Event 3 – the $225 + $25 ‘Frenzy’ No Limit Hold’em Re-entry – is coming to a close tonight, as the 28 players that remain from a starting field of 1332 will battle it out until there is but one left, our tournament champion. The winner will walk out with a $50,000 prize, as well as a Playground Poker Fall Classic bracelet!
Leading the field with an impressive 2,700,000 stack is Rick Shamshoum, a local regular here at Playground Poker Club who has had some deep runs in past series. His most notable score came when he finished just shy of the final table in the Main Event of the Playground Poker Montreal Festival earlier this year.
He is closely follow by Alexandre Normandin Charest, who holds a stack of 2,673,000 chips. These two players have a good lead on the rest of the field, as next on the leaderboard is Jean-Francois Lescadres and his 1,965,000 stack.
WSOP bracelet winner Michael Malm, who also won a bracelet in the Playground Poker Spring Classic earlier this year by winning Event 4 – $500 + $50 No Limit Hold’em, is coming in to Day 3 with a stack of 1,300,000, good for 5th on the leaderboard. His experience is certainly going to give him an edge on the field, as he has been in this situation many times in his career, and knows how to close the deal.
On the shorter end of the leaderboard is online phenomenon and local pro Derek “Derek8” Lerner, who is not to be underestimated. Although he only bagged 331,000 chips after losing a huge flip near the end of Day 2, he is always a force to be reckoned with at the tables, and will certainly make his presence felt today.
We followed Michael and Derek throughout their Day 2, as well as three other players. The graph below shows their chip counts at every stage of the Day, from level 15 through to level 26. Michael’s graph line is in orange, while Derek is in green, and the tournament average is represented in gray.
Day 3 will begin in around 20 minutes, be sure to stay tuned in to the blog for live updates throughout the night!
Good luck!
