After 12 fabulous days of poker, the Playground Winter Festival has come to an end. The Winter Festival, which ran from February 27th to March 10th successfully kept the cold of winter at bay, and provided 12 days of fantastic poker action to players from all over Eastern Canada and the Northeastern US. The festival opened with The Wild $150, which attracted 1441 entries over its three Day 1s and generated a massive prize pool of $188,699.00! At the end of Day 3, 8 players had each won $10K or more, including over $20K for the winner, Jean-Francois Marin! Event 4 was the next of the “large” events – it ended up awarding a total prize pool of $48,015.00. The event was a $300 + $30 Freeze which had 165 players and awarded $11,500.00 to the winner who was local player Michael Korovine. The biggest tournament of them all, however, […]
Poker
Winter Festival: the Main Event Concludes
The Main Event of the Playground Winter Festival has come to a close, with Sergio Vigano being crowned champion! Sergio, a poker player who was visiting Playground Poker Club from New Jersey, collected a cool $86,640.00 for the win. The Main Event was a $1,000 + $100 No Limit Hold’em Re-entry tournament with 2 Day 1s that attracted 494 entries. The field included many top players including Yann Dion, Eric Afriat, Kevin McPhee, among others. By the time Day 2 had started on Sunday, the field had been narrowed to 139 players – with almost all of the notable and more experienced players having qualified. Play on Day 2 sailed very quickly towards the bubble before the pace of play slowed somewhat. When the bubble was reached in level 19, there were still over 4 full hours left to play according to the schedule, and as it turned out, that […]
Winter Festival: Event 1 Champion Jean-Francois Marin
The traditional first event in a major festival at Playground Poker Club is a $135 + $15 Re-entry event that has come to be known as “The Wild $150.” One of the best values in poker the tournament gives everyone the chance to play Big Event poker at an accessible buy-in. Event 1 of the Playground Winter Festival was held between February 27th and March 3rd and as usual it attracted a huge number of entries – 1141 this time around. This generated a prize pool of $188,699.00 well surpassing the $100K guarantee! Of the 1441 entries 341 players were left to begin Day 2 and as is typical for this event the action was fast and furious as play moved towards the money bubble which they reached at the end of the 6th level of play on Day 2. Day 3 began with Jean-François Marin as the leader with […]
A Winter Festival Jackpot!
One of the greatest things for players about the big poker festivals we host at Playground Poker Club is the fact that alongside the tourneys, players also benefit from amazing cash game action as well. And one of the best things about cash games at Playground Club is… the Bad Beat Jackpot! Just before 6pm on Sunday, the Secondary Bad Beat Jackpot was won on a $1/$2 table in the main poker room. The hand unfolded with little drama, but at by the time all of the cards were dealt, there was a table full of very happy poker players! The hand played out quite predictably. The player in the UTG+1 seat raised preflop to $12, and the player two seats to his left re-raised to $22. Action folded back to the initial raiser, who confidently moved all-in for $102 (total). His opponent quickly called and exposed his hand: Pocket […]
Keep the winter blues at bay with the Playground Winter Festival!
There’s a new festival on the agenda at Playground Poker Club designed to liven up the winter with some hot poker action! The Playground Winter Festival gets underway on February 27th with a 4-Day-1 Re-entry event ($100K Guaranteed), to be followed by 14 other events including the $1,100 Playground Winter Festival Main Event with a $500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool! The Main Event starts on Friday, March 6th and features 2 Day 1s (Next-Day Re-entry) and will play out though Day 4 on Tuesday March 10th when a winner will be crowned. Other events in the festival include a $300 + $30 2-Day event, a mixed Hold’em/Omaha event, and a $200 + $20 Survivor tourney. The festival wraps up with a $90 + $10 + $25 Bounty event on March 10th. Live Satellites to the Playground Winter Festival Main Event Live satellites at Playground start on February 8th and continue every […]
January’s Deepstack Freeze was pretty hot!
January’s special event at Playground Poker Club was a $300 + $30 Deepstack Freeze, and despite several hours of snowfall on Thursday night and dropping temperatures throughout the morning on Friday, the players arrived ready to join the action on Friday afternoon. By the time the event got underway, the published capacity of 250 players had already been reached, and dozens of alternates were waiting to take their seats as players were eliminated in the early going. By the time all of the alternates were seated, a total of 364 players had entered the event an unofficial Playground Poker Club record for a single-day stand-alone event! Among the record field were quite a few players who have had big success in tournaments at Playground in the past, including Players Club members Jean-Philippe Piquette, George Caragiorgas and Philippe Plouffe plus past Playground champions Alexandre Lavigne, Jason Comtois, and Alim Perales. Such […]
A Much Bigger Jackpot!
Just 6 days after the first Secondary Bad Beat Jackpot was dealt, the Primary Bad Beat Jackpot was up to $313,614 and the minimum qualifying hand was down to quad 7s. At almost exactly 12 noon, on a $2/$5 table, there was some drama on the way to hitting the jackpot. Five players saw the flop , and the action checked around. On the turn , a player (who we would learn was holding for flopped trips) bet $10. The player to his left folded and the next player to act (who was holding for a flopped flush that had improved to a straight flush on the turn) smooth called. The river brought the , and all of the pieces were in place. The player holding quads led out with a bet of $20. His rival in the hand raised to $145, and action was back on the initial player that […]
The First Jackpot of 2015
This year’s first Bad Beat Jackpot came on January 16th just after 9 in the morning at a $1/$2 table with 9 players in the hand. There was a straddle to $5 in the hand and an early position call, and then a player in middle position raised to $12. The player to the left of the raiser called, as did the blinds, the original player who straddled, and the first caller. There were 6 players to the flop, which came: . The first two players to act both checked, and then there was a bet of $18 into a $72 pot. The next player to act folded, and then the player who had made the first raise to $12 went all-in for his remaining $45. There were three calls, and the pot was now up to $198 with 4 players in the hand. The turn brought the and the […]
Winter in the Bahamas
One of the ways Montrealers combat the winter blues is to travel south, and as usual there were a lot of players well known to Playground Poker Club in the Bahamas at the beginning of January for the annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure the PCA! The first major tournament series of the year, there is a long tradition of Montreal- and Quebec-based players who achieve success there, and this year was no exception. The top result by a local player came from Jonathan Duhamel, who won a $5K NL Hold’em tourney towards the end of this year’s event. Players Club member Jean-Philippe Piquette was also a winner at the PCA, taking down a $1.1K Crazy Pineapple event. Other local players who had success at the PCA include Marco Caza (2nd in a $5K event), Marc Etienne McLaughlin (3rd in a $5K Turbo event), and Adam Coviensky, who placed 4th in a […]
The 4 Year Anniversary Tourney Concludes
Playground Poker Club celebrated its 4-Year Anniversary with a 3-day, $90 + $10 No Limit Hold’em Re-entry tournament with three Day 1s. This year’s event attracted an impressive 978 players, adding up to a massive prize pool of $88,020.00! One of the highlights of the tournament was the anniversary cake, which was served on December 17th (Day 1c). This year’s cake was based on the events we hosted in 2014, and featured representations of many of the trophies, bracelets, belts, and even some of the cash that had been awarded. As usual the cake was a big hit! Day 2 began with 187 players and quickly moved into the money, as the event paid the top 100 finishers. At the end of Day 2, just 18 players remained, who came back on Friday evening to play to the end. The eliminations on Day 3 began relatively quickly, but then at […]
2014 WPT Montreal Champion Jonathan Jaffe!
Jonathan Jaffe finished runner-up in the 2008 WPT World Poker Finals in Mashantucket, and was determined not to finish in second place again. He came into the final table as the chip leader, and although he saw his stack swing throughout the night, he inevitably found himself with all of the chips in play. Heads-up play with opponent Ratharam Sivagnanam last quite a while, and both players held the lead at multiple occasions. Following a big pot won by Jonathan that left Ratharam with less than a quarter of the chips in play, Jonathan began applying pressure on the short stack. Ratharam responded to his aggressive opponent by limp-shoving a marginal hand, only to run into a monster. After making the call, Jonathan tabled , and needed to hold versus Ratharam’s to become the champion. The board ran out and with that, Jonathan won the tournament, the Hublot watch, the […]
Fall Classic: High Roller Champion Matt Jarvis
With a deal in place – even one that reserved $10K for the eventual champion – it would be easy to assume that 3-way or heads-up play would be less serious than it might normally be. But judging by the play after the deal, that was definitely not the case in this tournament! When Matt Jarvis took the lead, however, there was no looking back. He played aggressively and Pascal was unable to double back through him and retake the lead – or even to draw level. On the final hand of the tournament, Matt limped for the first time in the match, and Pascal immediately shoved his last ~340K. Matt called and Pascal’s tournament was on the line. Pascal: Matt: The flop of wasn’t helpful for Pascal, and the on the turn put a second pair on the board, and Pascal needed either a king or an 8 to […]