The Women’s Series Event #4 and Final Event are coming up this weekend, wrapping up a truly successful series that brought together women from here, neighbouring provinces and even the United States. Today, by popular demand, Playground and the Women’s Poker Association announce Women’s Series 2020, our second series exclusively for women. The new and improved edition presents five open events, one more than the inaugural series, and will span the whole calendar year. Each one has a $150 + $15 buy-in – of which $10 will go to the Championship Event prize pool – and a $5,000 guaranteed prize pool. Start each one with 25,000 chips, play your best, and finish in the top 40% of the field to earn leaderboard points. Climb up the leaderboard and finish the series in the top 30, the only way to earn a seat at the Championship. Once there, your starting stack […]
Poker
Omaha BBJ Gets Hit… Again!
Only 5 days after quad 8s were defeated and unlocked a huge Jackpot, The BBJ Omaha was hit again! It happened in the middle of the night on a 4-handed table. Facing a straddle bet, the player on the button was first to act before the flop and folded. Viken A, sitting in the small blind, raised the $5 straddle to $20, enough to induce a fold on his left, but Patricktt – his screen name! – was not going to relinquish his straddle so easily. He came over the top with a $60 3-bet and found a call. Flop: Viken, first to act on the flop, announced a pot bet, more than enough to cover Patricktt’s remaining chips. He called under for $90. Viken: Patricktt: Full board: The river completed not one, but two straight flushes! $11,144 were split among the four players that made it happened. Patricktt […]
Introducing… The Seniors’ Series
For many years, Playground has included Seniors’ Events in poker festivals and mini-series, each of these events attracting a good number of players, eager to compete between them and have loads of fun… and they did without fault. Today, we are announcing the Seniors’ Series, a competition made up of five open events and culminating with a Championship Event, exclusively for players who are at least 50 years young! The series schedule features an open event every other month, the first one being on Sunday, February 23. Each tournament starts at 12:00pm and is held on a Sunday. The modest $200 + $20 buy-in and the $10,000 guarantee ensures that players enjoy a great ratio each time. View the full schedule here. Throughout the series, players will accumulate leaderboard points by placing in the top 40% of the field and try to finish the race in the top 30 on […]
A PLO BBJ To Start Off The Year
Last night at 11:40pm, eight PLO players had the joy of hitting a huge Bad Beat Jackpot! The PLO BBJ had not been hit for a while, and our lucky players got to share a cool $48,047. It all happened on table 16, where an 8-handed $2/$2 PLO game was being dealt. On that hand, two players were sitting out, leaving six in the arena. The action started with a call from the under-the-gun position, immediately followed by a raise to $10. This amount was just right for everybody, and just like that, a $60 pot was created. Flop: Three players checked to the raiser, Loic D, who supported his pre-flop aggression with a $35 continuation bet. Vincent K was next to act and called. Marco T, sitting on his immediate left, brought it up to $200, a chunky bet even for this game. Everyone that had not invested on […]
Free Food is Back!
Playground is always looking for ways to improve the gaming experience. Over the years, that has meant making changes for players as well as following suggestions by players. But sometimes efforts undertaken with good intentions miss the mark, which was the case when Playground Rewards was introduced to our poker community. Reflecting on the year that has been revealed some missteps on Playground’s path to elevating gaming. Our motto has always been “For Players, By Players”, and 6 months later, we realized we had made a mistake. So what do you do when you make a mistake? You fix it. So we are helping ourselves to some humble pie and announcing the return of free food! That’s right. As of today, a new menu will be introduced, and cash game players will no longer have to pay for food. No points needed, no cash required, absolutely free. Just remember to […]
6-Max 50/50 Bounty Re-entry Champion: Justin Miller
The closing event of Playground’s 9-Year Anniversary Series, the $100 + $20 + $100 6-Max 50/50 Bounty Re-entry, attracted a huge field of players for this single-day event. As with many other bounty events, the action-inducing format led to some wild action in the early levels of play. Players raced to collect bounties and build their stacks, which led to 40 re-entries along the way. By the time the late registration and re-entry period closed, there were 119 players remaining out of 191 total entries. The large turnout allowed 24 players to reach the money, where the prizes ranged from $170 to $3,844 for the eventual champion. The story of the early stages of play was Tu Kham Tran’s dominant play. Tran wasted no time building his stack and maintained the top position on the leaderboard all the way to the final table. But there was a lot of poker […]
Grand Prix Canada Champion: Alexandre Raymond
