When Prohibition came into force at midnight on January 17, 1920, in the United States, no one expected it to kick-start the Montreal cabaret scene – but that is exactly what happened. The Quebec government created La Commission des liqueurs du Québec (Quebec Liquor Commission) to allow legal, controlled access to alcoholic beverages for everyone of legal age, and once it did, cabarets started popping up all over town, mostly around the southern portion of St-Laurent Boulevard (The Main), and made Montreal one of the most lively, thrilling, and somewhat decadent cities in North America. Now that was a long, long time ago and times have changed, but one constant remains: you will always have a great time at night in Montreal, especially during the MILLIONS North America from April 21st to May 2nd. If you still have enough energy after a long day of raising and re-raising and you’re […]
Poker
Sam Greenwood comes back to win the MILLIONS Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller!
Canadian Sam Greenwood has continued his winning ways in partypoker LIVE events today with a victory in the €50,000 Super High Roller! The tournament attracted 57 players, and when the final table was formed (after a grueling bubble the previous night), Sam was one of four short stacks at the table. He fell to as low as 600K in chips when blinds had already risen to 250K/500K with five players left! But no stack is too small for Sam, and he came back to win the Event and take home a cool €1,000,000! Greenwood arrived in Barcelona for the MILLIONS Grand Final as the leader of the MILLIONS Season 1 Leaderboard after a monster week in Punta Cana last November. The MILLIONS Caribbean saw him take 3rd in the High Roller for $124,100, 2nd in the Super High Roller for $242,750, and then he took down the Main Event title […]
More stars coming for MILLIONS
As we close in on the MILLIONS, the list of confirmed players gets longer as more and more players let us know they’re coming or secure their Main Event seats via satellite. We constantly strive to offer the best poker experience in North America, and having these individuals within our walls is our hard-earned reward. Antonio Esfandiari As we are closing in on the MILLIONS North America, the list of confirmed players gets longer as players from around the world win their seats in the Main Event. We constantly strive to offer the best poker experience in North America, and having these individuals within our walls is our hard-earned reward. Antonio is currently ranked 4th on the All Time Money List. His $27M in Live Earnings include, of course, his win at The Big One for One Drop in 2012, worth $18,346,673 – the largest single payout to date. He […]
Big day for the Omaha BBJ Winners
The payouts for the Omaha Bad Beat Jackpot that was hit on Monday night are now available, and both the winner and the loser of the hand were at Playground today to pick up their winnings. Here are some shots of Spencer (winner of the hand) and Maxime Boulais (loser of the hand) receiving their oversized novelty cheques – to be replaced by normal-sized ones to take to the bank.
Another World Champ!
This tweet from Scott Blumstein was nice to see the other day: I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never been to Canada before. Excited that will change in a few weeks when I visit @PlaygroundPoker for the Party Poker 10 mil guarenteed tourney. #MILLIONSNorthAmerica — Scott Blumstein (@SBlum2711) April 5, 2018 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Scott Blumstein is a name that should be familiar to anyone remotely interested in the poker scene. Blumstein is the reigning World Champion, having bested a field of 7,221 players in the Main Event at the 48th World Series of Poker in 2017 – the third largest field in history. Before his unbelievable run that snagged him the most coveted prize in the game – plus $8,150,000 in cash – his biggest prize came from his win in the $560 buy-in $1 Million Deepstack Kick Off at the Borgata Summer Poker Open in July of 2016. The sweet […]
Number 4 on our Top 10 – Old Montreal
Montreal was founded in 1642 and just celebrated its 375th Anniversary. Granted, the city is not as old as some of the other stops on the circuit (such as Barcelona, the host of the MILLIONS Grand Final) but it’s just as enchanting; helping make MILLIONS North America one of the must-play poker events of the year. Montreal is filled with history, culture, and tradition; all of which are on full display in Old Montreal. No visit to our city would be complete without a trip through the cobblestone streets filled with charming little shops, bistros, and cafés that take you back to another time. The original site of Montreal, named Ville-Marie at the time, is precisely known, and as expected, it is located in Old Montreal. Start your journey through time at the Pointe-a-Callière Museum by exploring an original underground circuit leading through archaeological excavations. It’s very cool. There are […]
A record-breaking Omaha Jackpot!
