It was a grueling day of poker today. The action was not always on full throttle, but it was definitely intense. The tournament started with only 50 or so entries, but within minutes, that number had doubled. And it doubled again before the end of the late registrations. No less than 191 entries made their way to the felts, including 33 re-entries. The action came and went, and at no point was there a clear and massive chip leader. Early on, Carla Sabini jumped ahead of the pack, but was soon replaced by Lino Agostini, who was barely ahead of the rest of the players. At this point, the action froze as all the players were quickly realizing that the blinds were eating away at their stacks and they would have to make some bold moves, and soon. Halfway through the tournament, a lucky hand propelled Ken Ransom to the top […]
Poker
Event #5 Champion: Nicolas Cyr
The $100 + $20 +$100 bounty tournament started at 7:00pm and attracted a total of 222 bounty hunters fighting it out for a piece of the $20,868 prize pool in addition to the $100 bounty for each player that was knocked out. As soon as play started, you can start to hear the dealers announce “all in” on different tables as there was great incentive to try to knock out another player. By the time the first break came around, the players at the top of the leader board had already accumulated between three to four times the average chip stack. Kevin Klun took the lead, followed by Nabil Nahoul and Nicolas Cyr. Nahoul stayed near the top of the pack all night long, and was joined by Moti Hadad, and the two dominated the action. Nahoul ultimately fell, but Hadad made it to the final table and when he […]
Event #1 Champion: François Gagné
Event #1 of the June Power Weekend, the $200 + $20 Playground 200, more than lived up to its reputation as a player-friendly tournament that provides great value by drawing a huge field of 745 entries from five starting flights. As is often the case with this event, the starting flights drew progressively larger fields, and the result was a prize pool that easily surpassed the $100,000 guarantee. Saturday’s Day 2 began with the 155 players who survived starting flights and continued for ten levels of hard-fought action. That field was reduced to the 26 players who returned today to compete for the championship. The action started quickly this afternoon, with a flurry of eliminations in the early going. And the frantic pace continued all the way until the final table, however, the dynamics changed from there. The five-figure prizes at the top of the money list loomed large over […]
Event #3 Champion: Geremie Gauthier
Event #3, $100 + $10 Freeze, started at 7:00pm and boasted a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool. With a total of 229 entries, the prize pool grew to $22,213, with $4,983 to be paid up top to the event champion, and a min-cash of $160 for 29th place. The atmosphere in the room was great, as players liked the freezeout structure and the incredible prize pool for such a low buy-in event. A few players leaped way ahead of the others by the first break, and by the time the tournament was down to the last six tables, there were some very large stacks in the room. Farbod Nematkhah led at the first break and was still in second place at the second break, but after losing a couple of key hands later on, he wasn’t able to make it into the money. Eddie Daldalian, a tournament regular here at Playground […]
Event #2 Champion: Michael Carrington
The action started at 8:00pm and by the time late registration came to a close, there were a total of 41 players who joined the field to battle it out on the felt, all trying to knock each other out in order to grab some chips along with a $50 bounty for eliminating a player. Peng Peng and Michael Carrington were both on top of the leader board all night long, but hadn’t played against each other until the final table was formed. There were quite a few large stacks on the final table and Playground was represented by a few of their own dealers; Mike “Lagi”, Andrew “AJ” Johnson, and Madison “MadOne” Palaysi, all of whom played a really solid game. Ali Keshavarz, another familiar face at Playground events with a solid record of many deep runs also joined the crew. Peng’s luck turned on him when he made […]
WSOP-C Playground – The Full Schedule
On May 31, the return of the World Series of Poker International Circuit was announced. Today, we are happy to introduce the official WSOP-C Playground schedule, boasting $4,000,000 in total guarantees! From August 18 to September 2, the seven traditional Circuit Events return to Playground to award another seven WSOP Circuit rings, and this year’s edition presents some important changes. The $1,100 Main Event will follow partypoker LIVE’s new concept for online flights, which is to combine Online Day 1 with an Online Day 2 in a single flight, allowing players to play all the way to the money, in one stride, before making the trip to the event venue. partypoker, as always, will keep an ear out for player feedback and adjust if needed, but so far, no one could see a downside to this new format. Click here for more details on the Online Day 1 & 2. […]
partypoker to host Online Day 1 and Day 2 for the partypoker LIVE tour
