MILLIONS General News

It’s time for the Playground 1000!

May 24, 2019 | 11:05am | Playground

Event #7 of the MILLIONS North America, the $1,000 + $100 Playground 1000, is about to begin!

This three-day event features a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool and will start players with 100,000 in chips for 14 40-minute levels of play on Day 1. This is a single re-entry event with one entry and one re-entry permitted until the end of the late registration period, which will occur that the beginning of level 10. The starting flight will play 9-handed before moving to 8-handed play on Days 2 and 3. Day 2 play will begin at 12:00pm on Saturday, May 25, and Day 3 gets underway on Sunday, May 26 at 1:00pm.

The cards will be in the air soon, and there are already over 70 players ready and waiting for the start of play. It’s shaping up to be a big Day 1! Good luck to all!

Day 3 seating draw and chip counts

May 24, 2019 | 10:38am | Playground

The MILLIONS North America Main Event attracted 521 entries across two starting flights. When play began on Day 2, 258 players remained in contention. After ten levels of play on Day 2, the field brought down to only 66 players. When play resumes for Day 3 today at noon, the field will be three eliminations away from the money bubble.

The players will start Day 3 seated according to the following table.

First Name \| Prénom	Last Name \| Nom	Seat \| Siège	Stack \| Tapis
Kevin	Rabichow	Table 24 - Seat 3	30,105,000
Armin	Rezaei	Table 19 - Seat 1	21,030,000
Francois	Billard	Table 22 - Seat 8	19,795,000
Dietrich	Fast	Table 24 - Seat 2	18,895,000
Maurice	Hawkins	Table 22 - Seat 5	18,810,000
Santiago	Plante	Table 28 - Seat 7	17,510,000
Danick	Landriault	Table 22 - Seat 6	16,175,000
Jason	James	Table 32 - Seat 2	14,730,000
Alexandros	Kolonias	Table 24 - Seat 6	14,570,000
Orpen	Kisacikoglu	Table 19 - Seat 7	14,200,000
Samuel	Grafton	Table 22 - Seat 2	13,075,000
William	Givens Iv	Table 30 - Seat 4	12,945,000
Lucas	Braga	Table 22 - Seat 7	12,675,000
Brandon Michael	Sheils	Table 28 - Seat 3	11,945,000
Bryn	Kenney	Table 20 - Seat 4	11,875,000
Michael	Mcdonald	Table 20 - Seat 3	10,995,000
Qi	Hu	Table 19 - Seat 6	10,655,000
Manig	Loeser	Table 30 - Seat 8	10,570,000
Sammy	Lafleur	Table 32 - Seat 6	10,360,000
Babak	Forozandeh	Table 30 - Seat 2	9,785,000
Senthuran	Vijayaratnam	Table 32 - Seat 3	9,665,000
Michal	Wywrot	Table 19 - Seat 4	8,860,000
Joni Petteri	Jouhkimainen	Table 26 - Seat 7	8,725,000
John	Cayley	Table 19 - Seat 5	8,550,000
Benjamin	Heath	Table 31 - Seat 4	8,205,000
Griffin	Benger	Table 30 - Seat 1	7,825,000
Ruben	Perceval	Table 30 - Seat 6	7,800,000
Maxime	Chartrand	Table 28 - Seat 1	7,480,000
Marc Andre	Ladouceur	Table 19 - Seat 2	7,170,000
Alexandru	Baron	Table 24 - Seat 4	7,145,000
Simon	Assouline	Table 26 - Seat 5	7,040,000
Diogo	Veiga	Table 31 - Seat 6	6,785,000
Philippe	D'Auteuil	Table 20 - Seat 8	6,285,000
Samuel	Tsehai	Table 28 - Seat 5	6,150,000
Josue	Sauvageau	Table 20 - Seat 7	6,140,000
Michael	Farrow	Table 32 - Seat 1	6,065,000
Sandy	Lam	Table 32 - Seat 4	6,030,000
Joshua	Kay	Table 31 - Seat 1	5,400,000
Upeshka	De Silva	Table 22 - Seat 3	5,010,000
Tommy	Nguyen	Table 32 - Seat 8	4,335,000
Maduka	Meragal	Table 24 - Seat 5	4,325,000
Cedrick	Angove-Bernier	Table 20 - Seat 5	4,285,000
Krzysztof	Birecki	Table 26 - Seat 2	4,250,000
Erik	Lemarquand	Table 28 - Seat 4	4,005,000
Ryan	Pignatelli	Table 22 - Seat 1	3,885,000
Carl	Martel	Table 19 - Seat 3	3,805,000
Anthony	Ruberto	Table 31 - Seat 2	3,745,000
Brandon	Hall	Table 26 - Seat 3	3,730,000
Lander	Lijo	Table 31 - Seat 5	3,655,000
Olivier	Rebello-Frechette	Table 20 - Seat 1	3,620,000
David George	Cowling	Table 26 - Seat 4	3,540,000
Daniel	Neilson	Table 26 - Seat 6	3,503,500
Sebastien	Vezina	Table 31 - Seat 3	3,445,000
Seyedrohollah	Ettehadi	Table 31 - Seat 7	3,400,000
Sergio	Aido Espina	Table 28 - Seat 2	3,160,000
Joel	Miller	Table 30 - Seat 7	3,135,000
Philipe	Pizzari Pinto	Table 32 - Seat 7	3,020,000
John Paul	Tabago	Table 28 - Seat 6	2,715,000
Gerald	Karlic	Table 24 - Seat 8	2,645,000
Castrillon	Fontan	Table 30 - Seat 5	2,585,000
Harry	Ross	Table 31 - Seat 8	2,385,000
Andrew Kinwai	Lam	Table 26 - Seat 1	2,365,000
Thomas	Hall	Table 28 - Seat 8	1,545,000
Michael	Laufer	Table 20 - Seat 6	1,385,000
Robin	Hegele	Table 30 - Seat 3	1,155,000
Tyler	Smillie	Table 24 - Seat 1	1,005,000

