Playground Players Club member Chanracy Khun has defeated a field of 249 players to win the bwin WPT Barcelona and the top prize of €200,000! The event, held from the 5th to the 10th of April at the Casino Barcelona, featured some of Europe and North America’s poker greats including several past WPT champions. Also in the field were fellow Players Club member Benjamin Leblond and Playground regular Terry Flood. Chanracy made his big move on Day 3, which started with just 42 players out of the overall field of 249. He started the day with 98,500 (33 BB) – below the chip average – but by the end of the day he had chipped up to 838,000 (140 BB), good for the second best stack going into Day 4. Day 4 started strong for Kuhn and except for a hiccup when he doubled up another player, he kept his […]

As if he wasn’t magical enough already, Playground Player’s Club member Antonio Esfandiari might have pulled off the most impressive magic trick of his life taking down the biggest first place prize in sports history. Antonio mashed his way through a field of fierce competitors including Tom Dwan, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton and Playground’s own Johnny ‘Malibu’ winning a whopping $18,346,673 at the 2012 WSOP Event 55 ‘-The Big One for One Drop. ‘ In addition to the massive truck load of money, Antonio also took home the first ever WSOP platinum bracelet valued at $350000 that he later dedicated to his supportive father who has been in his corner all his life. ‘I just wanted to win, so I could give my dad the bracelet’ says Antonio, ‘my dad has been my biggest fan, my biggest supporter since the beginning and I love him more than anything in the […]

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 […]

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 […]

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!

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 […]

$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.

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!