Three-handed play was still in its infancy when Anthony Ruberto found an unfortunate spot to assert himself. He was on the button when and he opened the action with a raise to 25M holding . Darryll folded, and action was on Taylor Black who held – he wasn’t going anywhere! Taylor chose to make a meaty 3bet to 85M. Anthony – who was enjoying a massage therapy session at the time – re-looked at his cards and threw in the chips to make the call. The pot was now 180M and the dealer put out the flop: . It was pretty much as positive a flop you’d ever expect to see holding – and as first to act, Taylor checked. Anthony considered the situation and made a tiny speculative bet of 25M chips. Taylor’s response was definitive: raise to 135M. The commentators speculated that Anthony had made the small bet […]

The first starting flight of the MILLIONS Turbo, Day 1A, lived up to its title with fast-paced action from beginning to end. By the time the late registration and re-entry period ended at the end of level 10, 387 entries made it into the fray today including 88 re-entries. The action was fast and loose throughout the afternoon. One illustrative example was when two players moved all-in from the first two positions to act before even receiving cards, happy to take their chances to run up a stack. It’s not often that you see two players move all-in before the dealer even finishes shuffling! After the first break in the action, the gap between the big and small stacks had widened significantly, and the all-ins were happening at a frantic pace. In general, the big stacks benefited, sending a steady flow of players to the rail. Play tightened up later […]

Day 2B of the MILLIONS Main Event was set to begin with 271 bags advanced from Day 1 flights. But the direct Day 2 buy-ins brought the starting field up to nearly 400 entries before the first card was pitched. And that trend continued throughout the day as the buy-ins and re-entries continued at a steady pace all the way to the last minute of the late registration period. Many players got into the Main Event via flip’n go this afternoon. The format-one hand, one board, winner take all-provided lots of excitement for all involved. They were held on various tables around Playground, including the beautiful partypoker LIVE streaming table, and in each case they drew a crowd of bystanders looking to join in the sweat. When the late registration period ended at the beginning of level 13, 587 entries made it into Day 2B, making for over 1 billion […]

Today was the first of two Day 2s in the MILLIONS Main Event. At 12h00, 364 bags were placed on the tables, waiting for their rightful owner. Throughout the day, 137 buy-ins were placed, bringing the Day 2A total entries to 501. Michael Sklenicka, who sent the biggest stack to day 2 – 10,195,000 – did not play today, but 2nd and 3rd, Sylvain Siebert and Tony Dunst, did. Tony Dunst had lost a good portion of his 8,050,000 when he got severely coolered with his few remaining millions. His bottom set was cruelly taken down by a top pair that turned into two pairs, that turned into a bigger boat. Sylvain Siebert was the richest player to start the day, and loyal to himself, he rode the roller coaster, shrinking as small as 3M and springing back up to the bagged 14,550,000, one of the biggest stacks to be taken […]

The Main Event continued to gain momentum on Day 1D with a huge field that drew 620 entries. This flight brought out lots of players for their first attempt, but many players took the opportunity to fire another bullet, even if they had already bagged chips in a previous flight, in the hope of providing an extra stack for backup on Day 2. With 620,000,000 in chips in play, there was more than enough to go around. The action was aggressive from the first level, as most players were clearly prepared to re-enter if necessary. Three-bets were the norm and four-bets became surprisingly common by the end of the day. As the 92 re-entries showed, the players came out firing and ready to reload. When the dust settled after eight levels, Michael Sklenicka emerged as the chip leader with 10,195,000 in chips for Day 2. Thanks to the huge field, […]

A huge Thursday has just concluded at Playground Poker Club, as the field in Day 1C was the biggest so far. This being said, it is believed that tomorrow’s flights will be even bigger. Of course, the closer we get to the first Day 2, the more pros we see in the stream of players coming into the club. Today, we welcomed Scott Blumstein, the current world champion. We also had the pleasure to see our friend Antonio Esfandiari drop by. He casually and unsurprisingly build his stack to 4.6M, all the while doing his usual stretching and getting massage after massage. Of all the big stacks that were sent to Day 2, Christopher Kostoulas was the heaviest. He finished the day with 6,450,000 chips, good for 4th place overall so far. View the full Combined Day 1 Results List On tap tomorrow, Main Event Day 1D and at night, […]

Day 1B is officially in the books. Eight levels of poker were played, and some unbelievable play was witnessed. From 174 entries, the field funneled down to just 63 players, and all of them are done bagging their chips. Day 1 qualifiers have already decided which Day 2 they wish to play, and that information was added to their bag in the form of a sticker. Day 2A and 2B will be held on Saturday and Sunday respectively, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because there are three more starting flights for this $10,000,000 guaranteed Main Event, including a turbo flight on Friday night. Many players had a great flight today; we count seven players over 600M! In the lead, Darryll Fish with 6,900,000 chips, a top pro that will surely be a force in Day 2. Jonathan Abdellatif follows, and in 3rd place is Brian Morgan, a local […]

Today was Day 1A of the MILLIONS North America Main Event. As the Open and the Super High Roller were playing to their conclusion, The Main Event was on its first of 5 starting flights. 164 entries were accounted for, and when the dust had settled, 65 players were still at the tables, led by none other than Tony Dunst. Many big names joined in including superstars Jonathan Duhamel, Richard Dubini, Kristen Bicknell and Mike Watson, but also local heros like Samuel Chartier, Marc-Etienne Mclaughlin, Ema Zajmovic, Chanracy Khun, and many more. Tyler Clayton Patterson was leading the field through a big part of the day until Tony Dunst and David Shao passed him during the last lap. View the full Combined Day 1 Results List   This post was published first on this Playground Event Blog: MILLIONS North America 2018.

Today at 12:00pm, the first event in the MILLIONS North America – the $1,000 + $100 MILLIONS Open tournament – will begin its final phase. From a total of 1,231 entries, there are just 68 players left competing for a share of the big prizes – the tournament is already relatively deep into the money. Action will begin in level 25 – blinds 300,000/600,000 with a button ante of 600,000 and will continue all the way until the end of the event. The tournament is relatively shallow to start Day 3, with a chip average of just 30bb – although this is heavily influenced by the fact that almost 20% of the remaining field is playing a sub-15bb stack to start the day. If history is any guide, there should be a slew of quick eliminations today that will deepen the overall tournament and move things much closer to a […]

Day 2 of the MILLIONS Open brought out a field of 392 players, each with their sights set on the $210,000 first-place prize. But there remained a long way to go before reaching that ultimate goal, as they had to make it through 12 levels of action today before even having a chance at the big money. The top 143 finishers in this event made it to the prizes, and that was the focus for many players this afternoon- making it past the money bubble. There was a frenetic pace to the early levels – players were taking risks to run up their stacks and that led to a steady stream of bustouts that quickly brought the field down to less than 200 players. At that point, the tournament staff balanced the tables accordingly and a large part of the day was played 8-handed. This slight change in format meant […]

Instead of playing the last 15 minutes, it was decided that the rest of level 12 would be saved for tomorrow. Play resumes at 12h00 on 2 tables, with Darren Elias (8,815,000) and Victor ”Isildur1” Blom (6,755,000) leading the pack. These two players have been there before. Both are very aggressive when given the chance to play a commanding stack, and will surely create some sparks. Click here to see the seating chart for the Day 2 restart. This post was published first on this Playground Event Blog: MILLIONS North America 2018.

The Open has got the MILLIONS North America off to a fast start, as another massive crowd made it out for Day 1B. Day 1A was very well attended with 586 participants, and today’s flight brought out even more runners with 645 total entries. This event permitted re-entries during the first nine levels of play, and 133 players put a second bullet into today’s flight as they tried to accumulate as much of the 645,000,000 chips in play as they could with the hope of bringing a monster stack forward to tomorrow’s Day 2. Between the two starting flights, 245 players opted to give it a second try, helping this event easily surpass it’s $1,000,000 guarantee. When the late registration and re-entry period ended at the end of level 9, there was a total of 1,231 entries from both starting flights. As the field bagged chips at the end of […]