The first event of the WPT Montreal 2018 is now in the books, and Miguel Goncalo has claimed the title of WPT500 champion after 3 full days of poker. Through 10 total starting flights, including 3 online on partypoker, there were a total of 2,536 entries, forming a massive $1,229,960 prize pool. 513 players found a bag for Day 2, of which the top 323 secured a cash prize. Once the dust settled, there were only 35 players remaining coming back for Day 3. Trevor Argue had a strong start to his Day 3, and when the field was nearing the final table he managed to double-up his second biggest stack through the chip leader at the time, Vasilios Gerontakos, to take a massive lead on the field. He carried his lead onto the final table, however after a few unfortunate hands he found himself eliminated in 5th place. Following […]
Poker
The Omaha Jackpot has hit!
Playground’s poker festivals are prime time for Bad Beat Jackpots, and the WPT Montreal has joined the pack and provided some cash game players with prizes to rival some of the tournament prizes to be won this week! The hand was particularly good luck for Sammy P, who was in his second jackpot hand in a row – he won an Omaha BBJ in August during the WSOP-C Playground! The hand started with a couple of limps on the $2/$5 PLO table, when there was a raise to $30 that was called by both blinds and both players who limped – there were 5 to the flop. Flop: The action flop was checked around, and the dealer put out another huge card on the turn: . Again, action was checked around. The river came … and with just one street of betting left, the whole situation heated up quickly. Sammy […]
Are you itching to play MILLIONS Online?
Scratch and you could win a $5,300 MILLIONS Online Seat! What is the MILLIONS Online Scratch Card? Each player that attends WPT Montreal and plays the Main Event, the WPTDeepStacks, or the High Roller, will receive a MILLIONS Online scratch card. What can you win? Every ticket is a winner, and prizes range from $5.50, $22, $109, and $530 satellite tickets to play the MILLIONS online, to a hefty $5,300 MILLIONS Online Seat! How do you redeem your prize? Visit the partypoker LIVE desk at Playground Poker Club, facing the cage area, and they will credit your partypoker account directly. What is MILLIONS Online? Only the single BIGGEST online tournament EVER with a Guaranteed Prize Pool of $20,000,000! To find out more click here.
Week 6 – Dealers
These last few weeks, we have introduced the various player-facing departments, the people that contribute to the overall poker experience offered by Playground. There was, of course, no other choice than our team of dealers to close this Essential Guide to the WPT Montreal. Dealers are the front line of Playground, the staff members closest to the players and the game itself. They are the ones who collect the most comments from players, and the great majority of them being players themselves, they do add their own comments and appreciation in the mix. The flow of information, in both directions, is facilitated by our dealer meetings (portrayed above), set before every single tournament. This is how Playground stays on the edge of the industry: with eyes and ears on the felt. “Passionate about poker, as a player and a dealer, I constantly strive to provide the poker experience that […]
Streamlined Media Release process for partypoker LIVE Events
As experienced tournament players have seen in the past, they must sign a form to acknowledge the Media Terms & Conditions before participating in an event. The Media Release is a standard element related to all modern poker tours; you can read the partypoker LIVE Media Terms & Conditions here: https://partypokerlive.com/en/media-policy. Recently, partypoker LIVE implemented a new, streamlined procedure by which players may “sign” this Media Release using their partypoker LIVE website or App. This new procedure will be mandatory for the WPT Montreal, and you can save some valuable time by simply going online or opening the App and taking care of things before you arrive at Playground. All you have to do is sign in and check the “Agree” box related to the Media Policy preference. If you already have a partypoker LIVE account, you will be prompted to update your Media Policy preference the next time you […]
The WPT Montreal is here!
The WPT Montreal is finally here! At Playground, we are extremely excited to host the WPT500, the WPT Main Tour, and the WPTDeepStacks, all grouped together in a first-of-its-kind festival, and while the WPT500 Day 1s Online have already been played (see the results here), the live portion of the festival starts Friday! Make sure to follow the action on our Event Blog, where live updates will be posted throughout the festival! The festival, kicking off the new 4-year partnership between partypoker LIVE and WPT, presents 7 official World Poker Tour Events, with combined guarantees of over $8,000,000. The Main Event has a $5000 + $300 buy-in and a cool $5,000,000 in its own guaranteed prize pool! Check out the full schedule here. Qualify on partypoker There are a number of ways to play the Main Event at a much reduced cost. partypoker has one more satellite tree on their […]
The big blind ante makes its way to Playground!
