Cards are in the air!

  • Level: 15
  • Small Blind: 1.5K
  • Big Blind: 3K
  • Ante: 500
  • Chip Average: 93.5K
  • Remaining: 285
  • Entries: 1332


Tournament staff have made the opening announcements and play has begun in Day 2 of Event 3 in the Playground Poker Fall Classic, The $250 Frenzy ($225 + $25 NL Hold’em Re-entry). Action is sure to be very quick as the short stacks to start the night try to improve their position.

Coming up – Day 2 of the Frenzy

In just about an hour, the 285 players who managed to qualify through one of the SIX starting flights will have unbagged their chips and taken their seats around one of the 32 tables in play to start the night.

The bubble in the event will be reached with the players eliminated in 154th place, and though it may seem that it will take a long time to get there, experience with events of this scale and buy-in amount suggests that players will reach the bubble fairly quickly, as short stacks are eliminated to start the night and then huge stacks use their power to maintain the momentum.

Play tonight will continue for 12 levels and play will be 9-handed throughout. Blind levels will be 30 minutes long all evening.

Good luck to all of the players!

Event 3 Day 2 – seating draw & counts

There were a total of 1,332 entries over the 6 Day 1s in Event 3, the $250 Frenzy, at Playground Poker Club. A total of 287 entries qualified for Day 2, but two of those (Douglas Mackie and Norman Gauthier) were players who qualified twice. Those two players have had their smaller stacks retired from play, which leaves 285 players that will be seated to start Day 2, tonight at 7pm.

Here is the full seating draw for Day 2 including player-reported chip counts for each player.

