With almost 700 entrants total into the 5 live and online flights of the Playground 200, registration has now officially closed.

Today saw a total of 216 entries (including 45 re-entries), and at the moment 145 players are still battling it out to make the cut for tomorrow’s Day 2, which begins at 1pm. Good luck to everyone over the next 8 levels.

On table 31 just now Patrick Hachey faced off against Gabriel Alacchi for his tournament life.

As we joined the action Gabriel had just raised to 3,500, called only by Patrick.

Flop:

Gabriel led out with a bet of 3,000, which was quickly raised all in for 16,000 by Patrick. Gabriel called quickly, but was ultimately disappointed with the results.

Gabriel:

Patrick:

Although Gabriel’s pocket jacks were formidable, eclipsing all possible pairs on the table, it wasn’t enough, as the turn’s made Patrick’s nut flush.

The river was a , and Mr. Hachey doubled up to stay alive for the time being.

After four 30-minute levels of play we have had a total of 169 entries so far (including 18 re-entries), meaning it is the best attended of the Day 1 flights so far this week.

Up on top of the leaderboard is Marc-Andre Bisson, holding nearly 65,000 chips. A handful of players have a similar amount, approximately double the average chip stack. But so far, no one has taken a significant lead and pulled ahead of the pack..

Annuztia D’s chips were running precariously low, but on the edge of an early bust-out she found herself holding pocket 10’s. Douglas Best didn’t know this at the time, calling Annuztia’s last ditch all in with his KQ suited.

Douglas:

Annuztia:

When the flop came down , Annuztia was a heavy favorite to win the hand with trip-tens.

Her good luck was not destined to last, however, as Douglas was able to see his pair of Kings turned into the nut straight when the turn and river came down .

As we walked through the sea of players we noticed an all in situation at table 27. While not an altogether uncommon occurrence early in a tournament, this all in stood out because of the unique circumstances surrounding the play.

When we joined the hand the flop was already on the table, a , and Dimitri Tchakarov (in orange) had already shoved for what looked like 11,000. However, not content to wait until his only remaining opponent made his decision, he asked to leave the table to attend to nature’s call.

A quick check with a roving tournament director confirmed that players are in fact not allowed to leave the table while all in without possibly incurring a penalty.

Luckily it didn’t come to this, as the other player in the hand (Martin Demondehare) was given 30 seconds to make up his mind – a compromise Dimitri was happy to oblige.

Dimitri:

Martin:

Dimitri was unable to complete his gut-shot straight as the turn and river came down . This relieved the pressure busting Dimitri and helping Martin scoop up some early tournament winnings.

Things are starting strong, with 141 entries in this flight so far. Good luck to all!

This evening’s 7pm Playground 200 has just started.

Tonight is the last Day 1 flight of this event, a $200 + 20 No Limit Hold’em tournament that has seen well over 500 entrants join the fray so far this week. At stake is a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool, so if you haven’t yet made your way down to Playground to take part in some of its 8-Year Anniversary festivities yet, now is the perfect time to swing through.

Registration for this tournament will remain open until just after 10pm tonight, so there is still plenty of time to get down here and try your luck!

See below for some photos of the competitors from so far this evening.