Alexander Matveev (featured picture), who was pretty quiet throughout the flight, recently had a burst in chips and scooped the pole position. His 152,000 are looking good on table 58. Former chip leader Danick Landriault, on the other hand, had quite a setback, and a big chunk of his chips are now in front of Luc Raymond, who is now in 2nd place, with 132,500.

Weituoxin Wu (5th place with 103,000) owes his appearance in the leaderboard to a fortunate river in the last hand before the break. We missed the action, but when we got to the table, he and Jason Fernandez were all-in on the flop, and the dealer was revealing the board:

Weituoxin Wu:
Jason Fernandez:

Board:

What a rollercoaster! We will let you crunch the numbers on that one! Below is a list of players who had over 100K at the last break.

Players will take their last break of the day soon, and 55 players are left in this 2nd of 3 flights. After this break, 3 more levels will be played. Those who will survive them will get to bag their chips and add their name to the 13-player list of Day-2 qualifiers. A detailed leaderboard will be published shortly. Stay tuned!

Some photographs of level 10:

After 8 levels of play, our players took a 15-minute break, during which the T25 chips were raced off the tables. During that time, we put together a top-5 leaderboard, which is led by Danick Landriault (featured picture), who’s stack towers above all, 127K strong. Landriault is an accomplished player (6-figure prize online in 2012) and can be seen building stacks on the cash side on a regular basis. We are looking forward to see how far he goes in this Event.

6 more levels will be played before Day 1B concludes. Don’t forget tonight’s Day 1C, your last chance to jump in this Event and claim your share of the $200,000 prize pool, and its more-than-likely overlay!

After 6 levels of play, the registration period is finally closed in Day 1B of the $550 Freeze. 8 more levels will be played today, after which the survivors will bag their belongings onto Day 2.

Day 1B attracted 107 players. When this number was added to Day 1A’s 55, 162 entries were accounted for in this Event, which means that 238 players are needed tonight to meet the fantastic $200,000 guarantee. Of course, anything is possible, but it is believed by staff and players alike that this number will not be met.

Last month’s Power Weekend showered our players with over 15K in overlay. Will this edition offer as much? More? Day 1C, the last starting flight of the Event, starts at 7pm tonight, and late registration will be open until around 10h15pm. If you have not secured a seat for Day 2 yet, this is your last chance to take a bite in this huge pool of money!

Only at Playground Poker Club!

Photographs of level 3-4:

Players are now on break, after 4 levels of play, 101 have registered so far, and more will join before 2h15, the cut-off time for late registration. Players have another 45 minutes to join and possibly earn their share of the massive $200,000 guarantee boasted by this Event. At this point, 244 more players are needed to meet the guarantee, and players are starting to lift their heads, alerted by the strong scent of overlay.

Michael Korovine, who took the biggest share of the Mix Max 5-way deal, is off to a good start in Day 1B of the $550 Deepstack. He is leading the 91-player field, with 59,500 in chips. A few other players are lurking close by, but none are above 55K.

Play is now mid-way through level 2, and so far 67 players have registered in Day 1B. Keep in mind that 345 players are needed today to meet the astounding $200,000 guarantee that this Event offers. Registration is open until 2h15pm, and your last chance to jump in will be tonight’s Day 1C which is set to begin at 7pm sharp.

Photographs of level 1: