LIVE EVENTS

After ten levels and four and half hours of play, Vicky Dube is still leading the pack, although she now has more competitors nipping at her heels than she did at the previous break. One of only two players with over 100,000 chips, she’s well positioned to go deep. That said, this is a long day of poker, and there will be many swings up and down before we even get close to the final table.

Congratulations on your play so far Vicky, the lead is yours – if you can keep it!

With the levels now lasting 50 percent longer than we started the day with, and with the blinds still at a relatively low level, this Women’s Series event has slowed down to a very comfortable pace. We’ve only lost half a dozen competitors over the last hour or so, but the ladies don’t seem to mind, and the energy has stayed consistently positive throughout the day.

As we work our way through to the end of level 10 the women will take their second break of the day, and we’ll be able to update you on the chip leaders shortly afterwards.

It wasn’t too controversial, but at table 45 just now one of the floor managers had to be called over to clarify a rule prior to the flop being dealt. And for Denyse Mignault, a Women’s series regular, it was a good thing the decision came down in her favor – she ended up winning the hand! Keep in mind, table 45 is the one with two of the three chip leaders, one of which is Crystal Abouhanna, the first champion in this year’s Women’s Series.

The question was whether or not Denyse had folded her hand preflop, or if she had called, as she insisted. As the dealer explained to the floor manager, Crystal had opened with a raise from early position, which was called by Aviva Chepurny in late position. As the action came around the Denyse, seated at the small blind, she simultaneously pushed her two cards into the middle and said “I call” while pushing in a 5,000 chip with her elbow – an interesting combination of moves from Denyse to be sure!

The manager, pro that he is, immediately knew the answer. “In the case of simultaneous action,” he explained, “the player’s verbal instruction takes precedence.” With that taken care of, the hand could continue, and Denyse threw in her chip, receiving the appropriate change. The dealer did his thing, and the hand progressed with relatively quick raises and calls occurring throughout.

In the end, with the board showing a , Denyse’s ace-ten was enough to win, gaining her at least 20,000 chips in the hand and putting a dent in both Crystal and Aviva’s chip stacks in the process.

Play continues…

Well, we’ve just returned from the first break of the day, which means that registration is officially closed for this second event in the Women’s Series. At the top of the pack is Vicky Dube, who is all smiles in the photo below. She is running strong so far with over 80,000 chips, and there are relatively few players who have managed to accumulate more than double the chip average.

Right behind her in third place is the champion from the first event of the Women’s Series, Crystal Abouhanna. Clearly Crystal doesn’t want to coast her way into the January 19th Women’s Series final based solely on her win from the first event! Will she final-table this event, or even take it down? You’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

Also, a note: Now that the registration period has closed, levels have changed from 20-minutes to 30 minutes. Strap in, we’re in for a long ride!

Denise Lepine had a plan to take down a pot no matter who was standing in her way, and that’s precisely what she did in a recent hand.

Play began with a bet of 600 from Denise (bottom right), and she found a few callers. Among them was Marie-Claude Grondin, the recent 2019 WPT Ladies Event Champion. The flop came down , and Denise opened again, this time with a bet of 1,300. The size of the bet chased at least one player from the table, but not Marie-Claude, who called. Another five, a , was dealt on the turn, there was another round of betting, and then an came down on the river.

Once again Denise led out, this time for 1,500. However, Marie-Claude decided to push her weight around with the possible flush showing on the table, tripling the bet to 5,000. Not one to fold under pressure, Denise called, confident she had the best hand. And she did! When the two players flipped over their cards it was Denise’s ace-jack that beat out Marie-Claude’s ace-king, with no flush in sight.

Denise scooped up the chips, and play continues…

As we finish the first hour of play and cruise our way into level four, only one player has been eliminated and not bought back in. Usually, this would be a rare sight. However, when it comes to the Women’s Series, this is par for the course. The ladies are just as skilled as the men, but less cut-throat in the early levels. They prefer to live and let live … for now!

Here are some photos of our players in action.

Playground’s Women’s Series is back!

It’s time to strap in, grab a glass of white wine and play some cards – the second of five Women’s Series single-day events has just begun. There are already a few dozen players at their seats and in the early stages of battle on this chilly Saturday afternoon, and the crowd is only going to grow from here. So get out of the cold and come take a seat, it’s plenty warm down here at Playground!

Today’s event, like the last one, is a $150 + $15 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Players will begin with 25,000 chips and play 10-handed through 20-minute levels until the end of registration, which will close at the beginning of level seven, just after the first break. That means that you’ll have until about 2:15PM to get down here and get in on the action. This is a single re-entry event, meaning you only get two shots to make it to the final table.

Speaking of final tables, besides taking a piece of the guaranteed $5,000 prize pool, all players are ultimately playing in this series to qualify for the Women’s Series Finals, our fifth and final event of the Women’s Series. It will take place early next year on Sunday, January 19, 2020. How can you get there? The top five finishers in each of the first four events will receive a direct entry into the finals. In addition, the top 20% of players in each individual event will receive cumulative series points, with the top ten point earners on the Women’s Series leaderboard joining the twenty finalists as well.

Our first winner was Crystal Abouhanna, who took home over $2,200 and the trophy at the last event on October 19, 2019. Her and the other four finalists (Kathy Sawers, Carla Ruggiero, Danielle Sangolo and Therese Legault) have already locked in a spot in the January finals, but that didn’t stop Carla Ruggiero from showing up here again today to try to bag another final table. We’ll keep an eye out for our other finalists from Event #1 as well.

Good luck to Carla and the rest of our competitors! Let’s play!

Event #2: $150 + $15 Women’s Series

$5,000 Guaranteed