First Name Last Name Seat Chip Count
Adam Hamaoui Table 53 – Seat 8 136,000
Al Caranci Table 63 – Seat 7 90,500
Alain Mathieu Table 49 – Seat 1 67,500
Alain Poirier Table 26 – Seat 9 110,000
Alain Rondeau Table 27 – Seat 8 117,000
Alan Dagenais Table 27 – Seat 4 147,000
Alemu Makonen Table 29 – Seat 8 128,000
Alex Chiasson Table 70 – Seat 6 43,500
Alex Cloutier-Champange Table 51 – Seat 5 18,000
Alexander Matveev Table 55 – Seat 9 131,500
Alexander Richmond Table 55 – Seat 8 38,000
Alexander Villa Table 56 – Seat 8 161,000
Alexandre Normandin Charest Table 66 – Seat 9 77,000
Amir Ghafouri Table 25 – Seat 9 62,000
Andre Bilodeau Table 50 – Seat 9 67,500
Andre Parent Table 31 – Seat 7 43,000
Andre Theriault Table 53 – Seat 5 70,500
Andrej Bachynsky Table 66 – Seat 8 35,000
Andrew Boujaoude Table 25 – Seat 6 77,500
Andrew Lalonde Table 65 – Seat 8 211,000
Antonio Amaya Table 54 – Seat 2 62,500
Antonio Sozinho Table 66 – Seat 4 23,500
Antonio Spina Table 49 – Seat 8 43,500
Armen Afarian Table 31 – Seat 9 205,000
Arthur W Table 29 – Seat 1 67,000
Ben Menache Table 55 – Seat 5 87,000
Bill Kontaratos Table 28 – Seat 4 106,000
Bradley Roe Table 70 – Seat 7 135,500
Bradley Webber Table 52 – Seat 9 69,500
Brent F Mccue Table 65 – Seat 3 20,000
Brian Morgan Table 54 – Seat 4 103,000
Bruno Desjarlais Table 54 – Seat 7 90,000
Bruno Fortin Table 58 – Seat 4 33,500
Charles-Eric Benoit Table 26 – Seat 6 150,000
Charles Normand Table 61 – Seat 7 101,000
Chi Tsun Chan Table 67 – Seat 4 39,000
Chris Sarena Table 60 – Seat 3 88,500
Christakis Christaki Table 58 – Seat 2 56,000
Christian Brousseau Table 25 – Seat 5 41,000
Christopher Lourenco Table 57 – Seat 1 53,000
Claudemir De Oliveira Table 64 – Seat 7 71,500
Claudio Fabrizio Table 57 – Seat 4 132,000
Damian Guevara Table 62 – Seat 3 270,000
Damien Sheaf Table 29 – Seat 6 108,000
Daniel Charette Table 29 – Seat 2 102,500
Daniel Gagnon Table 67 – Seat 3 158,000
Daniel Hamelin Table 67 – Seat 7 89,000
Daniel Leddy Table 30 – Seat 7 110,000
Daniel Schreiber Table 33 – Seat 3 78,000
Danik L'Ecuyer Table 63 – Seat 5 89,000
Darren Jones Table 68 – Seat 6 206,500
Darren Thompson Table 49 – Seat 6 31,500
Dave Pelletier-Bremner Table 63 – Seat 9 106,000
David Bolduc Hamel Table 64 – Seat 5 68,500
David Bonneau Table 58 – Seat 6 74,500
David Brunelle Table 56 – Seat 2 71,500
David Etmanskie Table 49 – Seat 9 43,000
David Guay Table 70 – Seat 8 90,000
David Lachance-Courtois Table 51 – Seat 6 22,500
David Scott Table 26 – Seat 4 66,500
Denis Cyr Table 61 – Seat 8 51,500
Derek Lerner Table 60 – Seat 2 206,500
Deron Noksana Table 31 – Seat 4 131,000
Dominic Sanche Table 62 – Seat 1 58,500
Douglas Mackie Table 29 – Seat 4 38,500
Eddie Bangash Table 25 – Seat 8 114,500
Eddie Daldalian Table 58 – Seat 7 42,500
Edward Hislop Table 53 – Seat 9 79,000
Elias Spiropoulos Table 68 – Seat 3 72,500
Emanuel Karlen Table 55 – Seat 1 34,000
Eraldo Edouard Table 64 – Seat 6 227,000
Eric Bienenstock Table 70 – Seat 1 119,000
Eric Cole Hilderbrand Table 69 – Seat 9 44,500
Eric Levesque Table 49 – Seat 5 216,500
Eric Pelletier Table 60 – Seat 1 118,000
Eric Pigeon Table 34 – Seat 3 19,500
Eric Tang Table 34 – Seat 7 74,500
Eric Vallee Table 61 – Seat 1 179,000
Eric Villeneuve Table 50 – Seat 6 46,500
Eric Vouligny Table 49 – Seat 2 25,000
Fabio Luongo Table 58 – Seat 9 176,000
Fadi Haddad Table 29 – Seat 7 102,500
Faisal Khan Table 55 – Seat 3 120,500
Fazeel Munawar Table 68 – Seat 8 110,000
Felice Cristiano Table 66 – Seat 2 53,500
Francois Cholette Table 54 – Seat 6 67,500
Francois Guerin Table 56 – Seat 6 78,500
Francois Miville Table 28 – Seat 5 83,000
Frederic Breton Table 65 – Seat 9 180,000
Gary Lucci Table 69 – Seat 7 121,000
Gaston Groulx Table 66 – Seat 7 124,000
George Zakhem Table 32 – Seat 8 64,500
Georges Hallak Table 67 – Seat 6 156,000
Gheorghe Priala Table 50 – Seat 2 52,000
Gianfranco Giordano Table 62 – Seat 8 58,500