The $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada was the marquee event of Playground’s 9-Year Anniversary Series, featuring an outstanding $500,000 guaranteed prize pool. There were numerous starting flights, both live and online on partypoker. When the Day 1s came to an end, there were a total of 2,696 runners who came from near and far, allowing the prize pool to swell above the guarantee. All players who qualified for Day 2 were in the money, and any player who bagged in multiple flights received a $400 min-cash for each forfeited bag. Play resumed with 366 players on Saturday December 15 to play Day 2. It was a long day of poker as some player’s stacks were being built up while others were being sent to the cashier to collect their payouts. The chip lead changed through the day as one by one, players fell until only 16 were left in […]
6-Max Re-entry Champion: Nazo Maghakian
Event #6 of the 9-Year Anniversary Series, the $100 + $10 6-Max Re-entry, had a great turnout that contributed a total of 92 entries to this single-day event. The players sprinted out of the gate this afternoon, which helped break the ice on the re-entries before the end of this third level of play. By the time the late registration and re-entry period ended, there had been 23 re-entries. After the first break of the day, it was David Bonneau who rose to ascendance, establishing a huge chip lead over the field. Bonneau maintained his chip lead all the way to the final table. At the final table, Bonneau started with the chip lead, but the stacks quickly leveled out. By the time seven players remained, the stacks were nearly even. The remaining players recognized the situation and negotiated an ICM deal of the remaining prize pool that distributed most […]
Our 50/50 Bounty Champion: Stephen Langlois
The $100 + $20 + $100 50/50 Bounty Re-entry started at 7:00pm and attracted a total of 221 bounty hunters battling it out for a piece of the $20,774 prize pool in addition to the $100 bounty for each player that was knocked out. As soon as play started, you could hear dealers announce “all in” at different tables as there was great incentive to knock out players to acquire their bounty chips. By the time the first break came around, the players at the top of the leader board had already accumulated between three to four times the average chip stack. Play slowed considerably once the money was reached but the final six players agreed to an ICM deal that sped things right back up. Patrick Slight was eliminated in third, walking away with $2550. The final two players, Stephen Langlois and Bart Sieminski played a few hands before […]
Raining BBJs
Late last night, quad over quad allowed a third Bad Beat Jackpot to hit since the beginning of the month. Table 7, located at the heart of our Original Room, delivered the BBJ to nine lucky $1/$2 players. Three of those nine players were sitting out, on break, leaving six players dealt in. The first two players to act limped in, but that was quickly raised to $10, a bet that was also short-lived. Gregory pushed $30 forward, a good chunky 3-bet. Much to the aggressors’ surprise, both blinds cold called, and were joined by the second limper – Georges – and the initial raiser, sending a group of five players to the flop! Flop: After four quick checks, Gregory continued with $45, and three players matched it, all interested to see the turn: . This street did not see any action, and the foursome got themselves a free river: […]
St-Louis takes down the $200 + $20 PL Omaha Re-entry tournament
Event #4 of the Playground 9-Year Anniversary Series was the $200 + $20 PL Omaha Re-entry tournament, always a favourite for those who love action. There was a $7,000 guaranteed prize pool and when the late registration period came to a close, there were 44 entries in total (including 11 re-entries) which allowed the prize pool to grow to $8,536. Action was the word of the evening as players were getting it in with draws, hoping to hit. The first elimination happened within the first five minutes of play, but with the re-entry format, the players were able to try their luck as often as they pleased. At the first break of the evening Maxime Flibotte-Blanchard took the lead and held on to it through the second break. David St-Louis was also on the first leaderboard and by the second break he was right behind Flibotte-Blanchard, in second place. As […]
Megastack Turbo Re-entry Champion: Silvio La Palerma
Event #3 of Playground’s 9-Year Anniversary Series, the $100 + $10 Megastack Turbo Re-entry, brought out a large field of players that contributed a total of 96 entries to this single-day event. The prize pool guarantee of $5,000 was easily surpassed, as over $9,000 in prizes was awarded to the top 12 players. Throughout the afternoon, many different players had turns as the chip leader, as nobody was able to hang on to that lead for very long. The turbo structure kept the chips moving around the tables at a brisk pace, putting most players on a white-knuckled ride just to keep pace with the blinds. So it was only fitting that the two players who managed to stay on the leaderboard for most of the afternoon, Mathieu Legault and Silvio La Palerma, would meet in a heads-up battle at the final table. Legault, who emerged victorious in Event #2 […]