| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Douglas | James | 185,100 |
| Michael | Malm | 156,000 |
| Matthew | Bellsmith | 147,600 |
| John | Athanasiou | 142,000 |
| Charles | La Boissonnière | 127,600 |
| Alex | Arsenault | 114,000 |
| George | Iliacopoulos | 112,000 |
| Laura | Montgomery | 108,600 |
Some photos of some of the remaining 109 players as they come to the end of level 9. Players will be on break following this level.
Matthew Bellsmith was a big chip leader at the last break, and we just witnessed a hand that may at least partially demonstrate how he’s done it. Nothing exciting, just a willingness to play pots in position and put his opponents under pressure.
Matthew Grocholsky opened the action with a min-raise to 1.6K from middle position and found a caller in Bellsmith playing from the cutoff. The blinds got out of the hand and the flop was dealt:
Grocholsky bet 2.2K and Bellsmith just called. The turn came: 
. Grocholsky led for 5K, but this time Bellsmith raised to 12K. Grocholsky made the call.
The river was the 
and Grocholsky decided to check – which was met with a shove by Bellsmith. Grocholsky folded… and Bellsmith calmly added almost 16K to his stack.
Event 5 in the Playground Poker Fall Classic is a $1,000 + $100 NL Hold’em Deepstack Freeze tournament to be played over 2 days from November 8th to 9th. There were 243 players in the tournament which added up to a prize pool of $235,710.00. This will be distributed according to the following table.
31 places will pay and there is a fantastic $54,630.00 up top for the eventual winner. The winner will also recieve a Fall Classic Champion’s Trophy and an entry in the Champion’s Freeroll during the upcoming Playground Winter Festival.
| Pos | Prize | Bourse |
|---|---|
| 1st | $54,630.00 |
| 2nd | $38,430.00 |
| 3rd | $24,160.00 |
| 4th | $14,700.00 |
| 5th | $11,360.00 |
| 6th | $9,400.00 |
| 7th | $8,010.00 |
| 8th | $6,830.00 |
| 9th | $5,460.00 |
| 10th-12th | $4,640.00 |
| 13th-15th | $3,980.00 |
| 16th-18th | $3,340.00 |
| 19th-21st | $2,730.00 |
| 22nd-24th | $2,160.00 |
| 25th-27th | $1,900.00 |
| 28th-31st | $1,620.00 |
Players in Event 5 have just returned from their second break of the day following level 6, and during the break the late registration period ended – the event has attracted a total of 243 players overall, 169 of whom are still playing in the tournament.
Tournament staff is preparing the prize pool and payout information now – it should be ready to publish shortly.
During the break we were also able to count the current chip leaders and establish a leaderboard for the tournament. So far, Matthew Bellsmith has taken a huge lead on the field and with Douglas James is among the only players so far who have surpassed the 100,000 chips mark.
Keep in mind that the chip situation is still very fluid at this stage in the tournament – it’s still early and there several players nipping at the heels of the players in the 80K+ range.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew | Bellsmith | 135,400 |
| Douglas | James | 109,000 |
| Frederic | Pierre | 92,000 |
| Jaime | Staples | 88,800 |
| Andreas | Kanakis | 84,500 |
| Rahman | Khakban | 83,100 |
We’ll get some “firm” counts during the next break, but a quick survey of the tables in play shows the following among the current leaders part way through level 6 (in no particular order):
Along with the higher-profile players that have come out for today’s $1.1K tournament comes a lot more discussion on Twitter. Here’s a sample:
Full house is good and I think I'm chip leader!! @PlaygroundPoker #fallclassic pic.twitter.com/DM0M7s4fQJ
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) November 8, 2016
Just got in 100bbs with 33 on 396ss against 77. Games are good! Letsssss go! @PlaygroundPoker @PokerStars pic.twitter.com/T1p4L9XqeW
— Kevin Martin (@KevinRobMartin) November 8, 2016
First two hands back from break I get JJ back2back and flop sets both times!! From semi- short stack back to avg! Let's go @PlaygroundPoker
— Patrick Kam (@Patakampoker) November 8, 2016
@KevinRobMartin @PlaygroundPoker @PokerStaplesPA @jaimestaples favourite room in North America hands down!
— Eric Davis (@Eric_Davis11) November 8, 2016
Players keep on joining us in today’s Event 5 $1,100 NL Hold’em Deepstack Freeze – and it seems like quite a few are landing at the airport and coming straight here to play.
Some other players today (both local and visiting):
And many more! There’s still over 90 minutes left to join the event, and though we’re into alternates seating at the moment, it’s taking no more than 5 or 6 minutes to get new arrivals seated.
The field in Event 5 is filling out nicely as 203 players have already bought in and taken their seats with almost 3 hours of late registration still available.
Here are a few more photos of players in the field today.
Here are a few photos of the players at the tables in level 1 of today’s Deepstack Freeze.
