Event #7 was a Deepstack Re-entry event, offering a guaranteed $15,000 prize pool. Players started with 30,000 chips and played through 20 minute levels. The tournament attracted a total of 134 runners, making for an actual prize pool of $25,996, paying the top 17 places, with $6,126 for the 1st place finisher, and a min-cash of $360 for the 16th and 17th place finishers. When play got into the money, action was fast and furious and players were busting out at a rapid pace. The final table saw five fast eliminations, and the players realized that no matter how many chips they had, the swings were just really big and they decided to talk “deal”. They agreed upon doing an even chop, and as per Playground tournament policy during events, 2% of the prize had to be reserved for the 1st place finisher, and the tournament was required to play […]
Event Results
Event # 2 Champion: Adam Cader
Event #2, Strangers in the Night, was the marquee event of the May Power Weekend, offering three Day 1 starting flights, and a guaranteed prize pool of $50,000, that ended up being surpassed, generating in total a prize pool of $53,835, and paying out the top 47 places. After the three Day 1’s were played out, 76 players returned on Saturday May 4th for Day 2, and when the day was over, eight players were still left standing who returned today for Day 3. Robert Gariepy was the chip leader at the start of Day 2, and, was one of the eight who returned today. As play went three handed, Mohammadamin Khalilian had a massive lead over both Gariepy and Adam Cader, another solid and accomplished local player. Robert Gariepy had lost some steam but then gained it back once he knocked out Khalilian. As heads up play started between […]
Event #6 Champion: Philip Fleury-Maisonneuve
The tournament heated up after the final break of the night and stacks started to grow. There were a few of the usual coolers along the way, with Aces getting cracked more than once. The play was aggressive as everyone wanted the top prize of $3,443, and not just settle for a min-cash of $260. When the final table was finally formed, it only took about 20 minutes or so to reach 6 players. There were many stacks similar to each other and the players decided to look at the ICM chip chop numbers as there was good money up top, but the players were not so excited at the prospect of potentially being the next bustout, which was only paying out $860. The floor staff crunched the numbers, and, reminded the players that 2% of the prize ($300) would also have to be left for the eventual winner. After […]
Women’s event champion: Lori Sanderson
The day started at 4:00pm with 66 entries generating a prize pool of $6,402, with the top 9 players being paid. When the final table was finally formed, the players decided to make a bubble deal so that all 10 finalists would get paid, with the 10th place finisher receiving $110, which essentially paid back the buy-in. Play was mainly passive, with no explosions taking place. One by one each player was sent to the rail and to the cage to collect their payout. At 3-handed play, the players asked to have the clock stopped so that they could discuss making a possible deal. The tournament director crunched the numbers and returned to the table to let the 3 players know what the ICM chip chop payouts would be, keeping in mind that 2% of the prize pool had to be left for the eventual winner, and that the tournament […]
Our Deepstack Turbo Champion: Jonathon Mclean
Event #4 was a traditional 1-day freezeout turbo tournament. 131 players showed up for the afternoon-long event, all vying for the lion’s share of the $8,000 guaranteed prize pool. When the numbers were crunched, almost $13,000 in prize money were accumulated, and split among the top 17 players. The competition sped up noticeably when the last 2 tables were formed. Chips were flying, and soon there were only 3 players left: Christian Rho, Steven Taylor, and Jonathon Mclean. Rho took out Taylor and as a result, enjoyed a 3 to 1 advantage at the start of the duel. Mclean, however, pulled a rabbit out of his hat and hit a 3-outer after committing pre-flop with a dominated hand. He kept accumulating chips until he showed a decent lead. At that point, he increased the pressure, and was finally in a position to call any all-in with the majority of hands. […]
Goran Brestovac is the Event #3 winner!
