2025 WSOPC Calgary Oct – Event #10: $400 Monster Stack NLH

That was perhaps the craziest heads-up I’ve watched in my time reporting. It wouldn’t have mattered who won, there was a story to tell. For the eventual winner, Corey Arsenault, he was down to 90k when play was 10-handed and blinds were 100k/150k/150k.

He didn’t even have a single big blind when he started his comeback to the win. Arsenault got a double through Sean Sztyler before Sztyler hit the rail in 7th. he then sent Zeyu Jia home in 6th to stack up 17 million and take the big lead. Arsenault then chipped Amarjot Brar down significantly in a cooler where both players hit trip sevens, then Arsenault found a boat for a big pot.

That set up a double knockout that took the game from five to three in one hand. Arsenault called off Brar and Ngoc Nguyen with pocket jacks and the big stack, and his jacks held, giving him about 30 million three-ways. Runner up Anthony Casten then got them heads up by taking out Shengdong Zhao in 3rd, but Casten was looking across the table at a mountain of chips in front of Arsenault.

Casten is a fierce local competitor, however, and even on a big deficit, he’s not one to count out. He max-late reg’d this one for 10 big blinds, and spun that up to the heads up.

Initially, it looked like it was all Casten in the heads up. Arsenault seemed to be waiting for the spot call Casten off with a huge hand, but Casten slowly chipped away at the lead until the starting stacks were reversed, and Arsenault was down to around 13 million to 35 million for Casten.

That’s when Arsenault found another gear. He grabbed a double after shoving an all-club flop with the nut draw against Casten’s middle pair. Arsenault turned it, and he doubled to about 3:2 down.

Then came a series of three hands that may well be the craziest three hands in a row I’ve ever seen in a live poker game. Arsenault doubled back to a big lead when the money went in preflop with Arsenault on a small ace and Casten on king-queen of spades.

Arsenault flopped his ace and turned trips, but the turn gave Casten a spade draw to win the ring. He bricked it and sent a huge double to Arsenault.

That left Casten on fumes with about 8 million, 10 bigs at the time. He shoved his button blind, only for Arsenault to wake up with ace-king suited. Casten wasn’t expecting much when he checked his cards for the first time, but somehow he found the most unlikely of hands — pocket aces. The rockets held, doubling Casten back to about 3:2 down.

Immediately after, Casten flopped a pair, while Arsenault flopped the nut straight, and the money went in. The board paired on the turn, and Casten found an unlikely nine on the river to boat up and double back to the lead.

That left Arsenault on fumes, but he wasn’t even close to done. Casten shoved the big stack on the button, and Arsenault called for a non-standard race with Arsenault jack-ten off against king-seven of diamonds for Casten. Arsenault found a ten on the flop, but Casten flopped the flush draw. Casten took the lead on the turn with a king, until Arsenault found a jack on the river for two pair and another double.

Arsenault doubled back to even when he flopped the straight again and the money went in on the turn after Casten flopped top pair. That put them back on even terms, but Arsenault was able to chip up a bit to take the lead before the final hand happened in Level 37 with blinds at 500k/1m/1m.

In the final confrontation, the money went in on the flop with Casten holding gapped cards with some backdoor straight outs. He shoved, hoping to push Arsenault off his hand, but after about 2 minutes in the tank, Arsenault called it off with just king-high. The king-high held for Arseault’s first Circuit ring.

They are about even again after Corey Arsenault doubled. It was limped to the 9♣Q♠10♠ flop, and Anthony Casten check-called for 1 million. The 8♠ turn is where it all went in when Casten check-called all in with the queen, but Arsenault had the jack-eight for the straight and doubled.

Both players are now on about 24 million.

The action heads-up has gone a bit crazy lately. Anthony Casten just shoved the button and got a snap call from Corey Arsenault. It was essentially a flip with Casten on a suited king-seven against the jack-ten off for Arsenault.

It was another action flop with Casten flopping a flush draw, while Arsenault hit his ten. Casten turned his king to take the lead, but Arsenault hit two pair on the river with a jack and got the double to 14 million. That still leaves Casten in the lead with about 33 million.

It was a bit slow on the final table for a bit, but a lot just happened in few hands. In the first hand, Corey Arsenault doubled after Anthony Casten raised to 2.4 million, then called off the shove. Arsenault had about 19 million and ace-seven against king-queen of spades.

Arsenault flopped an ace and turned trips, but the turn gave Casten a spade draw for the win. It bricked, and Arsenault doubled to the lead.

In the next hand, Casten shoved blind, and Arsenault snapped him off with ace-king suited. Casten rolled over his hand to find the most improbable pair of aces, and doubled back to about 16 million.

The very next hand, Arsenault flopped the nut straight, and the money went in with Casten on a pair of nines. In the perfect rounout for him, he doubled again, back to the lead

It was limped preflop with Corey Arsenault on the button, but the action kicked off on the 9♣7♣10♣ flop. Anthony Casten checked, then called when Arsenault shoved. Casten had a nine, but Arsenault was drawing to the clubs with A♣3♥.

It came for him on the turn when the [invalid notations] runout came down. Aresenault had 8.65 million, so even with the double, he’s still about 3:2 down to Casten.

Heads up has pretty much all been Anthony Casten’s run. He’s taken a lot of pots with no showdown, and when cards have been shown, he’s generally had the best of it, and the stacks are now reversed from the start of HU. Casten is playing about 35 million to about 13 million for Corey Arsenault.

The Monster Stack is heads up now, with Corey Arsenault in the huge lead. He just sent Chengdong Zhao to the rail when he raised the button to 1.5 million, then called off the 4.55 million shove from Zhao. It was essentially a race between A♥4♦ for Arsenault and K♦8♦ for Zhao. Arsenault found two pair on the flop and held to get heads up with Anthony Casten, holding about 35 million of the 48 million in play.

In the final hand before the break, Corey Arsenault (Donald is his first name, but he goes by Corey) chipped up to more than 30 million and sent two players to the rail.

Ngoc Nguyen shoved under the gun, Arsenault reshoved the big stack from the small blind, and Amarjot Brar tank-called it off from the big blind. Arsenault was sitting pretty with jacks against nines for Nguyen and A♦5♦ for Brar. Arsenault spiked a jack on the flop for a set, and while Nguyen turned a straight draw with her nines, she bricked the river on a board of J♥4♣Q♣8♠K♣, sending the huge pot to Arsenault and bringing the game to 3 left.

Arsenault was down to just 90k when play was 10-handed, less than a big blind at the time. He now has more than 30 million for the huge lead.

Place	Player	Prize
4	Ngoc Nguyen	$20,221
5	Amarjot Brar	$15,148

Anthony Casten raised to 1 million, and Amarjot Brar called from the button. Casten fired 600k on the [invalid notations] turn.

Casten checked, then shoved when Brar bet 700k. Brar called it off with ace-nine for second pair, but Casten had queens for the win. I’ll get some stack updates on the breal shortly/

It started as a fairly passive hand with Donald Arsenault limping the small blind, and Amarjot Brar checking the big. They both checked the 7♠7♦A♥ flop, and again on the 6♠ turn.

The river was where things got spicy. Arsenault bet 600k, Brar raised to 1.5 million, Asenault repumped it to 4 million, and Brar called it off. Amirault showed seven-six for the turned boat, while Brar flashed seven-five to the table as he folded.

Zeyu Jia had a chance to triple when he was all in with deuces against Donald Arsenault and one other player. Arsenault went to the queen-high flop with side pot action still open, while Jia was all in for the main pot. Arsenault bet the flop and got the fold, showing down ace-queen against the deuces of Jia.

Arsenault held, and after being down to less than a big blind with play 10-handed, he is now up to about 17 million with play five-handed.

It was limped pre-flop between Amarjot Brar and Ngoc Nguyen. Brar bet 500k on the 3♣J♣Q♥ flop, and Nguyen called.

Brar check-called the 10♣ for 500k, then checked again when the river 6♦ was dealt. Nguyen didn’t seem scared of the straight or flush draws on the board and fired 2.3 million. Brar took some time to think about it, and mucked his hand to send the uncontested pot to Nguyen.

Sean Sztyler has had a rough level and a half since the last break. He had more than 7 million at the last count, but he doubled up a few players, including Donald Arsenault, and Ngoc Nguyen, and was down to 1.525 million.

He shoved that stack with king-nine of clubs, and Chengdong Zhao called off with pocket eights. The eights held on a board of 10♠6♠A♣6♣6♥ and Sztyler was out in 7th place.

Amarjot Brar just doubled for a huge lead against Zeyu Jia. Brar raised the middle before Anthony Casten called behind. Zeyu Jia shoved a covering stack, and Brar called it off, forcing Casten to fold out. Brar had tens versus ace-king for Jia, but Casten said he had queens.

The board ran clean for Brar’s pair, and he’s up to around 17 million now, with 7 left in the game. Meanwhile, Donald Arsenault was the short stack at the last count with 650k, and he chipped down to less than 100k during Level 31, but has now managed to get right back into it with a stack of blues and some greens for around 3 million.

They are down to 7 after Nicola Tassone hit the rail while I was out of the room.

Sean Sztyler had been chipped down after handing out a couple of previous doubles. He just dropped to 1.1 million after doubling Ngoc Nguyen.

He shoved the middle for 3.5 million, and Nguyen called all in with less from the button. Sztyler was dominated with ace-six into ace-queen, and after the K♠4♥5♥4♦9♥ runout, Harvie, the dealer, declared “The queen plays.” Nguyen doubled up from 2.4 million, putting Sztyler down to 1.1 million, around 6 million less than he had at the last break.

Taeyoon Kang came into today as the unchallenged chip leader, with only two previous cashes on his Hendon Mob page. He ran that stack all the way to the final table, but he just lost his chips to end the day in 9th place.

Chengdong Zhao just got a double through Sea Sztyler, and he did it with quads. Sztyler raised to 625k from the hijack, then called it off when big blind Chengdong Zhao shoved his big blind.

It was a race between the ace-queen overs for Sztyler and pocket nines for Zhao. Sztyler hit his ace on the flop, but Zhao got a nine for a set. He then turned the case nine for the quad overkill to take down the pot.

It was another setup that sent Rauno Tahvonen to the rail for 10th place. Tahvonen shoved the small blind with king-jack, but big blind Zeyu Jia woke up with aces and snapped it off.

Tahvonen looked set to crack the aces after king-jack on the flop, but Jia rivered an ace for a set to take it down.

They are down to 10 now after Ernest Durack ended his day in 11th place today. Stay tuned for some final table faces shortly. I missed the action on the Dureck hand, but he recently doubled up Zeyu Jia, which no doubt contributed to the bust.

They are now one off the final table in the Monster Stack Day 2. Mike Malm (13th, $3,694) & Michael Cartwright (12th, $4,492) were the recent busts to bring them down to 11 left.

The field for Day 2 of the Monster Stack is down to 13 now. There is one more payout at $3,694 before the pay jumps to $4,492 for 12th place.

Place	Player	Prize
14	Praba Siva	$3,694
15	Josh Wallace	$3,694
16	Steven Labelle	$3,088

The action was already all in when I arrived at the table, with Ernest Durack on ace-king, racing against the pocket tens for Zeyu Jia. The 5♥4♦7♣9♦9♥ boadr ran clean for the pocket pair, and Jia doubled, leaviing Durack short.

Josh Wallace opened the action to 250k, and Michael Cartwright called from the cutoff, as did both players in the blinds. Donald Arsenault checked from the small blind on the J♣9♦3♦ flop before Ngoc Nguyen shoved her big blind. Wallace and Cartwright folded pretty quickly to her shove, but it took Arenault a bit longer to decide the same action.

Ernest Durack raised the middle to 300k, but Rauno Tahvonen reraised the button to 750k. It folded bach to Durack, who shoved more than 2 million, forcing the fold from Tahvonen.

Anthony Casten is just shy of 8 million now, with a big lead over Donald Arsenault with less than 5 million. Michael Cartwright also has more than 4 million.

It’s been a day for setups and coolers. After the quads over quads hand earlier, Gair MacInnis just hit the rail after suffering a boat over boat beat. Michael Cartwright opened to 275k under the gun, then flatted when MacInnis three-bet the middle to 550k.

Cartwright shoved for 1.485 million on the Q♣Q♠Q♥ flop, and MacInnis snapped it off with a very similarly sized stack. Cartwright had two red jacks in his hand, with MaInnis playing two red tens. The 9♦6♠ couldn’t change anything, and MacInnis’s stack was about 100k less than Cartwright’s, so he hit the rail for 17th place.