Giovanni Abate Table 69 – Seat 4 73,000
Giovanni Di Cosmo Table 54 – Seat 1 49,000
Glenn Holcombe Table 28 – Seat 2 82,500
Grant Pazarka Table 61 – Seat 6 87,500
Gregory Katayama Table 59 – Seat 1 117,500
Hichem Rais Table 32 – Seat 1 48,500
Hugo Dumoulin Table 27 – Seat 5 67,500
Irene Tzanetopoulos Table 61 – Seat 3 55,000
Isham Yamani Table 32 – Seat 6 53,500
Jake Miller Table 52 – Seat 6 94,500
James Danchuk Table 69 – Seat 8 123,000
Janendra Mahendra Rajah Table 33 – Seat 2 44,000
Jared Havelock Table 32 – Seat 2 116,000
Jason Comtois Table 30 – Seat 6 49,500
Jason Mandanici-Turcot Table 62 – Seat 4 158,500
Jason Mottershead Table 62 – Seat 2 42,500
Jay Srinivasan Table 60 – Seat 8 35,500
Jean Pierre Hetu Table 28 – Seat 6 200,000
Jean-Francois Lescadres Table 25 – Seat 3 78,500
Jean-Francois Marin Table 53 – Seat 3 131,500
Jean-Gabriel Quenneville-Renaud Table 56 – Seat 3 127,500
Jean-Louis Arseneau Table 56 – Seat 9 73,000
Jean-Louis Cyr Table 69 – Seat 1 104,500
Jean-Paul Zeidan Table 54 – Seat 5 118,000
Jean-Philippe Piquette Table 61 – Seat 2 26,500
Jean-Sebastien Labonte Table 27 – Seat 1 53,500
Jeff Belford Table 50 – Seat 5 150,000
Jeffrey Goldstein Table 34 – Seat 8 94,500
Jennifer Brooks Table 31 – Seat 5 52,000
Jeremi Marcil Table 32 – Seat 3 26,500
Jerome Demers Table 67 – Seat 1 101,000
Jerry Felberbaum Table 26 – Seat 5 190,000
Jessie Wheatley Table 34 – Seat 6 176,500
Jimmy Lee Table 33 – Seat 8 110,500
Joanne Capritta-Gonzales Table 31 – Seat 3 99,500
Joe Gualtieri Table 59 – Seat 9 67,000
Joel Moreau Table 33 – Seat 6 85,500
Joey Silver Table 56 – Seat 7 72,000
John Helou Table 68 – Seat 1 173,500
John Paul Tabago Table 34 – Seat 1 8,500
John Toth Table 59 – Seat 6 55,500
Johnathan Neil Hansmeyer Table 26 – Seat 8 54,500
Jonathan Barrette Table 33 – Seat 5 57,500
Jonathan Bussieres Table 54 – Seat 9 157,000
Jonathan G Table 61 – Seat 5 27,500
Jose Pereira Table 62 – Seat 7 64,500
Joseph Abou Khalil Table 67 – Seat 9 237,000
Joshua Brueckner Table 65 – Seat 4 61,000
Julian Albert Mangan Table 53 – Seat 6 35,000
Julian Volpe Table 34 – Seat 5 72,500
Julien Lauzon Table 62 – Seat 5 49,200
Justin Jarrett Table 31 – Seat 2 28,500
Justin Strozynski Table 70 – Seat 5 63,500
Kamal Hamai Table 30 – Seat 8 280,000
Karen Sockett Table 56 – Seat 5 46,500
Karim Hadj Hassine Table 52 – Seat 3 124,500
Karl Gingras Table 58 – Seat 8 91,500
Karl Poulin Table 30 – Seat 9 56,500
Kathy Sawers Table 50 – Seat 7 118,500
Katlyn Serrurier Table 52 – Seat 2 139,500
Kenny Faucher Table 54 – Seat 8 59,000
Kevin Rivest Table 27 – Seat 9 53,000
Khang Can Table 51 – Seat 1 18,000
Kieu Hoa Lam Table 67 – Seat 2 129,500
Kiril Martinov Gelev Table 49 – Seat 4 162,000
Lance Syme Table 59 – Seat 8 130,000
Lesley Amos Table 28 – Seat 1 135,000
Linda Rioux Table 26 – Seat 1 39,000
Louis Richard Table 50 – Seat 3 38,500
Luciano Iacovella Table 52 – Seat 8 131,000
Luigino Di Caprio Table 51 – Seat 8 63,000
Manfred Gunther Table 26 – Seat 7 46,000
Marc-Andre Gariepy Table 63 – Seat 1 31,000
Marc-Andre Racine Table 50 – Seat 1 285,500
Marc-Oliver Crete Table 27 – Seat 3 40,500
Marcel Deschamps Table 25 – Seat 2 67,000
Marcello Simonetti Table 59 – Seat 2 90,500
Marco Caza Table 69 – Seat 6 136,500
Marco Pigeon Table 69 – Seat 3 85,500
Marie Tran Table 34 – Seat 2 61,000
Mario Doucet Table 69 – Seat 2 35,000
Mario Fuimidinisi Table 65 – Seat 7 60,000
Mario Lepine Table 57 – Seat 9 74,500
Mark Thomas Wells Table 70 – Seat 9 67,000
Mathieu Boulanger-Vaugeois Table 57 – Seat 5 81,500
Matthew Ballsmith Table 26 – Seat 3 105,000
Matthew Durand Table 59 – Seat 7 87,500
Maurice Simard Table 27 – Seat 6 91,500
Maxime Marcouiller Table 53 – Seat 7 91,000
Maxime Nault Table 50 – Seat 4 98,500
Maxime Robidoux Labelle Table 49 – Seat 7 42,500
Maxime Theroux Table 31 – Seat 1 57,500
Michael Korovine Table 51 – Seat 7 127,500
Michael Malm Table 55 – Seat 7 146,000
