Event 9 was a $200 +$30 + $100 6-Max Bounty, a player favourite and the closing event of the July Power Weekend. Participation was huge, made up of tournament regulars, occasionals and even cash game players. 178 entries were accounted for, and a huge prize pool was formed. Danny Ibrahim was the first player to enjoy a crushing lead, having almost twice as many chips as his closest opponent at one point. He did take part in the final table chop. Jonathan Bussières, a very experienced player, was on the hunt. He went after those bounties relentlessly, and his aggressive style and calculated risks got him pretty deep, until he lost a huge pot against Sébastien Proulx for all his chips and missed the final table by one position. As soon as the final table formed, players agreed to a deal that sped up play considerably. Quick confrontations led to […]

The latest edition of the Playground 200 brought out 698 entries over the course of the July Power Weekend. The huge field built a prize pool that easily exceeded the $100,000 guarantee. There were 21 players remaining when play began on Day 3, led by Co Tran who started the evening with the largest stack in play. The players arrived looking determined, seemingly unfazed by the boisterous mood in the tournament hall as 6-Max Bounty got underway. The 21 finalists started on three tables that quickly became two following the eliminations in the first two levels of play. Co Tran’s chip lead began to fade as Steve Horic started his rise to the top of the leader board. Once the players arrived at the final table, Horic had a slim chip lead over his rivals. And he continued the solid play that got him to the top of the leader board […]

Yvon Robert Blais has emerged as the champion of Event #8 in the July Power Weekend, beating Steve Khoury heads up to book the victory. As we posted earlier, after a deal was made 5-way, play didn’t budge for at least a few orbits of the table – but when the first of the final 5 was eliminated, the next two followed, one hand after the other. This left Yvon with a big chip lead against Steve to play for the win. They played a few hands and exchanged some chips, but with the next tournament starting and blinds feeling very high to both players, they chose to go all-in blind on the last hand – and despite his lowly , Yvon won the hand, and the championship, against Steve’s . The final board was . The heads up players Event #8 Champion: Yvon Robert Blais, $925 Final Hand 2nd […]

Event #7 of the July Power Weekend, the $100 + $10 NL Short Deck Hold’em Re-entry, brought out a large contingent of players looking for action. And that’s exactly what they got, with 46 re-entries out of a field of 93 players serving as testament. In all, the event gathered 139 entries, enough to greatly surpass the $8,000 guarantee on the prize pool. It was a night of wild action. At first, many players were unsure how to adjust to the wrinkles in the traditional hold’em format but before long everyone realized that their equity calculations had to be revised in a big way. The result was lots and lots of pre-flop action where players were happy to take their chances with big pocket pairs or two broadway cards or suited connectors, and those hands come around pretty often when playing with a short deck. So it comes as no surprise […]

Event 6 was a shootout tournament, a fun format in which you need to win your table to earn a round 2 seat, where everybody gets a share of the prize pool. 120 players took part, indicating that our player base is fond of sit & gos! To succeed in it, you need to be able to adjust your game as players get eliminated. 17 players did just that, and showed up on the final 2 tables with a minimum prize of $220. Kristopher Chaykowski was very active in the early round 2 action. His stack was the most volatile, as he was trying to earn enough to indulge in big stack play. Down on his luck, he did not make the final table. Alexandre Mongrain played a solid game, but got crippled by the eventual champion when a gutshot appeared out of the blue to pass the flopped set. […]

Event #5 of the July Power Weekend, the $100 + $20 + $100 50/50 Bounty, drew an impressive turnout of 214 players. Showing the consistent popularity of Power Weekend bounty tournaments, this event generated a prize pool that far exceeded the $20,000 guarantee. The early levels were predictably wild, with lots of multi-way all ins and plenty of huge pots. There were nearly 200 entries when the first break arrived and a rush of players to the cashier brought the total number to 214 before play resumed. 40 players were eliminated prior to the first break, and the action continued at a frantic pace right through to the second break of the evening. David Ho jumped out to an early lead, but he ran out of steam around the time of the second break. From there Andre Piunno rose to the top of the leader board with Yan Gohier right behind […]