It’s no shock to anyone that Playground Players Club member Pat Côté is a force to be reckoned with on the felt as a semi-professional poker player, but in case you’ve been under a rock for the last six years, Côté’s day job is a professional mixed martial arts fighter. Hailing from Rimouski Quebec, Pat started his martial arts training in the Canadian Military where he took up boxing and quickly moved on to kickboxing and then wrestling. He served in the Army until 2005 at which point he started training full time for his future as a professional fighter. Pat has professional MMA record of 17-7 with his most recent win at the Amazon Forest Combat 2 card on March 31 in Manaus, Brazil. He KO’d opponent Gustavo Machado in the first round with 2:16 left on the clock where he stunned him with a left hook and continued to […]
Playground
Playground Poker Club in Montreal seems to be giving money away
A little over a month ago, poker players at Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake Quebec, just outside Montreal, got to reap the benefits of one of the Club’s most appealing promotions, the $100,000 minimum Bad Beat Jackpot. Not only did it hit once, but it hit twice in less than five days and paid cash game players over $231,000 in bonus money. Only five short weeks later on March 27th, the Bad Beat Jackpot hit once more and lined the pockets of lucky cash game players at Playground Poker Club with over 100K in cold, hard cash. ‘It seems that giving large sums of money away is starting to become a regular thing at the Club’ says Playground’s COO, David Montour. ‘When we first launched the promotion, the players were excited about it but I don’t think anybody, including myself, expected it to hit three times in less than six […]
Laak Dunks Antonio at Playground Poker Club
Playground Poker Club is pleased to announce that the ‘Laak and Esfandiari Open,’ a four-day event pitting two of the poker world’s biggest names against each other from March 1st – 4th, was a resounding success. As the name suggests, the event saw Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari, along with hundreds of other players, battle it out in a variety of events tailored for everyone to have a great time while getting a shot at some very impressive prize pools. Phil and Antonio are close friends, but that didn’t stop them from giving it their all during day 1B of the $2000 Heads Up Event. And in true Laak and Esfandiari fashion, there was an exciting prop bet to go along with it: the two agreed that whoever was knocked out of the Heads Up Event first would be subject to a ‘Dunk Tank Humiliation’ at the other’s hands. Both […]
Press Release – Two Bad Beat Jackpots Hit Five Days Apart Awarding Over $231K to Players
Less than five days apart, cash game players at Playground Poker Club reaped the benefits of not one, but two Bad Beat Jackpots hitting, awarding players over $231000 in cash. The term ‘bad beat’ in poker can be best described when a player, who has what appears to be a strong hand, inevitably loses to an opponent who held a weaker hand but made it stronger, even though the odds were against him. The term can also used when an incredibly powerful hand loses to an even stronger one, for example, four aces losing to a straight flush. Bad Beat Jackpots have been put in place by poker rooms and casinos all over the world and were specifically designed to reward those unlucky players who lose a hand (and typically a large amount of chips) due to a bad beat. According to players all across Canada, Playground Poker Club has […]
$131K+ Bad Beat Jackpot Hits and is Reset to $100K
The Bad Beat Jackpot had climbed up to over $131000 at Playground Poker Club and hit at approximately 12:45PM on the afternoon of February 16th, 2012. Seated a 1/2 NLHE cash table, Manouane Gascon and Murray Kurtz went head to head, with what ended up being two monster hands. The story goes like this: Kurtz is on the button with . Gascon is BB with . The hand is straddled, no raise pre flop. Flop is . Gascon leads out after hitting her straight and another player calls. Kurtz raises with his set of 5’s and Gascon shoves with the other player folding. Kurtz calls … The Turn comes , giving Kurtz quad 5’s and triggers the BBJ against Gascon’s now straight flush. River comes, its a now giving Gascon a higher straight flush. Final hand is vs straight flush. Murray Kurtz, with the losing hand, walked away with $52,457 […]
Playground Poker Club Announces Laak & Esfandiari Open
Playground Poker Club ‘-Canada’s Premier Poker Destination, located just minutes from downtown Montreal on Highway 138 in Kahnawake has just announced its upcoming blockbuster event entitled the Laak and Esfandiari Open. In case the name didn’t give it away, Phil ‘The Unabomber’ Laak and Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari will be the guests of honor during the March 1-4th weekend and they’ve worked closely with the Team at Playground to come up with yet another unique event, designed for poker players at all levels. The weekend theme has been designed around two great friends, both on and off the felt and the format of the Laak and Esfandiari Open really demonstrates how friendly, yet how competitive these two amazing poker professionals truly are. The event kicks off on Thursday, March 1st with a $2000 + $200 Heads Up Event with a best 2 out of 3 format. With a maximum field […]
