You never know who you’ll play with…

For a lot of people, Playground Poker Club is best known for our great tournaments and poker festivals – that’s what gets all of the media coverage and that’s where we get amazing stories like Jonathan Roy’s victory over friend and fellow Quebec pro Pascal Lefrançois in the first WPT Montreal, or Derrick Rosenbarger’s two-barrelled win at the 2013 WPT Montreal, where he not only won the tournament but also won the heart of his girlfriend and got engaged.

Like any other poker room, though, it’s the cash games where most of the day-to-day excitement happens, and one of the coolest things about cash games at Playground is that you never know who you’ll be playing with. Local media stars? Sports stars? Or maybe a poker pro like Gavin Smith!

Gavin was spied on a $1-$2 table tonight trying to spin up his small stack while ordering a great tableside meal from The Rail Coal Fire Bistro!

Gavin Smith at a $1-$2 Table

The Bad Beat Jackpot has been hit!

As if Day 1a of the WPT Canadian Spring Championship and the kickoff of the final table of Event 4 of the Playground Poker Spring Classic weren’t enough, today just after 3pm the record-setting Primary Bad Beat Jackpot was won on Table 13, a $1-$2 No Limit Hold’em cash table!

The table had 9 people playing when the Jackpot hand was hit. The button was on Seat 5. Action folded to the player in Seat 1, who raised to $16. The player in Seat 2 called, as did the player on the button in Seat 5.

The flop was dealt: 7 of Diamonds 7 of Clubs 10 of Clubs. Seats 1 and 2 both checked and Seat 5 led out for $11. Both players called. The turn came 10 of Spades and again Seats 1 and 2 both checked. Seat 5 bet again – $20 this time, and both players called. The river was the 5 of Hearts and Seat 1 led out with an all-in bet of approximately $104. Seat 2 called and Seat 5 thought for a few seconds before folding.

The players immediately flipped over their hands:

Seat 1: 7 of Spades 7 of Hearts
Seat 2: 10 of Diamonds 10 of Hearts

Quads over quads and the player in Seat 2 – Dimitri Morcos – won the hand while the player in Seat 1 – Richard Figiel – lost the hand… but won the Jackpot!

The hand loser’s share of the Jackpot is a staggering $157,865 while the winner of the hand also had a great payday, winning $78,955. The other 7 players at the table each win $11,279 while every other player on a cash table at the time each wins $500!

The Primary Jackpot now resets to $103,888 – so there’s still a lot of jackpot money to be won at Playground Poker Club!

The final table has begun!

  • Level: 24
  • Small Blind: 12K
  • Big Blind: 24K
  • Ante: 4K
  • Chip Average: 552.5K
  • Remaining: 10
  • Entries: 221


  • The 10 players remaining in Event 4 have returned to play down to a winner today and action is underway in Level 24 of the tournament.

    We’ll be covering the action on the final table all the way to the end, so stay tuned!

    Introducing the WPT Championship Belt and Trophy!

    In addition to the massive cash prize, the winner of the WPT Canadian Spring Championship Main Event will also be the recipient of a customized Playground Poker WPT Championship Belt and Trophy!

    Don’t miss your chance at becoming the next WPT Montreal Champion! Late registration is still available for Day 1a, or you can join Day 1b tomorrow at 11am, or Day 1c Saturday at 11am.


    WPT Canadian Spring Championship Belt and Trophy

    WPT Canadian Spring Championship Belt and Trophy

     

    Event 4 – Results & Payouts

    Event 4 in the Playground Poker Spring Classic was a $500 + $50 No Limit Hold’em tournament being held over three days from March 25 to 27, 2014. A total of 221 players registered for the event building a prize pool of $107,185.00 which was distributed according to this table.

    The payouts in this table reflect a player deal that was made at 4 remaining. The players chose to reserve $2,700 and the bracelet for first and divide the rest of the remaining prize pool by chip chop.