Three away from the money

May 24, 2019May 24, 2019 | 1:32am | Playground

After ten levels of serious and intense poker, the initial 258 players that started Day 2 have dwindled down to the last 66 left standing. That is three eliminations short of the money.

The action started at noon with the blinds at 15K / 30K + 30K, and an average stack at approximately 2.02 million chips. Sandy Lam, who had bagged the most in Day 1A, was the overall chip leader with 6,840,000 chips. Right behind her was German Manig Loeser, with a stack of 6,620,000, and Day 1B top bagger William Givens IV, from Colorado, with 6,285,000 chips.

Givens quickly gained momentum and reinforced his stack to 10,500,000 chips by the first break, taking the lead. Loeser had also added a few chips to his count, but had dropped to fourth place on the leaderboard. Sneaking in between Loeser and Givens, Austrian Armin Rezaei had nabbed the third slot.

After four levels of play, Rezaei was now chip leader whereas Loeser and Givens had dropped to 3rd and 8th place on the second break leaderboard. Midway through the flight, more than 135 players had been eliminated, and the action was unrelenting, especially on the shorter stacks. Every increase in the blinds added some extra pressure, and the players were feeling it.

At the dinner break, Givens was still on a great streak and was now up to over 13 million chips. Chicago’s Kevin Rabichow and Loeser were right behind him. With only two levels left to play, Austrian Dietrich Fast and Canadian Josue Sauvageau made their first appearances in the top slots of the leaderboard, followed by Rezaei who was having an amazing day of poker.

The Action Clocks and time cards were introduced at the last level of the night, as the players were approaching the bubble. There were a few eliminations but not enough to reach the bubble. With a few minutes left on the clocks, hand-per-hand action started, allowing for three last hands of the evening to run simultaneously on every table. One elimination ensued from that period, but it ended three bust-outs short of the money.

When all was said and done, Kevin Rabichow was the top bagger of the day with a whopping 30,105,000 stack. Armin Rezaei, almost ten million chips behind Rabichow, threw 21,030,000 chips in his bag. The action will resume tomorrow at 12:00pm for Day 3, which promises to yet again be an amazing day of poker.

Here are the remaining days for the conclusion of this event:

Day 3: Friday May 24 at 12:00pm
Day 4: Saturday May 25 at 12:00pm
Day 5: Sunday May 26 at 12:00pm

Click here for a complete list of Events in the MILLIONS North America.

28 players have bagged for Day 2

Level: 8
Small Blind: 8K
Big Blind: 16K
BB Ante: 16K
Chip Average: 1.857M
Remaining: 28
Entries: 52

May 23, 2019 | 11:41pm | Playground

Day 1 of Event #6, The $10,000 + $300 High Roller, has just wrapped up for the day. The players started with 1,000,000 chips and played through eight 60 minute levels on eight handed tables. The tournament offers amazing value as there is a slow blind structure allowing for late entry, as well as re-entry, and the prize pool is a guaranteed $1,000,000!

Late registration is open right up to the start of Level 13 on Day 2, which is at 5:30pm on Friday, so there is plenty of time to jump into the action. There is expected to be a lot of new entries on Day 2, and there will most likely be many re-entries as well due to the great prize pool and relatively small field. This is one tournament that any serious tournament player does not want to miss. Day 2 starts tomorrow at 1:00pm, and Day 3 will wrap up the action on Saturday at 1:00pm.

There was a great turnout in today’s Day 1, with a total of 52 entries (including 14 re-entries). Some of the best names in the business mixed it up with many experienced amateur grinders who were all battling it out on the felt, and as the chips moved around, the lead changed throughout the day. At the end of play, 28 players bagged and tagged to return for Day 2 action. The top stack in play belongs to James Romero, who bagged 4,320,000.

Below are the stacks of each player who will be returning for Day 2 action.

