2018 MILLIONS North America News

The MILLIONS is only one month out, and at Playground Poker Club, we’re getting ready to host the biggest poker festival in Canadian history! With big festivals come big poker players, and some of the biggest names in the game, both local and international, have already confirmed their presence. Click here to see the updated list.

Because names and career earnings can only tell so much, here’s a brief presentation of some of these skillful players. We’ll publish more bios here in the coming weeks.

Ema Zajmovic

Ema is the new darling of the Quebec poker scene. In November of 2016, she final tabled the $3,500 + $350 WPT Montreal right here at Playground Poker Club, for $102,010. In the very next WPT we hosted, in February of 2017, she plowed through a 380-entry field to take the $3,200 + $300 WPT Playground Championship! That day, along with pocketing $241,500, Ema became the first female player to win an open event on the World Poker Tour. For her stellar efforts, Ema was nominated for – and won – Poker Moment of the Year at the 2017 GPI American Poker Awards!

Ema is ‘good for the game’ in an entirely different way than what that expression usually means. She is as fierce as can be when it comes to running deep in an important event, but she also lightens the mood on the felts and initiates friendly conversations, making one’s experience of losing their chips to her almost enjoyable. Almost!

Kevin Rivest

Kevin is a recent Championship winner at Playground. Last summer, during the World Cup of Cards, he bested a field of 899 entries and emerged the champion of the $2,000 + $200 WCC Canadian Poker Championships, which game him a huge $336,325 payday. Kevin has been a regular at the club for years, showing players how it’s done on the $2/$5 and larger cash tables, playing both Hold’em and PLO. With last summer’s big score, he is now an all-around accomplished player, and will enter the MILLIONS with some serious momentum!

Kristen Bicknell

Kristen seems to be everywhere these days. Just in the last two months, she collected prizes in Australia, then Uruguay, and just two weeks ago took down the APPT (Asia Pacific Poker Tour) National High Roller Event in Macau, for $279,549. Kristen, a partypoker Sponsored Pro and the most recent GPI Female Player of the Year will once again join us at Playground Poker wearing the partypoker colours and gracing our felts with her contagious smile. Will she warm up for the Main Event in the $25,000 MILLIONS Super High Roller? Only time will tell.

Eric Afriat

Eric is another Montrealer on a hot streak. After his win in the $3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in 2014, which paid out a cool $1,081,184, he had to wait until 2017 to make another big time final table – and it happened right here at Playground Poker Club. He took 3rd place in the $3,200 + $300 partypoker.net WPT Playground, and then later last year, he did it again, placing 5th in the $3,500 + $350 WPT Montreal. He also started 2018 with a bang, taking down his second WPT championship in the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open in January for $651,928.

Eric is known on the felts for his sharp comments, but also for the very scholarly fashion in which they are delivered. If you’re sitting at his table, prepare to be entertained in a multitude of ways.

Jeff Gross

Introducing Jeff Gross, a poker superstar, is an exercise in futility, but in case you were living under a rock for the last decade, we’ll have a go at it. Jeff was initially an online pro, having earned his stripes gradually as a young adult and into his 20s. He earned his first 6-figure score at the WSOP in 2010, and when Black Friday hit in 2011, Jeff became much more active on the live scene. 2013 was probably his biggest year, where he finished 3rd at the first ever WPT Alpha8 event in Florida, and 2nd at the 2013 Premier League Season VII, right here at Playground Poker Club. He has run deep in major events every year since then, and has a huge following that has developed through his popular Twitch and YouTube channels. It is an honour to welcome the #pokerflowshow back to Playground. We are looking forward to see him walk about our club in his usual casual wear and backpack.

Martin Jacobson

Jacobson, a former WSOP World Champion, currently ranks 20th on the All Time Money List. His win in the 2014 WSOP Main Event earned him $10,000,000, but over a solid career, Jacobson has accumulated another $6M in tournament earnings. He was playing in High Roller Events before and after his crown – in fact he placed 2nd in a $10K event right here at Playground in 2013 for $124,936! Whatever festivals he chooses to attend, you can be sure to see him playing the richest events in the house. If you assume that his large bankroll explains his success, however, you’re missing a huge part of the picture. His 3 months of preparation for the 2014 WSOP final table included roughly 500 hours of deep opponent analysis, simulations, discussions with friends, and work on game theory – plus an impressive amount of physical training as well. Now that’s preparation!

Of course, there are many more significant names on our list of confirmed players, not to mention those that will be added to it as we close in on the big dance. Check out the full list and stay tuned for more profiles as the MILLIONS approaches!

For now, make sure to earn your seat alongside these giants and an ever-growing list of qualifiers in one of our many satellites, at Playground or on partypoker!

Kahnawake (pronounced: ɡahnaˈwaːɡe) is both rich in culture and history. It is a Mohawk First Nations community; one of the eight communities that make up the Mohawk Nation and has historic, political and cultural ties – based on Honor, Trust, and Respect – with the Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora Nations of the Northeastern part of North America.

Located only minutes from Montreal on the South Shore, it is home to just over 8,000 people, and so much more. And we hope you take some time, while you are here for MILLIONS North America from April 21st to May 2nd, to visit and explore this vibrant community.

We highly recommend you visit the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitiohkwa language and cultural center if you want to learn about the Kanien’kehaka and Haudenosaunee People and see art exhibits, featuring the works of local and other Native Artisans. It’s a great place to immerse yourself in the local culture.

Looking to hit the links before hitting the felt? Kahnawake has quite a few golf courses, including the Mystic Pines with a premier 9-hole championship course, located pretty much right behind Playground Poker Club.

Why not take a piece of Kahnawake home with you? If you’re looking to do a little shopping there are plenty of options. The Calico Cottage Quilt and Gift Shop, Wolf’s Den, and Okwari Arts & Crafts, just to name a few, offer everything from assorted drums and soapstone carvings to jewelry and moccasins.

Another one of a kind boutique is Sequoia, which sells Native-roots inspired environmentally friendly bath and body products. Drop by for a visit and experience their luxurious products for yourself.

Looking for something unique to wear? Then drop by Tammy Beauvais Designs and see her unique clothing and accessories. You won’t leave empty-handed.

These are just a few of the many places to visit, shop, learn and meet some of the amazing people that make up this very special and unique community. It is where we call home and we hope you get to know it a little better.

If you are in Montreal from April 21st to May 2nd, your focus will be on climbing one mountain in particular; the MILLIONS Main Event. All the while hoping to reach one of the top three peaks paying at least $1,000,000, $1,200,000 and $1,400,000 respectively!

But regardless of these massive payouts, we also highly recommend you take some time to visit the beautiful and majestic Laurentians, just north of Montreal.

The Laurentians are a region of Quebec which includes part of the Laurentian Mountains for which it is named. This mountain range is one of the oldest in the world, containing rock deposits as old as 540 MILLION years and runs through four other regions, Capitale-Nationale, Outaouais, Lanaudière, and Mauricie.

If you haven’t heard of the Laurentians, you may have heard of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State? Well, they are an extension of the Laurentians.

The Laurentians are also the central part of the “Grenville orogeny” which is a geological feature dating back around a billion years. In other words, this Mountain range is very, very old – but if you love the outdoors, there you will find paradise.

The drive into the mountains is beautiful any time of the year, and is the perfect place for a fun, family, or romantic getaway. There is literally something for everyone; sports, shopping, spas, and great food are as abundant as the greenery, woods, lakes, and fresh air.

This four-season resort destination of international caliber is sure to capture the heart of the most avid city dweller just as easily as MILLIONS North America has captured the hearts of poker players around the world… and why it was chosen as #6 on our Top 10 list.

History is important to us at Playground Poker Club – it helps drive us to exceed your expectations of what a poker room should be. It’s important to remember your roots while looking to the future.

But making history is not easy! You need to get lucky – and luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. We’ve seen this here at Playground many times, be it when Mike Sexton won his first WPT event, or just months later when Ema Zajmovic becoming the first woman to win a WPT title in an open event (which also recently won Moment of the Year for 2017 at the American Poker Awards). Both milestones were reached at Playground Poker Club – and part of “luck” is that you need to be at the right place at the right time.

The right place? Here at Playground Poker Club. The right time? From April 21st to May 2nd for the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America. We can guarantee history will be made once again.

So with that in mind, let’s explore some of Montreal’s rich 375-year history and see what great things have been built in our glamorous little city.

Where to start? Well, you may want to visit Saint Joseph’s Oratory, if only to light one of the 10,000 candles in the votive chapel; you never know…

Founded in 1904 and completed in 1967, Saint Joseph’s Oratory is the largest domed Basilica in North America. It is majestic, to say the least, and offers one of the best views in the city. The museum features nativity scenes from around the world. And the magnificent front stairs are a great workout!

Looking to take a little trip through time? Visit the Château Ramezay, the first building in Quebec to be classified a historic monument and it was also selected by UNESCO as one of the top 1001 historic sites to visit before you die. Hopefully that won’t be anytime soon, but if you’re in town, then why not cross this one off of your bucket list? And while you’re in the neighborhood, you might as well visit The Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site and see what living in the upper middle class of 19th century Montreal looked like.
Both are located in Old Montreal, which we will cover more in detail in a later instalment, but suffice it to say that you will find many treasures in this historic part of town.

And last but not least; no trip to Montreal is complete without a trip to the Notre-Dame Basilica. Built in the Gothic Revival style, this highly decorated church features stained glass windows along the walls of the sanctuary depicting the religious history of Montreal, which is unusual for a church. This Church also has a Las Vegas connection, as the site of the wedding of René Angélil and Celine Dion, and having also hosted the memorial service for Angélil in 2016.

There are literally hundreds of historical sites and landmarks in and around Montreal so hopefully, this small sample whets your appetite enough to do your own research into what could interest you and has given you one more reason to visit beautiful and historic Montreal, Quebec, Canada this April.