The MILLIONS North America got off to a flying start today with a massive turnout for Day 1A of the MILLIONS Open. This three-day event brought out an impressive field of 586 entries for its first starting flight that included 112 re-entries. The tournament staff showed their professionalism by filling open seats as quickly as possible to make sure that all of the 130 alternates made their way into the field with as little delay as possible. One of the highlights of the afternoon was certainly when Mike Sexton took a moment to address the crowd. Everyone was happy to hear from one of the most recognizable men in poker today, as he congratulated both the Playground staff and partypoker LIVE team on winning the GPI American Poker Awards event of the year for last year’s edition of the MILLIONS. Mike is one of the players who bagged at the […]

Day 1 of The High Roller Event, the 2nd of 6 in the MILLIONS North America has come to a close. The event saw many poker stars battle it out for the $1M guarantee. 59 players jumped in, 21 of whom re-entered, for a total of 80 entries. Kristen Bicknell and William Foxen, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, former world champion Jonathan Duhamel, and Niall Farrell took part, and many more. Twenty-six players managed to survive the 12 levels of tough world-class poker today. They bagged their chips onto Day 2 and will come back tomorrow for the completion of the event. Here are the best results: Darren Elias – 6,290,000 Marc Macdonnell – 6,135,000 David Eldridge – 6,000,000 Victor Ramdin – 5,900,000 Kevin Hobbs – 5,890,000 The full results will be posted shortly in the results section.   This post was published first on this Playground Event Blog: MILLIONS North America […]

After just over 6 hours of play, and with a hint of contention as players asked for – and others refused – deals at the final table, the 7 survivors have emerged in the March edition of the Playground Power Weekend’s Event #5. The tournament was a $70 + $10 NL Hold’em Survivor event that attracted 62 players and generated a prize pool of $4,210.00. This meant that everyone took home $601 for the efforts on the day. Here are your final 7 survivors. Luc Aube $601.00 Jonathan Brown $601.00 Maxime Laberge $601.00 Gilles Monahan $601.00 Michael Monteleone $601.00 Randy Ordway $601.00 Samuel Pouliot $601.00 The post The Seven Survivors appeared first on Playground Power Weekend March 2018.

Tonight’s edition of the 50/50 Bounty, Event #4 of the March Power Weekend, lived up to its billing and was a huge success. This tournament brought out 195 runners, building a prize pool that easily surpassed the $20,000 guarantee. Tonight’s action went through two distinct phases; the first can be simply described as bounty hunting. In the early levels, the players were taking every opportunity to chase down their opponents and the all-ins provided more incentive to call than to fold, regardless of the hole cards involved. The second phase offered a stark contrast; it was all about laddering up. With 25 places paid, there was a huge gap between top and bottom of the prize list so throughout the final three tables the players tightened up and held on to every chip dearly in their efforts to get close to the big money. Tonight’s champion, Robert Ouellette, went on […]

Play on Day 2 continued through 10 levels today, and with Day 3 set to begin at 7:00pm on Monday March 26th, there are just 23 players left to battle it out for the biggest prizes in the tournament. The following table includes the random seating draw to begin Day 3 along with the starting stacks for each of the remaining players. The post Playground 200 Day 3 seating draw (with counts) appeared first on Playground Power Weekend March 2018.

Day 2 of the Playground 200 is in the books. From a starting field of 157 players, only 23 survived the 10 levels that were on today’s schedule. These players will be back tomorrow night for the conclusion of tournament and the Power Weekend. The last moments were quite dramatic. First, Isham Yamani lost a 1M pot to Aex Barbosa in a heartbreaking fashion: Yamami:  Barbosa: Board: The turn came like a thunderstorm, and Yamani was left with about 2 big blinds, 3 hands before the end of the day. He folded one, then committed from the under-the-gun position. Both Bao Ngoc Phu and Brigitte Métivier tagged along, even creating a bit of a side pot. On the flop, Phu checked the action, and Métivier bet out strong. Phu raised all-in, which was met by a swift call. Métivier:  Phu:  Yamani: Board: Brigitte was so eliminated one hand before the […]

