Event #2

Time for Day 2!

Level: 15
Small Blind: 3K
Big Blind: 6K
BB Ante: 6K
Chip Average: 193K
Remaining: 43
Entries: 166

November 23, 2019November 23, 2019 | 3:06pm | Playground

The Playground 500 started on Thursday, and after 3 starting flights that brought together 166 entries, it’s finally time to bring all Day 2 qualifiers together. Forty-three baggers will face each other in the tournament hall today and try to survive 10 levels of 45 minutes each before their chips are put away again until tomorrow’s Day 3.

Today’s action promises to be inspired, as the field is riddled with skilled players the likes of Tomas Larivée-Magni, Jean-Philippe Piquette, Xin Qi, and of course the strong players at the top of the leaderboard, Robert Renaud and Samuel Roussy-Majeau, one of three online qualifiers.

Action starts at 3:00pm sharp. Stay tuned for updates!

Day 2 Seating Draw

November 23, 2019 | 1:26pm | Playground

The Playground 500 received 166 entries from four Day 1s, and 43 players survived their respective starting flights. Today’s Day 2 will play for 10 levels. Day 3 will be held tomorrow at 2:00pm and play until there is a winner.

When play resumes for Day 2 at 3:00pm, the players will be seated according to the following table.

First Name	Last Name	Seat	Stack
Samuel	Roussy-Majeau	Table 20 - Seat 4	507,000
Robert	Renaud	Table 19 - Seat 8	423,000
Ramsey	Belmaaza	Table 28 - Seat 2	376,000
Patrick	St-Laurent	Table 19 - Seat 1	360,000
Thibaut	Nouveau	Table 24 - Seat 1	353,000
David	Bonneau	Table 24 - Seat 5	340,500
Matthew	Wade	Table 23 - Seat 1	331,000
Francois	Goulet	Table 24 - Seat 3	287,000
Krzysztof	Birecki	Table 24 - Seat 2	286,000
Xin	Qi	Table 20 - Seat 6	277,500
Tae	Cha	Table 32 - Seat 2	273,000
David	St-Louis	Table 24 - Seat 7	253,000
Miguel	Cholette	Table 32 - Seat 8	242,000
Miguel	Goncalo	Table 23 - Seat 4	208,000
Chris	Arvanitis	Table 19 - Seat 3	208,000
Pei	Wu	Table 20 - Seat 3	207,000
Glenn	Millar	Table 20 - Seat 8	190,000
Charli	Azoulay	Table 23 - Seat 2	187,000
Kevin	Bergeron	Table 19 - Seat 4	186,000
Richard	Sysko	Table 23 - Seat 5	174,000
Tomas	Larivee Magni	Table 24 - Seat 8	163,000
Paul	Nakhle	Table 23 - Seat 6	158,000
Stephane	Lacasse	Table 32 - Seat 5	156,000
Ben	Menache	Table 20 - Seat 7	151,000
Mark	Salerno	Table 20 - Seat 2	150,000
David	Buttrum	Table 19 - Seat 5	148,500
Soomnath	Datta	Table 23 - Seat 7	145,000
Vladimir	Avetisian	Table 32 - Seat 7	143,000
Arnold	Yaxley	Table 20 - Seat 1	135,000
Van Nghiem	Nguy	Table 28 - Seat 6	115,000
Joshua	Hopkins	Table 28 - Seat 5	114,000
Roy	Rochette	Table 24 - Seat 4	113,000
Isham	Yamani	Table 28 - Seat 7	112,000
Tanvir	Ahmed	Table 23 - Seat 8	106,000
Antoine	Sankari	Table 32 - Seat 1	103,000
Jared	Mcdonald	Table 28 - Seat 3	95,000
Gaston	Groulx	Table 28 - Seat 4	94,000
Nicola	Basile	Table 24 - Seat 6	82,000
Natalia	Nogina	Table 32 - Seat 6	80,000
Jean-Philippe	Piquette	Table 19 - Seat 7	77,000
Alexandre	Mongrain	Table 19 - Seat 2	64,500
Michael	Korovine	Table 28 - Seat 8	61,000
Rong	Xu	Table 32 - Seat 3	20,000

Renaud leads 17 day 1C qualifiers into Day 2

November 23, 2019 | 4:00am | Playground

Day 1C of the $500 + $50 Playground 500 just ended with 17 players bagging to advance to Day 2. The tournament is the marquee event of the November Power Weekend and features a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The last of three live flights attracted a nice sized field with a total of 67 entries who played through 14 levels of 30 minutes. The lead changed hands a few times through the course of the evening and when it was all said and done, it was Robert Renaud who bagged the top stack.

