Playground 200 | Playground Power Weekend February 2018

Hassan Salha takes down the Playground 200

2018/02/26 - 23:14 by Jôle Simard

After 2 full days of poker, almost 3 hours of final table action and a little over 10 minutes of heads-up play, Hassan Salha was crowned Champion of the Playground 200, a natural outcome that resulted from unbelievable play. Salha was hands down the fiercest competitor. Since early in Day 2, his well-calculated aggressiveness served him extremely well. This type of play got him a lot of free pots, and also a lot of value from players who just could not bring themselves to believe him anymore.

The Playground 200 attracted 607 players spread on 4 Day 1s – 1 online and 3 live. 126 players managed to send a stack to Day 2. On that Day, Hassan Salha was either 1st or 2nd in chips on ALL leaderboards, a very rare thing. He also had a partypoker LIVE patch on him, and as the Champion, he was incidentally the winner of the partypoker promo. All players who joined My partypoker LIVE were given a patch, and the last patch in the field would win a $530 Satellite Final ticket, to be redeemed next Sunday for a chance at winning a MILLIONS Main Event seat.

Among the 9 Day 3 qualifiers was Isham Yamani. He was playing in this afternoon’s 8-max tournament, and was on the final table with only 3 players left when Day 3 got underway. He had to leave his 8-max stack unattended in order to be able to play his Playground 200 final. He got second place in the 8-max, and was the first player in Playground history to make it to heads-up without being at their seat!

Elvira Popescu qualified online for this weekend’s big Event. She started at the bottom of the satellite hill, and qualified her way to this Event with an initial buy-in of $0.50!! To be fair, she did put in an extra $2 for the add-on, bringing her investment to $2.50. She enjoyed an ROI of 499,040%. Not too bad, is it?

But back to Hassan Salha. He single-handedly eliminated 5th, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd place finishers. He started the heads-up match with about 85% of the chips in play, and play small ball poker, not letting his opponent find value, until he found a spot.

Elvira Popescu woke up with , but decided to play it passively. Salha was doing such a good job at not giving her chips that her best bet was to let him come to her. However, Salha’s had flopped a queen, and that was the end of the tournament.

Congratulations to both finalists!

Our Playground 200 Champion: Hassan Salha – $21,000.00

Runner-up: Elvira Popescu – $12,476.00

Last hand of play:

Alexandre Nadeau-Lévesque hits and falls

Level: 30
Small Blind: 50K
Big Blind: 100K
Button Ante: 0
Chip Average: 7.6M
Remaining: 2
Entries: 607

2018/02/26 - 21:50 by Jôle Simard

Elvira Popescu limped in from the button, and Alex decided to raise to 350K from the small blind. Both players called, and the flop was put out. Alex did not place a continuation, and both his opponents checked very quickly, happy to see a turn. That’s when Alex decided to commit. He bet out 310K, which were called only by Hassan.

On the river, Alex went all-in for about a pot size bet, and a snap call followed.

Alexandre Nadeau-Lévesque:
Hassan Salha:

Board:

A very wet turn, giving Alex the top pair and Hassan the nut straight. Alex played solid poker throughout the evening, the only player to have rivaled with Hassan’s stack at some point. He takes $14,470, which was previously secured in the ICM chop.

Congratulations!

ICM chop!

Level: 30
Small Blind: 50K
Big Blind: 100K
Button Ante: 50K
Chip Average: 5.1M
Remaining: 3
Entries: 607

2018/02/26 - 21:34 by Shawn McCrory

The three finalists in the Playground 200 have just agreed to an ICM chop. After counting their stacks, the tournament staff crunched the numbers and quickly reported back to the players. The players agreed without hesitation and play now continues 3-handed. Hassan Salha, the chip leader, will take $18,600.00, Alexandre Nadeau-Levesque, second in chips, will get $14,470.00 and Elvira Popescu will pocket $12,476.00. As with all our events, it is required to leave a portion of the prize pool for the eventual winner so the three players are still playing for an extra $2,400.00.

4th place: Rabah Belal Ahin Al-Nasseri

Level: 30
Small Blind: 50K
Big Blind: 100K
Button Ante: 50K
Chip Average: 5.1M
Remaining: 3
Entries: 607

2018/02/26 - 21:26 by Jôle Simard

When play resumed after the break, Rabah Al-Nasseri had about 17 big blinds. This was not deep enough to get away from the set-up to come:

Rabah Al-Nasseri:
Hassan Salha:

Board:

Al-Nasseri fought well on the final table, staying out of trouble and enjoying the pay jumps. His 4th place finish is worth $7,210. Excellent work!

4 players on break

Level: 30
Small Blind: 50K
Big Blind: 100K
Button Ante: 50K
Chip Average: 3.8M
Remaining: 4
Entries: 607

2018/02/26 - 21:17 by Jôle Simard

Only 4 players are left in the Playground 200, and have been granted a short break. Recent action include Elvira Popescu’s double up against Alexandre Nadeau-Lévesque. Alex raised to 170K, which was called by Hassan Salha. Popescu went aheau and pushed 1.1M. Only Alex called, with a small pair, which did not improve to beat Popescu’s jacks.

Alexandre Nadeau-Lévesque got his chips back from Rabah Belal Ahin Al-Nasseri when he got value from him with his flopped top pair.

Here are the actual counts:

First Name	Last Name	Chip Count
Hassan	Salha	8,555,000
Alexandre	Nadeau-Levesque	3,540,000
Elvira	Popescu	2,290,000
Rabah	Al-Nasseri	1,785,000

Shawn gets a taste of Hassan

Level: 29
Small Blind: 40K
Big Blind: 80K
Button Ante: 40K
Chip Average: 3.8M
Remaining: 4
Entries: 607

2018/02/26 - 20:37 by Jôle Simard

Hassan Salha is by far the most active player on the table. His attacks are incessant, and it is only natural for a seasoned player to want to fight back. That’s what Shawn did, but it backfired on him.

The pot was very nicely built already, and Shawn, leading the action, went all-in on the turn for about 2M chips. Hassan was clearly annoyed by that bet. He asked for an exact count, and finally decided it was likely enough that his opponent was just playing the man. He called.

Shawn S:
Hassan Salha:

Board:

Salha took down the biggest pot of the tournament, and is now undertaking this 4-way gig with half the chips in play and a well defined plan. Shawn S took $5,530 for his 5th place finish.

Congratulations!

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