LIVE EVENTS

The Playground 200 has finally reached its final nine players, shown below in their seat order. Good luck to all as they make their push to the end, where the winner is currently slated to take home $20,818.

Roberto Buonocore was just eliminated in 10th place, earning himself $1,720. The final table is now being formed. Congratulations to Roberto on making it so far.

Roberto’s downfall didn’t originate so much in the final hand, where he shoved with pocket sevens and lost to Josef Ares’ pocket eights. He lost most of his chips about 30 minutes earlier, when Roberto’s three consecutive raises were called by Ami Alibay in a losing effort. In that hand, we found out later, Roberto was ahead the whole way. All the way until the river that is, when his opponent found a second pair.

The final table is being prepared and will be ready to go shortly.

Stephen Langlois was the shortest of short stacks, having just enough to cover the blind on his last hand. He shoved, as expected, and was called by Ami Alibay (below, left). Unfortunately for him, Stephen found his facing off against Ami’s . There were no surprises with the board, and Stephen was eliminated in 11th place. He collects a prize of $1,720 for his efforts.

While we were writing up the last post, Peter Liakopoulos was eliminated in 13th place. He also collects a prize of $1,380 for a well-played tournament, outlasting all but 12 of the 562 total entrants for this event.

Speaking of well-played tournaments, that is also an apt description of Sourasay Souvanh, who was just eliminated during the write up this post as well. He was sent to the rail by Soomnath Datta when his couldn’t come from behind to best Soomnath’s .

Sourasay finishes in 12th and will collect a prize of $1,720. Congratulations go out to him as well.

The Playground 200 is in its final day, with only 14 players taking their seats and vying for first place, the big prize and bragging rights. The action started off right away, with an elimination occurring in the first ten minutes of play.

The player first to go was Frederick Gougeon, whose pocket tens couldn’t make up enough ground to take down Samy Elgrably’s (below, left) pocket jacks when they both shoved preflop. Samy El-grabbed all of Fred’s chips, and now we’re down to just 13 competitors.

Fred walks away with a 14th  place and a prize of $1,380. Well done!

Only 14 players remain in this edition of the Playground 200.

Yesterday’s Day 2 saw 117 players return for 10 40-minute levels of play, which brought the field down to the final two tables. Day 3 play begins at 1:00pm and will continue until there is a winner.

When the action resumes, the players will be seated according to the following table.

The Playground 200, staple of the club’s Power Weekends, has dwindled down to its last 14 players. These players have bagged and tagged their chips and will only see them again tomorrow afternoon at 1:00pm at the start of Day 3, the conclusion of this 3-day event.

Today’s Day 2 started with 117 players, led by Ami Alibay, a local shark who is having an amazing poker year, having collected handsome amounts in Hollywood and Las Vegas. Alibay suffered a brutal beat mid-day and had to relinquish the driver’s seat, but his stack was still about average after the ordeal and he went right back to work, climbing the leaderboard inexorably. He finishes the day once again on top with 2,150,000 chips.

It was a close call however, because Noy U made a run for it, coming back from just a few blind to the astonishing stack of 2,085,000. His last-level ascent was fast and furious, and he will bring his vast deep-run experience to tomorrow’s grand finale.

These two players fully deserve their spot in the final day lineup. Their nearest rival has about 1.4M, with the average stack at just over a million chips.

Will we see a Noy-Ami showdown? Tune in tomorrow to find out! 1:00pm sharp. Here are the Day 3 qualifiers:

The Playground 200 has shrunk to just 2 tables with a half-hour left of play in the day. Here is the seating chart:

Only two levels are left to play in Day 2 of the Playground 200. With blinds 10K/20K/20K and an average stack of 702K, we expect to lose about half the remaining field and closing in on the final table before the end of the day.

The leading pack has tightened up greatly, as you can from the list of all 5 millionaires below, with many more knocking on their club’s door.

Bill Kontaratos opened from the cut-off, and Philip Diamond, sitting on his left, 3-bet to 120K. Kontaratos called, and the flop was revealed.

Flop:

After a check, Diamond casually announced all-in, looking confident. So much that Kontaratos stood and uttered: aces or kings. After just a few seconds though, he made the 300K+ call.

Kontaratos:
Diamond:

The runout came , and Diamond was eliminated, leaving Kontaratos with a 7-figure stack and 22 players in the field, with the last break of the day just minutes away.

Santiago Plante has been inflicting serious damage on his opponents with relentless blows. He stands on top of the leaderboard with 1,826,000 chips.

The only other millionaire is Soomnath Datta, who orchestrated Ami Alibay’s downfall. It was reported to us that Alibay, after climbing to about 1.5M, called off Datta’s stack with kings on a ragged board, only to see Datta’s queens find a lady friend on the river. Alibay still has just over 500K.

Day 2 action now unfolds on four tables, with four more levels to go before the bags come out.

Here is the updated top 5:

We came came across a pre-flop 3-way all-in hand that provided an interesting twist. Here are the hole cards:

Pierre Ouellette:
Denis Roy:
Sourasay Souvanh:

Roy was drawing to one out – apart from the even more improbable spade flush or chopping straights.

Flop:

Bam, queens were suddenly in 3rd place, and Roy was looking good… but that was short-lived.

Runout:

Souvanh pretty much tripled up, knocking out Ouellette and crippling Roy in the process. Roy left shortly after.