to stay alive, but he had to find a river this time. He shoved 360k UTG+1 and Youssef Hmama called from the button with a bit more. Jacquard was ahead with against but Hmama flopped his nine to take the lead. The turn bricked both, but a on the river put Jacquard back in front for the double.

Johann Jacquard shoved second-to-act for 220k and it folded to Claire Leclerc in the big blind who put in the call for just 160k more. Jacquard had and Leclerc was on suited-gappers with . Jacquard flopped his ace, but Leclerc turned a diamond draw. She bricked the river and Jacquard got the double to a bit more than 500k now.

Zhi Jiang was nearly felted on his big blind, and after he paid his small blind, he was down to just 20k left, less than that small blind. He got that in with an ace after Sunny Lubana raised under the gun, and big blind Claire Leclerc also came along to the flop of . She fired 150k, forcing Lubana out and setting up the showdown with Jiang.

Jiang was looking for an ace or running cards with ace-five against the queen-eight for Leclerc. The turn and river bricked for him, however, and Leclerc's flopped pair took it down.

Shortly after the break ended, Srinivas Gottiparthi shoved the small blind and Zhi Kiang called from the big with a bit more. Jiang was dominated with against for Gottiparthi. They both hit an ace on the flop, but no more help came for Jiang and he's down to about 50k.

The leader coming into today is now collecting his money. Hari Aujla was the only player to bring 1 million to Day 2, and he was able to turn that all the way up to the final table. Aujla got it in good with pocket kings, but ended up losing to an underset of sevens.

Zhi Liang opened to 100k from the button, and Youssef Hmama defended his big blind with a call. Hamam check-raised from 60k to 210k on the flop and Jiang called to the turn. Hmama shoved for 450k and after about two minutes in the tank, Jiang gave up his hand.

They are Down to 9 left now after Brant Taylor got to the final table short, and busted first while I was uploading the pictures.

They are down to the ten-handed final table after a bit of a marathon 11-handed. Jerry Li was the player to finally bubble the FT after he shoved the small blind and Brett Worton called from the big.

Jerry Li:
Brett Worton:

Li flopped his nine and was looking for a double, but Worton rivered his ace for the win to send Li out on the FT bubble.

Zhi Jiang raised to 60k before the flop and Claire Leclerc called her big blind to a flop of . She checked to Jiang who continued for 45k, but then tank-folded to a check-raise to 400k.

They are on the bubble to the final table now with 11 players remaining. Somphone Ung was short at the dinner break and he just lost his stack for 12th place. They'll be at the 10-handed FT after the next elimination.

Brant Taylor open-raised to 70k from the button, but Brett Worton shoved his small blind for 145k. Taylor called it off with but was looking for three outs when Worton turned over pocket tens. Worton hit a set on the flop and never looked back.

They limped four-ways after Johann Jacquard started the limp-fest and Hari Aujla called from the button, Umg Somphone completed from the small, and after a few seconds, Greg Liow, who does content creation on Facebook and YouTube as "Greg Goes All In", checked his big blind option.

The flop was and it checked around to Aujla who fired 75k into the middle and took it down.

The final 12 players in Day 2 of the $1k are now on dinner and Srinivas Gottipathi is leading the way with more than 1.4 million. He is the only player above 1 million with Johann Jacquard in second just shy of the seven-figure mark.

Youssef Hmama, who won the Mystery Bounty on the weekend, raised the button to 55k and got a call from Johann Jacquard in the small blind. Jacquard check-called or 30k on the flop and both players checked it through the turn and river. Jacquard rolled over for the flopped pair and Hmama mucked his cards.

They are now about 2 minutes from the dinner break, so stay tuned for full stacks on the break.

They are down to 12 with about 10 minutes to play until dinner after Cody Goulet lost his stack in 13th place.

Ung Somphone is short right now, but he grabbed a couple of rounds of blinds and antes just now after he shoved UTG+1 and then UTG, getting folds both times. The remaining players will go for dinner in about 10 minutes and I'll grab full chip counts at that point.

They are down to 13 now with the exit if 4-Flight winner Phillip Louie. He was looking to hit overcards with ace-queen when he shoved and got called by the pocket jacks of Sunny Lubana. The board ran clean for the jacks and Lubana is sitting with just shy of 1 million now.

Hari Aujla is to his left and looks to still be the big stack right now with a bit more than a million. See below for a few other big stack updates.