Playground is pleased to announce that partypoker LIVE has officially implemented the big blind ante. All partypoker LIVE Events around the world will move to big blind ante, and that includes the WPT Montreal that descends on Playground on October 26th. A bit of history About a year and a half ago, consolidated antes made their appearance. Aria and partypoker LIVE were among the first to use the format, and Playground followed shortly after. It spread like a wildfire but was received by most like a breath of fresh air, a much-needed reform to effectively speed up the game and allow a significant increase in hands per hour. The only question that was left was whom to ask it from? The world was divided; about half went for the button ante, and the other half went for the big blind ante. Because both formats require the same amount of chips […]
Week 5 – Cocktail Waitresses
The free food and free drinks that are brought to you at the poker table have always been a recognized reason to choose Playground Poker Club for your poker activities. Of course, playing in the busiest and most tightly operated room plays a huge role, but having your favourite meal brought to you by one of our charming cocktail waitresses sure steps it up a notch. Whatever kind or game of poker you are playing, you can, at any time, ask your dealer to call for service. Shortly after, one of our devoted waitresses will be at your table to take your order with a smile. Keep your Player Card at all times; she will ask it from you for anything other than water! Allow us to let some of these hard-working women introduce themselves: “A hot meal for a hot streak!” -Roxanne “Don’t hate the player, […]
The WPT Montreal starts online this Sunday!
The WPT Montreal is finally here! This Sunday, October 21, partypoker presents the WPT500 Day 1A – Online, the first of 3 online Day 1s for Event #1 of the WPT Montreal. The event is guaranteed at $1,000,000! The WPT500 has a very accessible buy-in of $500 + $50 and presents a total of 10 starting flights, the first 3 of which are held online on partypoker: Sunday October 21 at 9:00pm – WPT500 Day 1A – Online Monday October 22 at 9:00pm – WPT500 Day 1B – Online Tuesday October 23 at 9:00pm – WPT500 Day 1C – Online A single re-entry per flight is permitted, which means that you can fire up to 6 bullets online into the tournament with the widest buy-in/guarantee ratio in the whole series. This is one Day 2 you don’t want to miss! The 7 live starting flights will be held from Friday, […]
Week 4 – Tournament Management
Playground Poker Club, from its modest beginnings, grew to a poker destination of international calibre in just a few years. Among many other factors, one could say that the main engine that drove the club to global notoriety is the tournament scene which produced, since 2012, a large number of outstanding festivals, drew players from the four corners of the world and put our name on the poker map. Martin Roy has been our Tournament Director since Day 1. With the help of Pascal, who soon became Assistant Tournament Director, and a few other important actors, Martin brought Playground tournaments to a whole other level. He now has a seat at the Tournament Directors Association (TDA) biennial meetings. Today, Martin and Pascal steer a team of 12 Assistant Managers, all TDA-certified floor persons. “Passion for the game brings us all together, no matter who we are or where we live.” […]
$200K up for grabs at the WPT Montreal!
The WPT Montreal, boasting over $8,000,000 in guaranteed prize pools, starts on October 21. This year, your fall poker festival comes with an exciting promotion that could get you up to $100K in PP Live Dollars! This promotion is an unbelievable opportunity to add some free value to your WPT Montreal adventure. To participate, all you need to do is buy into one, two, or all of the festival’s first three events with PP Live Dollars. The goal is a tough one, but the reward is all too proportionate: if you win the WPT500, the Main Event, or the WPTDeepStacks, and bought into that event in time – spots remaining are displayed here – with PP Live Dollars, you get an instant bonus of up to $100K in PP Live Dollars, on top of your position prize! Bonus amounts, by event: PP Live Dollars are slowly becoming the […]
Charan Malhotra winner of Event #13 Bounty
Charan came into heads up play against Piotr Wielopolski with a pretty sizable chip advantage, and it only took a few hands to put an end to the tournament. Piotr got a monster hand and was happy to go all-in. Charan called instantly with his weak ace. Piotr: Charan: The four on the flop window did not seem too dangerous to Piotr but he was disappointed to see anything hit for Charan anyway. Piotr’s gut instincts were spot on, because the on the turn reduced Piotr’s chances of winning to nothing but the two remaining kings in the deck. The on the river gave Charan a boat and put an end to the final event of the October Power Weekend. It was a long and arduous road for Charan tonight. He was struggling all evening and was down to very few chips when the tournament reduced to 3 tables. He […]