First Name \| Prénom	Last Name \| Nom	Stack \| Tapis
James	Romero	4,320,000
David	Lopez	4,300,000
Lauren	Roberts	3,630,000
Anton	Morgenstern	3,000,000
Carla	Sabini	2,880,000
Derek	Verrian	2,835,000
Alan	Schein	2,565,000
Guillaume	Nolet	2,300,000
Martin	Raus	2,185,000
Pierre-Paul	Paulin	2,155,000
John	Hewgill	1,960,000
Jiachen	Gong	1,905,000
Darren	Elias	1,860,000
Govert Jan Antonius	Metaal	1,650,000
Alexsandr	Merzhinskii	1,645,000
Jakob	Miegel	1,610,000
Daniel	Rezael	1,475,000
Brian	Yoon	1,345,000
Alexandru	Papazian	1,125,000
Philipp	Gruissem	1,075,000
Niall	Farrell	840,000
Jeremy	Ausmus	830,000
John	Krpan	800,000
Hannes	Speiser	735,000
Kitty	Kuo	655,000
Rainer	Kempe	625,000
Jonathan David	Conception Tacoronte	575,000

Blinds for Day 2 start at 10,000/20,000 so there is plenty of room for play for anyone who will join in on Day 2. To see the tournament structure sheet, click here

Day 1 chip leader, James Romero:

Foxen is out – The Ultimate Poker Couple promo is live!

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 | 6:16pm | Playground

The Ultimate Poker Couple promotion just took a sharp turn! In this fun promo, a couple could win a $12K package to MILLIONS Europe at King’s Resort, Rozvadov, Czech Republic! To win, duos must have the best average positioning in the $10,300 MILLIONS North America, and MUST BEAT the average of Kristen Bicknell and Alex Foxen, the darling couple of poker. Of course, a lot of pairs of all kinds were magically formed before the event, but that was expected and part of the fun.

Now here’s the thing: Alex Foxen was eliminated in 150th, and Kristen Bicknell is sitting on about 2.5M chips. Their best possible average score is 75th and will come in if Kristen wins, but no matter what happens at this point, their result will be very respectable.

Among the participants, a few twosomes are still in contention of beating them, but none of these “couples” still have both members in the event.

Luigi Knoppers – Still in the field
Bas de Laat – Finished 173rd
Carlos Chadha – Finished 228th
Tony Dunst – Still in the field
Kitty Kuo – Finished 209th
Mike McDonald – Still in the field

In order for one of these pairs to surpass the Foxen/Bicknell team, the remaining member will need to run substantially deeper than Kristen… but that won’t be easy. Look how focused she looks! To be continued…

The cards are in the air!

Level: 1
Small Blind: 2K
Big Blind: 5K
BB Ante: 5K
Chip Average: 1M
Remaining: 13
Entries: 13

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 | 1:51pm | Playground

Event #6, the $10,000 + $300 High Roller has just started. This event guaranteed a $1,000,000 prize pool and starts players with 1,000,000 in chips for three days of eight handed play with one-hour blind levels. Unlimited re-entries are available until the start of level 13 on Day 2. Day 2 play begins with level 9 on Friday, May 24 at 1:00pm so players will have until 5:30pm to (re-)enter.

This promises to be a great tournament, offering a nice slow structure and a juicy prize pool. Hour by hour players are expected to join in and with the Day 2 of the MILLIONS North America Main Event playing out as well today, there will certainly be many additions to the High Roller field from players exiting the Main Event.

There are also $1,030 “Rake-Free Flip N Go’s” playing throughout the day where all ten players are all in pre-flop and the winner moves on to the High Roller. These flip n go’s provide a 1 in 10 chance to jump in to the action at a super low price. A great way to join a great event!

Ready for Day 2

Level: 11
Small Blind: 15K
Big Blind: 30K
BB Ante: 30K
Chip Average: 2.02M
Remaining: 258
Entries: 521

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 | 11:53am | Playground

Grab your hats and settle in, because we are ready to roll. No less than 258 eager players are entering the Tournament Hall, ready for Day 2 action.

The blinds resume today at level 11 (15K/30K + 30K) and will increase every 60 minutes. Ten levels will be played and there will be eight players per table.

Overall chip leader Sandy Lam has 6,840,000 chips waiting for her in the bag. Right behind her are Manig Loeser (6,620,000), and last night’s top bagger, William Givens IV (6,285,000).

Everyone is ready for action…

Day 2 seating draw and chip counts

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 | 11:12am | Playground

The stage is set for Day 2 of the MILLIONS North America Main Event. Following two starting flights that attracted a total of 521 entries, 258 players made it through to Day 2. This five-day event will play through ten levels today, before the remaining players bag chips for Day 3 tomorrow at noon. You can follow today’s action here; stay tuned for updates and leaderboards throughout the day.

When play resumes at 12:00pm, the players will be seated according to the following table.

First Name \| Prénom	Last Name \| Nom	Seat \| Siège	Stack \| Tapis
Sandy	Lam	Table 22 - Seat 6	6,840,000
Manig	Loeser	Table 20 - Seat 2	6,620,000
William	Givens Iv	Table 49 - Seat 2	6,285,000
Armin	Rezaei	Table 33 - Seat 8	5,790,000
Jonathan David	Concepcion Tacoronte	Table 20 - Seat 8	5,320,000
Georgiy	Filippovich	Table 34 - Seat 4	5,305,000
Philippe	D'Auteuil	Table 26 - Seat 7	5,235,000
Joshua	Kay	Table 19 - Seat 8	5,205,000
Ryan	Pignatelli	Table 35 - Seat 1	5,180,000
Babak	Forozandeh	Table 21 - Seat 2	4,850,000
Gerald	Karlic	Table 22 - Seat 1	4,705,000
Samuel	Grafton	Table 36 - Seat 6	4,665,000
Daune	Fernandez	Table 31 - Seat 6	4,645,000
Rick	Beer	Table 48 - Seat 2	4,535,000
Michal	Wywrot	Table 24 - Seat 2	4,360,000
Jonathan E	Dwek	Table 31 - Seat 7	4,330,000
Michael	Farrow	Table 45 - Seat 3	4,315,000
Ami	Alibay	Table 32 - Seat 7	4,250,000
Sergio	Aido Espina	Table 46 - Seat 6	4,195,000
Tyler	Smillie	Table 38 - Seat 3	4,150,000
Alexandru	Baron	Table 32 - Seat 5	4,070,000
Anthony	Ruberto	Table 21 - Seat 8	4,040,000
Thomas	Hall	Table 49 - Seat 5	4,015,000
Robert	Heidorn	Table 37 - Seat 7	4,000,000
Brandon	Hall	Table 17 - Seat 5	3,950,000
Ludovic	Geilich	Table 49 - Seat 6	3,855,000
Benjamin	Wilinofsky	Table 25 - Seat 8	3,825,000
Olivier	Rebello-Frechette	Table 38 - Seat 7	3,795,000
Danick	Landriault	Table 26 - Seat 2	3,700,000
Jason	James	Table 29 - Seat 3	3,625,000
Thomas Peter	Middleton	Table 17 - Seat 2	3,520,000
Robin	Hegele	Table 26 - Seat 4	3,475,000
Santiago	Plante	Table 58 - Seat 3	3,435,000
Daniel	Chalifour	Table 24 - Seat 8	3,410,000
Alexandros	Kolonias	Table 48 - Seat 1	3,355,000
Diogo	Veiga	Table 54 - Seat 8	3,280,000
Lander	Lijo	Table 32 - Seat 4	3,265,000
Antonio	Esfandiari	Table 44 - Seat 3	3,255,000
Ari	Engel	Table 49 - Seat 3	3,235,000
Ruben	Perceval	Table 44 - Seat 1	3,205,000
Alexander J	Gambino	Table 53 - Seat 7	3,180,000
Richard Thomas	Mullen	Table 34 - Seat 6	3,175,000
Louis	Boutin	Table 48 - Seat 3	3,175,000
Tam	Ho	Table 49 - Seat 8	3,150,000
Carl	Martel	Table 46 - Seat 1	3,130,000
Kevin	Rabichow	Table 21 - Seat 6	3,130,000
Orpen	Kisacikoglu	Table 28 - Seat 8	3,125,000
Bartolomiej	Machon	Table 35 - Seat 5	3,120,000
David	St-Louis	Table 25 - Seat 1	3,115,000
Castrillon	Fontan	Table 30 - Seat 7	3,100,000
Tristan	Bain	Table 17 - Seat 6	3,100,000
Marc Andre	Ladouceur	Table 57 - Seat 8	3,015,000
Qi	Hu	Table 30 - Seat 6	2,955,000
William	Foxen	Table 33 - Seat 6	2,945,000
Soeren	Voehrs	Table 38 - Seat 8	2,925,000
Robert	Greenberg	Table 26 - Seat 1	2,910,000
Anatolly	Filatov	Table 45 - Seat 5	2,900,000
Daniel	Elkeslassy	Table 31 - Seat 4	2,885,000
Krzysztof	Birecki	Table 53 - Seat 4	2,870,000
Seyedrohollah	Ettehadi	Table 30 - Seat 4	2,850,000
Joseph	Delli Quadri	Table 20 - Seat 3	2,840,000
Aleks	Dimitrov	Table 21 - Seat 3	2,820,000
Kyle	Chang	Table 35 - Seat 8	2,820,000