They are down to 14 remaining now after Zenni Petros followed Leo Zhang to the cash desk.

Leo Zhang was the most recent exit when he was done a bit dirty. He jammed 9 bigs with kings over an open and got the call for a great spot against pocket sixes. Both players had a spade in their pair and the flop was all spades, leaving Zhang's opponent drawing very think to two off-suit sixes. the 4th spade bricked, but Zhang had to collect his things when the two-outer hit on the river.

They are down to 16 remaining in Day 2 now with about 35 minutes to play in Level 20. Ian Modder and Ziwen Liu were the most recent exits. I've finished most of my work from last night, so I should have eyes on the action in this one shortly.

They are down to 18 now in the $1k Day 2 with the recent players to hit the cash cage being Alex Liu and Zhi Yang.

More than half of Level 18 is now complete with a break scheduled after this level. They've been stuck on 20 players left for this whole level so far, as well as part of Level 17.

Cliff Green, who final-tabled the Seniors event on Sunday, was among the recent busts from Day 2 here today. There are about 15 minutes left in Levvel 17.

There are just under 30 minutes to play in Level 17 and they are down to 22 now with the recent exits of Bernice McLennan and Julius Roque. Roque was curious if he could still get into the Monster stack, which of course still has entries open until after 6 pm. We also reminded him of the $1k Turbo starting in an hour or so.

Roque smiled. "That's why I busted this one. Probably gonna win that one." If you've seen him play, you know that's no idle threat ...

The backend prizes are now updated to 28th place with Roberta Kent among the players he hit the rail before the final 27.

Three players have already hit the rail today with fewer the 15 minutes played. Sheldon Kent, who had the fourth shortest stack to start the day took 32nd while David Ko, who bagged the shortest, was 31st. Ka Lok Yeung also just hit the payout desk for 30th place, but his name will be updated in the backend on my next upload.

It's worth noting that both Sheldon and Roberta Kent found his and hers bags yesterday in this one. Sheldon has just hit the rail from his shorty, but Roberta is still battling it out for the win.

The action for Day 2 is about to get underway with Level 16 about to begin. I am in the room and will be updating busts, but I won't have eyes on the action for a little bit while I try to clean up some final administration from yesterday's events.

Surrey, BC's Hari Aujla bagged the lead of 32 returning players for Tuesday's final day of action. He bagged 612k for the chip lead over Mystery winner Youssef Hmama in second with 511k and 4-Flight winner Phillip Louie in 3rd with 482k. Jerry Li and Zenni Petros round out the top five stacks with more than 400k.

Full stacks are under the Chip Counts tab and I'll post Day 2 seat assignments in their own post shortly.

I'm still waiting for the slips to verify counts and seat assignments, but it looks like 32 players will be returning for Day 2 tomorrow. Action kicks off at 2 pm in the Chrome room and they'll play to a winner by the end of the night.

I'll confirm the remaining players once I get all the chips and seats collated.

They are playing the final seven  hands of the night now in the $1k with 36 players left in action. Jacques Mayer, DJ Sharma, and Hassan Issa were the busts to bring the field to 36 left.

There are 15 minutes left in the night, and the clock will pause at 10 minutes to draw for the remaining hands. They are down to 39 remaining now after Michael Mlam and Dallas Jankowiak took the first two min-cash spots tonight.

They are in the money now with 41 left and just over 20 minutes to play in Level 15. This is the final level of the night so the bags will come out when this level finishes and the remaining players will return tomorrow to play for the ring.

I've just had a wander around the room to look at some of the bigger stacks, and it looks like 4-Flight winner Phillip Louie is dominating this one as far as well. He has more than 600k in front of him right now with the next biggest stacks I saw in the 300k range belonging to Brett Worton (320k), Jerry Li (310k), and David Ko (330k) while Sunny Lubana is one about 240k now.

They are down to 51 players left in the $1k now, just 10 off the money with a bit less than 10 minutes to play in Level 13. It looks like they'll be on the bubble sometime in Level 14 or early 15 and the bags will come out with players already in the money.

I must have been looking at an out-of-date structure as the printed structure I just looked at says they only play 15 levels on Day 1, not the 18 I originally reported. See below for the most recent structure sheet, and I apologize for the error.

There are just over 20 minutes to play in Level 12 with another break following this level. With the current pace, it looks like they'll hit the money bubble sometime in Level 14 or 15 and that some of the money will get paid out tonight before they bag at the end of Level 18.

