The month of June means festival and terrace season to many Montrealers, but for the poker world it means the biggest series of the year, the 50th annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Many Quebecers have made their way south to take part in what is widely considered to be poker’s championship playoffs. And they are having quite an impact! With more than 30 events already in the books, here’s an update on some notable finishes and deep runs made by friends of Playground so far.

Erik Cajelais had a great run last week in Event #12, the $1,000 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty, which took him to a six-figure score. He outlasted 2,451 runners but came just short of capturing a bracelet and finished second, earning him $139,731 in the process.

Kristen Bicknell, partypoker team pro and regular visitor to Playground, made the quarterfinals in Event #15, the $10,000 Heads-Up NLHE event, finishing 5th-8th, good enough for a $31,151 cash that will help her build momentum for the rest of the series.

Longtime Playground regulars Stuart Taylor and Chanracy Khun had deep runs in Event #16, the $1,500 6-Handed NLHE event. Both players managed to crack the top 50 of 1,832 runners to turn some tidy profits. Charnacy was out in 44th for $7,037, and Stuart made his exit in 26th to cash $13,143.

Event #19, the $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker, built a prize pool of nearly $12,000,000 thanks to 8,809 entries, and several local players made deep runs. Justin Ouimette was best among them and finished in 78th place to cash $14,554. Playground event veterans Jonathan Bussières and Daniel Le each earned $8,893 for finishing 125th and 155th respectively, while Hamza Firdawcy finished just behind them in 175th place to earn $7,664.

Harley Stoffmaker is known to many around Playground as an Omaha specialist, but he flexed his hold’em muscles in Event #22, the $1,000 Double Stack NLHE, to finish in 16th place and cash $17,712 in the process.

Griffin Benger and Noeung Troeung are both sitting in good positions in ongoing events. Noeung has a healthy stack in Event #30, the $1,000 PLO, as play is set to resume for Day 2 today with 309 of 1,526 entries remaining. Griffin holds the chip lead in Event #31, the $3,000 6-Handed NLHE with 140 players remaining after one day of play.

Although a lot of poker has already been played, there is still a long way to go in the series, and there are sure to be more local players making their mark with deep runs and big cashes. Good luck to all!