We’ve done a quick survey of the field so far, and there are definitely some players to watch in the event so far.

• Kevin MacPhee – one of the leading pros in the field, Kevin has almost $3.5M in live tournament earnings, and his results include an impressive 4th place finish in last fall’s WPT Montreal, held right here at Playground Poker Club.
• Chris “D0r1t0s” McClung – Chris is a member of the Players Club and has just under $600K in live tournament earnings, with published results going back to 2006.
• Jason “Bébé Chien” Duval – a Players Club member, Jason is one of the best-known of the “new” Quebecois poker pros. A WSOP bracelet winner, Jason has almost $1M in career live tournament earnings and a fearsome reputation for aggressive play at the table.
• George Caragiorgas – Marathon George is a Players Club member with an impressive record of results both here at Playground Poker Club and in his memorable deep run at the 2009 WSOP Main Event, in which he finished 20th.
• Marco Caza – Marco is well-known on the Montreal tournament scene and has been on quite a heater in the past few months, with wins in the Série Royale at the local casino and deep runs in events at both the PCA in the Bahamas (January) and Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls (February).
• Patrick Braga – Patrick may not consider himself a poker pro, but he has enough results to be put on any list of notable players in this event. Patrick’s biggest result to date is his win in the 2013 FPS Deauville Main Event.
• Jean-François Marin – Jean-François is not a “known” player, but he already has two cashes in this festival including a first-place finish in Event 1, The Wild $150.
• Alan Yifan Dong – Yifan is a local tournament regular who may not have the gaudy results of some of the other players in the event, but he’s a solid player with a well-deserved reputation among locals.
• Jason Comtois – Jason’s poker resume is short, but includes a very significant entry: he was the winner of a previous $1,100 Main Event here at Playground Poker Club.

Level 3 is about to start, and a few more players have registered in this last level. Day 1A is schedule to play for thirteen 45-minute levels, and those still around at that point will bag and tag their chips onto Day 2, which will be held Sunday at 12:00pm.

Level 2 photos:

The Main Event has just jumped into level 2, and registration is still climbing! For now we’ve seen 135 players take their seats, but registration will remain open until around 4pm.

Level 1 photos:

The tournament director has made his opening announcements and given the traditional command:

Dealers, Shuffle up and deal!

And with that, the $500K Guaranteed Main Event of the Playground Winter Festival has begun. Players start with 30K in tournament chips and blind levels today are 45 minutes long.

As it’s 11am on a Friday, and as poker players are, well, people who keep poker players’ hours, we’re expecting a large number of people to take advantage of late registration. Registration is open until 4pm, so there’s lots of time for players to arrive at Playground Poker Club and take their seats in this fantastic event.

Good luck to everyone in the event!