| 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.
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.