Paul	Petten	Table 38 - Seat 2	2,710,000
Lawrence	Bayley	Table 56 - Seat 5	2,695,000
Bertrand	Grospellier	Table 50 - Seat 2	2,655,000
Samuel	Greenwood	Table 38 - Seat 1	2,645,000
Paul	Van Walsem	Table 35 - Seat 6	2,640,000
Rey	Lee	Table 25 - Seat 6	2,635,000
Michael	Laufer	Table 54 - Seat 1	2,615,000
Upeshka	De Silva	Table 52 - Seat 7	2,580,000
Viken	Artinian	Table 31 - Seat 3	2,565,000
Michael	Mcdonald	Table 53 - Seat 6	2,530,000
Peter Christopher	Jetten	Table 49 - Seat 4	2,510,000
Frank	Szelepcsenyi	Table 36 - Seat 5	2,510,000
Amir	Babakhani	Table 33 - Seat 2	2,490,000
Bryn	Kenney	Table 24 - Seat 5	2,485,000
Dragos	Trofimov	Table 52 - Seat 6	2,480,000
Pieter-Michael	De Goede	Table 26 - Seat 6	2,460,000
Joshua	Lebovic	Table 23 - Seat 3	2,445,000
Joseph	Abou Khalil	Table 52 - Seat 1	2,435,000
Ondrej	Drozd	Table 23 - Seat 6	2,435,000
Jeffrey	Cormier	Table 58 - Seat 2	2,435,000
Griffin	Benger	Table 50 - Seat 4	2,400,000
Joe	Gualtieri	Table 32 - Seat 1	2,380,000
Pablo	Mariz	Table 28 - Seat 1	2,350,000
Gagandeep	Singh	Table 57 - Seat 3	2,335,000
Maxime	Chartrand	Table 27 - Seat 3	2,310,000
Alan	Schein	Table 57 - Seat 2	2,235,000
Cedrick	Angove-Bernier	Table 46 - Seat 4	2,225,000
Samuel	Tsehai	Table 38 - Seat 5	2,220,000
Jason	Mandanici-Turcot	Table 58 - Seat 8	2,200,000
Ryan	Rivers	Table 34 - Seat 3	2,180,000
Josue	Sauvageau	Table 31 - Seat 8	2,055,000
Lucas	Braga	Table 58 - Seat 4	2,050,000
John	Cayley	Table 37 - Seat 5	2,050,000
Brandon Michael	Sheils	Table 38 - Seat 4	2,025,000
Alexander William	Keating	Table 30 - Seat 1	2,020,000
Jack David	Sinclair	Table 54 - Seat 6	2,015,000
Oskar	Prehm	Table 56 - Seat 3	2,010,000
Mukul	Pahuja	Table 31 - Seat 1	2,000,000
Sorel	Mizzi	Table 23 - Seat 2	1,980,000
Jeanrene	Plante	Table 21 - Seat 4	1,970,000
Darren	Elias	Table 27 - Seat 2	1,970,000
Andrew Kinwai	Lam	Table 28 - Seat 5	1,920,000
Alexandru	Papazian	Table 52 - Seat 3	1,920,000
Stanislav	Zegal	Table 58 - Seat 5	1,895,000
Joel	Miller	Table 36 - Seat 1	1,895,000
Francois	Billard	Table 57 - Seat 1	1,885,000
Michael	Khan	Table 23 - Seat 1	1,880,000
Govert Jan Antonius	Metaal	Table 24 - Seat 1	1,880,000
Kristen	Bicknell	Table 58 - Seat 6	1,865,000
Florian	Duta	Table 30 - Seat 5	1,865,000
Patrick	Eskandar	Table 25 - Seat 2	1,855,000
David George	Cowling	Table 33 - Seat 4	1,845,000
Dietrich	Fast	Table 34 - Seat 2	1,845,000
Tobias	Anttila	Table 20 - Seat 4	1,835,000
Diego	Zeiter	Table 48 - Seat 7	1,815,000
Steven	Tripp	Table 37 - Seat 2	1,810,000
Richard Christopher	Singh	Table 27 - Seat 4	1,805,000
Rodney	Ramalho	Table 57 - Seat 6	1,800,000
Jeffrey James	Chu	Table 25 - Seat 5	1,800,000
Leo Da Veiga	Liberal	Table 31 - Seat 5	1,790,000
Ying Chiu	Wong	Table 32 - Seat 3	1,760,000
Diego	Palma Valencia	Table 46 - Seat 2	1,750,000
Thomas	Lefort	Table 24 - Seat 3	1,750,000
