Tina opened to 165K from utg, and with only 305K left, Francois Graton-Valiquette moved all-in over the top from late position. The rest of the players got out of the way, and Tina quickly threw in a calling chip.
Tina: 
Francois: 
Both players found a pair, but Tina got the best of the 
board to bring the field down to 15 players.
16th place: Francois Graton-Valiquette – $1,200.00
George “Marathon” Caragiorgas, likely the most experienced player who made Day 3, was just eliminated deep in this opening event to the Playground Poker Fall Classic.
He took a big hit moments ago, as his middle position open was confronted with a 3bet shove from Maxime Heroux in the big blind. George committed the extra chips and tabled the best hand – 
. Maxime held a trailing 
, however, as he has done numerous times already today, he came from behind to win the pot as he paired the 
board. George was forced to pay out 800K, and with under 200K left after the fact, his chips went in on the very next hand. Mike Mirand made the call from the button and the two players went heads up. This time it was George who had the weaker ace, and with no help on the board, his 
couldn’t defeat Mike’s 
.
17th place: George Caragiorgas – $1,200.00
Joel Malo looked down at a pair of 
in an unopened pot, and moved all-in from late position. Action folded around to Fadi Haddad in the big blind, who found 
and made the call.
Joel was flipping for his tournament life, and over 1.5 million in chips were in the middle for the winner of the hand. The 
flop was a good one for Joel, but the 
turn gave Fadi a world of possibilities with straight and flush draws, and two live over cards. The river was one of the 16 cards that Fadi was looking for, as the dealer peeled the for knock Joel out in 18th place.
18th place: Joel Malo – $1,200.00
This event is now down to 18 players, which means the players have assembled around 2 remaining tables. There wasn’t a full redraw at this level for this tournament, but enough players have moved through the course of the early play that we have produced a new seating chart for reference.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Seat | Siège |
|---|---|---|
| Yang | Guo | Table 39 - Seat 1 |
| Yu | Chen | Table 39 - Seat 2 |
| Joël | Malo | Table 39 - Seat 3 |
| Mike | Mirand | Table 39 - Seat 4 |
| Maxime | Héroux | Table 39 - Seat 5 |
| John | Palmer | Table 39 - Seat 6 |
| Fadi | Haddad | Table 39 - Seat 7 |
| Sébastien | Proulx | Table 39 - Seat 8 |
| George | Caragiorgas | Table 39 - Seat 9 |
| Jean-François | Jodoin | Table 40 - Seat 1 |
| Tanvir | Ahmed | Table 40 - Seat 2 |
| Jason | Mottershead | Table 40 - Seat 3 |
| Tina | S | Table 40 - Seat 4 |
| George | Kazarian | Table 40 - Seat 5 |
| Rachid | Bahaj | Table 40 - Seat 6 |
| Yan | Nadeau | Table 40 - Seat 7 |
| François | Graton-Valiquette | Table 40 - Seat 8 |
| Pascal | Monarque | Table 40 - Seat 9 |
We missed the action, but when we arrived at table 36 the board showing 
, and in front of Fadi Haddad in the small blind. Garry Antonio had a second best 
in front of him, as he stood up and congratulated his opponents. He was eliminated in 21st place, good for $1,050.
Eric Fournier was also sent home not long after, and his fall came in two parts. In the first hand, he saw a good chunk of his stack get shipped towards Tanvir Ahmed, as his fell short to .. Moments later, with under 200K to his name, he was all-in with , but couldn’t overcome the pair of 
that his heads-up opponent tabled to finish his run in 20th.
Glen Hammers was down to around 10bb when he found an unopened pot in late position. He moved all-in and found a call from Rachid Bahaj in the blinds.
Glen: 
Rachid: 
Rachid’s hand was the winner, as the community cards were 
, and Glen was eliminated in 19th place, good for $1,050.
The field is now down to 18 players on 2 final tables.
Jason Conforti was eliminated deep in this event in a spot all poker players dread to go broke in. Holding , he and Yan Nadeau got into a raising war preflop leading to an all-in and a call. Yan tabled a trailing , but flopped a set and held for the win on a 
board. Yan barely had his opponent covered, but scored the nearly 2-million chip pot to bring the field down to 24 players.
Maxime Heroux was crippled not long after, as he called Mike Mirand’s small blind open-shove from the big blind. He lost the flip holding to Mike’s 
, and saw a large portion of his stack get shifted to his neighbour. He has since successfully rebuild his stack, partially in a hand that lead to Rami Rached’s elimination.
Kenneth Robidoux opened the action, and Maxime moved in with less than 2bb from the small blind. Rami then 3bet all-in from the big blind, and Kenneth made the call.
Kenneth: 
Maxime: 
Rami:
Maxime got the best of the 
flop to triple up, while Kenneth took the side pot, sending Rami out the door in 23rd.
A few hands later, Kenneth defended his big blind after Yang Guo opened from utg. On a flop, Kenneth open-shoved first to act, and found a quick call. He tabled for a flush draw, and saw he was drawing very slim versus the of his opponent. Kenneth was drawing dead once the turn brought the , and even deader when the river gave his opponent quads! He collected $950 for his run.
Karim-Olivier Kamal was our first casualty of Day 3. He started off as the second shortest stack of the night, and when he was sitting in the big blind and faced with an open-shove from Maxime Heroux in the small blind, he went with the hole cards given to him.
Maxime: 
Karim-Olivier:
Karim-Olivier managed to take the lead on the flop, and kept it on the turn, but Maxime found the card he was looking for on the river as the dealer peeled the . Karim-Olivier collected $875 for his 27th place finish.
While this was happening, the other short-stack to start the day managed to double up twice to bring him back in the game. Jason Mottershead picked up just in time to double his 190K stack through John Palmer. A few hands later, he opened from late position and called off when Yan Nadeau 3bet shoved from the blinds. He tabled and was racing versus the 
of Yan. The flop and turn brought him no help, but a showed up just in the nick of time to score Jason another double-up, propelling him over 1 million.
Yu Chen scored a double-up as well, as he open-shoved with and found a call from Rami Rached in the big blind, who held . Yu found a river straight on the board to jump up over a million, crippling his opponent in the process. Rami has since found a triple up of his short stack and remains in the game.
On a different table, George Caragiorgas opened the action to 100K from early position, and called the all-in of Albert for just over 500K. George won the 7-figure pot with over , sending Albert to the rail in 26th place to collect $875.
Moments later we saw Dylan Thimothy Maille Thibault open-shove a 10bb stack from early position. George Kazarian asked for a count and then slid some chips forward, which were returned to him with interest as his overcame Dylan’s .
Although Mike Mirand showed up late and missed the first few hands, he has made the most of it since as he has doubled his stack twice already.
Day 3 of The Wild $150 is now underway, as our Tournament Director has just announce the traditional “Shuffle up and Deal!”. 27 players have returned to play down to our Event 1 champion tonight, and a cool $28,000 is reserved for the eventual winner – who will also take home a Playground Poker Fall Classic Champion’s Trophy.
Below are the seating assignments and chip counts to start the night. You can follow live updates and photos on our own Playground Poker Blog.
Good luck!
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Seat | Siège | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glen | Hammers | Table 36 - Seat 1 | 485,000 |
| George | Caragiorgas | Table 36 - Seat 2 | 995,000 |
| Dylan Thimothy | Maille Thibault | Table 36 - Seat 3 | 660,000 |
| Rachid | Bahaj | Table 36 - Seat 4 | 930,000 |
| George | Kazarian | Table 36 - Seat 5 | 1,245,000 |
| Tina | S | Table 36 - Seat 6 | 785,000 |
| Fadi | Haddad | Table 36 - Seat 7 | 780,000 |
| Albert | N | Table 36 - Seat 8 | 650,000 |
| Garry | Antonio | Table 36 - Seat 9 | 435,000 |
| Yang | Guo | Table 39 - Seat 1 | 750,000 |
| Yu | Chen | Table 39 - Seat 2 | 580,000 |
| Joel | Malo | Table 39 - Seat 3 | 830,000 |
| Mike | Mirand | Table 39 - Seat 4 | 585,000 |
| Maxime | Heroux | Table 39 - Seat 5 | 705,000 |
| Karim-Olivier | Kamal | Table 39 - Seat 6 | 320,000 |
| Rami | Rached | Table 39 - Seat 7 | 785,000 |
| Sebastien | Proulx | Table 39 - Seat 8 | 2,425,000 |
| Kenneth | Robidoux | Table 39 - Seat 9 | 1,055,000 |
| Jean Francois | Jodoin | Table 40 - Seat 1 | 1,365,000 |
| Tanvir | Ahmed | Table 40 - Seat 2 | 455,000 |
| Jason | Mottershead | Table 40 - Seat 3 | 280,000 |
| Jason | Conforti | Table 40 - Seat 4 | 1,065,000 |
| John | Palmer | Table 40 - Seat 5 | 750,000 |
| Eric | Fournier | Table 40 - Seat 6 | 565,000 |
| Yan | Nadeau | Table 40 - Seat 7 | 1,910,000 |
| Francois | Graton-Valiquette | Table 40 - Seat 8 | 1,500,000 |
| Pascal | Monarque | Table 40 - Seat 9 | 900,000 |
Day 3 of The Wild $150 is set to start in just over 2 hours from now. 27 players remain with chip leader Sebastien Proulx well out in front – he will resume play with 2,425,000 in chips – more than 10bb more than his nearest rival, Yan Nadeau (1,910,000).
