March and April have a lot in store for EGD players! If you’re a fan of free money, free play or free food then you won’t want to leave Playground’s EGD section. In Lucky Numbers, which runs every Sunday from March 2 to May 3, 18 lucky winners will compete for a $12,000 weekly prize pool. To see who gets to play, weekly raffles will pick players from all Status Levels; you get one raffle entry for every 250 points earned from EGD play, and one entry for every 50 points earned on Tuesdays. Everyone who takes part is guaranteed to walk away with a cash prize AND a Golden Ticket for the $25,000 Lucky Numbers Finale on May 3. Although every player is a winner in Lucky Numbers, only one player will walk away with the weekly grand prize of $5,000. Match Play Monday will help EGD players start […]
Playground
Women’s Series II Event #1 Champion: Christine Park
Event #1 of the 2020 Women’s Series attracted 44 players who battled it out on the felt today. The top six spots would be in the money with a cool $2,210 for the event champion, along with a sweet trophy and winner’s pendant. There were many returning players from Playground’s tremendously successful inaugural Women’s Series, which was a tremendous success. There was a jovial mood in the air today, as the players clearly had a great time at the tables. But make no mistake, all participants arrived to play some serious poker and were fierce competitors. This was truly Christine Park’s day. She took an early lead and never looked back, building a mountain of chips that only grew throughout the day. Her chip lead ranged from significant to seemingly insurmountable. When the final table was formed, Park had a lead of nearly 2:1 over her nearest rival, and it […]
Two Bad Beat Jackpots In One Weekend!
Despite the flurry seen during the World Cup of Cards, Bad Beat Jackpots had been few and far between in recent months. But, perhaps as a sign of changing seasons, this past weekend delivered not one but two Bad Beat Jackpots in less than 24 hours! The first arrived on Sunday evening at a $2/$5 table. The action began with a call from early position by Konstantinos R. He was quickly raised to $30 by his neighbour, Christopher B. The player on the button, Simon M, made the call, as did Konstantinos. Konstantinos and Christopher checked the flop to Simon, who fired a bet of $75. Konstantinos got out of the way, and Christopher made the call. On the turn, Christopher once again checked to Simon, who moved all in this time. Christopher made the insta-call and immediately tabled his . It was not looking good for Simon, who had […]
Next Up: WPTDeepStacks Montreal
You know the name. You love the format. The WPTDeepStacks returns to Montreal, and this time as a full-fledged festival! Held from April 16 to April 27, the series features nine tournaments and over $1,900,000 in total guarantees. The tour was honoured at the 4th Annual American Poker Awards in February of 2018 with the well-deserved prize for Mid-Major Circuit of the Year. Since then, the brand has continued to expand and now offers premier poker festivals on six continents! What to expect in Montreal? Lots of action! Event #2 will be none other than the now famous WPTDeepStacks Opener, the $500 + $50 tournament that follows the WPTDeepStacks far and wide. With a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool, seven Day 1s to choose from and an unlimited re-entry format, this is a can’t-miss event. The WPTDeepStacks Montreal Main Event is a $1,500 + $150 tournament that is no stranger to our […]
The World Cup Of Cards 2020, A Huge Hit!
The 2020 edition of the World Cup of Cards featured 22 successful events. With a variety of game types and tournament structures to choose from, this series had a little something for everyone and attracted players from far and wide. The $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada was the marquee event of the 2020 World Cup of Cards, featuring a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool. This epic event was presented in conjunction with partypoker LIVE and five online starting flights were presented on partypoker. Along with the 10 live Day 1s at Playground, this edition of the Grand Prix Canada collected 2,990 entries, which was more than enough to surpass the massive prize pool guarantee. The Grand Prix Canada champion, Alexandre Fournier, earned $70,800 for taking down this epic event. The $150 + $25 Strangers in the Night, was a great success, attracting a total of 525 entries from four starting […]
8-Max 50/50 Bounty Champion: Philippe Belley
Event #22, the $100 + $20 + $100 8-Max 50/50 Bounty Re-entry, wrapped up the 2020 World Cup of Cards in exciting fashion. The prize pool guarantee of $20,000 was inflated to $25,762 by the massive turnout of 273 entries. The top 35 players would make it in the money with a grand prize of $5,632 for the winner. The evening was fast-moving and action-packed as players hunted for $100 bounty chips. The chips flew throughout the night, as the leaders shifted after every break. Once the field reached the final table, play slowed significantly as the stakes grew. Mykyta Kurilenko was the first to go after the final three reached an ICM deal. He finished third for $3,815. This left Philippe Belley and Guowei Hu to fight for the additional $607. The final hand saw Hu shove with Belley called with . The dealer flopped to Belley’s delight. The turn […]