Heads up play lasted only a few hands between Goran Brestovac and James Belanger, before both men were all in. They almost had exactly the same amount of chips, but Goran was ahead. Both men tabled their hands: Goran: James: The flop spelled good news for James: , who hit an open-ended straight draw, but he did not like Goran’s 2 pairs. The brick on the turn change nothing, but the river was a disaster for James , which gave a boat to Goran. So Goran Brestovac is the Event #3 PLO Bounty winner! Goran Brestovac, Event #3 Winner, $1,868 James Belanger, 2nd place – $2,025 The last hand of play
Event #1 Champion: Jonathan Jette-Prince
Event #1, the $100 + $10 Mix Max Re-entry, got this latest edition of the Power Weekend off to a fast start. Drawing a field of 63 entries, enough to easily surpass the prize pool guarantee, the Mix Max Re-entry put the players to the test, as they worked their way through full ring, 8-handed, 6-handed and 4-handed play to determine a champion. Although other players were faster out of the gate, Jonathan Jette-Prince was able to find the right pace to finish strong. He made appearances on the leader board throughout the afternoon and found a way to save the best for last to beat the other four finalists and emerge as a Power Weekend champion. Congratulations! Event #1 Champion: Jonathan Jette-Prince, $1,601 Last Hand of Play:
Event #8 has its champion: Nicholas Soller
The heads up match between Charan Malhotra and Nicholas Soller lasted three levels. The chips were exchanging hands every now and then, but mostly, both players were waiting for a decent hand. Charan started with a sizable lead on Nicholas, who only had 900,000 of the total 3,575,000 chips in play. Mid-way through the two-man contest, Nicholas doubled-up and Charan was badly hurt. The two experienced players played back and forth for a while, never doing much harm to each other, and seemed to be quite content to play on, even after 10 hours of play. Tournament structure in the late stages has an uncanny ability to put an end to the festivities: the blinds go up. It is universal truth that all good things must come to an end; and heads-up matches are no exception. Things started to get a little less comfortable when the blinds hit the 60K / […]
Event #7 6-Max Re-entry Champion: Benjamin Mathieu-Comtois
It all started at noon today and by the time the late registration period was over, there were a total of 78 players (including 17 re-entries), which allowed the prize pool to swell to a total of $7,326. 10 players were to be paid today. As the 6-max is an aggressive and fun format, the lead shifted from one player to another throughout the course of the day. When the tournament had funneled down to 7 players, the final table was formed. Being the last day of the March Power Weekend, many of the Playground dealers who were not scheduled to work joined the action as they rarely get a chance to play. The regular clientele however played a tough game and gave the dealers some fierce competition, doing everything possible to secure a win. Mission accomplished as heads-up play was between former dealer André Dupuis and Playground regular customer […]
Dany Debs is Event #6 winner!
The heads up action between Dany Debs and Serge Roy was cool and relaxed. Both players exchanged chips, went all-in, folded, and let the button go back and forth for about 20 minutes. But, before long, Serge was running out of chips. His options were limited and something had to be done. He shoved all-in with his remaining chips and Dany made a swift call. Both men tabled their hands. Dany: Serge: The flop included a pair: and the on the turn gave each man a second pair. Now Serge was in trouble; his deuce was useless and he quickly figured out that he absolutely needed either a Jack or a Queen for a boat or any aAce to kick in. Unfortunately for him a little sealed his fate and he had to settle for 2nd place. So congratulations to Dany Debs, who takes the win in Event #6 $100 […]
Peter Maltais: Deepstack Turbo Champion
After Peter Maltais had doubled up with his hand, he was sitting on a 1M+ chip stack and he kept the pedal to the metal and shoved the next hand. Patrick made the call. Peter had shoved and was called by Patrick with . Once again, Patrick was way ahead. The board came , Peter hit his J and again Patrick lost with the best hand pre-flop, and Peter was now over 2mil in chips. Then Peter raised it up on the next hand to 400K, Patrick shoved his stack, and Peter made the call. Patrick: Peter: Board: and all of the sudden, with a ton of run good, Peter now had almoast all of the chips in play. On the last hand of play, Patrick shoved his remaining 300k dark and Peter snap called with . The board stayed clean, and, just like that, we crowned the champion in […]
Gagne-Lizotte bests Gomes to claim the title in the Playground 100
The Playground 100 was one of the highlight events in the March 2019 Power Weekend, boasting a guarantee of $25,000 over 3 starting flights. A total of 496 entries joined the event, nearly doubling the guarantee, and 51 made Day 2 – all of which were “in the money”. The day started with heavy action as many short stacks had snuck their way into the money, and with this pressure now off their shoulders, they were able to open up their game in an attempt to make their way to the final table. After 8 levels of play, the 10-handed final table was formed with Carl Gagne-Lizotte at the head of the pack. Luigi Fantigrossi came out swinging and did some damage to his table mates before ending his run in 5th place. He was followed by WSOP Bracelet winner Michael Malm in 4th and Joel Berard in 3rd before […]