Michael Neuber Table 57 – Seat 6 135,500
Michael Pitcher Table 32 – Seat 4 142,500
Michael Selliah Table 25 – Seat 1 90,000
Michel Belanger Table 70 – Seat 2 35,000
Michel Gagne Table 65 – Seat 6 48,000
Michel Ghaleb Table 68 – Seat 5 18,500
Michel Leblanc Table 58 – Seat 1 57,000
Michel Melancon Table 64 – Seat 9 127,000
Michel Merlitti Table 55 – Seat 2 122,500
Michele Beliveau Table 64 – Seat 4 82,000
Mikael D'Amico Table 60 – Seat 9 52,500
Mohammed Rubel Table 51 – Seat 2 73,500
Muhyedine Fares Table 66 – Seat 1 70,000
Nancy George Table 25 – Seat 4 51,500
Nicholas Rudochvilow Table 53 – Seat 1 100,000
Nicholas Sheehy Table 50 – Seat 8 44,000
Nicola Basile Table 66 – Seat 3 101,500
Nicolas Malo Majeau Table 30 – Seat 4 135,000
Nimer Ltaif Table 30 – Seat 3 184,500
Norman Gauthier Table 65 – Seat 2 155,500
Odette Tremblay Table 30 – Seat 2 103,500
Olivier Brossard Table 66 – Seat 5 110,000
Othello Buyco Table 63 – Seat 2 23,500
Owen Anthony Carter Table 29 – Seat 3 53,000
Patrick Girard Table 32 – Seat 5 94,500
Patrick Vincent Table 68 – Seat 4 72,000
Paul Coolidge Table 27 – Seat 2 52,000
Paul Ho Table 25 – Seat 7 178,500
Paul Shanahan Table 57 – Seat 2 31,500
Paulette Morningstar Table 59 – Seat 5 125,000
Peter Johnson Table 33 – Seat 1 79,500
Peter Zhou Table 69 – Seat 5 31,500
Phil Breault Table 64 – Seat 3 222,500
Philippe Plouffe Table 51 – Seat 9 288,500
Phong Truong Table 52 – Seat 4 90,500
Pierre Leonard Table 64 – Seat 1 84,000
Pierre Marc Chadi Table 56 – Seat 1 30,000
Pierre Olivier Guay Table 28 – Seat 9 39,500
Pietro Matricardi Table 28 – Seat 7 118,500
Qiang Dong Table 55 – Seat 6 55,000
Quoc Nguyen Table 52 – Seat 7 108,000
Rahman Khakban Table 32 – Seat 7 38,500
Randy Gonzales Table 31 – Seat 8 179,500
Rawad Haddad Table 58 – Seat 3 268,000
Raymond Kay Table 52 – Seat 5 168,000
Remi Blanc Table 53 – Seat 4 44,000
Renato Soldera Table 66 – Seat 6 41,000
Ricardo Alvarado Table 67 – Seat 8 40,500
Richard Alexander Cisneros Campuzano Table 27 – Seat 7 153,500
Richard Elias Table 49 – Seat 3 61,500
Rick Shamshoum Table 57 – Seat 3 166,000
Ricky Lamirande Table 60 – Seat 5 133,500
Robert Amireault Table 34 – Seat 4 143,000
Robert Johnson Table 56 – Seat 4 207,000
Robert Piche Table 60 – Seat 7 48,000
Robert Poirier Table 33 – Seat 4 85,500
Rodney Hollett Table 28 – Seat 8 27,500
Rohit Jain Table 52 – Seat 1 79,000
Rostand Asselin Table 26 – Seat 2 136,000
Sammy Chao Table 51 – Seat 3 121,500
Samuel Louis Gagnon Table 67 – Seat 5 77,000
Sean Windover Table 64 – Seat 2 214,500
Sebastien Proulx Table 57 – Seat 7 139,000
Sebastien Rioux Table 68 – Seat 7 35,000
Shane Flewelling Table 62 – Seat 9 166,000
Shawn A Martell Table 70 – Seat 3 160,000
Simon Pier Belair-Grondin Table 30 – Seat 5 69,500
Sinisa Stajic Table 59 – Seat 4 28,500
Sourasay Souvanh Table 63 – Seat 3 54,500
Stephane Boucher Table 29 – Seat 5 114,500
Stephane Lacas Table 68 – Seat 2 75,500
Stephane Poyet Table 59 – Seat 3 63,000
Stephane Roquebrune Table 61 – Seat 9 99,000
Stephen Baker Table 51 – Seat 4 68,000
Steve Roussy Table 62 – Seat 6 36,000
Steven Chodjai Table 57 – Seat 8 56,000
Sylvain Ouellet Table 30 – Seat 1 111,000
Tanvir Ahmed Table 31 – Seat 6 62,500
Terence Lai Table 68 – Seat 9 188,000
Thinh Tieu Table 65 – Seat 1 43,500
Thomas Fehr Table 63 – Seat 4 67,500
Thomas Wintermans Table 64 – Seat 8 131,000
Tian Lin Liao Table 33 – Seat 7 107,500
Timothy Fryer Table 60 – Seat 6 141,000
Tina Frascarelli Table 65 – Seat 5 149,500
Tiziana Fantigrossi Table 63 – Seat 8 149,000
Tommy Coulombe Table 63 – Seat 6 67,500
Tyler St Clair Table 58 – Seat 5 89,000
Vasilios Critsotakis Table 60 – Seat 4 43,000
Vasilios Sklavounos Table 55 – Seat 4 153,000
Vince Dwyer Table 54 – Seat 3 110,000
Vo Victor Ly Table 70 – Seat 4 102,000
Wilson Igwe Table 29 – Seat 9 68,000
Yohann Wagner Table 61 – Seat 4 85,500
Yves Bohemier Table 53 – Seat 2 38,500
Zhen Wang Table 28 – Seat 3 83,500