Maurice	Hawkins	Table 20 - Seat 7	1,735,000
Bas	De Laat	Table 20 - Seat 6	1,710,000
David	Lopez	Table 56 - Seat 1	1,700,000
Tony	Dunst	Table 36 - Seat 2	1,695,000
Jeffrey Williams	Sarwer	Table 54 - Seat 7	1,690,000
Patrick	Mahoney	Table 29 - Seat 2	1,670,000
Maria	Ho	Table 33 - Seat 3	1,665,000
Alexander	Wong	Table 52 - Seat 2	1,655,000
Garrett	Dansereau	Table 28 - Seat 3	1,650,000
Artem	Metalidi	Table 53 - Seat 5	1,610,000
Patrick	Blye	Table 22 - Seat 3	1,600,000
Demosthenes	Kiriopoulos	Table 54 - Seat 5	1,600,000
Justin	Ouimette	Table 34 - Seat 7	1,590,000
Carlos	Chadha	Table 19 - Seat 1	1,550,000
Dylan	Ellis	Table 28 - Seat 2	1,550,000
Harrison Ian	Gimbel	Table 49 - Seat 1	1,540,000
Michael	Watson	Table 56 - Seat 2	1,540,000
Kliment	Tarmakov	Table 53 - Seat 3	1,540,000
Jiachen	Gong	Table 50 - Seat 5	1,540,000
Peter	Chien	Table 46 - Seat 7	1,535,000
Illankumaran	Kandiah	Table 27 - Seat 5	1,535,000
Christine	Park	Table 50 - Seat 7	1,535,000
Joni Petteri	Jouhkimainen	Table 19 - Seat 6	1,500,000
Steven	Van Zadelhoff	Table 56 - Seat 6	1,500,000
Omid	Shahbazian	Table 28 - Seat 6	1,470,000
Steven	Warburton	Table 29 - Seat 4	1,460,000
Luigi	Knoppers	Table 52 - Seat 8	1,440,000
Timothy	Cavallin	Table 50 - Seat 6	1,430,000
Rainer	Kempe	Table 29 - Seat 1	1,425,000
Jean-Francois	Daunais	Table 22 - Seat 5	1,425,000
Severin	Schleser	Table 46 - Seat 5	1,425,000
Endrit	Geci	Table 34 - Seat 8	1,410,000
Paul Theodore	Klann	Table 44 - Seat 6	1,405,000
Alexandre	Nadeau-Levesque	Table 29 - Seat 6	1,400,000
Bryan	Piccioli	Table 32 - Seat 8	1,385,000
Nirvair	Sandhu	Table 46 - Seat 3	1,375,000
Chawki	Fawaz	Table 52 - Seat 4	1,345,000
Jonathan	Jaffe	Table 35 - Seat 7	1,345,000
Alain	Chenel	Table 27 - Seat 7	1,330,000
Sebastien	Vezina	Table 29 - Seat 5	1,330,000
Felix	Van De Put	Table 35 - Seat 4	1,320,000
Norberto Andres	Korn	Table 21 - Seat 5	1,310,000
Scott	Seiver	Table 44 - Seat 2	1,305,000
Jonathan	Meyer	Table 22 - Seat 7	1,280,000
Nektarios	Papadedes	Table 36 - Seat 7	1,250,000
Jonathan	B	Table 29 - Seat 8	1,245,000
Lauren	Roberts	Table 53 - Seat 8	1,240,000
Van Nghiem	Nguy	Table 45 - Seat 4	1,220,000
Kenny	Hallaert	Table 24 - Seat 4	1,220,000
Ryan	Jensen	Table 54 - Seat 4	1,220,000
Mike	Sexton	Table 58 - Seat 7	1,200,000
Norson Shiniti	Saho	Table 35 - Seat 2	1,195,000
Pawel	Pelc	Table 44 - Seat 7	1,195,000
Danny	Boyaci	Table 19 - Seat 2	1,170,000
Noeung	Troeung	Table 36 - Seat 4	1,170,000
Truyen	Nguyen	Table 17 - Seat 4	1,170,000
Shaan	Siddiqui	Table 30 - Seat 3	1,165,000
Curt	Kohlberg	Table 34 - Seat 1	1,155,000
Lucas	Greenwood	Table 44 - Seat 4	1,150,000
Maxwell	Greewood	Table 28 - Seat 4	1,145,000
Viliyan	Petleshkov	Table 33 - Seat 1	1,135,000
Ryan	Morrell	Table 19 - Seat 7	1,135,000
Guillaume	Patry	Table 26 - Seat 8	1,120,000
Ryan	Riess	Table 45 - Seat 8	1,105,000
Dylan	Wilkerson	Table 53 - Seat 1	1,105,000
