Playground Poker

With only 14 players remaining in level 10, Trevor Dixon just doubled up at an opportune time.

When we arrived that the table the flop had already been dealt .

Jean-Pascal Gauthier in seat 1 opened with a bet of 4,200. It was called by the player in seat 4, and the table folded around to Trevor Dixon in seat 8. Trevor shoved for his remaining chips (14,000), and Jean-Pascal re-raised all in to chase out the player in seat 4.

Jean-Pascal:

Trevor:

Trevor was hoping to connect with his double open-ended straight draw and Jean-Pascal hoped simply to hold on with his high pair. Unfortunately for Jean-Pascal the next two cards were dealt , and he doubled up his opponent. Trevor lives to play another hand!

 

As we reach the end of level 8, there remain only 22 players. Good luck to everyone in the final push!

Registration is now closed for the $100 + $10 NL Short Deck Hold’em Re-entry tournament, the first event of this week’s 8-Year Anniversary Series. Good luck to each of the 26 competitors that remain.

After six 20-minute levels the players have gone on their first break. At the top of the leaderboard is Jean-Pascal Gauthier. Congratulations!

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Name	Stack | Tapis
Jean-Pascal	Gauthier	92,500
Jean-Michel	Bourgon	71,200
Frederic	Normand	60,000

There has been lots of laughter and back-slapping at table 20 recently, where it seemed that almost every hand elicited a roar from the players. As we arrived at the table the action didn’t slow down at all.

When we arrived two players were both all in preflop, with the player in seat 2 (grey cardigan) and seat 5 (backwards hat) both short-stacked.

Player 2:

Player 5:

The cards were dealt , and player 2 took down the hand. However, he was covered easily by the player in seat 5, so the action continued.

The very next hand saw the player in seat 5 go all in again, this time he was joined by the player in seat 7.

Player 5:

Player 7:

The cards were dealt , and player 5 doubled up, loving the fast pace of the game.

Keeping the same pace, the next hand saw an early position raise to 2,400 by the player in seat 3, drawing calls the two players in seats 2 and 5 (again).

After the flop came down , the player in seat 2 shoved again (for 11,700). For once the player in seat 5 bowed out, leaving the player in seat 3 to call. Unfortunately for the short-stack in seat 2, his luck had run it’s course.

Seat 2:

Seat 3

The turn and river were dealt , ending the player in seat 2’s tournament. As the hand ended, so did level 6, and players are now on break.

Unless you have a straight or royal flush – exceedingly rare hands in any game -the best you can hope for in a Short Deck tournament is an ace-high flush. Over on table 20 Matthew Willard just demonstrated that hand’s power, eliminating an opponent with said nut flush.

We joined the action with the flop already dealt.

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A few substantial raises and a fourth street () later, the field was reduced down to two players. The river was dealt a , making three hearts on the board. With approximately 20,000 chips in the pot Matthew went all in utg, pushing his chips into the middle with confidence.

His opponent took a little time to think about it, but not enough. Just as curiosity killed the cat, so did curiosity kill that player’s chances at winning this tournament.

Matthew flipped over his , and the tournament field was reduced by one.

As Level 4 begins we are now up to 28 players and 31 total entries (including 3 re-entries), which means that all three players who busted early have bought back in and remain committed to winning Event #1 in Playground’s 8-Year Anniversary Series.

Good luck to all the players!

Short deck is an interesting variation on an old classic.

Most players are familiar with the rules of No Limit Hold ‘Em, but in a Short Deck tournament, not only are 16 cards removed from the deck (all the 2’s, 3’s, 4’s and 5’s), but the probabilities and card ranges change as well.  For practical purposes, this means that a flush beats a full house.

Besides this (and the fact that the wheel is now A-6-7-8-9), all other facets of the game remain the same.

Perhaps it was this new format that resulted in an early double-up for Playground’s very own Skye Cole, who took down a big pot and doubled up on the second hand. He had been dealt a and flopped a massive flush, leading the big smile seen in the picture below.

Level 1 is underway for the first event of Playground’s 8-Year Anniversary Series, the $100 + $10 NL Short Deck Hold’em Re-entry. The first 20 players have found the seats, and the action is about to begin!