STEP satellites to MILLIONS North America have been running for four months. The 3-STEP system is a great way to allow players to compete in a big event that they normally wouldn’t buy into, and after countless STEP 1s, four STEP 2s, and four STEP 3s, there are a number of players who made their way to the MILLIONS from an investment of $440, $90, and in some cases, $0! Throughout the month of April, there will be a great number of STEP 1 satellites – every Friday and Sunday – which all culminate into the very last STEP 2 and STEP 3 events, held on May 4 and May 5 respectively. This is your last chance to join the ranks of our STEP qualifiers… don’t miss it! Our first hero is a retired lawyer who won his MILLIONS seat from a $90 STEP 1 satellite. He started playing poker […]
Poker
Spring has sprung another BBJ!
Events are becoming synonymous with big jackpot payouts at Playground, and the March Power Weekend has delivered the fourth jackpot of the month! Following the three Bad Beat Jackpots – Omaha, Primary and Secondary – that were awarded in recent weeks, another Secondary Bad Beat Jackpot went off on table 2 last night. The action started off innocently enough on a $1/$2 table with a UTG limp from Tony C in seat 9. The action folded around to Olivier B in seat 4 who raised it up to $15. His raise prompted calls from seats 5 and 7 before the action came back to Tony who re-raised to $87. Olivier maintained his aggression and raised all in for $179, enough to chase the other callers out of the hand, before Tony made the call. Olivier and Tony opted to show their hands to reveal what the pre-flop action suggested: the […]
Jean-René Gonzalez wins Event #3
After the players returned from their short break, play resumed. Unfortunately for Harrison Kaczka, his luck was not changing. He tried to grind, fold and squeeze some value from the little hands that were favorable to him, but to no avail. Eventually, he just ran out of chips. He decided to go all in when he had 85,000 chips left, and Jean-René made the obvious call. In the end, all it took was a pair of jacks to crown Jean-René champion. Jean-René Gonzalez: Harrison Kaczka: Board: Event #3 Champion: Jean-René Gonzalez, $2,276 The last hand of play Second Place: Harrison Kaczka, $1,610
Event # 1 champion: Giovanni Petrella
The day started at 11 this morning in the 1st event of the March Power Weekend, a $100 + $10 freezeout, which attracted 60 players, allowing it to surpass the guaranteed prize pool of $5,000, generating a total of $5,820 to be paid to the top 8 finishers. The final table saw the two who were the chip leaders all afternoon, Giovanni Petrella and Ron S., holding a substantial lead over the others. As expected, the short stacks shoved away and the field started to narrow down. Ron S. went on a crazy roller coaster ride, seeing his stack drop to 8K, then go back up to almost 300K, before busting out in 4th place. Dylan Thibault, a regular visitor from Ontario who likes to come play most of the Playground events, made a solid deep run, just as he often does, but ultimately busted out in 3rd place ($910). […]
$25K Super High Roller Added to the MILLIONS North America Schedule
Playground and partypoker LIVE have announced a key addition to the 2019 MILLIONS North America schedule: a $25,000 + $300 Super High Roller event. Action will get underway at 3:00PM on May 25 and will continue with a restart at 12:00PM on May 26. As usual participants of this class of tournament have become accustomed to, play will be 8-handed throughout, and it will feature 40-minute blind levels. Registration will be open throughout Day 1 and through the first 4 levels of play on Day 2. This will be a reprise of the successful $25K SHR that was part of last year’s MILLIONS North America. That event saw a star-studded field take to the felts including a rare appearance by Viktor Blom. Joining him from the other side of the Atlantic were Niall Farrell, Toby Lewis, Manig Loeser, Marc Macdonnell, and Roberto Romanello. There were plenty of Americans in the […]
A Journey That Begins with a Single STEP
The premier event of the year, the MILLIONS North America, is on the horizon and the anticipation is building far and wide. Players from around the world are waiting impatiently for the May event to arrive, but none more so than the players who have already qualified for the Main Event at a fraction of the buy-in cost. Follow the qualifiers We look forward to bringing you the stories of a number of players who qualified early for MILLIONS North America through the STEP satellite system and sharing their excitement. There will be a series of features on early qualifiers rolled out in the coming weeks to let the poker community follow their journeys on the path to a chance at a life-changing score. Many qualifiers have advanced through the STEPs for as little as $90 and some are even free rolling! STEP by STEP The STEP satellites allow players […]
A third Jackpot in March!