Patrick	Clarke	Table 37 - Seat 4	1,100,000
Martins	Adeniya	Table 22 - Seat 8	1,100,000
Carlos	Hey De Lima	Table 33 - Seat 5	1,085,000
Vladislav	Mezheritsky	Table 56 - Seat 4	1,075,000
Andreas	Klatt	Table 57 - Seat 5	1,060,000
Harpreet Singh	Gill	Table 36 - Seat 3	1,040,000
Simon	Assouline	Table 21 - Seat 1	1,025,000
Philipe	Pizzari Pinto	Table 37 - Seat 3	1,015,000
John	Krpan	Table 38 - Seat 6	1,000,000
Maduka	Meragal	Table 24 - Seat 6	1,000,000
Romio	Mikhael	Table 26 - Seat 5	1,000,000
Patrick	Stacey	Table 19 - Seat 3	1,000,000
Daniel	Neilson	Table 23 - Seat 5	995,000
Tim	Vukson	Table 56 - Seat 7	985,000
Felix	Martel-Racine	Table 45 - Seat 2	975,000
Vladas	Tamasauskas	Table 24 - Seat 7	960,000
Arunas	Sapitavicius	Table 50 - Seat 3	955,000
John Paul	Tabago	Table 58 - Seat 1	950,000
Rodney	Lawrence	Table 35 - Seat 3	950,000
Paul	El-Khouri	Table 57 - Seat 7	945,000
Kitty	Kuo	Table 27 - Seat 6	930,000
Yann	Prevost-Dumont	Table 17 - Seat 7	910,000
Sammy	Lafleur	Table 27 - Seat 1	890,000
Benjamin	Heath	Table 28 - Seat 7	880,000
Tommy	Nguyen	Table 50 - Seat 1	860,000
Benoit	Galland	Table 57 - Seat 4	845,000
Charles	L.B.	Table 30 - Seat 8	840,000
Pavlo	Veksler	Table 19 - Seat 5	825,000
Maria	Lampropoulou	Table 50 - Seat 8	790,000
David	Quang	Table 34 - Seat 5	780,000
Maxime	Lejeune Hebert	Table 22 - Seat 4	775,000
Pierre-Paul	Paulin	Table 17 - Seat 3	770,000
Dale	Guenette	Table 23 - Seat 7	760,000
Daniel	Dubeau	Table 30 - Seat 2	730,000
Nicola	Basile	Table 23 - Seat 4	705,000
Robert	Cicchelli	Table 33 - Seat 7	700,000
Blake	Carriere	Table 36 - Seat 8	660,000
Jean-Philippe	Lehoux	Table 23 - Seat 8	650,000
George	Caragiorgas	Table 19 - Seat 4	640,000
Robert	Haigh	Table 44 - Seat 8	635,000
Samuel	Chartier	Table 49 - Seat 7	635,000
Jakob	Miegel	Table 54 - Seat 2	595,000
Chanracy	Khun	Table 25 - Seat 7	585,000
Jimmy	Lee	Table 45 - Seat 6	570,000
Haipeng	Pang	Table 17 - Seat 1	570,000
Victor	Adams	Table 32 - Seat 6	565,000
Javier	Gomez Zapatero	Table 54 - Seat 3	560,000
Kevin	Rivest	Table 37 - Seat 1	550,000
Andrew	Graham	Table 48 - Seat 5	540,000
Jean Francois	Alexandre	Table 37 - Seat 8	540,000
Azim	Popatia	Table 53 - Seat 2	530,000
Martin	Raus	Table 52 - Seat 5	525,000
Guillaume	Nolet	Table 17 - Seat 8	525,000
Harry	Ross	Table 48 - Seat 6	520,000
Eric	Place	Table 26 - Seat 3	520,000
Patrick	Serda	Table 32 - Seat 2	505,000
Daniel	Ghionoiu	Table 31 - Seat 2	500,000
Michael	Ruane	Table 25 - Seat 3	465,000
Senthuran	Vijayaratnam	Table 45 - Seat 1	420,000
Jeremy	Ausmus	Table 21 - Seat 7	400,000
Matthew	Urban	Table 46 - Seat 8	255,000
Samuel Louis	Gagnon	Table 48 - Seat 8	235,000
Ivan	Driard	Table 20 - Seat 5	205,000
Marc	Lange	Table 29 - Seat 7	194,000
Jason	Sagle	Table 27 - Seat 8	120,000
Erik	Lemarquand	Table 45 - Seat 7	415,000
Marc Etienne	Mclaughlin	Table 44 - Seat 5	1,030,000

