Day 1b is on!

  • Level: 1
  • Small Blind: 50
  • Big Blind: 100
  • Ante: 0
  • Chip Average: 20K
  • Remaining: 189
  • Entries: 189


Play has now begun for the second of the 4 starting flights for Event 1, The Wild $150, here in the Playground Poker Fall Classic. This event is a next-day re-entry event, and players will take their best stack forward if they happen to qualify on multiple days. Which means that tonight’s flight will mix new players trying to qualify for the first time, some players who were eliminated earlier today in Day 1a, as well as (rarely) a few players who qualified for Day 2 this morning but with a stack they feel is smaller than they would like to start with on Day 2.

Play will continue tonight through 13 30-minute levels with breaks after every 4th level. Late registration is open until the end of the break following level 4, which means players still have 2 hours to arrive at Playground Poker Club to join the event.

Next up – Day 1b

Tonight at 7pm will see the start of the second of four starting flights in The Wild $150. Action gets underway in just over one hour from now, and we’ll be following the action from start to finish here on the Playground Poker Live Event Blog.

Capacity for Day 1b is 350 entries plus alternates, and with over two hours available for late registration, there’s still a lot of time to make your way to Playground and jump in the action!

12 minutes left in Day 1a

  • Level: 13
  • Small Blind: 1K
  • Big Blind: 2K
  • Ante: 300
  • Chip Average: 84.1K
  • Remaining: 93
  • Entries: 391


There are just 12 minutes remaining to play in Day 1a of Event 1 and the TD will be announcing a final number of hands to play at each table. When those hands are completed, the remaining players will bag their chips and we’ll post final results for the flight shortly after that.

Of the 391 who started today just 93 remain at the moment, so it’s likely that somewhere around 85-90 players will have qualified for Day 2 through today’s first flight.

Separating from the pack

  • Level: 11
  • Small Blind: 800
  • Big Blind: 1.6K
  • Ante: 200
  • Chip Average: 63.1K
  • Remaining: 124
  • Entries: 391


With just two full levels left to play on Day 1a, a few players have put their foot on the accelerator and are separating their stacks from the pack. In particular, Bo Yan Shi (playing on table 65) has been stacking chips almost every time we have visited his table, and his stack was last seen approaching 200K. Others who have been moving up quickly include Luigi Fantigrossi, and Bob Amireault.

Chip leaders to begin level 9

  • Level: 9
  • Small Blind: 400
  • Big Blind: 800
  • Ante: 100
  • Chip Average: 39.1K
  • Remaining: 200
  • Entries: 391


The players have just returned from a break during which tournament staff removed the green T25 chips from play and during the break we found the chip leaders in the event so far.

  1. Marouane Tijani – 125K
  2. Robert Coté – 120K
  3. Yanick Mailloux – 115K
  4. Kethees Thanabalasingham – 102K
  5. Etienne Caron, Bo Yan Shi, Gregory Thomas – 95K

Play continues with 200 players remaining with 5 levels left to play before today’s Day 2 qualifiers bag their chips.

The 2nd break is approaching quickly

  • Level: 8
  • Small Blind: 300
  • Big Blind: 600
  • Ante: 75
  • Chip Average: 36K
  • Remaining: 217
  • Entries: 391


There are still 217 players in the action on Day 1a with just 12 minutes left until the players’ second break of the day. During the break we’ll find the chip leaders and publish the first leaderboard of the event.

There’s a leader on Table 66

  • Level: 5
  • Small Blind: 150
  • Big Blind: 300
  • Ante: 50
  • Chip Average: 24.1K
  • Remaining: 324
  • Entries: 391


It’s still early in Day 1a, but during the first break we found that although there were quite a few players who had doubled or even tripled their starting stack of 20K in tournament chips, Isham Yamani had taken the chip lead, having built his stack to an impressive 92K during the first 4 levels of play.

Isham Yamani

The other news, now that the break has ended is that the final number in this flight grew to 391 entries, which represents a solid start to the four starting flights for Event 1.

More early photos

  • Level: 4
  • Small Blind: 100
  • Big Blind: 200
  • Ante: 25
  • Chip Average: 23.8K
  • Remaining: 324
  • Entries: 385


There are so many players seated we’ll never be able to photograph them all, but here are a few more shots of the early action in Day 1a of The Wild $150. Late registration ends at the end of the break following this blind level (level 4).

Photos from early in Day 1a

  • Level: 3
  • Small Blind: 75
  • Big Blind: 150
  • Ante: 25
  • Chip Average: 20.8K
  • Remaining: 342
  • Entries: 356


Here are some photos of the action early in Day 1a.

Players keep on coming

  • Level: 2
  • Small Blind: 75
  • Big Blind: 150
  • Ante: 0
  • Chip Average: 20.8K
  • Remaining: 342
  • Entries: 356


Day 1a is approaching the end of level 2 and there are already 356 players seated with over an hour left for late registration (2 more 30-minute levels plus the break following level 4). As usual, when the Tournament Hall is almost full there is a palpable buzz in the room as players are both excited to get started – but they’re also settling in for a long day.