It took about a bit more than 12 hours to finish Day 2 of the $1k event, and in the end, Gabriel Croteau was the player with all the chips. It was a battle of Quebec at the end as Croteau faced down Adam Cader, also from Quebec, and the two players had a large French rail on hand to watch the heads-up battle.

Cader dominated much of the final table, holding 10 million of the 14 million in play at one point when three-handed play started, but when they got heads up it was pretty even. Cader's run turned cold once the game got two ways as Gabriel Croteau seemed to be hitting all the cards he needed.

He had Cader 6:1 down at one point before Cader doubled back up, but it was a short-lived spin-up as a few hands later the money went in with Cader on against . It looked good for Cader until the jack hit the flop and no help came for him.

This is Croteau's second live win after he picked up a win in July Power Week 2023, Kahnawake, but this win will come very close to doubling he previous lifetime total earnings.

It was quite a heads-up battle as they went at it for almost two full levels. Adam Cader was in tough for most of it as Gabriel Croteau seemed to be hitting cards at will, chipping up with small pots.

Cader did get a double when he was down to about 2.5 million to stay alive when his pocket jacks held over ace-ten, but Croteau was relentless and chipped him back down again. In the final hand, Cader was in good with against . Croteau was running hot, however, and spiked his jack on the flop. That was all he needed to send Cader to the cage for second place money.

It was all in before the flop with Adam Cader holding pocket jacks against ace-ten for Gabriel Croteau. Croteau found a ten on the flop but it wasn't enough and the jacks held to keep Cader in the game. Croteau still has the chip lead, but it's a lot closer now.

The players have decided to take a smoke break in the middle of Level 29 right after a hand that saw Gabriel Croteau jump into a big lead. Adam Cader limped, then called a raise to 450k from Croteau. Croteau led for 265k on the flop and got the call. Both players checked the turn, and after a check from Croteau on the river, Cader fired 800k.

Croteau took quite a while thinking over his decision but eventually found a call, revealing for a turned pair, and Cader mucked.

The board read on the turn and Adam Cader check-called a bet of 450k from Gabriel Croteau. The river came and after another check from Cader, Croteau slid out a bet of 1 million. Cader called after some time in the tank, but mucked when Croteau showed for flopped two pair.

I arrived at the hand with the flop of flop and Adam Cader check-called for 200k. Both he and Gabriel Croteau checked the turn, but Cader slid out an overbet of 1.5 million on the river and Croteau mucked after some thinking time.

Gabriel Croteau raised to 125k and got the call from Adam Cader. Both players checked the flop, and Cader led for 125k on the turn.

Cader checked the river and Croteau fired 265k. Cader took some time to make his decision, but eventually slid the chips in for a call, mucking his hand when Croteau showed .

They are heads up now in Event #7 and it's a battle between two Quebecois with Adam Cader holding a bit of a lead over Gabriel Croteau.

They are heads up now after short stack Sal Benarroch hit the rail in 3rd place shortly after the break.

Adam Cader shoved the big stack from the small blind, and Gabriel Croteau hit the tank hard, tanking a couple of minutes into the break. He finally put in the call and was in good shape with against for Cader. Cader turned a diamond draw against his fellow Quebecer, but couldn't find the third diamond and Croteau got the double to more than 5 million.

Adam Cader had the big stack and raised the small blind to 300k. David Cox came over the top with a shove worth 3.365 million and after about a minute in the tank, Cader called.

David Cox:
Adam Cader:

Neither player hit the board so the ace-queen held for the win and Cader now has a stranglehold with most of the chips in play with three left.

They are down to 4 players left now and Adam Cader is running away with it. He just sent Rob Lothian to the rail after Lothian couldn't find any help with queen-jack of clubs against a king-five off for Cader. Cader now has about half the chips in play four-handed.

Shortly after the exit of Tommy Nguyen, Steve Desjarlais hit the rail in 6th place for $15,973. I missed the action while writing up the Nguyen hand.