Quebec’s Phil D’Auteuil Tops Day 4 at the PCA Main Event
Day 4 at the PCA Main Event on Paradise Island in the Bahamas is due to begin in only a few short hours. Sitting at the top of the pack is Quebec-born pro Phil D’Auteuil with 1,472000 in chips, just barley ahead of his Canadian counterpart Sam Greenwood who will start Day 4 with 1,401000. Three American players are close behind the two top Canucks, including Day 3’s starting chip leader Faraz Jaka who will start todays round sitting in third place with just over 1.2M in chips. Playground Players Club veteran Erik Cajelais will also move on to Day 4 starting his day with 333000. Erik started Day 3 third in chips with 528000. Canada continues to prove the quality of players being produced by the Great White North with 11 players moving on to Day 4 representing 17% of the total remaining field in the PCA 10K Main […]
Cajelais and D’Auteuil – Quebec Well Represented at Day 3 of the PCA Main Event
Day 3 of the 10K televised Main Event at the PCA is underway in the Bahamas and Playground’s own Erik Cajelais is sitting third in chips with 528000. Cajelais falls closely behind Romanian Cristian Folescu (555,500) currently second in chips and American pro Faraz Jaka, who is sitting on top of the field with 902,500. Jaka, a San Jose native and current WPT Player of the Year, has cashed 11 times at the WSOP in his professional career and maintains a healthy chip lead over his closest rivals Folescu and Cajelais. Cajelais isn’t the only Canadian in the Top 10 on Day 3. Sitting 8th in chips is Phil D’Auteuil also hailing from Quebec. Heading into Day 3, only 183 players remain in contention for the $2MM first place finish. Good luck Erik and Phil ‘-Vive la belle Province!
Playground’s Erik Cajelais finishes 3rd at the PCA 5K PLO
Proud member of the Playground Players Club and no stranger to a game of PLO, Erik Cajelais was up against a field of 56 in Event #5 at the Pokerstars Caribbean adventure $5000 PLO Event yesterday. The Playground Players Club was well represented at this event. Alongside Cajelais, was Mike McDonald, Nenad Medic and experienced PLO player Robert Mizrachi. As the top Canadian, Cajelais cashed for $38,020 behind Americans David Rheem finishing 2nd with $62,470 and 1st place finisher Noah Schwartz. The total prize pool was $271,600. Besides being a physically impressive looking character, Erik single handedly took down 158 of the best Pot Limit players in the world and earned himself a WSOPE bracelet back in 2009 in the £2500 PLHE/PLO event. Although an impressive win, his largest cash to date came only nine days later in the EPT London’s £20000 High Roller event. Cajelais finished 2nd taking home […]
Playground Players Club member Mike “Timex” McDonld finishes 7th
$100000 High Rollers Event at the the PCA is down to the final three. Jonathan Duhamel finished 4th for a cool $313,600. Unfortunately Playground Poker Club’s own Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald wasn’t as lucky. He made it deep, but walked away with 0$ for his 7th place finish.
Playground’s own Mike “Timex” McDonald at PCA Super High Roller Final Table
The $100000 buy-in High Roller PCA event is down to the final 8. Top 5 pay with a first place prize of $1,254,400!! Montreal’s Jonathan Duhamel and Playground Players Club member Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald are among the 8 players seated at the final table. Here’s how the final table will look: 1. Galen Hall, 1.748 million 2. Jonathan Duhamel, 1.336 million 3. Daniel Negreanu, 1.23 million 4. Viktor Blom, 1.228 million 5. Dan Shak, 1.199 million 6. Scott Seiver, 556000 7. Mike McDonald, 360000 8. Humberto Brenes, 343000 Best of luck to Player’s Club Member Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald – bring home the money!
2011 Playground Poker Legends Tournament Results by CanadaPoker.com
The Playground Poker Legends Tournament came to a close last night and the results are in! The day, which began with the Legends Banquet and gave players access to some biggest names in hockey; big names such as Jean Beliveau, Yvon Cournoyer and Henri Richard and many others. As the tournament kicked off at 2:30 following the 2 hour banquet, players were given the opportunity to score impressive $300 bounties for knocking out one of the legends playing in the field. Poker pros in the field included Trishelle Cannatella, Valerie Ross and Jennifer Leigh ‘-also worth the same tidy sum. In the end, the final table was composed of local players long after all bounties had been had. At 17 player remaining they all put 100$ to give 17th to 14th 400$ and $50 more for 13th and 12th. The deals didn’t stop there, however, at 7 players remaining another […]