The month of December comes with winter, the excitement of the holidays, and Playground’s Anniversary Series! This year, we’re celebrating nine years of constant growth, from a small poker club to a massive entertainment destination with international poker events, electronic gaming, concerts and more. And what better way to celebrate than to play for it! Join us from December 8 to December 16 for the 9-Year Anniversary Series, a 9-day poker festival offering over $550,000 in guaranteed prize pools. And what’s more, the Grand Prix Canada presented by partypoker LIVE is our Main Event! It is an honour to welcome once again this great multi-day competition, a poker tournament that gives all players the chance to play for a massive prize pool for a minimal buy-in. Guaranteed at $500,000 and priced at $200 + $20, the event offers nineteen starting flights to choose from! Five online flights and fourteen live […]
Poker
The Omaha BBJ is Hit… Again!
The WPT Montreal may be over, but the Bad Beat Jackpots continue! At 10:14 last night on table 15, with eight players at the table, the $18,059 PLO BBJ went off. The game was $2/$2 PLO and the hand was straddled to $5. Kevin raised it to $20 and two players called the bet: Marco and Arthur. Flop: This flop had a “little bit” for everyone, because when Kevin placed a $50 continuation bet, he found not one, but two calls. And the on the turn (!) was followed by the exact same betting line: a $50 bet by Kevin and two calls. The on the river caused a change in leadership. When Kevin and Marco checked, Arthur went all-in for $90. Kevin went over the top, pushing his own stack valued at $450, but that did not chase Mario away: he called! Kevin: Arthur: Marco: What a showdown! Kevin […]
WPT Montreal Recap
The 2019 edition of the WPT Montreal , the last major festival of the year, kept up with the WPT’s winning tradition and was a resounding success! The series, which ran from October 20 to November 4, included seven official WPT events as well as four Playground events and a plethora of satellites that allowed many players to take a shot at the big buy-in events for only a fraction of the cost. In all, the official WPT events awarded $5,970,632 in prizes! The $500 + $50 WPT500 brought out an impressive field. This event guaranteed a prize pool of $1,066,000, awarding a million in cash and 20 $3,000 + $300 seats to the Main Event. With such great value on the line, it came as no surprise to see this event collect 2,135 entries throughout its 13 starting flights. When play finally concluded on Day 3, Bradley Smith emerged […]
Halloween delivers the PLO BBJ
It was a dark and stormy night. But this Halloween did not bring spooks or chills, it delivered the treat every player hopes for: the Bad Beat Jackpot. Table 39 was playing eight-handed 2/2 PLO, when the action was opened to $10 from early position. The raise picked up four callers, and the five players each checked on the flop. The turn brought the and another line check. The river was the , and there would be no more checking. Peng Peng, the first to act, led at the pot with a bet of $50. Peng’s bet picked up a call before the action got to Chrishan Sivasundaram, who raised to $200. When the action got back to Peng, he quickly moved all in, which chased the initial caller out of the hand, before Sivasundaram made the snap call and triumphantly tabled his hand. He showed , for flopped straight […]
Eric Nomberg is the champion of the $250 + $50 + $250 Bounty
Event #7, the $250 + $50 + $250 Bounty was the last event of the WPT Montreal and it was a huge success. The tournament boasted a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool and in the end, it attracted 327 entries (including 92 re-entries) to help swell the prize pool to $76,845 in prize payouts plus another $76,845 in bounties! The day was action packed and you could hear the dealers announcing all ins from across the room on almost every table, as the play was very aggressive. Everyone wanted those $250 bounty chips, that was for sure. Frederic Robert dominated the early levels but in the end he made the money but did not make the final table. Play was very deep and the last two tables took hours to play out. Nobody wanted to bust as they all had their eyes on the final table and the big payouts. The […]
Our WPT Montreal Main Event Champion: Geoffrey Hum
The WPT Montreal Main Event was an amazing race. 1109 entries were accounted for, enough to surpass the guarantee by over 10%. Players came in from the Online Day 1 & 2, three live starting flights and even the live Day 2, which allowed entries and re-entries for a duration of four levels. Towards the end of Day 2, the wonderful prize pool was being announced and the bubble came shortly after. The bubble burst was also the end of day, as Day 2 was coming to a halt when the money was reached. Day 3 started with 159 players at the tables, all of them in the money and ready to make that min cash grow. Already in Day 3, the field was looking extremely strong, with all-star players on every table. Only 10 of them made it to Day 4, including Mike Leah and Michael Watson, two of […]
The WPT delivers two BBJs!
