The banquet room used at the Fallsview Casino for the North American Poker Championship was set up with enough tables to hold 270 players if each of the 30 tables played 9 handed. With a handful more than the 270 cap, a few tables had to start the day 10 handed, but within mere minutes that problem was taken care of and 9 handed play was the standard in the tournament once again.

Before the cushions on the seats had started to warm up Yevgeniy “Atimos” Timoshenko (right) and John Phan found themselves out of chips and out of the tournament. For the first few levels the bustouts are expected to be pretty rapid, with tables breaking on a regular basis as the 276 player field that started the day is whittled down to a lesser number.

Tournament officials would like to see play get down to 99 players today, at which point they would end the day. Or if the action is slow then another full 5 levels will be played today before sending the remaining players home for the night.

• October 14, 2008 -- Day 2 Done, Day 3 Set
• October 13, 2008 -- Almost Done
• October 13, 2008 -- What’s the Plan?
• October 13, 2008 -- Sorel Rallies, Youngblood Ousted