Day 1f update – level 13

  • Level: 13
  • Small Blind: 1K
  • Big Blind: 2K
  • Ante: 300
  • Chip Average: 68.2K
  • Remaining: 97
  • Entries: 331


The tournament is starting to tighten up as the end of the final Day 1 of Event 3 approaches. There are 97 players left and the leaderboard is remaining consistent as the blinds increase with few big moves from small stack to among the leaders. With just over a level to go, there are still quite a few players who are likely to be eliminated; the rest qualify for Day 2 on Monday November 17th at 7pm.

The leaders remain balanced

  • Level: 12
  • Small Blind: 800
  • Big Blind: 1600
  • Ante: 200
  • Chip Average: 67.6K
  • Remaining: 98
  • Entries: 331


Players are approaching level 13, and even with the large crowd tonight, the chip leaders are all within a narrow range of chips with no one taking a huge leap into the lead. It’s notable that the 5 leaders during the last break are still the chip leaders at this point in the night.

Here are a few photos of players with “interesting” stacks…:

Update – Break 2

  • Level: 10
  • Small Blind: 500
  • Big Blind: 1000
  • Ante: 100
  • Chip Average: 46.3K
  • Remaining: 143
  • Entries: 331


Players have returned from their second break of the evening and the players’ stacks are still very much balanced among the field. Only 5 players have, so far, passed the 100K mark.

  • Jean-Sébastien Labonté – 106K
  • Faisal Khan – 140K
  • Matthew Ballsmith – 135K
  • Michel Leblanc – 111K
  • Alexander Villa – 120K

Event 3 – prize pool & payouts

Event 3 of the Playground Poker Fall Classic – known as “The $250 Frenzy” – was a $225 + $25 NL Hold’em Re-entry event that featured 6 Day 1s. The event attracted a total of 1,332 entries over the 6 starting days, which generated a prize pool of $290,709.00. This prize pool will be distributed according to the following table.

