MILLIONS General News

Day 1E starts soon!

May 19, 2019 | 11:43am | Playground

Event #2 of the MILLIONS North America, the $1,000 + $100 Montreal Open, is now in full swing. Day 1E will be the fifth of seven starting flights for the Montreal Open, an event that boasts a massive prize pool guarantee! There will be at least $1,000,000 in cash awarded, as well as $10,000 + $300 seats to the Main Event given to the top 15 finishers when Day 3 play concludes on May 21. With four starting flights already in the books, there have been 754 Day 1 entries, and 209 players have advanced stacks to Day 2. To see the combined Day 1 results, click here.

Players start each Day 1 with a stack of 1,000,000 in tournament chips and play 16 30-minute levels before bagging chips for Day 2. This is a re-entry event with unlimited re-entries permitted until the end of the late registration period at the beginning of level 9 on each Day 1. A player may play additional Day 1s even if he/she has survived a previous Day 1 with chips. Players who qualify for Day 2 more than once will resume play on Day 2 with their largest qualifying stack; all other qualifying stacks will be forfeited.

This event showed its popularity even before the first card was pitched, as the $150 + $15 turbo re-entry satellites for this event consistently surpassed their guarantees. The final satellite was held last night and more than doubled its 15-seat guarantee to put 33 more qualifiers into the Montreal Open. In all, 142 players qualified via satellite.

Some of the Montreal Open satellite qualifiers:

Day 1E starts today at noon and will be followed by two more starting flights. Day 1F runs today at 5:00pm, and Day 1G, the turbo flight, will be held tomorrow morning at 10:00am. Day 2 will get underway tomorrow at 3:30pm.

33 more players win seats to the Montreal Open

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019 | 3:45am | Playground

The last $150 + $15 satellite to Event #2, the $1000 + $100 Montreal Open, attracted 242 entries (including 43 re-entries), generating a prize pool with 33 seats to the target event.

The tournament had all kinds of typical MTT coolers, and in the end, there were 33 smiling faces who are looking forward to playing a Day 1 flight of Event #2, featuring a $1,000,000 guarantee (plus 15 seats to the MILLIONS North America $10,000 + $300 main event).

Here are some of winners from tonight’s satellite:

Day 1D: Hamel bags 13,865,000 heading to Day 2

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019 | 3:30am | Playground

51 players bag for Day 2

There were 187 players in total (including 24 re-entries), bringing the Day 1 totals to 754 players, with two more Day 1 flights on Sunday (Day 1E @ 12:00pm, and Day 1F at 5:00pm) and a turbo Day 1G on Monday at 10:00am. Day 2 plays on Monday at 3:30.

Tonight’s flight had all kinds of action, and when it was all said an done, the chip leader at the last break of the night, Dave Bolduc Hamel, bagged huge, and will be bringing 13,865,000 chips into Day 2.

Late bustouts include: Mark Bradley, Ryan Hall, Helder Junior, Niall Farrell, Claudemir De Oliveira, Louis-Patrick Lecvros, Endrit Geci, and Luigi Fantigrossi, to just name a few.

The top five stacks of the night were:

Dave Bolduc Hamel 13,865,000
Zoe Yuan 9,000,000
Tomas Larivee Magni 8,855,000
Diego Palma Valencia 8,135,000
Adil atif Morkos 8,000,000

The combined Day 1 chip counts will be updated late on Sunday morning, to see them, click here

On the final hand of play tonight, Francois Tarrab woke up with and got his chips in, expecting either a double-up or a fold. To his dismay, Mauricio Ferreirra Pais snap called once he looked down at his , which held, sending Tarrab to the rail.

David Bolduc Hamel, Day 1D chip leader with 13,865,000:

71 players advance from Day 1C

May 18, 2019 | 10:48pm | Playground

Day 1C of the Montreal Open brought out a huge field of players that made 272 entries to this multi-day event. With three of seven starting flights in the books, there have already been 567 entries and many, many more are sure to follow before Day 2 gets underway on Monday.

Today’s flight got off to a fast start, with over a hundred players ready and waiting for the opening announcement before the action started at noon. From there, a steady flow of runners made their way into the tournament hall to take part in the action throughout the afternoon. The large crowd and electric atmosphere put lots of chips in play early and often. These dynamics helped some players build huge stacks in the early levels and led to 43 re-entries. In predictable fashion, the field stabilized after the end of the re-entry period as the sprint out of the gate gave way to a steadier pace until the end of level 16. When play concluded, 71 players were able to advance stacks to Day 2.

The chip lead changed hands many times during this flight, as it took a stack of at least triple the chip average to hold the pole position. By the end of the sixteenth level of play, two players-Gagandeep Singh and Kalpesh Raichura- had over 10 million in chips bagged.

The Montreal Open continues tomorrow with Day 1E at noon and Day 1F at 5:00pm. There will also be a turbo starting flight on Monday at 10:00am that will wrap up in time for Day 2 at 3:30pm.

For the full list of Day 1 results, click here.

One hour left to late register the Montreal Open satellite

Level: 3
Small Blind: 150
Big Blind: 300
BB Ante: 300
Chip Average: 20.8K
Remaining: 157
Entries: 164

May 18, 2019May 19, 2019 | 8:49pm | Playground

The last $150 + $15 satellite for Event #2, The Montreal Open, still has one more hour of late registration as well as re-entries available. Late registration will be closing at 8:45pm. Players start with 15,000 chips and there is an optional dealer add-on available for $5 which gives another 5,000 chips. There are unlimited re-entries available until the end of late registration, and there is a guaranteed 15 seats in the prize pool. Based on the current number of entries, there are already 24 seats in the prize pool and with the extra entries and re-entries, this will keep growing.

Come try to win your $1000 + $100 seat to the Montreal Open in this last satellite!

Event #2 – Montreal Open Day 1D – cards are in the air!

Level: 1
Small Blind: 2K
Big Blind: 5K
BB Ante: 5K
Chip Average: 1.01M
Remaining: 85
Entries: 86

May 18, 2019May 18, 2019 | 5:40pm | Playground

The cards are “in the air” for Day 1D of the Montreal Open, the fourth flight of Event #2, offering an outstanding guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000 plus the top 15 finishers receive an entry into the MILLIONS North America $5,000,000 main event (value $10,300)!

This tournament offers the players a great structure with a 1 million chip starting stack, players will play 16 levels of 30 minutes on Day 1, 12 levels of 40 minutes on Day 2, and blinds of 50 minutes on Day 3, which plays down to a winner.

There have now been three starting flights that have been amazingly popular, with already 567 total entries (including re-entries). Players are able to to late register right up until the start of level 9, which is at 9:30pm. There are also unlimited re-entries available until the close of late registration. Players may play multiple Day 1’s, and will bring the largest stack forward to Day 2.

There are additional Day 1 flight on:

Day 1E Sunday 12:00pm
Day 1F Sunday 5:00pm
Day 1G Monday 10:00am (Turbo format)

Day 2 is Monday at 3:30pm
Day 3 is Tuesday at 12:00pm

The last $150 + $15 satellite for the Montreal Open is tonight at 8:00pm, with 15 seats guaranteed, and based on the turnout for the previous satellites, this may grow to many more seats than that!

To follow the blog for full event coverage, click here.

Yirui Zhang is the Champion of the Playground 200

May 18, 2019May 18, 2019 | 5:24am | Playground

Event #1, the Playground 200, was a $200 + 20 NL Hold’em tournament featuring four starting flights with unlimited re-entries available to the players. Players started with 25,000 chips and played through 14 levels of 30 minutes on Day 1, and 10 levels of 40 minutes on Day 2. Day 3 played down to a winner.

There was a guaranteed $100,000 prize pool that was blown out of the water with the 1,102 total entries (and re-entries), creating $213,788 in total prizes, with 138 places being paid. The top prize was $36,128, and, the min-cash in places 136-138 paid out $290.

Shijaudin Daud Sha was the Day 1 chip leader, and Carlos Gerones ended Day 2 in the top spot. Play resumed on Friday night at 7:00pm, with 37 players battling it out for the top prize along with the champion bragging rights. The bustouts started from the get go as the shorter stacks tried hard to secure a double-up; some were successful, some were not.

Once the nine handed final table was reached, play slowed down as there was some pretty serious money to be won for such a small buy-in event. There were some large swings as chips traveled back and forth across the felt. Carlos Gerones, the chip leader at the start of the day, lost a lot of ground and exited early. Yirui Zhang chipped up nicely, and between both some skilled play mixed with some run good, he quickly became the chip leader. Rasvan Rimniceanu was enjoying himself at the table, having a few drinks and playing a few hands. Rimniceanu tried to arrange a deal when play was five handed, but Zhang, the chip leader was more interested to just play on. After a huge heads up hand developed between the two of them with the chips being shipped to Rimniceanu, Rimniceanu again asked the others if they would want to look at the numbers, and the tournament director paused the clock to put the stacks and payouts into the ICM calculator. The players agreed to the ICM chip chop numbers, and left another $8,998 for the eventual first place champion, and $2,000 for the 2nd place runner-up, as well as $1,000 for 3rd place.

Play continued on for quite some time as the players took quite seriously the extra money that was reserved up top. Mike Mirand was the first to exit, followed by Jean-Francois Lescadres. Once play became three handed, Daud Sha made a huge mistake by mis-announcing his bet and was forced to put in 3,000,000 chips after folding his hand, as per his verbal raise declaration. He ended up exiting in third for $14,343 ($13,343 + $1,000).

When heads up play began, Zhang had the lead and never let go of it. It didn’t take long until he and Rimniceanu had all of the chips in the middle, with Zhang holding , and Rimniceanu was playing . it looked like it was going to be a simple conclusion.

The flop brought , putting Rimniceanu ahead. The turn was the , now giving Zhang a straight draw. And the river: to complete Zhang’s Broadway straight draw, and just like that, the Playground 200 crowned a champion.

Event # 1 Playground 200 Champion, Yirui Zhang, $29,389 ($20,391 ICM + $8,998)

Second place: Rasvan Rimniceanu, $23,629 ($21,629 ICM + $2,000)

The last hand of play:

Event #2 – Montreal Open – Day 1B: 31 players qualify for Day 2.

May 18, 2019 | 4:20am | Playground

Day 1B of the Montreal Open is in the Bag. After this afternoon’s Day 1A which brought out 173 entries, and 55 players who qualified for Day 2, Day 1B got under way at 5:00pm.

For tonight’s flight, 122 entries were logged, including 18 re-entries. Of those hopeful souls, 31 managed to hold on to their chips long enough to bag them after 16 levels of play. With starting stacks of 1,000,000, it took no time at all before the chips started flying everywhere.

Almost as soon as he sat down, Michael Korovine became chip leader in the early levels. Soon after the first break, Ernest Chevrette was on a war path, and taking no prisoners. With the average still hovering at 1.4 million, Chevrette was already way ahead of the pack with a smooth 5,000,000 stack. Slowly but surely, Jonathon Mclean was gaining ground, and not looking back. By the time the players headed into their last break, Mclean had a clear lead with over 8,400,000 chips.

Taking every advantage they could muster, the players were clearly out for blood, and as big a piece as possible of the 122,000,000 chips in play. Everyone seated wanted to fill-up their Day 2 bags with as many chips as possible. The afternoon players from Day 1A had more chips to play with and top bagger Carla Sabini had bagged over 9 million chips!

At the end of level 16 when the bags came out, 31 players were left. Two players managed to bag more than Day 1A’s forerunner Sabini. Mitchell Dredge, who flew under the radar all night, ended up with a massive 10,225,000 stack! Close behind is Ernest Chevrette who sealed 9,465,000 chips into his bag.

The players will be back for Day 2 on Monday Mat 20, at 3:30 pm, for 12 levels of 40 minutes.

There are still five Day 1s in the next few days:

Day 1C: Saturday May 18 at 12:00pm
Day 1D: Saturday May 18 at 5:00pm
Day 1E: Sunday May 19 at 12:00pm
Day 1F: Sunday May 19 at 5:00pm
Day 1G (Turbo): Monday May 20 at 10:00am

To see the combined Day 1 results, click here.

Event #2 – Montreal Open – Satellite winners

May 18, 2019 | 3:31am | Playground

All it took was 17 levels…
With 207 entries tonight, 28 seats were up for grabs in the Montreal Open $150 + $15 turbo-re-entry satellite. This was the last in a series of Satellites that were hosted this week at Playground.

The last hand of the Satellite was a classic confrontation that ended up in an unexpected twist. Armry Senat felt strong with his ladies up against a weak ace from Atbin Abbasianafrapoli.

Atbin:

Armry:

His confidence took a beating when the flop came out, giving his opponent an open-ended straight draw. The turn sealed his fate, giving Atbin a straight, and leaving Armry with nowhere to go but home.

Board:

So Armry was sent to the rail bubble in 29th position, with $250.

The 28 qualifying winners will be off to try their luck in Event #2: $1,000 + $100 Montreal Open. This event has seven Day 1’s in total. With Day 1A and Day 1B already in the books, the players will have a chance to play in one of the remaining Day 1 flights:

Day 1C: Saturday May 18 at 12:00pm
Day 1D: Saturday May 18 at 5:00pm
Day 1E: Sunday May 19 at 12:00pm
Day 1F: Sunday May 19 at 5:00pm
Day 1G (Turbo): Monday May 20 at 10:00am

Congratulations to all the winners:

Ruben Perceval	Mohammed Naceri	Greg Steen	Adeel Aman Bangash
Eric jc Ylagan	Brady Hinnegan	Jean-Phylippe Provencher	Robert Earl Nilsson
Tomislav Pavkovic	Jose Juan Gomez Casillas	Christopher Begel	Garen Galanti
Daniel Hamelin	Duane Sirr	Atbin Abbasianafrapoli	Steven Russel
Lucas Braga	Steven Martin	Michael Ran	Neil Miller
Aleksandar Copovic	Marie-Pier Simard	Yannick Bourque	Jean-François Alexandre
Robert Cicchelli	Jonathan Fried	Nancy Query	Eric Gignac

A few photos of the happy winners:

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55 players advance from Day 1A

May 17, 2019May 18, 2019 | 10:03pm | Playground

The Montreal Open got off to a fast start today, as Day 1A brought out a field of 173 entries, including 23 re-entries.

Hefty amounts of chips were put into play early and often this afternoon. In many starting flights, the players often take a measured approach to the early levels, but that was not the case today. Three-bets quickly became the norm and there were plenty of big pots up for grabs. Azim Popatia, better known as “Sammy” by Playground regulars, took full advantage of the early action and jumped out to a huge chip lead, one that he was able to maintain until after the second break of the day. But several players were able to capitalize on the late stages to surpass Popatia’s once-dominant chip lead.

When the dust settled at the end of the flight and the players were ready to bag chips, Carla Sabini emerged as the chip leader with 9.11 million in chips ready for Day 2. Carl Martel and Samuel Grafton are not far behind Sabini, with 8.59 million and 8.28 million, respectively, while Popatia finished the flight with the fourth largest stack of 8.12 million.

To see the combined Day 1 results, click here.

Your chances to qualify for the Montreal Open are running out. Don’t miss this one!

May 17, 2019 | 8:00pm | Playground

Tonight at 8:00pm is the second-to-last chance to qualify for Event #2, the $1,000 + $100 Montreal Open, through a $150 + $15 turbo re-entry satellite.

The series of satellites in the lead up to the Montreal Open proved to be very popular, allowing 82 players to qualify before the first starting flight of the event. These satellites consistently surpassed their guarantees and tonight’s should be no exception; it will follow the same format as the others, allowing unlimited re-entries until the beginning of the seventh 15-minute level of play.

Tonight’s guarantee stands at 15 seats, but, judging by the popularity of Day 1A of the Montreal Open and the earlier satellites, this one should attract a huge field. This is one you don’t want to miss!

Event #1 – Day 3: Cards are in the air!

Level: 25
Small Blind: 15K
Big Blind: 30K
BB Ante: 30K
Chip Average: 835K
Remaining: 37
Entries:

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019 | 7:39pm | Playground

Day 3 of Event #1, the Playground 200, has just started for the 37 players who were able to bag a stack last night at the conclusion of day 2. There will be a seating redraw at 27 players, then again at 18, and for the final table which will play out 10 handed.

The total prize pool for Event #1 was guaranteed at $100,00, however with the 1,102 entries over four Day flights, the prize pool grew to $213,788. Players are guaranteed at least $800 in 37th place, and are playing for the top prize of $36,128.

The chip leader coming into Day 3 is Carlos Gerones, who has a massive chip lead with 2,995,000. He is followed in second place by Jimmy Setina, with 1,585,000. Full a full list of tonight’s table/seating draw and chip stacks, click here

For a list of payouts, click here

Day 3 Chip leader: Carlos Gerones

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