With a total of 750 entries, the Playground 200 in the March Power Weekend blew past the $100,000 guarantee by a full 50%, setting up a terrific Day 2 and Day 3 in the tournament. Of the 750 entries, 157 players are still in the tournament and will begin play at 12:00pm tomorrow – High Noon – to continue play. The prize pool hasn’t been released yet by tournament staff, but it’s a sure thing that the money bubble will be reached tomorrow on Day 2, as play will continue for 10 40-minute levels tomorrow. The chip leader to start the day is the leader from Day 1A, Jerry Joseph Jaber, with players from Days 1B and 1C rounding out the rest of the top 10. The online Day 1 leader, Mat Aymerich, will start in 12th position by chip count on Day 2. Good luck to everyone on Day 2! The post Playground 200 Day 2 seating draw (with […]

Day 1B attracted 222 entries, substantially more than last night’s flight. The last starting flight for this edition of the Playground 200 starts at 11:00am tomorrow morning, and the guarantee will be met when the first card is pitched. Tonight, the Day 2 field was doubled. Its chips leader is still Jerry Joseph Jaber, surprisingly. Bigger fields usually produce bigger bags, but tonight was different. Chips were volatile, and many leaders had to step down from their position, instead of reinforcing it. It was the case for Mingzhe Zhang and Martin Gélinas, who were both on their way to send commanding stacks to Day 2, but had to settle for a wobbly qualification. Richard Moreau, who picked up some crazy speed in the last few levels, finished on top of Day 1B’s final standings, with 271,000 chips. George Ciucuireanu is not too far behind, with 264,500 chips. They rank 3rd and 4th on the […]

Event #3 of the March Power Weekend, the Deepstack Turbo, was a great success that drew a large and diverse field. The Deepstack Turbo featured a $5,000.00 guarantee, but it was easily surpassed as 91 players made their way into the high-paced fray. The robust turnout generated a prize pool of nearly $8,000.00 to be divided between the top 12 finishers. The story of this event falls into two main themes: the pace of play and the deals. As a turbo tournament, the 15-minute blind levels make it more of a sprint than a marathon. And the play on display showed that the runners were racing to stay out ahead of the blinds. Particularly in the early levels, it seemed like most hands wound up with one or more players going all-in before the river for either maximum value or to steal as many chips as possible. Deal-making is a common […]

After 14 levels of play, Day 1A’s 170 entries funneled to just 33 players. 33 stacks are sent to Sunday’s Day 2, and will soon join the 15 online qualifiers that have been waiting for the party since March 18th. The list of combined qualifiers can be found here, in the results section. Jerry Joseph Jaber finished in the lead, with 316,000 chips, having won a huge pot about an orbit before the end. Anderson Frank-Graham follows, with 293,000 chips. After his huge score with , he kept heading in that direction and added another stack of reds to his riches. Join these players on the Day 2 qualifiers’ list by playing Day 1B (Friday 7:00pm) and/or Day 1C (Saturday 11:00am). The Power Weekend resumes tomorrow at noon with the $90 + $10 NL Hold’em Deepstack Turbo, and we will be there to bring you the updates! The post 33 bags […]

Jean-Philippe Lehoux has just been crowned champion of the first event of the March Power Weekend, the $70 + $10 Mix Max. Lehoux bested a field of 71 players, in an event that brought the players through a range of formats; the day began 10-handed before quickly moving to 8-handed play. Once the field had been reduced to less than 60, the tables were re-adjusted and play continued 6-handed. The tables were adjusted once again when the field stood at 24 players as they played 4-handed. The 4-handed format soon gave way to a 5-handed final table where the five finalists agreed to an ICM chop of the remaining prize pool. The turning point in Lehoux’s tournament occurred during 4-handed play. In a heads-up pot, Lehoux tried to take his opponent off his hand on the flop by moving all-in with two over cards and an open-ended straight draw. His […]