Bruno Blanchette was down to 685K when he raised from the under-the-gun position. Shawn S put him all-in from the big blind, and Blanchette called.
Bruno Blanchette: 
Shawn S: 
Board: 
Blanchette took $3,720 for his 7th place. Congratulations!
Day 3 of the Playground 200 started rather violently, as Adamo Giroux was eliminated with kings against Alexandre Nadeau-Lévesque’s aces.
About an orbit later, Eric Lupovich raised from under-the-gun with ace-ten, and was called by Rabah Belal Ahin Al-Nasseri from the button. Al-Nasseri was being creative with jacks in his hand, and when he got check-raised all-in on a ten high flop, he happily called and busted Lupovich.
The Playground 200 is now 7-handed.
9th: Adamo Giroux – $2,230
8th: Eric Lupovich – $2,970
The Playground 200 is ready for its conclusion. Yesterday, players fought until there were only 9 left, led by Hassan Salha. Hassan has been crushing the field with his aggressive approach, and his stack of 4,440,000 chips looks extremely good on the Day 3 qualifiers list below.
In a few minutes, the action will resume in the tournament hall. Every player is guaranteed $2,230, and $22,286 is up top for the winner. Ladies and gentleman, cards are in the air!
With just 9 players left in the Playground 200, play will resume on Day 3 with the final table. The min-cash for tomorrow will be $2,230.00 and every elimination will come with its own pay jump – all the way to the top prize of $22,286.00! All results so far have been published in the Official Playground 200 Results table.
Here is the seating draw for the Day 3 restart at 7:00pm, Monday February 26th.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Name | Seat | Siège | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hassan | Salha | Table 40 - Seat 5 | 4,440,000 |
| Rabah Belal Ahin | Al-Nasseri | Table 40 - Seat 9 | 2,100,000 |
| Bruno | Blanchette | Table 40 - Seat 4 | 1,465,000 |
| Elvira | Popescu | Table 40 - Seat 8 | 1,400,000 |
| Alexandre | Nadeau-Levesque | Table 40 - Seat 2 | 1,365,000 |
| Adamo | Giroux | Table 40 - Seat 7 | 1,275,000 |
| Eric | Lupovich | Table 40 - Seat 3 | 1,235,000 |
| Shawn | S | Table 40 - Seat 1 | 1,205,000 |
| Isham | Yamani | Table 40 - Seat 6 | 705,000 |
Play has just finished on Day 2 of the Playground 200. The Playground 200 drew 607 total entries from the combined Day 1s, and there were 126 players in field to start Day 2. By the time the buzzer sounded to signal the end of play, only 9 players remained so tomorrow’s Day 3 will begin with the final table.
The field shrank quickly in the early levels, getting past the money bubble before the first break of the day. The hand-for-hand play on the money bubble can sometimes bring big tournaments to a virtual standstill, but it only took one hand for the bubble to burst on this event so the action carried on without delay. From there the field continued to shrink steadily, as many players were looking to ratchet up their winnings. The end of the day was punctuated by a flurry of action that reduced the field to the final nine players who will return tomorrow evening to compete for the $22,286.00 first prize.
Someone in the field will also win a little something extra, thanks to partypoker last-longer free roll. The last player in the field wearing the partypoker LIVE patch will automatically win a $530.00 final satellite ticket for the upcoming MILLIONS North America, and there are several patches remaining amongst the final nine players.
Two players stood out in the field today: Eric Lupovich and Hassan Salha. Lupovich has been one of the chip leaders throughout the tournament and continued to accumulate chips steadily this afternoon to remain among the chip leaders. Hassan Salha, who currently holds a big chip lead on the field, went through a few cycles of boom and bust today. He went from being a big stack early to a short stack after losing a huge pot in level 20. But he found a way to build it up again and was able to maintain one of the leading stacks throughout the final three tables.
Play resumes tomorrow at 7:00pm.
Here are the chip counts for the final table:
| First Name | Last Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| Hassan | Salha | 4,440,000 |
| Rabah | Al-Nasseri | 2,100,000 |
| Bruno | Blanchette | 1,465,000 |
| Elvira | Popescu | 1,400,000 |
| Alexandre | Nadeau-Levesque | 1,365,000 |
| Adamo | Giroux | 1,275,000 |
| Eric | Lupovich | 1,235,000 |
| Shawn | S | 1,205,000 |
| Isham | Yamani | 705,000 |
Amit Abriol has just been eliminated in 12th place after what can only be described as a cooler spot.
With the blinds at 15K/30K, Abriol opened the action to 75K from early position. Popescu made the call on the button, and the blinds folded, so they went heads up. They saw a flop of 
and, before long, all the chips went in. Abriol made a continuation bet of 150K and Popescu, who had the bigger stack going in to the hand, raised all in. Abriol called immediately and hands were tabled.
Popescu: 
Abriol: 
Set over set on the flop! A spot that’s nearly impossible to get away from in hold’em, and this one was no exception. The turn and 
river did not provide Abriol’s one-outer, and he hit the rail in 12th place. He will take home $1,860.00 for his trouble.