Thomas Cemm wins Event #5 for $16,830

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 | 2:11am | Playground

Event #5 of the MILLIONS North America, the $500 + $50 8-Max, guaranteed a prize pool of at least $50,000 and attracted 138 runners. Offering players a starting stack of 30,000 in chips and 20-minute blind levels, this single-day event created a prize pool of $69,000.

The chip lead changed hands many times throughout the day; by the time the final table was formed, a friendly spirit developed between the nine players who were battling for the top spot.

One player, however, stood out from the rest thanks to his very colourful presence; Thomas Cemm of Mission, British Columbia, was in great spirits all day long. He came to Playground to have fun at the poker table, something that nobody could stop him from doing, that was for sure. He kept players laughing while carrying himself with a true happy-go-lucky spirit, all the while being a gentleman, which is always good for the game.

The heads-up battle for the trophy came down to Cemm and Matthew Wilkins, an experienced tournament grinder who has made many deep runs in Playground events. Wilkins worked hard to try to capture the title, but Cemm was fearless and tenacious. Cemm caught some key hands and began to chip up, eventually taking over the lead.

Wilkins had lost a few key pots and decided to move all in holding . Cemm snap called the pre-flop shove and revealed a premium heads-up hand, .

The flop came to put Cemm in the lead after hitting his Ace. The turn brought the , giving Cemm trip Aces. The river changed nothing and the 8-Max had its champion, Thomas Cemm!

Event #5 Champion: Thomas Cemm, $16,830

The last hand of play:

Second place: Matthew Wilkins, $11,210

Next stop for 107 players –> Day 2!

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 | 12:44am | Playground

It’s been a long day, full of action and fun. After it was all said and done, a total of 107 happy but tired players get to come back tomorrow for Day 2 of the MILLIONS North America Main Event. They will be joined by the 151 Day 1A qualifiers, for a total of 258 players on the felt tomorrow.

Today’s flight started off smoothly, as expected in a multi-day tournament of this level. The players adopted a prudent approach, mindful of the fact that there was no way of re-entering if all was lost. The variable degrees of skill and experience in this field also had an impact on the global approach of most players. One could spy a seasoned professional, an international player and/or a local champion at any given table.

From the start, the undisputed forerunner was Aleks Dimitrov, the 26-year-old Bulgarian player, with more than $300,000 or recorded live cash winnings to date. Even this early in the flight American Brandon Hall, whose cash winnings exceed $1,800,000, was hot on his heels. As the day wore on, both Dimitrov and Hall kept neck to neck and stayed on top of the leaderboard.

By the time the dinner break arrived, other players had caught up. Now Michael Farrow, from Ontario, Canada, who recently placed first at the $1,100 NLH WPT Fallsview Poker Classic in Niagara Falls, was the chip leader. Also in the top four with Farrow, Hall and Dimitrov, was William Givens IV, from Colorado. Givens has over $2,000,000 cash earnings and was crowned the champion of Event #45 ($1,000 NLHE) of the 45th World Series of Poker in Las Vegas in 2014.

In the late stages of this flight, Brandon Hall eventually gained the top spot on the leaderboard. Dimitrov had lost a little ground and was now fifth in chips. A new set of players had squeezed in between Dimitrov and Hall. Jonathan Dwek, from Toronto, Turkish player Orpen Kisacikoglu, and Canadian Michal Wywrot had managed to hoard enough chips to rank in the top five.

But, no matter the road taken, at the end of the day the only thing that matters is the number of chips one drops in the bag. In total, 217,000,000 chips found their way into the bags, and the average stack was at 2.03 million. William Givens IV is the top bagger tonight with 6,285,000 chips. He is way out in front of the pack, his closest rival is Michal Wywrot who dropped 4,360,000, almost two million chips behind. Four other players managed to bag north of four million chips: Jonathan Dwek (4.33M), Sergio Aido Espina (4.2M), Tyler Smillie (4.15M), and Thomas Hall (4.02M). As a reminder, the top stack on Day 1A was Sandy Lam, with 6,840,000 chips.

So that’s a wrap for now, and the action will pick-up again tomorrow. Here are the dates and times of the remaining days of the MILLIONS North America Main Event:

Day 2: Thursday May 23 at 12:00pm
Day 3: Friday May 24 at 12:00pm
Day 4: Saturday May 25 at 12:00pm
Day 5: Sunday May 26 at 12:00pm

Day 1B chip leader – William Givens IV – 6,285,000

Prize pool payouts

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 | 10:27pm | Playground

The action is still going strong as the flight enters its last two levels. The payouts for the Main Event have been announced.

Rank \| Position	Prize \| Bourse
1st	$1,000,000
2nd	$650,000
3rd	$473,700
4th	$370,000
5th	$300,000
6th	$250,000
7th	$200,000
8th	$150,000
9th	$100,000
10th - 12th	$60,000
13th - 16th	$40,000
17th - 32th	$30,000
33th - 56th	$25,000
57th - 63th	$20,000

Cards are in the air for Day 1B

Level: 1
Small Blind: 2K
Big Blind: 5K
BB Ante: 5k
Chip Average: 1,00M
Remaining: 92
Entries: 92

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 | 12:09pm | Playground

Day 1B of Event #4 – $10,000 + $300 MILLIONS North America Main Event just got under way.

Loaded with a $5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, this is THE event you don’t want to miss. The Main Event has only two Day 1’s. Last night’s Day 1A attracted 304 entries and saw 151 players qualify for Day 2. Sandy Lam bagged a whopping 6,84 million chips, and Manig Loeser threw 6,620,000 chips in his bag, roughly three times the average, so the bar is set pretty high for today’s contenders. The list of qualified players and their chip counts can be found here.

Players have until the beginning of level 5 (approximately 4:30pm) to register. Remember that if a player survived Day 1A and chooses to play Day 1B, their qualified stack from Day 1A will be forfeited with no possibility of recovery.

Players start with 1,000,000 chips and blinds increase every 60 minutes today. The tournament will stop after 10 levels and resume Thursday, May 23 at 12:00pm for Day 2. The rules and tournament structure can be found here.

And we’re off!

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