As the players return from a break, there are now 33 players remaining in the Playground 200. Even though the field is relatively deep at this stage, the chips are still moving quickly. Despite the 40-minute levels, the players aren’t sitting on their stacks and they continue to seize every opportunity to accumulate chips.

In a dramatic turn of events, Hassan Salha has recovered from losing a massive pot to Shawn S that brought him down to a short stack to now sit second in chips. Many of the players who have had big stacks throughout the Playground 200 have been able to keep their momentum and still remain in the leaderboard.

Here are the current chip leaders:

First Name	Last Name	Chip Count
Eric	Lupovich	1,155,000
Hassan	Salha	1,005,000
Rabah	Belal Ahin Al-Nasseri	989,000
Shawn	S	913,000
Bruno	Blanchette	782,000
Scott	Shein	720,000

 

In a clash between two of the biggest stacks in the field, a big call on the turn let Shawn S take down over a million in chips and secure the chip lead once again.

With the blinds at 4K/8K, the action was opened from middle position by Hassan Salha to 20K. Shawn S, in the cut off, put in a raise to 72K and the action folded around to Salha who made the call. With over 150K already in the pot, the two players saw a flop of . Salha checked to Shawn who put out a continuation bet of 85K. Salha quickly made the call. When the fell on the turn, Salha, who had Shawn covered, pushed all in. This move caught everyone off guard. Nobody likes to risk their tournament life in a thin spot so Shawn had good reason to tank for as long as he did. In the end, Shawn made the call and hands were shown. Salha rolled over , for second pair, and Shawn triumphantly tabled . The appeared on the river and Shawn pushed forward his stack for the dealer to count out the 450K he had left behind. Just like that, Shawn’s big call let him take down a seven-figure pot and move into the chip lead.

Play continues in level 20 with 41 players left.

Less than half the players who started Day 2 remain in the field. As we enter level 19, 47 players remain in contention, and now everyone will be leaving with at least $460,00. The player’s eyes are all set on the first place prize of $22,286.00 that will be awarded tomorrow night.

We reached the money bubble earlier this afternoon without much delay. Since then, we’re seen a variety of approaches to navigating through the 12 levels that will be played today. Some players have kept their foot on the gas, going for three-bets and big raises whenever possible. Others have embraced the mantra “tight is right” and are content to wait for premium hands; with 40-minute blind levels, the players can afford to be patient. While there are some gigantic stacks in the field, there is still a long way to go so everyone still left has a legitimate shot at the win.

The players have just returned from their first break of the afternoon, shortly after reaching the money here on Day 2. The field lost several more players immediately after the bubble, leaving 69 players in the running upon their return from the break.

There are now a number of monster stacks in the field, each playing more than 100 big blinds. First among them is Hasan Salha who leads the way with 686K.

Here is the full list of chip leaders:

First Name	Last Name	Chip Count
Hassan	Salha	686,000
Eric	Lupovich	665,000
Shawn	S	663,000
Bill	Kontaratos	645,000
Gianfranco	Giordano	476,000
Rami	Hammoud	474,000
Elvira	Popescu	438,000

It came down to the first hand dealt in hand-for-hand play to dispense with the money bubble here in Day 2. The bubble caught many of the players by surprise, as it burst less than two hours after play began.

With the blinds at 2.5K/5K, Douglas Best decided to take his chances with his 10 remaining big blinds when he looked down at and moved all in before the flop. His neighbour, Scott Worsley, woke up and made the standard call. It took a few moments to wait out the other tables before running the board, and it confirmed the pre-flop situation. Big slick stood, and the players are now in the money.

The bubble hand:

The field is shrinking quickly as the big stacks gobble up the short stacks, in what has been an action-packed start to Day 2.

The day started with a huge disparity between the rich and the poor in the field; there were stacks ranging from five to over 170 big blinds. That gap has since been diminished, as we are down to 81 players left in the field. The current chip average provides over 35 big blinds, and the money bubble is now looming on the horizon, so we expect the rate of bustouts to slow down for the time being.