LIVE EVENTS

Day 1D of the Playground 200 attracted a total of 193 entries, bringing the event well beyond the $100,000 guaranteed prize pool. Danick Morin lead the field at the first break and was followed in second place by John Pisani. Morin was able to bag 149,000 chips but it was John Pisani who stole the show today, as by the second break he was on top of the leaderboard and he stayed there throughout the rest of the flight.

Level 14 saw some crazy swings and Michel Vigneault was able to capitalize from two key hands that he picked up in the last 20 minutes of play. He started the level with just over 40,000 chips and found a triple-up when he rivered a flush with pocket tens against pocket aces and pocket jacks. A few hands later he doubled up again when he hit top pair on the flop. With his good luck at the end of the day, he was able to bag the third largest stack in play.

The top three stacks are as follows:

• John Pisani, 342,000 chips
• Placide Junior Sanon, 253,000 chips
• Michel Vigneault, 235,000 chips.

The last starting flight, Day 1E has just begun and players have until 10:15pm to join the action.

Day 2 will play at 1:00pm tomorrow, Sunday, and Day 3 will play down to a winner on Monday at 7:00pm.

Play is now in the last level of the flight and players are trying desperately to build their stacks so that they can find a decent bag for Day 2. On table 32, all the chips went into the middle by three of the short stacks.

Michel Vigneault:
Zuhair Al-Pachachi:
Hicham El Yamani:

Al-Pachachi was feeling great, expecting a nice triple-up deep in level 14. The flop fell . All of the sudden Vigneault picked up a flush draw. The turn was safe for Al-Pachachi, however, the river completed a flush for Vigneault who knocked out both opponents while tripling his stack at a critical time.

A few minutes later Vigneault got his chips in with queen-nine and hit a queen on the flop to double-up. Level 14 has been gold for Vigneault.

The players have just returned from their final break of the day and there are now just three more 30-minute levels left to play. The chip average is 76,600 (48 big blinds) and John Pisani continues to dominate the field with a stack of 283,100 chips, effectively 177 big blinds. Young Min Kim is closing in on Pisani, playing a stack of 238,600, or 149 bigs.

The top stacks in play are:

John Pisani was all smiles on table 31, and so were his table mates. With the blinds at 500/1,000, Jean-Guy Roy opened the action in middle-late position with a raise to 2,500. Pisani made the call from the button and the blinds folded. The flop came and Roy continued out for 3,000. Pisani called. The turn brought the , and Roy instantly moved all in. Pisani snap-called.

Roy:
Pisani:

The on the river was of no consequence and Roy gets sent to the rail while Pisani keeps adding to his stack.

The players have just returned from their second break of the day and the average stack is now 42,300 chips (53 big blinds). John Pisani, who was in second place at the first break of the day, has now climbed to the top with a stack of 125,700 chips, good for 157 big blinds. Pisani is currently the only player who has surpassed the 100K mark.

Here is the latest leaderboard from the start of level nine:

With 193 entries (including 25 re-entries), the total number of entries between the first four starting flights has now reached 542, putting another 4,825,000 chips into play. This means that the $100,000  guaranteed prize pool has already been well surpassed, and there is still one more starting flight (Day 1E) left to go tonight at 7:00pm.

On table 27, with the blinds at 250/500, Jason Syms raised from middle position to 1,250, finding a call from Rejean Grenier a few seats to his left. When action was on Aristidis Angelopoulos seated on the button, he re-raised to 6,000. Both Syms and Grenier called.

The flop came and Syms instantly moved all in. Grenier tanked for close to 30 seconds before making the call. The button folded.

Syms:
Grenier:

Syms wasn’t sure if he was ahead or not until he saw Grenier’s cards. The turn and river didn’t change a thing, and Syms raked in a nice pot while enjoying the last few bites of his late breakfast.

With the average stack just under 30K (95 big blinds), one player has managed to amass a stack of almost triple the average. Danick Morin is playing a stack of 90,100 chips, good for just over 300 big blinds!

Here is the first leaderboard of the day:

With blinds at 100/200, Sylvain Bouchard raised it up and found a caller in Anthony Amato. On a flop, Bouchard continued out for 600; Amato called. The turn brought the , and this time Bouchard lead out for 1500, again, Amato called. The was the , and Bouchard eased up on the gas with a bet of 500. Amato made the call.

Bouchard:
Amato:

The two players were happy to chop the pot by hitting the river. Amato was open-ended on the flop and Bouchard, well, he was probably the happiest of the two as he had completely missed the flop and turn.

There remains another hour plus in the late registration period as well as one more starting flight tonight, Day 1E at 7:00pm.

There are now 126 entries and play has been cautious as there are still 120 players battling it out.

Here is a look through the lens at some of the faces in the field:

The players are rolling in minute by minute and there are already 108 entries in today’s Day 1D! The late registration period remains open until the start of level seven at 2:15pm, when the blinds will still only be 250/500! Players start with a full 25,000 chip starting stack regardless when they enter or re-enter, so come on down to get your tournament poker action on!

Don’t forget that breakfast from The Rail is available and served table side right up until 2:00pm (and the Vegas Brunch Buffet is also available for those that want the maximum energy possible!).

Welcome to Day 1D of the $200 + $20 Playground 200. This is the marquee event of the February Power Weekend, featuring an outstanding $100,000 guaranteed prize pool. With already 349 entries through the first three starting flights, today’s Day 1D should allow the event to surpass the guarantee.

Players start with 25,000 chips and play through 14 30-minute levels on 10-handed tables. Once space permits, the tables will become nine-handed. All remaining players at the end of level 14 will bag their chips to move on the Day which takes place tomorrow, Sunday, at 1:00pm. Day 2 will play 10 40-minute levels and Day 3 will play down to a winner on Monday at 7:00pm.

The chip leader at the moment is Sebastien Proulx with a bag of 316,000 chips, followed by Karim-Olivier Kamal with 314,500 chips, and Sebastien “Seabass” Drolet-Poitras who bagged 277,000 chips.

This is a re-entry tournament with unlimited re-entries available until the end of the late registration period at the start of level seven, at 2:15pm. The final starting flight, Day 1E, takes place tonight at 7:00pm.

In addition to the juicy prize pool, the winner of the event will also receive the Playground Power Weekend Champion ring!

Good luck to all competitors!