It was the coldest of cold decks when Tommy Nguyen raised to 160k from the hijack, Gabriel Croteau reraised the button to 400k, and Adam Cader shoved the big blind.

Nguyen called it off while Croteau got out of the way and it was a cooler with Nguyen on aces and Cader on queens. A player on the rail called for the queen of hearts before the board came out, and sure enough, the flop had the queen of hearts on it to rocket Cader to the lead. Nguyen couldn't find the help he needed and he was coolered out in 7th place.

Tommy Nguyen just grabbed a double after cracking the kings of Adam Cader. It was all in preflop and Cader's kings were in good shape against ace-ten for Nguyen but Nguyen hit the Greenstein on the river for a three-outer to take it down with a pair of aces.

David Cox opened to 125k from the hijack and Sal Benarroch called from the big blind. They both checked the flop and after a check from Benarroch on the turn, Cox bet 200k.

Benarroch called to see on the river and checked again. Cox fired 500k and Benarroch snapped it off. Cox shows ace-jack, but Bennaroch had the queen for the rivered trips.

They are down to 7 now after the exit of Julian Yasin. I missed the action while I was writing up the last bust out.

Variance is real in the game of poker, and former chip leader Sunny Lubana was just on the wrong end of it. He first lost a big pot with ace-queen into ace-ten, then found queens against the for David Cox and couldn't hold to hit the rail in 9th place for $7,750.

They are 9=handed now on the final table of Event #7 after Patrick Lacy was the first player hit the rail from the final 10. He took the last payout of $6,264 and the next player out will get $7,750.

They are just setting up the final table now after Charles Benoit hit the rail in 11th place. I'll grab some final table pictures shortly.

They are down to 11 players left after Nicholas Peterson hit the rail in 12th place. I missed the action as I was watching Charles Benoit tank for several minutes on a tough river spot. I arrived at the table with the dripping wet board already out showing . Benoit checked from the small blind, then hit the tank hard when Gabriel Croteau shoved a covering stack. Benoit was in the tank for several minutes before he finally found a tortured fold.

They are two off the ten-handed final table now with 12 players left. Chris Murphy and Teo Sanchez completed the $5,135 payout level, and the next three players out will pocket $6,246.

The players are back from dinner, and they are now down to 14 players after the exit of Din Rajabi. I missed the action on that hand while I was watching Steve Desjarlais take down a pot over Gabriel Croteau.

Desjarlais raised early to 60k and Croteau defended his big blind with a call. Croteau check-called for 50k on the flop, and they both checked through the turn and river. Desjarlais showed for two pair and took it down.

The 15 remaining players in the $1k are on break now, and start-of-day chip leader Sunny Lubana is still rocking the big stack. He's chipped up to almost 3 million now and is the runaway leader over Gabriel Croteau, Sal Benarroch, and Robert Lothian who all have between 1 and 1.5 million.

Full chips for the final 15 are under the chip counts tab.

They are down to 2 tables left in the $1k game now with 31 minutes to play in Level 21. The remaining players will take a dinner break following this level.

Ghislaine Johnson was the player to bubble the final two tables tonight.

They are down to 20 players in the $1k now with just under 20 minutes to play in Level 20. Aidan Klingbeil and Michael McKinnon were the most recent players to collect some cash from this game.

They are down to 22 players left in the $1k now after the recent paydays for Caleb Simmons, Dominick French, Annie Li, Kyle Ho, and 3rd place from the 4-Flight, Derek Dufour.

I was late to the floor today after a VERY late night last night after the PLO Monster finished at 7:30 am. The day 2 field for the $1k is now down to 27 players left and a mostly complete payout list is under the Payouts tab no, with the caveat that a few players haven't checked in for their prizes yet.

The $2,378 pay level is now complete and the next player out will get a pay jump to $2,690.

The Day 2 field is set with Sunny Lubana leading and E1 winner David Ko in second place. See below for a look at the seat assignments sorted by table and seat and you should be able to search your name in the list using your browser search (ctrl-f).