LIVE EVENTS

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Event #3 of Playground’s 9-Year Anniversary Series, the $100 + $10 Megastack Turbo Re-entry, brought out a large field of players that contributed a total of 96 entries to this single-day event. The prize pool guarantee of $5,000 was easily surpassed, as over $9,000 in prizes was awarded to the top 12 players.

Throughout the afternoon, many different players had turns as the chip leader, as nobody was able to hang on to that lead for very long. The turbo structure kept the chips moving around the tables at a brisk pace, putting most players on a white-knuckled ride just to keep pace with the blinds. So it was only fitting that the two players who managed to stay on the leaderboard for most of the afternoon, Mathieu Legault and Silvio La Palerma, would meet in a heads-up battle at the final table.

Legault, who emerged victorious in Event #2 of the 9-Year Anniversary Series, the 6-Max Re-entry, got off to a fast start and kept his foot on the gas pedal all the way to the final table. La Palerma built up a significant stack before taking down a huge preflop all in against another player who briefly held the chip lead this afternoon, Panagiotis Anastasopoulos, to surpass Legault and take the chip lead when the field was down to 30 players. But both players fell off the pace in the late stages, as other players took turns with the chip lead. 

When six players remained, they agreed to an ICM chop of the remaining prize pool. Following their deal, the players took an aggressive approach in nearly every situation, with Legault and La Palerma capitalizing on the situation. When they finally made it to heads-up play, they were nearly even in chips, but that was only the beginning of their seesaw battle. The chips moved back and forth with ease, as each player managed to make big hands at key moments. At one point, Legault held a chip lead of nearly 6:1 over La Palerma. But La Palerma battled back until the blinds caught up and forced the action, leading to a preflop all in. La Palerma had the best of it when the chips went in and managed to avoid Legault’s outs to emerge victorious. Congratulations!

Megastack Turbo Re-entry Champion: Silvio La Palerma, $1,670

Runner-up: Mathieu Legault, $1,295

Last Hand of Play:

The six finalists in the Megastack Turbo Re-entry have just agreed to an ICM chop of the remaining prize pool. Realizing that their shallow stacks won’t make for much play at this stage, the players were quick to reach unanimity on the ICM deal. There remains an additional $390 for the eventual winner, as well as the coveted 9-Year Anniversary Series ring, so the players will keep their resolve until the end.

The chips are flying at the final table, quickly reducing the field to the last six players.

Former chip leader Mathieu Legault has returned to the front of the pack, thanks to a dramatic three-way all in. Legault was fortunate enough to wake up with pocket kings and wound up all in against two players, Yan Touchette and Tony Farcy. Legault was up against pocket eights and ace-queen, neither of which connected with the board, which led to a double elimination and returned Legault to the front of the pack.

Touchette will take home $260 for his ninth place finish, while Farcy will receive $340 for finishing eighth.

Play continues at the final table, where Legault and Silvio La Palerma control the largest stacks in play.

Play has just resumed in level 24, with 11 players still in contention.

The rapidly mounting blinds have helped the chips move around the tables, once again turning over the leaderboard and creating a new chip leader. Gabriel Demers leads the way now, playing a stack of 20 big blinds. Although 20 big blinds may not seem like much, many in the field are struggling to keep their heads above water, which is no small feat because the big blinds will soon cost as much as a starting stack for this event.

In an unusual turn of events, the Megastack Turbo Re-entry dispensed with the money bubble without resorting to hand-for-hand play.

The remaining players were all playing tightly-restricted ranges once the field was reduced to two tables, but they reached the money faster than anyone thought possible. The field was taken beyond the money bubble thanks to three, nearly simultaneous eliminations. On table 32, one player was all in with his small blind, and two players moved all in before the action reached the blinds. At the same time, on neighbouring table 28, it only took two to tango in a preflop heads-up all in. In each case, the largest stack involved emerged victorious, leading to a double elimination on table 32 and a single elimination on table 28 to bring the field from 15 players down to 12 and into the money.

The Megastack Turbo Re-entry is quickly approaching the money bubble, as the pressure of the blinds begins to mount and force the action. The field is now only five spots from the money, giving each passing hand greater and greater importance. The majority of hands are being played out preflop at this point, as few in the field have deep enough stacks to navigate through multiple streets of action.

The former chip leader, Lino Agostini, is still in contention but has fallen far from the heights he reached at the last break. Silvio La Palerma has manged to chip up slightly since the break, giving him a comfortable lead over the field at this late stage.

Here is a look at some of the remaining players:

Play has just resumed in level 18, with only 24 players remaining in the Megastack Turbo Re-entry.

The chips were flying in the lead up to the last break, causing upheaval on the leaderboard. Silvio La Palerma’s chip lead proved to be fleeting, as another player, Lino Agostini, jumped to the front of the pack before the end of level 17. Agostini is now sitting on a stack of 54 big blinds, putting him well over double the current chip average. But if the last few levels serve as any indication of what’s to come, we may see a new chip leader before the next break.

The chip leader at the last break, Panagiotis Anastasopoulos, hit rough waters once play resumed. And he has just been eliminated by Silvio La Palerma following a huge preflop all in.

Anastasopoulos had been very active, opening lots of hands during the last few levels, which prompted an outsized three-bet from his neighbour, La Palerma, in a hand that may prove to be decisive in this event. La Palerma raised to 100K after Anastasopoulos opened to 21K, which forced Anastasopoulos deep into the tank. Anastasopoulos decided to stand his ground and made a four-bet shove for something in the neighbourhood of 250K, which was quickly called by La Palerma. Hands were tabled to reveal that Anastasopoulos had the best of it, to his surprise.

Anastasopoulos:

La Palerma:

Board:

La Palerma rivered broadway to take down the huge pot and send the former chip leader to the rail in the process. La Palerma now controls a stack approaching half a million in chips, making him the clear chip leader.

The rapidly increasing blinds have picked up the pace in the Megastack Turbo Re-entry, bringing the field down to less than half of the total entries after 12 levels of play.

The chip leader at the first break, Mathieu Legault, managed to increase his stack during the last few levels and can still be found on the leaderboard, but he has been surpassed by this event’s new chip leader, Panagiotis Anastasopoulos. Anastasopoulos controls a stack of roughly 96 big blinds at this stage, giving him more than double an average stack. But with more than 30 eliminations to go before this field reaches the money, there is still a lot of poker to be played and even what might seem to be an insurmountable lead is anything but safe.

Although the action loosened up as the Megastack Turbo Re-entry approached the first break of the day, the last few levels have been characterized by much more cautious play. The field has been relatively stable, as the end of the re-entry period has clearly affected the approach of many players. In recent levels, there have been far fewer multi-way pots, and many more hands are being decided without showdown.

The chip leader at the first break, Mathieu Legault, has kept up his winning ways and still controls one of the larger stacks in play. But the blinds will be catching up to the field quickly this afternoon, thanks to the turbo structure. So everyone still in the field still has a realistic shot at taking this one down.

Here is a look at the action from level 11:

Play has just resumed in level 7, following the first break of the day in the Megastack Turbo Re-entry. There was a late rush to the cashier as the timer ticked down on the late registration and re-entry period that helped bring the total number of entries just shy of the century mark.

Several players have capitalized on the huge number of chips in play to run up their starting stacks, but one player stands head and shoulders above the rest with a huge chip lead. Mathieu Legault, who took down the 6-Max Re-entry yesterday afternoon, rode his hot streak to the top of the leaderboard with a stack of over 200 big blinds at the first break.