DJ Sharma, Pam MacNaughton, Colten Yamagishi, Gerald Chung, Brett Worton, Dave Howat, Zhi Jiang, Bernice McLennen, ed Zurawell, Ian Modder, Jerry Li, Kali Shuali, Julius Roque, Weston Pring, Cliff Green, Sunny Lubana, Gary Rooprai, Tyler Panas, Phillip Louie, Dallas Jankowiak, Alex Liu, David Ko, Qingwei Meng, Michael Malm, Claire Leclerc, Leo Zhang, Hari Aujla, Zenni Petros, Aidan Klingbeil, JJ Johnstone, Youssef Hmama, and Brant Taylor are among the players still in the game fighting for prizes.

One particularly tough table features Rooprai, Roque, Lubana, Pring, Shuali, Li, Zurawell, and Modder. I'd guess no one wants to get moved to that table ...

There are now fewer than 72 people left in the $1k tonight as the end of Level 11 approaches. The numbers are only being adjusted when a table breaks for now, so there are somewhere between 72 and 63 players remaining at the moment.

Level 11 has just begun and they are down to 81 players left, 40 players off the money spots.

The prize pool is in and the field is confirmed at 268 entries for total prizes of $234,500. The winner tomorrow will pocket more than $50k with final table players sharing $166,874.

There will be 41 players getting a piece of the prizes tonight with the min-cash set at $2,007. The top-ten prizes are below and see the full prizes under the Payouts tab.

Two-Day $1k Top Ten Payouts

The $1k players are back from their break with 268 entries on the clock. That is still an unofficial number, but if it holds it means 41 players will be sharing in $234,500 in prizes on tomorrow's Day 2 (though it's possible some of those will get paid out late tonight as well). I'll confirm all the numbers when the prizes are officially posted shortly.

The $1k is on dinner now with about 35 minutes left until they return for Level 10 and entries are closed.  There are 263 entries on the board right now for prizes of just over $230k but it's likely we'll see one or two more entries at least before they return.

Level 9 has just begun and this is the final level of poker for rebuys or new entries. The reg desk is also open through the dinner break after this level but will close at the start of Level 10 at about 6:15 pm. The current field is 257 for prizes just shy of $225k. The next entry will push it over that mark.

The field in the $1k is now over 250, which beats the 249 entries this game saw in May this year. Prizes are now one entry shy of $220k with just under 15 minutes to play in Level 8. Entries are open through Level 9, as well as the dinner break to follow, and will close when they return from dinner for Level 10 action.

The field is closing in on 250 now with Level 8 just underway. The prizes are now over $215k and climbing with about 2 hours left to enter this one.

The field is up to 231 now in the $1k with about 30 minutes to play in Level 7. That puts the prize pool at $202,125 and climbing with about 2.5 hours left to enter this one.

Among the players I spotted during the break were 4-Flight winner Phillip Louie, Mystery Bounty winner Youssef Hmama, Marc Kudjick who FT'd the Mix Game, Julius Roque, Ryan Cairns, fresh off his Main Event win three hours north last month, Qingwei Meng, and Dave Howat, who was in the endgame of another Edmonton Main Event earlier this year. Bernice McLellan, David Ko, Arif Dhalla, Claire and Leo Leclerc, and Chris Clisby are among the players in the game today.

Players will be back from their second break of the day shortly for Level 7. There are three levels of poker left in the entry period, plus the dinner break with entries set to close almost exactly 3 hours from now.

Among the players I've noticed in the field today are Aidan Klinbeil, Michael Malm, Pam MacNaughton, Gerald Chung, Rob Lothian, and Hari Aujla.

The Two-Day $1k isn't typically the biggest field of the series, but it is one of the most anticipated events by many players. It's a shot at a big prize pool with a relatively small field and many of the top players are keyed into this one.

Action kicks off at 11 am and players have more than 7 hours to buy in. Players buy in for 30k in chips and will play 40-minute levels throughout the day. They can enter the game or rebuy for 9 levels of poker and, with the breaks included, that should put the final chance to enter at about 6:15 pm.

Day 1 plays for 18 levels, which should put the final hand at about 10:30 pm. Whoever remains after 15 levels will bag up to return for Day 2 on Tuesday. This game will be my main focus for the day until they bag.