Finish Prize
1 $50,000.00
2 $34,270.00
3 $22,030.00
4 $16,279.00
5 $12,290.00
6 $9,940.00
7 $8,250.00
8 $6,590.00
9 $4,910.00
10-12 $3,690.00
13-15 $2,960.00
16-18 $2,550.00
19-21 $2,260.00
22-24 $2,000.00
25-27 $1,740.00
28-36 $1,510.00
37-45 $1,300.00
46-54 $1,100.00
55-63 $930.00
64-72 $780.00
73-81 $660.00
82-90 $580.00
91-99 $490.00
100-135 $400.00

Photos – Day 1f

  • Level: 5
  • Small Blind: 150
  • Big Blind: 300
  • Ante: 50
  • Chip Average: 25.5K
  • Remaining: 260
  • Entries: 331


Here are a few shots of the players at the beginning of this final starting flight in Event 3.

Event 3 Day 1e final chip counts

Here are the final chip counts for Day 1e of The $250 Frenzy, Event 3 of the 2014 Playground Poker Fall Classic. There were a total of 264 entrants in the fifth of six starting flights in Event 3. Of the 264 players who started, 63 have qualified for Day 2 on Monday, November 17th at 7pm.

Note that these are unverified player-counted chip counts. All chips have been sealed in bags until they return to play on Day 2.

First Name Last Name Chip Count
Marc-Andre Racine 285,500
Phil Breault 222,500
Sean Windover 214,500
Armen Afarian 205,000
Eric Vallee 179,000
Paul Ho 178,500
Daniel Gagnon 158,000
Georges Hallak 156,000
Katlyn Serrurier 139,500
Sebastien Proulx 139,000
Marco Caza 136,500
Lance Syme 130,000
Alain Rondeau 117,000
Eddie Bangash 114,500
Stephane Boucher 114,500
Fazeel Munawar 110,000
Odette Tremblay 103,500
Nicola Basile 101,500
Maurice Simard 91,500
Maxime Marcouiller 91,000
Matthew Durand 87,500
Ben Menache 87,000
Joel Moreau 85,500
Robert Poirier 85,500
Pierre Leonard 84,000
Michele Beliveau 82,000
Francois Guerin 78,500
Andrew Boujaoude 77,500
Eric Tang 74,500
Jean-Louis Arseneau 73,000
Julian Volpe 72,500
Stephen Baker 68,000
Wilson Igwe 68,000
Tommy Coulombe 67,500
Joe Gualtieri 67,000
Marcel Deschamps 67,000
Mark Thomas Wells 67,000
Stephane Poyet 63,000
Dominic Sanche 58,500
Karl Poulin 56,500
Irene Tzanetopoulos 55,000
Owen Anthony Carter 53,000
Denis Cyr 51,500
Michel Gagne 48,000
Janendra Mahendra Rajah 44,000
Andre Parent 43,000
David Etmanskie 43,000
Maxime Robidoux Labelle 42,500
Marc-Oliver Crete 40,500
Ricardo Alvarado 40,500
Jay Srinivasan 35,500
Mario Doucet 35,000
Michel Belanger 35,000
Sebastien Rioux 35,000
Emanuel Karlen 34,000
Paul Shanahan 31,500
Pierre Marc Chadi 30,000
Rodney Hollett 27,500
Jean-Philippe Piquette 26,500
Jeremi Marcil 26,500
Douglas Mackie 24,500
Antonio Sozinho 23,500
David Lachance-Courtois 22,500

Welcome – Day 1f begins!

  • Level: 1
  • Small Blind: 50
  • Big Blind: 100
  • Ante: 0
  • Chip Average: 20K
  • Remaining: 210
  • Entries: 210


Welcome to Day 1f, the final starting flight of Event 3, The $250 Frenzy, in the Playground Poker Fall Classic. There are already 210 players registered at the beginning of the tournament tonight, and over the first 5 starting days there were 1001 total entries. This is the final chance for players to qualify for Day 2, and it won’t be a big surprise if tonight gets the largest field of all of the starting days so far.

The participants will play through 14 levels today, after which everyone still surviving will qualify and pass on to Day 2, tomorrow (Monday) at 7pm.

Good luck!