The Playground 200 was the marquee event of the February Power Weekend, featuring a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool. Players were allowed unlimited re-entries during the first six levels of each of the five Day 1 starting flights, and in the end, the event attracted a total of 697 entries, allowing the prize pool to grow to $132,218. The top 88 finishers were in the money, with a min-cash in 88th paying out $350, and the top prize paying $24,500 plus the coveted Power Weekend Champion’s ring! Day 2 saw 152 players return to play through ten 40-minute levels and when the day came to an end, Jean-Pascal Gauthier lead 23 qualifiers into Day 3. Each player had now secured a $940 payday although all eyes were on the top prize. On Day 3 the short stacks made moves from the first very hand of play and eliminations started to happen […]
Event Results
Our $100 + $10 6-Max Re-entry Champion: Paul Manoian
Event #5 was the last day tournament in the February Power Weekend. The prize pool guarantee was $5,000, but the 109 entries that took place allowed to double that figure, to everyone’s delight – especially the deep runners! The 6-Max format, as it does by nature, pushed the action hard on the way to the final table. The pace slowed down a bit at the bubble, which took about 12 hands to burst, but picked up the speed as soon as the money was reached. Kiril Gelev conjured up a storm as soon as the 7-handed final table was put together. He started it healthy and orchestrated the first few eliminations, but Paul Manoian came back from just over 300K to rival with Gelev’s 7-digit stack and even secure a slightly superior deal at the ICM chop. The two players went about exchanging blinds for a while, but Manoian eventually […]
$100 + $10 Single Rebuy Champion: Ariel Sherker
The $100 + $10 Single Rebuy kicked off tonight at 8:00pm with a $5,000 prize pool guarantee. By the time late registration was closed, the 81 entries, including 21 re-entries, were able to up the guarantee to $9,894 to put the top 11 in the money. The chips flew throughout the night as there were no consistent leaders. The field shrunk relatively quickly until the players reached the money bubble and the stakes got higher. Once Marcel Basset was eliminated in fifth place for $820, the final four paused the action and agreed to an ICM deal that would award an additional $320 to the winner. The ICM Payouts were as follows: Tina Howie – $1,445 Serge Roy – $1,575 Ariel Sherker – $1,695 Vladislav Gulii – $1,719 Serge Roy was the first to be eliminated in fourth place, followed shortly by Vladislav Gulii in third. This left Tina Howie […]
$150 + $20 + $50 PL Omaha Bounty Re-entry Champion: Stefan Siveski
The $150 + $20 + $50 PL Omaha Bounty Re-entry has wrapped up the first day of the February Power Weekend. Tonight’s event featured a guaranteed prize pool of $6,000 in addition to the $50 players would receive after eliminating a fellow competitor from the tournament. Event #3 was able to garner a total of 49 entries, including 18 re-entries, to push the traditional prize pool to $7,056 and bring the bounty total to $2,450. There were no consistent chip leads throughout the night, as the leaderboard shifted after every break. The field narrowed to the final table relatively quickly and soon to the top five where play slowed. Goran Brestovac was eliminated in fifth place to go home with $560 and Matt. O followed in fourth for $800. The final three, Stefan Siveski, Nick Nickoletopoulos, and Wilfredo Mendoza Escobar, moved the chips back and forth for two levels before […]
Re-entry Champion: Christopher Goudreault
The February Power Weekend kicked off today with the $100 + $10 Re-entry, which featured a $5,000 guaranteed prize pool. By the time the late registration period came to a close, there were a total of 56 entries (including 15 re-entries) and a prize pool of $5,432! Charli Azoulay took an early lead this afternoon, but, by the time the second break of the day came around, it was Matteo Carelli who was in the driver’s seat. Carelli maintained his lead all the way to the final table, however, he took a big hit when his pocket jacks went down to Christopher Goudreault’s set of fours. From that point forward, Goudreault started to win pot after pot, building a monster stack along the way. One by one the players busted out, leaving in Goudreault in full control. Carelli ended up falling in third place, losing his chips to Goudreault. When […]
2020 Seniors Series Event #1 Champion: John Hosegrove
The first event of the 2020 Seniors’ Series took place this afternoon. The kickoff to this exclusive series proved to be a huge success, attracting 213 entries to build a prize pool of $37,062, which dwarfed the $10,000 guarantee. Aside from the huge cash prizes, players were also competing for series leaderboard points. The top 40% of the field in each open event received points toward the series leaderboard; following the open events, the top 30 point earners will receive an entry into the Championship Event. The chip lead changed hands several times during the early stages of play. Late in the day, as the money bubble approached, John Hosegrove found his place at the top of the leaderboard, and it proved to be one that he would not relinquish. In the end, it came down to Hosegrove and Patrice Ravary. After a long day of poker, their heads-up match […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]