Playground 100 Champion: “Seabass” Drolet-Poitras
Event #18 of the 2020 World Cup of Cards was the $100 + $10 Playground 100, the most affordable multi-day tournament of the series. There were five starting flights over three days and in the end, it attracted a total of 743 entries, bringing the guaranteed $50,000 prize pool all the way up to $71,871, outstanding for a such an affordable buy-in! Play on the final table favoured the big stacks, as eliminations resulted nearly every time a tournament life was on the line. Day 2 chip leader Loai El Ayday lost a key hand when only three players remained when he put his money in good and lost on the river to Sebastien “Seabass” Drolet-Poitras. When heads-up play commenced between Drolet-Poitras and Hamzah Ozor, Drolet-Poitras had a marginal lead over Ozor, one that he would not relinquish. On the final hand of play, the chips went in on a […]
Crazy Pineapple 8-Max Re-entry Champion: Sabin Levesque
Event #21 of the World Cup of Cards, the $100 + $10 Crazy Pineapple 8-Max Re-entry, was an action-packed and fun-filled affair. Drawing a turnout that made a total of 90 entries, this single-day event easily surpassed the prize pool guarantee of $5,000 to award $8,730 in prizes to the top 12 players. The action got off to a fast start this afternoon and rarely showed signs of slowing down. The chips made their way around the felts quickly, especially in the early levels before the end of the late registration and re-entry period as many players took advantage of the structure to fire additional bullets. Mario Savard dominated the field through the first two breaks with a massive chip lead, but he ran out of steam and gave way to this event’s eventual champion, Sabin Levesque. Levesque maintained one of the largest stacks in play for most of the […]
Our Playground 1000 Champion: Noeung Troeung
The Playground 1000 was the marquee event of the World Cup of Cards 2020: biggest buy-in, biggest 1st prize ($89,750) and second biggest guarantee ($400,000). The event attracted a vast crowd that put in 464 entries, forming a total prize pool of $450,080. After three Day 1s, 186 Day 2 qualifiers were assembled in the tournament hall to play another 12 levels during which the money bubble would be reached. At 59 players, one shy of the money, it seemed like Earth’s rotation came to a halt, as the event played hand-for-hand for about two hours. When the bubble finally burst, the pace of eliminations sped up greatly and by the end of the day, only 25 players were still in contention for the title. Marc-André Yelle, who rocked Day 2 like a champion, eventually let go of the driver’s seat midway through Day 3, to the hands of Bill […]
Groundhog Day! Another BBJ For The WCC
In a scene reminiscent of the excitement that played out the previous day, the World Cup of Cards has produced another Bad Beat Jackpot! After a relatively long stretch without a BBJ, this one, the second in two days, also played out at a $2/$5 table. The action started with an open raise to $30, which was called by Albert Nguyen and Gabriel Freve before the player on the button bumped it up to $125. The initial raiser, as well as Albert and Gabriel, made the call. The flop was checked around to the preflop aggressor, who put out a bet of $200. The initial preflop raiser moved all in for only $4 more, and everyone involved made the call. The turn brought the , which led to a line check. On the river Gabriel led at the pot with a bet of $300. Albert pushed forward his $437 stack, […]
The WCC produces a massive BBJ!
The Hold’em Bad Beat Jackpot, after hitting 3 times within a 9-day period, went on to build for almost 2 months without being delivered, which is a pretty long time considering that the fixed qualifying hand is aces full of kings. Because of that relative drought, the BBJ had grown to an impressive $171,894! Late on Saturday night, a group of 7 players got their hands on it. It happened very theatrically, with a pre-flop showdown of the highest quality. The game was $2/$5 Hold’em, and the pot was first opened by David-Alexander. After one fold, he made it $25 to go. That bet was re-raised to $75, and Edgar flat called the sizable amount from the button. Two players folded, and our initial raiser went all-in. Two calls for less were quickly announced: $117 and $167. Board: David-Alexander proudly opened , knowing that he would either pick up the […]
PL Omaha 3 Lives Re-entry Champion: Philippe Beaudoin
Event #19 of the 2020 World Cup of Cards was the $300 +$30 PL Omaha 3 Lives Re-entry tournament that featured a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool. When the late registration period came to a close, there were a total of 65 entries, allowing the prize pool to swell to $18,915. All nine players on the final table would be in the money, with a min-cash in ninth paying out $570, and $4,905 in the top spot for the event champion. The night was action packed as players had “three life chips”, allowing them to choose whether or not they wanted to start the tournament with a full 30,000 chips stack, or, only use once life chip at a time, each with a value of 10,000 chips. By the time the first break came around, Ayana Massa had a substantial lead over the rest of the pack but later on she […]