There are two players left in the tournament who have already proven they can succeed in this format – both players have already won an event at this buy-in and structure. Tina S and John Palmer. Both players are starting with just under average chip stacks – 785,000 and 750,000 respectively, and Tina in particular has what could prove to be a favourable table draw, with no huge stacks to her left. John’s path may be a little more challenging, with 2 of the chip leaders on his left – but more chips on the table means more chips to win, so this could also be an advantage for him.
Jason Mottershead starts the day with the small stack playing just 280,000 (5.5bb), but Jason has been in this position before, and if he can find an early double-up, there are plenty of chips on his table (Table 40) to make a run with. Karim-Olivier Kamal starts in arguably a more difficult position, with just over 6bb in his stack but with Sebastien’s 48bb stack just one seat to his left, he’ll have difficulty making any kind of move unless he holds the goods.
Some of the most experienced players left also have relatively comfortable starting positions. George Caragiorgas, George Kazarian, and Jason Conforti are all talented and experienced players with histories of making deep runs in events. None of these three will feel any urgency right off the hop tonight, and all three have the starting chips tonight to do some damage.
The chief characteristic of this tournament format, however, is to expect the unexpected – so only time – and a lot of great poker – will tell how everything is going to shake out once the cards are in the air. Good luck to all 27 players remaining!
Just 27 players remain in The Wild $150 after an action-packed Day 2, and all will return tomorrow to restart play for Day 3, during which the tournament will play down to a Champion. Play will resume in level 27 (blinds 25K/50K/a5K) and with several players hovering at or below the 10bb mark, the festivities are certain to start off with a bang!
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Seat | Siège | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glen | Hammers | Table 36 - Seat 1 | 485,000 |
| George | Caragiorgas | Table 36 - Seat 2 | 995,000 |
| Dylan Thimothy | Maille Thibault | Table 36 - Seat 3 | 660,000 |
| Rachid | Bahaj | Table 36 - Seat 4 | 930,000 |
| George | Kazarian | Table 36 - Seat 5 | 1,245,000 |
| Tina | S | Table 36 - Seat 6 | 785,000 |
| Fadi | Haddad | Table 36 - Seat 7 | 780,000 |
| Albert | N | Table 36 - Seat 8 | 650,000 |
| Garry | Antonio | Table 36 - Seat 9 | 435,000 |
| Yang | Guo | Table 39 - Seat 1 | 750,000 |
| Yu | Chen | Table 39 - Seat 2 | 580,000 |
| Joel | Malo | Table 39 - Seat 3 | 830,000 |
| Mike | Mirand | Table 39 - Seat 4 | 585,000 |
| Maxime | Heroux | Table 39 - Seat 5 | 705,000 |
| Karim-Olivier | Kamal | Table 39 - Seat 6 | 320,000 |
| Rami | Rached | Table 39 - Seat 7 | 785,000 |
| Sebastien | Proulx | Table 39 - Seat 8 | 2,425,000 |
| Kenneth | Robidoux | Table 39 - Seat 9 | 1,055,000 |
| Jean Francois | Jodoin | Table 40 - Seat 1 | 1,365,000 |
| Tanvir | Ahmed | Table 40 - Seat 2 | 455,000 |
| Jason | Mottershead | Table 40 - Seat 3 | 280,000 |
| Jason | Conforti | Table 40 - Seat 4 | 1,065,000 |
| John | Palmer | Table 40 - Seat 5 | 750,000 |
| Eric | Fournier | Table 40 - Seat 6 | 565,000 |
| Yan | Nadeau | Table 40 - Seat 7 | 1,910,000 |
| Francois | Graton-Valiquette | Table 40 - Seat 8 | 1,500,000 |
| Pascal | Monarque | Table 40 - Seat 9 | 900,000 |