Last night in the Original poker room, a Secondary Bad Beat Jackpot was won – the third Jackpot in March… so far! To date, each of the three different “flavours” of Jackpot have been hit this month – Omaha, Primary, and now the Secondary Jackpot. The hand occurred on table 12, which was a $2/$5 table with 9 players active. The button was on seat 7, which was occupied by Sylvie C. The action opened with a raise to $25 from Thai K. Kevin C, two seats over, reraised to $75. Sylvie and Thai both called. Flop: Action checked around. Turn: The first two players to act checked to Sylvie, who made a very small $35 bet into a $232 pot. the small sizing couldn’t entice Thai to stay – he folded. Kevin, on the other hand, chose to raise to $115. With action back on Sylvie, the reasoning behind […]
15 Main Event Seats Added!
MILLIONS North America, partypoker LIVE’s premier poker tournament series, is around the corner. Players are scrutinizing the schedule, making travel plans, and getting into MILLIONS shape! The first big guarantee comes with Event #2, the $1,100 Montreal Open. As if $1,000,000 in cash wasn’t enough of a guarantee, it was boosted with 15 MILLIONS North America seats, worth $10,300 each! $1,154,500 Guaranteed In that strange number lies the possibility of a true poker breakthrough. Finish in the top 15, and you will not only pocket a handsome cash prize, but you will also get a seat for Day 1B of the festival’s Main Event, taking place the following day! Care to play a major tournament with the kind of confidence that only a recent big score provides? Satellite Your Way In The Montreal Open offers seven starting flights, including a turbo flight. Unlimited same-day and next-day re-entries are permitted, giving […]
The Primary BBJ adds to the madness in March
The second Jackpot in the month of March has just been hit – this time it was the Primary Bad Beat Jackpot which had grown to almost $450,000! Added to the PLO Jackpot that was won a few days ago, March really is living up to its reputation that it comes in like a lion! The Jackpot hand occurred just after 11:00am on table 1 in the Original poker room. This was a $1/$2 table that had a full complement of 9 players. The hand opened with limps from 4 players until action was on Joey S, a Playground cash game regular, who raised to $13 from the small blind. John C called from middle position and the other players all folded – there were two players to the flop. Flop: The flop was a juicy one but Joey opened with a check. John bet $30 and Joey made the […]
A PLO Jackpot to start off March
The month of March is said to “come in like a Lion” and at least in terms of Jackpots, March 2019 looks like it’s living up to its billing. The Omaha Jackpot was hit recently, so the dollar value at stake wasn’t huge – $8,734 – but nevertheless, a jackpot is a jackpot no matter the amount! Play was on table 15 at 3:35am, which was a $2/$2 PLO table. There was one other PLO table active at the time. The action in the hand started when Claude A called the $5 straddle, following which there were 3 other calls plus a check from the player who straddled. 5 players went to the flop. Flop: Action checked around and the was dealt on the turn. The first 3 players to act all checked, and then Claude took the initiative and bet $10. Two players called and there were three players […]
The Playground Power Weekend, reinvented
March brings its own edition of the Playground Power Weekend, presenting an amazing blend of value-laden STEP Satellites and cash prize pools you will not want to miss, with over $275,000 in total guarantees! MILLIONS STEP Satellites If you haven’t secured a seat to the $10,300 MILLIONS North America yet, don’t delay any longer, because the festival is approaching faster than you think! The March Power Weekend comes with two more STEP 1 Satellites, each with 10 STEP 2 Seats guaranteed. Last month, these tournaments presented so much value that winning a STEP 2 seat was like shooting fish in a barrel. Your turn to claim an easy ticket! $400 + $40 STEP 2 – Saturday March 23 at 8:00PM $1,500 + $150 STEP 3 – Sunday March 24 at 7:00PM The Playground 500 An uncommon variation of our famous flagship event, the Playground 500 offers four Day […]
A breakthrough day for David Hamel
The February Power Weekend was a great series with plenty of action and lots of success stories, but none as inspiring as the one David Hamel presented us with on Sunday. David has been a tournament regular at Playground since the very beginning. He appears in Tournament Leaderboard standings from the earliest days of this promotion, and has had deep runs in big and small events going back several years. His Sunday started with a Day 3 appearance in the Playground 200, which turned into a final table appearance, and eventually he was heads-up for the Championship! He ended up coming 2nd in the event after a great heads-up battle – good for a $14,050 prize. But that’s not all! The top 3 players in the event were also awarded seats in that night’s MILLIONS North America STEP 3 satellite. Just minutes after his big result, David cashed his prize […]