Event #2 of Playground’s 8-Year Anniversary Series is the Playground 200.

Today was Day 1D, the last of four live flights in the event. Along with an online flight played earlier this week, 707 total players entered the Playground 200 in an effort to take it down, aiming to collect their piece of the $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The chip leader at the end of this evening’s flight was Everol Davis, earning himself 309,000 chips as well as a more comfortable start in tomorrow’s action. Along with the other players who survived Day 1D, Everol will join 138 others tomorrow for Day 2. Congratulations goes out to everyone on a well played tournament so far!

Day 2 promises to be a spirited affair, filled with a great group of competitors. For those who have earned their spot, we’ll see you tomorrow, Saturday December 15 for the 1:00pm start.

See you at the tables!

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Name	Stack | Tapis
Everol	Davis	309,000
Michael	Lawson	284,500
Van Nghiem	Nguy	214,500
Jason	Mandanici-Turcot	198,500
Alexandre	Lajoie	196,000

Vera had just made an agonizing decision (not to call a raise) that would have put her all in just a few hands ago. That patience paid off as she faced off against another neighbor at the table, this time against Carlo Nini to her right.

Vera shoved all in for just over 30,000 in chips preflop. The table folded around to Carlo Nini, who called. They both flipped over pocket pairs.

Fortunately for Vera, her 9’s defeated Carlo’s 6’s when the board was dealt .

With less than 30 minutes left in today’s action, it was a sorely needed victory for Vera, who will have to double up again just to make it to the chip average by the end of the session.

Pressure can take many forms at the poker table, whether related to strategy, probability, emotion or others. One of those others, particularly as we near the end of the day, is time pressure. This was the case on table 34 just now.

Vera G. had initially raised to 8,600 from late position preflop, which was raised again to 18,000 by the neighbor on her left, Miguel Cambronne. Eventually she called.

Flop:

Vera checked, and Miguel shoved for his remaining 27,000. A quick glance at Vera’s stack showed that she had essentially the same amount of chips. One wrong decision and her night was over. As for Miguel, he had already made his choice, so he waited patiently for Vera to make her decision.

It eventually came down to the clock, with the tournament manager being called over to put 30 seconds on the clock. Because of an issue with the machine, he was forced to call out the last 5 seconds aloud. With one second remaining Vera was forced to toss in her cards, folding the hand.

Miguel took it down, and both players lived to play another hand. With only a few minutes left in level 13, however, the time pressure remains for most of the players still at the tables.

Five players wanted to see the flop on a recent hand at table 30. An initial raise to 3,200 meant that there was a pot of 20,000 up for grabs relatively early in the hand.

Flop:

The first three players checked when Duy Nguyen bet 5,000. Christina Knot re-raised to 12,000, called quickly by Daniel Fortier to her left. The other players folded around to Duy, who also called. The pot was now nearing 60,000.

Turn:

All three players checked, and the river was a .

Daniel Fortier raised 20,000, which was too much for his savvy opponents to handle. They folded, and Daniel scooped up some valuable chips at this late stage of Day 1D.

We have now started level 12, and only 90 minutes remains in today’s flight, the Playground 200’s Day 1D.

There are 73 players left, and the player with the most chips after the last break was Dylan Thibault, stacking an impressive quarter million chips.

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Name	Stack | Tapis
Dylan	Thibault	253,500
Carlo	Nini	206,900
Marc-Andre	Racine	199,800
Everol	Davis	171,700
Michael	Lawson	164,500

When we arrived at table 24, Joey Boczek aka “The Birdman” had briefly halted the friendly banter with his table mates and decided to pop on his sunglasses for some serious play.

He raised to 3100 from late position, drawing two callers.

The flop came down , and both opponents checked to Birdman. Sensing weakness, he bet 7600, which chased his challengers from the table. He was happy to share the good news, showing the table his K-10.

A successful Birdman Bluff!

On table 24 Linda Huard just busted Said Michailidis in a battle of the pocket pairs.

Both players got their money in preflop, but Linda’s pair of 8’s defeated Said’s 6’s.

The board was dealt  and that was all she wrote for Said.

We are now down to 91 players, and dropping fast as the chips become consolidated in fewer and fewer hands.

 

We are now just started level 10, and at this point we have exactly 100 players remaining at the tables.

Over on table 30, Marc-Andre Bisson was recently pushed off a hand by Christina Knot, a hand in which Bisson (eventually) whipped his cards down at the table in frustration.

When we joined the action the flop had been dealt , with four players in the hand.

After two checks Marc-Andre bet 3,800, but was promptly raised by Christina to 7,900. Both other players folded, and after a short period of contemplation Marc-Andre did as well, unhappy with the way the hand turned out.

After eight 30-minute levels Duy Nguyen has emerged as the new chip leader, banking over 150,000 chips so far. Several others have distinguished themselves from the rest of the group as well, nipping at his heels.

With over 119 players still at the tables, it is likely that we will lose at least 70 more players before the end of the day, whose chips will be distributed to all the others. Good luck to all the players!

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Name	Stack | Tapis
Duy	Nguyen	158,500
Van	Nguy	155,800
Michael	Lawson	145,700
Carlo	Nini	132,000
Everol	Davis	114,000

When we arrived at the table the action was already well underway.

Board:

With all the cards already on the board, Fabrizio Bruno led out with a bet of 7,500. The only other player still in the hand was Michel Cronier. In an attempt to push Fabrizio off the hand, Cronier shoved all in.

The raise didn’t have the desired effect, however, as Fabrizio called without much hesitation at all, showing his . His two pair (10’s and 4’s) were too much for Michel, who only had a .

Although we weren’t there to see the hand progress, it’s likely that Michel was hoping for the gut shot straight the whole way along, and then perhaps a flush on the river as his last out. And while he didn’t make it work this time, at least his ill-timed all in bluff wasn’t completely covered by Fabrizio, leaving both players to continue on for the time being.