The three top stacks are:

Robert Renaud, 423,000 chips
Ramsey Belmaaza, 376,000 chips
Matt Wade, 331,000 chips

Here are some of the players who were able to find a bag for Day 2:

For a complete list of the combined Day 1 qualifiers, click here. (NB: Tonight’s qualifiers will be added to the list sometime on Saturday).

Day 2 will play out on Saturday at 3:00pm, followed by Day 3 on Sunday at 2:00pm where the remaining field will play down to a champion.

Good luck to all of the players.

Wade still in control

Level: 12
Small Blind: 1.5K
Big Blind: 3K
BB Ante: 3K
Chip Average: 119.6K
Remaining: 28
Entries: 67

November 23, 2019November 23, 2019 | 1:49am | Playground

There remains three levels of play before the surviving players bag for day 2. The field has thinned and often we see some big hands play out at this point of the game.

The average stack is just under 98,000 and Matt Wade still has a commanding lead with 334,000 chips (111 big blinds). Let’s keep on eye out to see if he can hold onto that lead.

Here are the top stacks in play:

First name:	Family Name;	Chip stack:
Matt	Wade	334,000
Ramsey	Belmaaza	322,500
Costa	Psallidas	218,500

Wade takes the lead as he bolts into the stratosphere

Level: 9
Small Blind: 800
Big Blind: 1.6K
BB Ante: 1.6K
Chip Average: 74.4K
Remaining: 45
Entries: 67

November 23, 2019 | 12:13am | Playground

The late registration period has now come to a close and the number of entries in tonight’s Day 1C reached 67 (including 6 re-entries), bringing the total from all starting flights to 166 entries. This represents some great value to the players who are playing for the $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.

With the average stack now sitting just under 75,000 chips, one player, Matthew Wade, a Playground dealer who has time off this weekend, has literally amassed a stack high enough to enter the stratosphere with 261,300 chips! That’s more than three times the average and good for 163 big blinds. The second place runner is Robert Renaud, a former Playground dealer, who has 167,800 chips (105 big blinds).

Here are the top stacks in play right now:

First name:	Family Name;	Chip stack:
Matthew	Wade	261,300
Robert	Renaud	167,800
Kevin	Bergeron	139,300
Ramsey	Belmaaza	133,700
Roy	Rochette	133,400

Rochette walking away from the pack at the first break

Level: 5
Small Blind: 300
Big Blind: 600
BB Ante: 600
Chip Average: 55.8K
Remaining: 50
Entries: 57

November 22, 2019November 22, 2019 | 10:13pm | Playground

There are now 57 entries (including 2 re-entries) and late registration remains open until 11:30pm.

The average chip stack is just over 55,000 but one player has ran away from the rest of the pack; Roy Rochette is the current chip leader sitting on a stack of 189,900 chips. Rochette is close to four times the average and playing a stack of effectively 316 big blinds. Only one other play was more than 100,000 at the break.

First name:	Family Name;	Chip stack:
Roy	Rochette	189,900
Tam	Ho	115,100

There is great value to be had!

Level: 3
Small Blind: 200
Big Blind: 400
BB Ante: 400
Chip Average: 53.1K
Remaining: 47
Entries: 50

November 22, 2019November 22, 2019 | 8:54pm | Playground

There are now 50 entries (including 1 re-entry) and with a total of 149 entries between all of the day 1 starting flights there is some amazing value to be had with the $100,000 guaranteed prize pool! Players have until the start of level 9 at 11:30pm to (re)enter and with a full 50,000 starting stack, even those entering in the last minute will be starting with more than 31 big blinds.

Here are some of the Playground 500 Day 1C players:

Bonneau leads 11 Day 2 qualifiers

November 22, 2019 | 8:32pm | Playground

Day 1B of the Playground 500 brought out a field of 39 entries that battled it out over the course of 14 levels this afternoon.

The players in attendance got off to a fast start before adjusting their pace to suit the long grind ahead of them. There were several re-entries in the early levels, but only a handful more re-entries came in after the fourth level of play, despite the extended late registration and re-entry period.

