It all started at noon today and by the time the late registration period was over, there were a total of 78 players (including 17 re-entries), which allowed the prize pool to swell to a total of $7,326. 10 players were to be paid today. As the 6-max is an aggressive and fun format, the lead shifted from one player to another throughout the course of the day. When the tournament had funneled down to 7 players, the final table was formed. Being the last day of the March Power Weekend, many of the Playground dealers who were not scheduled to work joined the action as they rarely get a chance to play. The regular clientele however played a tough game and gave the dealers some fierce competition, doing everything possible to secure a win. Mission accomplished as heads-up play was between former dealer André Dupuis and Playground regular customer […]

The heads up action between Dany Debs and Serge Roy was cool and relaxed. Both players exchanged chips, went all-in, folded, and let the button go back and forth for about 20 minutes. But, before long, Serge was running out of chips. His options were limited and something had to be done. He shoved all-in with his remaining chips and Dany made a swift call. Both men tabled their hands. Dany: Serge: The flop included a pair: and the on the turn gave each man a second pair. Now Serge was in trouble; his deuce was useless and he quickly figured out that he absolutely needed either a Jack or a Queen for a boat or any aAce to kick in. Unfortunately for him a little sealed his fate and he had to settle for 2nd place. So congratulations to Dany Debs, who takes the win in Event #6 $100 […]

After Peter Maltais had doubled up with his hand, he was sitting on a 1M+ chip stack and he kept the pedal to the metal and shoved the next hand. Patrick made the call. Peter had shoved and was called by Patrick with .  Once again, Patrick was way ahead.  The board came , Peter hit his J and again Patrick lost with the best hand pre-flop, and Peter was now over 2mil in chips. Then Peter raised it up on the next hand to 400K, Patrick shoved his stack, and Peter made the call. Patrick: Peter: Board: and all of the sudden, with a ton of run good, Peter now had almoast all of the chips in play. On the last hand of play, Patrick shoved his remaining 300k dark and Peter snap called with .  The board stayed clean, and, just like that, we crowned the champion in […]

The Playground 100 was one of the highlight events in the March 2019 Power Weekend, boasting a guarantee of $25,000 over 3 starting flights. A total of 496 entries joined the event, nearly doubling the guarantee, and 51 made Day 2 – all of which were “in the money”. The day started with heavy action as many short stacks had snuck their way into the money, and with this pressure now off their shoulders, they were able to open up their game in an attempt to make their way to the final table. After 8 levels of play, the 10-handed final table was formed with Carl Gagne-Lizotte at the head of the pack. Luigi Fantigrossi came out swinging and did some damage to his table mates before ending his run in 5th place. He was followed by WSOP Bracelet winner Michael Malm in 4th and Joel Berard in 3rd before […]

Event #2 of the March Power Weekend, the Playground 500, was a tremendous success that brought out a field of 314 entries. The great turnout smashed the $100,000 guarantee to create huge prizes at the top of the money list. Today’s Day 3 started at the final table with eight players who put on a display of hard fought, determined poker. They took a cautious approach to the first two levels but there were still moments of excitement and tension, with a number of bluffs being shown at the table. Following back-to-back eliminations that reduced the field to six players, negotiations for an ICM chop of the prize pool began. And they did not last long, as consensus was reached quickly, allowing the final six to lock up five-figures scores. In many tournaments, the conclusion of a deal leads players to essentially “flip” their way to the end and stack […]

After the players returned from their short break, play resumed. Unfortunately for Harrison Kaczka, his luck was not changing. He tried to grind, fold and squeeze some value from the little hands that were favorable to him, but to no avail. Eventually, he just ran out of chips. He decided to go all in when he had 85,000 chips left, and Jean-René made the obvious call. In the end, all it took was a pair of jacks to crown Jean-René champion. Jean-René Gonzalez: Harrison Kaczka: Board: Event #3 Champion: Jean-René Gonzalez, $2,276 The last hand of play Second Place: Harrison Kaczka, $1,610

The day started at 11 this morning in the 1st event of the March Power Weekend, a $100 + $10 freezeout, which attracted 60 players, allowing it to surpass the guaranteed prize pool of $5,000, generating a total of $5,820 to be paid to the top 8 finishers. The final table saw the two who were the chip leaders all afternoon, Giovanni Petrella and Ron S., holding a substantial lead over the others. As expected, the short stacks shoved away and the field started to narrow down. Ron S. went on a crazy roller coaster ride, seeing his stack drop to 8K, then go back up to almost 300K, before busting out in 4th place. Dylan Thibault, a regular visitor from Ontario who likes to come play most of the Playground events, made a solid deep run, just as he often does, but ultimately busted out in 3rd place ($910). […]