As players have come to expect, major events at Playground tend to bring out big jackpots, and the WPT Montreal has kept up that tradition, producing not one but two Jackpots already! The first one hit only three days into the event, for $38,936. The big hand played out on a 9-handed 2/5 NL Hold’em table. The action was opened from early position to $15, a price enticing enough to pick up five callers. Six players watched the dealer fan out the flop. Arslan J, in seat 2, led into the field with a bet of $75. Only Srinivas G, in seat 7, felt comfortable continuing and made the call. Arlsan and Srinivas went to the turn heads-up, each feeling good about their holdings. The turn produced the , giving both players exactly what they were hoping for. Arslan continued his line and made a bet of $150 on the […]
The High Roller Champion: Louis Boutin
The High Roller, Event #4 in the 2019 WPT Montreal, just came to close. The 3-day tournament, priced at $5,000 + $300, was the biggest buy-in event in this festival, and it transpired through the amazing skill level that we witnessed since Monday. The crowd was a who’s who of the poker scene, both local and international. The event’s Day 3 was positioned just before the last Main Event starting flight which made it a great option for pros to face each other and get the juices going before the big dance. Kristen Bicknell, Charles L.B., Marc-André Ladouceur, Jeffrey Cormier and Tony Dunst are just a few of the great players who made Day 3. Tony Dunst, after securing the biggest payout in a 3-way deal, left Louis Boutin and Alex Ding heads-up for the title. Stacks, however, were very uneven, favouring Ding. Ding increased his lead by calling down […]
WPT500 Champion: Bradley Smith
The WPT500, the first event of the WPT Montreal, brought out a huge field of players. Thanks to five starting flights on partypoker and eight live starting flights at Playground, this edition of the WPT500 collected a total of 2,135 entries. From those entries, 303 players survived their respective starting flights to reach Day 2 and cashed this event. Day 2 play brought the field down to the final table. The nine finalists returned this afternoon to play for hundreds of thousands in cash prizes and a prestigious WPT event championship. When play began at the final table, Stephane Nadot controlled the largest stack in play, however, he went through some major swings during the early stages of play, eventually exiting in seventh place. Following Nadot’s elimination, the players agreed to an ICM chop of the remaining prize pool, leaving $40,000 for the eventual champion. The bustouts proceeded quickly from […]
Jessie Wheatley took down the Playground 200
The Playground 200 needs no introduction anymore. The $200 + $20 tournament has been headlining our Power Weekends and supporting major festivals for years. At the WPT Montreal, it acted as a side event, placed right before Event #1, the WPT500. Through one online and five live starting flight, 550 entries were accumulated, just enough to cover the $100,000 guarantee. After three days of tough poker, it all came down to a heads-up match between Jessie Wheatley and George Chow. When the dust settled, Jessie had all the chips and took one down for the women! A money deal had been made, and following Jessie’s win, her net prize was $19,250. As for George, he finished the tournament $15,680 richer. Not too bad for a $220 poker tournament! Jessie joins Marie-Claude Grondin (winner of the WPT Montreal Event #3, the $200 + $20 Ladies) and Crystal Abouhanna (winner of the […]
We have a winner!
WPT Ladies Event Champion: Marie-Claude Grondin – $5,177 Congratulations to our Ladies Event Champion! After 13.5 hours of play, Marie-Claude took down first place and a prize of $5,177. Well done! Final Hand of Play: The final hand of play began with a 150,000 preflop bet by Marie-Claude, which was called by the runner-up, Roberta Biancardi. The flop came down , which led to an all-in shove by Roberta, who was holding bottom pair and a flush draw. Marie-Claude snap called with her and made her nut flush on the turn. WPT Ladies Event Runner-Up: Roberta Biancardi – $3,455 Roberta finishes in second place and earns a $3,455 prize. She had a fantastic tournament as well, outlasting all but one of her female competitors. Congratulations go out to both of our finalists on a tournament well played.
$300 +$30 Freeze champion: Isaac Buswell
Event #2, the $300 + $30 Freeze, was the first single-day event of the WPT Montreal. There was a $30,000 guaranteed prize pool which ended up getting doubled with the 200 entries in tonight’s field. The top 25 places were paid, with a min-cash of $590 in 25th place, and $13,565 along with the champion’s trophy for the first place finisher. There was a lot of great talent in the field and the players enjoyed a great atmosphere along with some laughs along the journey. Once play went three-handed, the players agreed to an ICM chop, and each of them locked up some hard-earned cash; the deal was as follows: Dsouza – 1,730,000 in chips, $8,540 Buswell – 2,415,000 in chips, $9,060 Chackal – 1,855,000 in chips, $8,650 All three finalists agreed to the deal and play continued on. The players played down to a winner who would receive an […]