The chip lead changed hands numerous times in this flight. No player managed to hang on to the chip lead for more than a couple of levels, and there was a new chip leader at each break. When the dust finally settled at the end of level 14, it was David Bonneau who emerged with the lion’s share of the chips in play. Bonneau captured 340,500 in chips, more than enough to start off Day 2 comfortably.

To see the combined Day 1 results, click here.

Day 1C: The final starting flight of the Playground 500 starts now!

Level: 1
Small Blind: 100
Big Blind: 200
BB Ante: 0
Chip Average: 50K
Remaining: 20
Entries: 20

November 22, 2019 | 7:06pm | Playground

The last starting flight of the $500 + $50 Playground 500 is starting now! There is tremendous value to be had as so far between the online flight on partypoker and the two live starting flights at Playground there have only been a total of 99 players playing for the guaranteed $100,000 prize pool.

Players start with 50,000 chips and play nine-handed through 14 levels of 30 minutes on the Day 1’s, and Day 2 and 3 action will see the blinds increase to 45 minutes in length as play becomes eight-handed.

This is a re-entry event with unlimited re-entries permitted until the end of the late registration period on each Day 1 starting flight. Re-entry is permitted for any player that loses all their chips or chooses to forfeit their stack. A player may play additional Day 1s even if they have 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. Players may enter (or re-enter) the tournament until the beginning of Level 9 on each Day 1, which will be at 11:30pm. With great structure in place, players who choose to late register in the last minute will still receive a full chip stack, which will effectively be just over 31 big blinds.

Day 2 will play out on Saturday at 3:00pm, followed by Day 3 on Sunday at 2:00pm where the remaining field will play down to a champion.

For a list of the combined Day 1 results, click here.

The floor has just announced “dealers, shuffle up and deal” and the cards are in the air!

Good luck to all competitors!

Qi on top

Level: 12
Small Blind: 1.5K
Big Blind: 3K
BB Ante: 3K
Chip Average: 139K
Remaining: 14
Entries: 39

November 22, 2019November 22, 2019 | 5:33pm | Playground

The end of Day 1B is rapidly approaching, as the survivors will bag their chips after three more levels of play. The tension will only mount throughout the late stages of play, making each move a crucial one. Only 14 players are left in contention, each hoping to navigate their way to Day 2 and set up a deep run.

Xin Qi has a huge lead over the field with a stack of over 103 big blinds, putting him more than 20 big blinds ahead of his nearest rival. The chip average provides nearly 47 big blinds at this point, which will make for deep-stacked play all the way to the end of this flight.

First Name	Last Name	Stack
Xin	Qi	309,500
Van Nghiem	Nguy	245,000
Michael	Wu	203,000
Miguel	Cholette	190,000

Theroux leads after eight levels

Level: 9
Small Blind: 800
Big Blind: 1.6K
BB Ante: 1.6K
Chip Average: 81K
Remaining: 24
Entries: 39

November 22, 2019 | 3:59pm | Playground

Following the end of the second break of the day, the late registration and re-entry period has closed on Day 1B. Only 25 players remain out of 39 total entries in this flight.

Former chip leader Isham Yamani was overtaken by three players, but he is still sitting comfortably with plenty of big blinds at his disposal. Maxime Theroux went on a hot streak in the lead up to the break and managed to run his stack up to nearly double the current chip average and reach the top of the leaderboard.

First Name	Last Name	Stack
Maxime	Theroux	158,100
Glenn	Millar	145,000
Keon	Kang	130,900
Isham	Yamani	119,100

Last hour of late registration

Level: 8
Small Blind: 600
Big Blind: 1.2K
BB Ante: 1.2K
Chip Average: 62K
Remaining: 29
Entries: 36

November 22, 2019 | 2:50pm | Playground

As the timer winds down on the seventh level of play, only 29 players remain. Although this flight has collected four re-entries, most of the players in the field of Day 1B set out at a marathon pace instead of a sprint. There is a long way to go in this three-day event, but surviving the starting flight is the only way to march down the path victory.

There remains roughly 45 minutes in the late registration and re-entry period so this flight may take in a few more players, but it seems that most are waiting for the final starting flight, Day 1C, which runs tonight at 7:00pm.

Here is a look at the action from level 7: