Yan Touchette was short stacked when he moved in his chips facing an all-in from other short stack of the table Pascal Fournier, and found himself flipping for a pot of 1 million in chips and his tournament life.
Yan: 
Pascal: 
The small pocket pair remained unharmed on the 
board as Yan was sent to the cashiers to collect his 16th place prize money.
16th place: Yan Touchette – $2,350.00
Eric Ranger placed a small open from middle position, and Julian Volpe 3bet all-in from the blinds with around 10bb. Eric obliged and the two opened their hands:
Eric: 
Julian: 
Board: 
With that pot Eric climbed up to around 2.5 million after losing a few chips in recent hands.
17th place: Julian Volpe – $2,350.00
Eric Levesque opened to 160K from middle position, and Thomas Lefort replied with a 3bet to 440K from the big blind. Eric quickly announce all-in, and Thomas made an even quicker call.
Eric: 
Thomas: 
Thomas made broadway on the 
board to add over 1.6 million new betting units to his now nearly 4.6 million chip stack.
18th place: Eric Levesque – $2,350.00
The $250 Frenzy is down to just 18 players, who have been merged onto 2 final tables. Mike Fraser still leads the field with nearly 5 million, while Daune Fernandez holds the second largest stack at 3.2 million. Eric Ranger rounds the top 3 as he nears 2.5 million in chips.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Seat | Siège |
|---|---|---|
| Georges | Hallak | Table 36 - Seat 1 |
| Marco | Caza | Table 36 - Seat 2 |
| Mathieu | Leclerc | Table 36 - Seat 3 |
| Daune | Fernandez | Table 36 - Seat 4 |
| Pascal | Fournier | Table 36 - Seat 5 |
| Robert | Violo | Table 36 - Seat 6 |
| Sayed | Hossieni | Table 36 - Seat 7 |
| Yan | Touchette | Table 36 - Seat 8 |
| Stergios | Alexandrakis | Table 36 - Seat 9 |
| Eric | Levesque | Table 40 - Seat 1 |
| David | Kovacic | Table 40 - Seat 2 |
| Tony | Stratopoulos | Table 40 - Seat 3 |
| Julian | Volpe | Table 40 - Seat 4 |
| Mike | Fraser | Table 40 - Seat 5 |
| Thomas | Lefort | Table 40 - Seat 6 |
| Domenico | Scalamogna | Table 40 - Seat 7 |
| Eric | Ranger | Table 40 - Seat 8 |
| Marc | Guerbilsky | Table 40 - Seat 9 |
Three more eliminations occurred in the last few moments, and the field in The $250 Frenzy is now down to just 2 final tables.
We missed the action, but when we arrived at the table we saw Francis L all-in and at risk from the blinds, up against Mike Fraser on the button. Francis tabled 
, but fell second best to the 
of Mike on a 
board.
Eric Ranger was moved to table 40 to balance the field, and on one of his first hands on the table he limped in from utg. Once action folded around to Nicholas Rudochvilow in the big blind, he pulled the trigger for around 800K only to find out he stepped into Eric’s trap.
Eric:
Nicholas: 
With no help on the 
board, Nicholas was sent packing in 20th place.
Philip Drouin was the next casualty, as he 3bet all-in from the button facing a late position open from Thomas Lefort, and was racing for his tournament life. His couldn’t find a pair on the board, and Thomas’ 
won the pot to bring the field down to just 2 final tables.
19th place: Philippe Drouin – $2,100.00
20th place: Nicholas Rudochvilow – $2,100.00
21st place: Francis L – $2,100.00
Randy Khalil came into Day 3 as an average stack with around 1 million, and ran it up significantly in the first level of play before getting coolered in a 4 million chip pot.
He cleaned out table opponent Donald Cowie in a two part process. We missed the first hand, however after losing nearly half his stack moments before, Donald open shoved from middle position for just over 400K. Khalil made the call from the blinds and the two tabled their hands.
Donald: 
Randy: 
Board: 
With that pot, Randy climbed up to nearly 2 million in chips.