    Rank First Name Last Name Prize
    1 Michael Malm $20,075.00 and the Spring Classic bracelet
    2 Jason Griffith $15,355.00
    3 Justin Leeson $16,480.00
    4 Michael David Yeomans $13,250.00
    5 Larry Farr $7,470.00
    6 Trieu Dung Hong $5,580.00
    7 Daniel Smouha $4,165.00
    8 Karo Lyne Dufour $3,115.00
    9 Jerome St-Onge $2,335.00
    10 Kelly Smith $1,745.00
    11 David Baba $1,745.00
    12 Mark Fitzpatrick $1,605.00
    13 Faizal Satchu $1,605.00
    14 Jonathan Theriault $1,475.00
    15 Jordan Martin $1,475.00
    16 Jeff Cote $1,370.00
    17 Jeffrey Cormier $1,370.00
    18 Peter Kavouras $1,260.00
    19 Ruben Percival $1,260.00
    20 Alex Fiorani $1,155.00
    21 Benoit Jean $1,155.00
    22 Gary Yeghiayan $1,070.00
    23 Jonathan Neil Hansmeyer $1,070.00

    Event 5 Champion: Constantinos Psallidas

    Constantinos Psallidas – known to everyone at Playground as Costa – has emerged victorious in Event 5, a $200 + $20 Pot Limit Omaha 3 Lives tournament. The path through the 99-player field was a challenge, as very quickly three players (which didn’t include Costa) built up dominating stacks leaving everyone else to get relatively shorter stacked relatively early on. Nevertheless Costa was able to make his way through the challenging field and won the Spring Classic bracelet and $4,431 for his efforts.

    Event 3 Champion: David Ormsby

    David Ormsby has made his way through a very tough field and emerged victorious in Event 3 of the Playground Poker Spring Classic!

    David has been a frequent visitor to Playground Poker Club during the festivals we’ve held over the years and he’s obviously a poker player’s poker player, so to speak, having made deep runs in the past in small side events, in Main Events, and even in $10K and $5K High Roller events at the Club. But although he’s had a lot of success in events elsewhere in Canada, until now he hadn’t made his breakthrough at Playground.

    That changed on Monday night – in fact, early Tuesday morning as David outlasted the field to win the 6-Max event and take the top prize (after a deal was made heads up) of $8,650. Congratulations to David on the win!

    Event 1 Champion: Steve Pouliot!

    The first event of the Playground Poker Spring Classic 2014 has just crowned a champion! Steve Pouliot, who had a big lead on the field for most of the second half of Day 3, has managed to eliminate Daniel Charette in 2nd place and take home the victory, the $32,184 cash prize, and the Playground Poker Spring Classic champion’s bracelet!

    After Daniel had made a comeback heads-up by doubling up twice to nearly even the stacks, he found himself all-in preflop yet again with the better hand. However this time his Queen of Diamonds Queen of Spades couldn’t hold up against Steve’s 4 of Hearts 4 of Clubs, as the fours made a runner-runner straight on a 6 of Diamonds 6 of Clubs 5 of Clubs 2 of Hearts 3 of Clubs board.

    Daniel still walked away with a nice $28,684 prize, as the players had made an agreement to split the money evenly, leaving an extra $3,500 and the bracelet to the eventual winner (which was one of the terms of this event).

    Congratulations Steve Pouliot!

    Event 1 Champion: Steve Pouliot, $32,184

    Event 1 Champion: Steve PouliotEvent 1 Champion: Steve PouliotEvent 1 Champion: Steve Pouliot and his Rail

    2nd place: Daniel Charette, $28,684

    Daniel CharetteThe Heads-Up Match

    Final hand of Event 1

    Final Hand of Event 1

    Event 2 Champion: Michael Hunter!

    After a relatively short heads-up battle, Michael Hunter managed to overcome Alexandre Borra to take home the title of Event 2 Champion, as well as a cool $2,325 in cash, and of course the Playground Poker Spring Classic bracelet!

    In the final hand of play, we saw Alexandre go all-in first to act preflop with Queen of Diamonds 10 of Diamonds, and get snap called by Michael and his Jack of Diamonds Jack of Hearts. The board ran out 9 of Diamonds 3 of Hearts 5 of Clubs Jack of Clubs Ace of Diamonds, and Alexandre was eliminated in 2nd place, collecting $1,570 for his finish.

    Congratulations Michael Hunter!

    Event 2 Champion: Michael Hunter, $2,325

    Event 2 Champion: Michael HunterEvent 2 Champion: Michael Hunter

    2nd place: Alexandre Borra, $1,570

    Alexandre BorraThe Heads-Up Battle

    Final hand of heads-up

    Final Hand of Event 2

    10th Place: Johnny Benehoustos

  • Level: 16
  • Small Blind: 2.5K
  • Big Blind: 5K
  • Ante: 500
  • Chip Average: 222.2K
  • Remaining: 9
  • Entries: 100


  • We have just lost our first player on the final table of Event 2 – NLHE Shootout, as Johnny Benehoustos was sent to the cashiers to collect his prize of $350.

    10th place: Johnny Benehoustos, $350

    Johnny Benehoustos