Place	Player	Prize
17	Gair Macinnis	$3,088
18	Kyle Ho	$3,088

It looks like Anthony Casten is lead right now with almost 7 million in front of him. Start-of-day leader Taeyoon Kang is aslo still stacking big with 4.4 million. I’ll get a full round of chip counts at the break upcoming in a bit more than 5 minutes.

Day 2 of the Monster Stack is rushing through the field, with just 18 players left, barely 3 hours into the day. So far, this has been moving much faster than I expected, but pay jumps are starting to be a bit more meaningful, so it seems like play should slow down soon. The average stack is around 28 big blinds right now, so play is relatively deep still.

Final 18 Players (Stacks not confirmed)

Recent Payouts (see Payouts tab for Full List)

Place	Player	Prize
19	Mark Aylward-Nally	$2,624
20	Nicholas Nowak	$2,624
21	Stephen O’Bertos	$2,624
22	Robert Limpert	$2,269
23	Luteng Li	$2,269
24	Joshua Molnar	$2,269

Brian Rockvam’s day came to an abrupt and brutal end just as it looked like he’d find a massive double. He got pocket fives in against pocket aces, and then flopped quad fives.

Someone at the table commented that he’d “flopped his opponent dead”. That wasn’t QUITE true, however, and the ace-ace runout proved it for quads over quads.

The field is down to 24 left now, with about 15 minutes to play in Level 26. That completes the $1,996 payout level, and the next player out will pocket $2,269.

Place	Player	Prize
25	James Taksas	$1,996
26	Ryan Simmonds	$1,996
27	Tyler Fish	$1,996

They are down to 27 entries on the final three tables, with the action proceeding a bit quicker than I expected to this point. See below for the recent prizes awarded, and get the full list of today’s cashouts under the Payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
28	Jimmy Lehouiller	$1,786
29	Ryan Orig	$1,786
30	Connor Daynard	$1,786
31	Alex Liu	$1,628
32	Brian Rockvam	$1,628
33	Zeyu Huang	$1,628

They are down to 33 left in Day 2 of the Monster now.

Place	Player	Prize
34	Brian Bond	$1,511
35	Victor Li	$1,511
36	Wei Wu	$1,511

Gair MacInnis raised under the gun with a dead small, making it 165k to go. Amarjot Brar called from the middle, but then folded to a bet of 225k after a flop of Q♠A♥K♠.

In the next hand, the button was dead, and MacInnis was on the big blind. Kyle Ho, who won the Two-Day $1k earlier in the week, made it 120k to go, but snap-mucked when MacInnis shoved on him.

I had a look around at the break, and it looks like start-of-day leader Taeyoon Kang is still the leader with 4.7 million. Mark Aylward-Nally looks to be second with 4.1 million.

They are down to the final four tables already, but I expect things to start slowing down a bit now.

The Day 2 players are on their first break of the day after the official end of Day 1 blinds. When the final 36 players return from the break, action will be in Level 25 and the blinds will be 45 minutes from here to the end.

Full prizes are under the Payouts tab with recent cashouts below.

Place	Player	Prize
37	Dolant Limbago	$1,428
38	Kyle Dery	$1,428
39	Brayden Brown	$1,428
40	Kim Pham	$1,428
41	Teo Sanchez	$1,428
42	Scot Munro	$1,428
43	Evan Thomas	$1,428
44	Chris Gibson	$1,428
45	Tyler Panas	$1,428

The field is down to 45 left as Level 24 begins, with 16 eliminations in the first level of the day. This will be the final level at the Day 1 blinds of 30 minutes, and Level 25 will be 45 minutes long.

Place	Player	Prize
46	Eun Park	$1,376
47	Daniel Mayo	$1,376
48	Robert Stuve	$1,376
49	Corey Williams	$1,376
50	Brett Worton	$1,376
51	Preston Stevenson	$1,376
52	Michael Mogan	$1,376
53	Romualdo Cusano	$1,376
54	Louis Collette	$1,376
55	Norapat Arunyakanon	$1,352
56	Jacqueline Ray	$1,352
57	Kelly Snyder	$1,352
58	Ran Yi	$1,352
59	Jerod Dobson	$1,352
60	Zizhu Zhao	$1,352
61	Andrew Macdonald	$1,352

The Day 2 action is underway in the Monster Stack now, with 61 players returning to fight for the nearly $61k top prize later today. I expect fairly quick action early on at the payout desk, and around 12 hours of play today before a winner is decided.

2025 WSOPC Calgary #2 Event #10: Monster Stack ($330 + $70)

Day 2 of the Monster Stack is set, and while the field for this wasn’t quite as monstrous as some in the past, the winner on Thursday will pocket nearly $61k for their $400 buy-in. The best stack going into the final day belongs to a relative newcomer to the scene.

With only two cashes on his Hendon Mob page, and both from small Grande Prairie games, Taeyoon Kang may not be a face or name that’s familiar at the top end of a WSOP-C chip count, but he was the only player from two flights to bag more than 2 million chips.

He’ll have some competition from a few much more familiar faces just down the list, though. WSOP-C & Super Stack Main winner Alex Liu bagged just under 2 million, while 2024 Alberta Poker Index Player of the Year, Mike Malm, is 3rd with 1.685 million. Michael Cartwright is in fourth and is also a fairly familiar face at the business end of Day 2s, with James Taksas rounding out the top five counts.

Day 2 action gets going at noon, and it should be a good one. The blinds will start with 28:17 minutes remaining in Level 23, and Level 24 will play for 30 minutes. When the clock ticks over to Level 25 and the official start of Day 2, blinds pump up to 45 minutes for the rest of the day.

The prize pool will be posted under the Payouts tab shortly after this post goes live, but 6 players will get 5-figure payouts, and the $1,352 min-cash for 61st is more than 3x the buy-in.

Wednesday was my first relatively short day of the series, so I should actually be down for the start of Day 2 for this one. The Day 2 seat assignments are below, sorted by name and table-seat (T-S).

Day 2 Seats, Sorted by Name

Day 2 Seats, Sorted by Table and Seat (T-S)

That was perhaps the craziest heads-up I’ve watched in my time reporting. It wouldn’t have mattered who won, there was a story to tell. For the eventual winner, Corey Arsenault, he was down to 90k when play was 10-handed and blinds were 100k/150k/150k.

He didn’t even have a single big blind when he started his comeback to the win. Arsenault got a double through Sean Sztyler before Sztyler hit the rail in 7th. he then sent Zeyu Jia home in 6th to stack up 17 million and take the big lead. Arsenault then chipped Amarjot Brar down significantly in a cooler where both players hit trip sevens, then Arsenault found a boat for a big pot.

That set up a double knockout that took the game from five to three in one hand. Arsenault called off Brar and Ngoc Nguyen with pocket jacks and the big stack, and his jacks held, giving him about 30 million three-ways. Runner up Anthony Casten then got them heads up by taking out Shengdong Zhao in 3rd, but Casten was looking across the table at a mountain of chips in front of Arsenault.

Casten is a fierce local competitor, however, and even on a big deficit, he’s not one to count out. He max-late reg’d this one for 10 big blinds, and spun that up to the heads up.

Initially, it looked like it was all Casten in the heads up. Arsenault seemed to be waiting for the spot call Casten off with a huge hand, but Casten slowly chipped away at the lead until the starting stacks were reversed, and Arsenault was down to around 13 million to 35 million for Casten.

That’s when Arsenault found another gear. He grabbed a double after shoving an all-club flop with the nut draw against Casten’s middle pair. Arsenault turned it, and he doubled to about 3:2 down.

Then came a series of three hands that may well be the craziest three hands in a row I’ve ever seen in a live poker game. Arsenault doubled back to a big lead when the money went in preflop with Arsenault on a small ace and Casten on king-queen of spades.

Arsenault flopped his ace and turned trips, but the turn gave Casten a spade draw to win the ring. He bricked it and sent a huge double to Arsenault.

That left Casten on fumes with about 8 million, 10 bigs at the time. He shoved his button blind, only for Arsenault to wake up with ace-king suited. Casten wasn’t expecting much when he checked his cards for the first time, but somehow he found the most unlikely of hands — pocket aces. The rockets held, doubling Casten back to about 3:2 down.

Immediately after, Casten flopped a pair, while Arsenault flopped the nut straight, and the money went in. The board paired on the turn, and Casten found an unlikely nine on the river to boat up and double back to the lead.

That left Arsenault on fumes, but he wasn’t even close to done. Casten shoved the big stack on the button, and Arsenault called for a non-standard race with Arsenault jack-ten off against king-seven of diamonds for Casten. Arsenault found a ten on the flop, but Casten flopped the flush draw. Casten took the lead on the turn with a king, until Arsenault found a jack on the river for two pair and another double.

Arsenault doubled back to even when he flopped the straight again and the money went in on the turn after Casten flopped top pair. That put them back on even terms, but Arsenault was able to chip up a bit to take the lead before the final hand happened in Level 37 with blinds at 500k/1m/1m.

In the final confrontation, the money went in on the flop with Casten holding gapped cards with some backdoor straight outs. He shoved, hoping to push Arsenault off his hand, but after about 2 minutes in the tank, Arsenault called it off with just king-high. The king-high held for Arseault’s first Circuit ring.

They are about even again after Corey Arsenault doubled. It was limped to the 9♣Q♠10♠ flop, and Anthony Casten check-called for 1 million. The 8♠ turn is where it all went in when Casten check-called all in with the queen, but Arsenault had the jack-eight for the straight and doubled.

Both players are now on about 24 million.

The action heads-up has gone a bit crazy lately. Anthony Casten just shoved the button and got a snap call from Corey Arsenault. It was essentially a flip with Casten on a suited king-seven against the jack-ten off for Arsenault.

It was another action flop with Casten flopping a flush draw, while Arsenault hit his ten. Casten turned his king to take the lead, but Arsenault hit two pair on the river with a jack and got the double to 14 million. That still leaves Casten in the lead with about 33 million.

It was a bit slow on the final table for a bit, but a lot just happened in few hands. In the first hand, Corey Arsenault doubled after Anthony Casten raised to 2.4 million, then called off the shove. Arsenault had about 19 million and ace-seven against king-queen of spades.

Arsenault flopped an ace and turned trips, but the turn gave Casten a spade draw for the win. It bricked, and Arsenault doubled to the lead.

In the next hand, Casten shoved blind, and Arsenault snapped him off with ace-king suited. Casten rolled over his hand to find the most improbable pair of aces, and doubled back to about 16 million.

The very next hand, Arsenault flopped the nut straight, and the money went in with Casten on a pair of nines. In the perfect rounout for him, he doubled again, back to the lead

It was limped preflop with Corey Arsenault on the button, but the action kicked off on the 9♣7♣10♣ flop. Anthony Casten checked, then called when Arsenault shoved. Casten had a nine, but Arsenault was drawing to the clubs with A♣3♥.

It came for him on the turn when the [invalid notations] runout came down. Aresenault had 8.65 million, so even with the double, he’s still about 3:2 down to Casten.

Heads up has pretty much all been Anthony Casten’s run. He’s taken a lot of pots with no showdown, and when cards have been shown, he’s generally had the best of it, and the stacks are now reversed from the start of HU. Casten is playing about 35 million to about 13 million for Corey Arsenault.

The Monster Stack is heads up now, with Corey Arsenault in the huge lead. He just sent Chengdong Zhao to the rail when he raised the button to 1.5 million, then called off the 4.55 million shove from Zhao. It was essentially a race between A♥4♦ for Arsenault and K♦8♦ for Zhao. Arsenault found two pair on the flop and held to get heads up with Anthony Casten, holding about 35 million of the 48 million in play.

In the final hand before the break, Corey Arsenault (Donald is his first name, but he goes by Corey) chipped up to more than 30 million and sent two players to the rail.

Ngoc Nguyen shoved under the gun, Arsenault reshoved the big stack from the small blind, and Amarjot Brar tank-called it off from the big blind. Arsenault was sitting pretty with jacks against nines for Nguyen and A♦5♦ for Brar. Arsenault spiked a jack on the flop for a set, and while Nguyen turned a straight draw with her nines, she bricked the river on a board of J♥4♣Q♣8♠K♣, sending the huge pot to Arsenault and bringing the game to 3 left.

Arsenault was down to just 90k when play was 10-handed, less than a big blind at the time. He now has more than 30 million for the huge lead.