In an effort to provide greater flexibility for players, partypoker LIVE has announced that it will be providing a new way for online players to take part in live events. Going forward, partypoker will now host Online Day 1s and Day 2s in a single combined flight for live tour events. While partypoker LIVE venues will host Day 1s and Day 2s as normal, this innovation from partypoker will allow online players to advance through a single flight that will combine Days 1 and 2 so players that qualify can arrive at the live venue for Day 3 with a min-cash already secured. According to partypoker Managing Director, Tom Waters, “This is a great concept and the fact that players will not have to travel to a live event until they are in the money is brilliant. It means more flexibility for players and will save them on travel and […]
Friends of PG making an impact at the WSOP
The month of June means festival and terrace season to many Montrealers, but for the poker world it means the biggest series of the year, the 50th annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Many Quebecers have made their way south to take part in what is widely considered to be poker’s championship playoffs. And they are having quite an impact! With more than 30 events already in the books, here’s an update on some notable finishes and deep runs made by friends of Playground so far. Erik Cajelais had a great run last week in Event #12, the $1,000 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty, which took him to a six-figure score. He outlasted 2,451 runners but came just short of capturing a bracelet and finished second, earning him $139,731 in the process. Kristen Bicknell, partypoker team pro and regular visitor to Playground, made the quarterfinals in Event #15, the […]
The Primary BBJ was hit!
The BBJ amount had grown to an amazing $683,730. After 5% of that number was used as staff gratuity, $649,544 was divided among all Hold’em players in the room, but the biggest shares were going to the lucky players shooting 6-way at the Bad Beat table: Francois Audet, Gabriel Demers, Mario Laurin, Denis Roy, Do Lien Hong and Martin Charbonneau. Mario was under the gun and raised to 20$. Denis and Do, the next 2 players in line, made the call, but Martin went all-in from the button for 122$, having found a premium hand on his lap. Both blinds folded, but the initial raiser and his first caller also committed all their chips, creating a small side pot for themselves. The flop came Denis Roy, who was the first player to make a call pre-flop but the last of 3 to push his chips, opened . His 2 opponents […]
Change your alias, earn some cash
On June 17, 2019, the partypoker dotcom client will undergo a major software update. From that day on, when you log in to your partypoker account, you will be asked to select a new alias (player name). Do it within the first 24 hours after the update and you could win your share of the $500,000 Alias Race promotion! partypoker is working on a number of initiatives in order to provide players with a safe playing environment, and this update is one of the leading efforts. Changes will prevent third-party tracking tools from working, and new aliases will make all collected data worthless, allowing all players to have a fresh start. From 4:00AM on June 17, Eastern Time, players will be presented with a pop-up window prompting them to select a new alias. The $500K promotion will last 24 hours, and is split into 3 strands: ‘Login Click Cards’ will […]
The World Series of Poker International Circuit returns
Last year, the World Series of Poker and Playground partnered for the first time and surpassed all expectations as the WSOP-C Playground broke venue and circuit records. From August 18 to September 2, 2019, the iconic brand returns to Playground for the second year running, bringing along the coveted circuit rings! The WSOP-C Playground 2018 broke our record for most entries in a single tournament when the Colossus rounded 3,503 entries, an astounding number obtained through 9 starting flights. Later in the festival, Day 1D of the Main Event attracted 1,016 entries, a Playground record for most entries in a single flight. And by the time late registration closed on Day 2 there was a total of 2,401 entries, setting a new record for largest WSOP-Circuit Main Event ever. Needless to say, it was a busy time! The 2019 WSOP-C Playground promises to put on another great show. For now, […]
MILLIONS North America: a resounding success
Another great event has come and gone at Playground. The partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America left in its wake a trail of memories that many will cherish for the rest of their lives. The festival, although nicely highlighted by the presence of many international pros, was taken over by local players, who took down 7 of the 11 titles, including the Main Event, to reinforce Quebec’s reputation of breeding strong poker players. A total of $8,517,161 was paid out through 11 events. All tournaments met the guarantee and offered some amazing prizes. A resounding success! The $10,000 + $300 Main Event was strongly contested. The final 8 counted three locals, but after Ruben Perceval’s elimination in 8th place, only two were left for Day 5: Danick Landriault and François Billard. Alongside them were Rabichow, Fontan, Petteri, and Kolonias, all very strong players. François Billard was the last man standing, and […]