On table 13, the true home of PLO, just before 8pm the largest Omaha BBJ in Playground Poker Club history was just won! The last time the Omaha jackpot hit was a long time ago – the 27th of October. Since then, the jackpot amount continued to climb to an incredible $220,122! The hand began quite modestly, with few chips invested, and both players hit the flop so hard that they looked to play the hand slowly. It was only on the river that the fireworks began. Pinto, a regular in the Omaha games at the club, made a small bet – only to face an all-in re-raise from Maxime Boulais. Pinto looked once again at his cards, and said, “I really hope that you have quad Nines!” and called the bet. The rest is best represented by the following photos: Jackpot Payouts Loser of the hand: $104,558 Winner of […]
A star-studded field
The MILLIONS is only one month out, and at Playground Poker Club, we’re getting ready to host the biggest poker festival in Canadian history! With big festivals come big poker players, and some of the biggest names in the game, both local and international, have already confirmed their presence. Click here to see the updated list. Because names and career earnings can only tell so much, here’s a brief presentation of some of these skillful players. We’ll publish more bios here in the coming weeks. Ema Zajmovic Ema is the new darling of the Quebec poker scene. In November of 2016, she final tabled the $3,500 + $350 WPT Montreal right here at Playground Poker Club, for $102,010. In the very next WPT we hosted, in February of 2017, she plowed through a 380-entry field to take the $3,200 + $300 WPT Playground Championship! That day, along with pocketing $241,500, […]
Evenings on partypoker are now tailor-made for Canadians!
As you may already know, partypoker recently launched a new and improved Power Series tournament schedule with weekly guarantees doubling to $10,000,000. Well, part of that extra money has been added to the evening schedule, which is great news for Canadians! Starting each night at 6:00pm with their 6-Max Turbos, every hour features some juicy guarantees as high as $20,000 with very affordable buy-ins ranging from $1.10 to $109. Following the daily themes, the Late Editions at 7:00pm are a great option for east coast players with $10,000 guaranteed with a buy-in of only $55. And right now, for a limited time, if you win the Late Edition $10K Guarantee you also win a FREE $530 satellite ticket for the MILLIONS North America. You must have a “my partypoker LIVE” account before winning the tournament, be a Canadian resident, and must claim your free ticket in the My PP LIVE […]
Number 5 on our Top 10 – Kahnawake
Kahnawake (pronounced: ɡahnaˈwaːɡe) is both rich in culture and history. It is a Mohawk First Nations community; one of the eight communities that make up the Mohawk Nation and has historic, political and cultural ties – based on Honor, Trust, and Respect – with the Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora Nations of the Northeastern part of North America. Located only minutes from Montreal on the South Shore, it is home to just over 8,000 people, and so much more. And we hope you take some time, while you are here for MILLIONS North America from April 21st to May 2nd, to visit and explore this vibrant community. We highly recommend you visit the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitiohkwa language and cultural center if you want to learn about the Kanien’kehaka and Haudenosaunee People and see art exhibits, featuring the works of local and other Native Artisans. It’s a great place to […]
Event #6 champion: Jean-Francois M
Event #6 capped off the March Power Weekend with yet another big turnout. The final tournament of the series, the $200 + $30 + $100 NL Hold’em 6-Max Bounty, brought out 131 players, enough to easily surpass the $30,000.00 guarantee. The early levels played out like many bounty tournaments: the action was loose and aggressive as players tried their best to capture as many $100 bounty chips as possible. Following the first break, the tournament took on a different character altogether, the deep stacks and huge prize pool encouraged players to control the size of the pots in their efforts to make a deep run into the money. This trend continued all the way to the money bubble when play slowed down dramatically. The hand-for-hand play on the bubble lasted for nearly an hour as the short stacks in the field were doubled up when facing elimination on four separate […]
The Playground 200 Champion: Grant Ellis
After five days of intense poker action, the Playground 200 came to a close. The tournament was the showcase event of the March Power Weekend, and was a tremendous success. The $100,000 guarantee promised 500 entries, but after the online Day 1 and all 3 live day 1s were completed, a total of 750 entries had taken place, building a prize pool of almost 50% over the expectation. Day 2 started at 12:00pm on Sunday with 157 players at the tables. 94 of them were to get paid, and after ten 40-minute levels, 23 players were bagging their chips onto tonight’s Day 3. The evening started with Joël Giguère in the lead. Giguère did not see many good hands, and although his stack was slowly growing, the average was catching up to him. His lost his lead pretty early when Dan Edery enjoyed a sudden boost. Edery kept the lead […]