Place	Player	Prize
4	Ngoc Nguyen	$20,221
5	Amarjot Brar	$15,148

Anthony Casten raised to 1 million, and Amarjot Brar called from the button. Casten fired 600k on the [invalid notations] turn.

Casten checked, then shoved when Brar bet 700k. Brar called it off with ace-nine for second pair, but Casten had queens for the win. I’ll get some stack updates on the breal shortly/

It started as a fairly passive hand with Donald Arsenault limping the small blind, and Amarjot Brar checking the big. They both checked the 7♠7♦A♥ flop, and again on the 6♠ turn.

The river was where things got spicy. Arsenault bet 600k, Brar raised to 1.5 million, Asenault repumped it to 4 million, and Brar called it off. Amirault showed seven-six for the turned boat, while Brar flashed seven-five to the table as he folded.

Zeyu Jia had a chance to triple when he was all in with deuces against Donald Arsenault and one other player. Arsenault went to the queen-high flop with side pot action still open, while Jia was all in for the main pot. Arsenault bet the flop and got the fold, showing down ace-queen against the deuces of Jia.

Arsenault held, and after being down to less than a big blind with play 10-handed, he is now up to about 17 million with play five-handed.

It was limped pre-flop between Amarjot Brar and Ngoc Nguyen. Brar bet 500k on the 3♣J♣Q♥ flop, and Nguyen called.

Brar check-called the 10♣ for 500k, then checked again when the river 6♦ was dealt. Nguyen didn’t seem scared of the straight or flush draws on the board and fired 2.3 million. Brar took some time to think about it, and mucked his hand to send the uncontested pot to Nguyen.

Sean Sztyler has had a rough level and a half since the last break. He had more than 7 million at the last count, but he doubled up a few players, including Donald Arsenault, and Ngoc Nguyen, and was down to 1.525 million.

He shoved that stack with king-nine of clubs, and Chengdong Zhao called off with pocket eights. The eights held on a board of 10♠6♠A♣6♣6♥ and Sztyler was out in 7th place.

Amarjot Brar just doubled for a huge lead against Zeyu Jia. Brar raised the middle before Anthony Casten called behind. Zeyu Jia shoved a covering stack, and Brar called it off, forcing Casten to fold out. Brar had tens versus ace-king for Jia, but Casten said he had queens.

The board ran clean for Brar’s pair, and he’s up to around 17 million now, with 7 left in the game. Meanwhile, Donald Arsenault was the short stack at the last count with 650k, and he chipped down to less than 100k during Level 31, but has now managed to get right back into it with a stack of blues and some greens for around 3 million.

They are down to 7 after Nicola Tassone hit the rail while I was out of the room.

Sean Sztyler had been chipped down after handing out a couple of previous doubles. He just dropped to 1.1 million after doubling Ngoc Nguyen.

He shoved the middle for 3.5 million, and Nguyen called all in with less from the button. Sztyler was dominated with ace-six into ace-queen, and after the K♠4♥5♥4♦9♥ runout, Harvie, the dealer, declared “The queen plays.” Nguyen doubled up from 2.4 million, putting Sztyler down to 1.1 million, around 6 million less than he had at the last break.

Taeyoon Kang came into today as the unchallenged chip leader, with only two previous cashes on his Hendon Mob page. He ran that stack all the way to the final table, but he just lost his chips to end the day in 9th place.

Chengdong Zhao just got a double through Sea Sztyler, and he did it with quads. Sztyler raised to 625k from the hijack, then called it off when big blind Chengdong Zhao shoved his big blind.

It was a race between the ace-queen overs for Sztyler and pocket nines for Zhao. Sztyler hit his ace on the flop, but Zhao got a nine for a set. He then turned the case nine for the quad overkill to take down the pot.

It was another setup that sent Rauno Tahvonen to the rail for 10th place. Tahvonen shoved the small blind with king-jack, but big blind Zeyu Jia woke up with aces and snapped it off.

Tahvonen looked set to crack the aces after king-jack on the flop, but Jia rivered an ace for a set to take it down.

They are down to 10 now after Ernest Durack ended his day in 11th place today. Stay tuned for some final table faces shortly. I missed the action on the Dureck hand, but he recently doubled up Zeyu Jia, which no doubt contributed to the bust.