Moments later, Randy opened from the cutoff and called the 3bet of Mike Fraser in the big blind. On a 
flop, Mike lead out for 375K, roughly half the pot. Randy slid forward a stack of blue T25K chips, raising the action to 1,010,000. Mike replied with an all-in, and Randy snap called – only to find out his 
was in terrible shape versus the 
of Mike. The turn 
and river brought no help, and Mike scooped the massive pot to put him above 5 million in chips.
22nd place: Randy Khalil – $1,800.00
23rd place: Donald Cowie – $1,800.00
Dan P was the first to go in Day 3 of The $250 Frenzy. Most of his chips vanished when he button-raised with , and called off a few more big blinds once David Kovacic 3bet all-in from the blinds holding . Dan flopped a flush draw but failed to improve, and was left with under 4 big blinds after the hand, which were picked up by Mike Fraser shortly after.
In a hand where Georges Hallak opened to 125,000, Kiril Martinov Gelev 3bet all-in over the top and found a call from the original raiser. Kiril tabled and fell short to the of his opponent to end his run in 26th.
On another table, Tomas Larivee Magni open-shoved for just under 10bb from early position, and was followed by an all-in from Tony Stratopoulos next to act, who only had him covered by a small margin. Maxime Fortin Demers, the shortest of the 3 stacks, moved in for less from the big blind and action went 3-way.
Tomas:
Tony: 
Maxime:
Board:
Tony made a king-high flush to score the double knockout, bringing the field down to 23 players.
24th place: Tomas Larivee Magni – $1,800.00
25th place: Maxime Fortin Demers – $1,675.00
26th place: Kiril Martinov Gelev – $1,675.00
27th place: Dan P – $1,675.00
The final chapter of The $250 Frenzy takes place tonight, as 27 players remain to battle it out on the felts for the $50,000 top prize, which is accompanied by a Playground Poker Fall Classic Champion’s Trophy.
Through 26 levels of play and 6 starting flights, the 1,366 entry field that began Event 3 has been reduced to just 3 final 9-handed tables. Mike Fraser and his army of 2,455,000 lead the pack, which includes many talented and experienced players. Second in chips is Marco Caza (2,160,000), who has packed a ton of tournament poker experience over the years and is sure to be a dangerous player for his opponents tonight.
Other players to watch include rising star Thomas Lefort (1,180,000), who has been making a presence on the live scene of late after some very successful ventures on the virtual felts. Randy Khalil (1,105,000) might not have bagged the biggest of stacks, but he is sure to come out swinging tonight. Marc Guerbilsky (710,000) is on the shorter end of the leaderboard but has proven he knows how to navigate these big fields and will definitely be bringing his A-game to the tables. Tomas Larivee Magni (540,000) may have only bagged 10 big blinds, but he is on his 3rd Day 3 in as many attempts in The $250 Frenzy, and with a 2nd and 7th place under his belt we can safely assume he is returning to the felts tonight with one idea in mind: to win Event 3.
Action resumes momentarily in level 27, where blinds are 25K/50K/a5K and levels are of 40-minutes each. Follow live updates and photos via our own Playground Poker Blog.
Good luck!
Player-reported chip counts of the final 27 players:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Mike | Fraser | 2,455,000 |
| Marco | Caza | 2,160,000 |
| Eric | Levesque | 1,980,000 |
| Daune | Fernandez | 1,910,000 |
| Domenico | Scalamogna | 1,550,000 |
| Stergios | Alexandrakis | 1,545,000 |
| Eric | Ranger | 1,290,000 |
| Donald | Cowie | 1,195,000 |
| Thomas | Lefort | 1,180,000 |
| Georges | Hallak | 1,115,000 |
| Randy | Khalil | 1,105,000 |
| Nicholas | Rudochvilow | 1,005,000 |
| Sayed | Hossieni | 815,000 |
| Dan | P | 815,000 |
| Robert | Violo | 745,000 |
| Pascal | Fournier | 715,000 |
| Marc | Guerbilsky | 710,000 |
| Yan | Touchette | 685,000 |
| David | Kovacic | 630,000 |
| Tony | Stratopoulos | 575,000 |
| Philippe | Drouin | 570,000 |
| Mathieu | Leclerc | 550,000 |
| Tomas | Larivee Magni | 540,000 |
| Francis | L | 495,000 |
| Maxime | Fortin Demers | 335,000 |
| Julian | Volpe | 325,000 |
| Kiril Martinov | Gelev | 285,000 |
A total of 26 levels of poker have been played in Event 3, The $250 Frenzy, in the 2016 Playground Poker Fall Classic presented by partypoker.net, and now just 27 players remain to compete for the largest prizes.
The following table contains the official seating chart for the beginning of play in Day 3. Click (or tap) on a column heading to sort this table, for instance by name or by chip count.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Seat | Siège | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony | Stratopoulos | Table 32 - Seat 1 | 575,000 |
| Marco | Caza | Table 32 - Seat 2 | 2,160,000 |
| Domenico | Scalamogna | Table 32 - Seat 3 | 1,550,000 |
| Daune | Fernandez | Table 32 - Seat 4 | 1,910,000 |
| Maxime | Fortin Demers | Table 32 - Seat 5 | 335,000 |
| Mathieu | Leclerc | Table 32 - Seat 6 | 550,000 |
| Thomas | Lefort | Table 32 - Seat 7 | 1,180,000 |
| Philippe | Drouin | Table 32 - Seat 8 | 570,000 |
| Tomas | Larivee Magni | Table 32 - Seat 9 | 540,000 |
| Georges | Hallak | Table 36 - Seat 1 | 1,115,000 |
| Kiril Martinov | Gelev | Table 36 - Seat 2 | 285,000 |
| Eric | Levesque | Table 36 - Seat 3 | 1,980,000 |
| Eric | Ranger | Table 36 - Seat 4 | 1,290,000 |
| Pascal | Fournier | Table 36 - Seat 5 | 715,000 |
| Robert | Violo | Table 36 - Seat 6 | 745,000 |
| Sayed | Hossieni | Table 36 - Seat 7 | 815,000 |
| Yan | Touchette | Table 36 - Seat 8 | 685,000 |
| Stergios | Alexandrakis | Table 36 - Seat 9 | 1,545,000 |
| Dan | P | Table 40 - Seat 1 | 815,000 |
| David | Kovacic | Table 40 - Seat 2 | 630,000 |
| Randy | Khalil | Table 40 - Seat 3 | 1,105,000 |
| Julian | Volpe | Table 40 - Seat 4 | 325,000 |
| Mike | Fraser | Table 40 - Seat 5 | 2,455,000 |
| Francis | L | Table 40 - Seat 6 | 495,000 |
| Nicholas | Rudochvilow | Table 40 - Seat 7 | 1,005,000 |
| Donald | Cowie | Table 40 - Seat 8 | 1,195,000 |
| Marc | Guerbilsky | Table 40 - Seat 9 | 710,000 |
Day 2 of Event 3, The $250 Frenzy, has been wrapped. The Frenzy is a cornerstone Event of Playground Poker Club’s Fall Classic. This fall, it attracted 1366 entries, an astounding number, which amassed the amazing $298,129 prize pool. 285 players managed to bag their chips onto Day 2, and of that number, 27 are currently and carefully bagging their chips again, this time towards the main dance, the third and final day.
Mike Fraser is leading the way to Day 3, with a nice 2,455,000 in chips. Then Marco Caza, with 2,160,000. On our multi-millionaire’s tails are Éric Lévesque (1,980,000) and Daune Fernandez (1,910,000). Full player reported chip counts, as well as the seating assignments for Day 3, will be made available shortly.
Day 3 will be played tomorrow, starting at 7pm, and playing down to a winner, which will enjoy the very nice 50K first prize, not to mention the dashing Playground Poker Fall Classic Champion’s Trophy.
Photographs of the Day 3 players:
