Not much is known about this hand, but the size of the pot alone is worth mentioning. Miguel Goncalo’s last 22K were matched, after a pot of about 60K was formed. Charles Migliara, the leader at the first break, had to bow to Goncalo’s set of fours, and took a serious hit.

Goncalo joins the leaders in the 100K vicinity.

When Daniel Charette bet 6,000 on the turn, Amirpasha Emami went all-in, covering Charette’s remaining 14K. Charette called, despite the presence of a pair on the board, with a hand that was not drawing dead against quads:

Charette:
Emami:

Board:

In fact, against Charette’s hand, only the specific would have given Emami the check mark on the turn. This being said, his spot against 2 outs was comfortable, and he managed to dodge them and chip up nicely.

Level 6 photographs:

After 4 levels of play in Day 1A of the Playground 200, Charles Migliara found a way to claim the driver’s seat. His 77,000 chips stand alone on top of a field of 146 entries.

There is another 45 minutes to the registration period, which includes both first entries and unlimited re-entries.

The Playground 200 is in full swing, with Day 1A filling up the room nicely. 131 entries have been compiled, and 120 players are at the tables. A few re-entries have been placed, but the bulk of them will come after the break, during levels 5 and 6, when the blinds are more likely to dictate big pots.

The Playground 200 is now sharing the room with a $110 + $10 MILLIONS Main Event Satellite Step 1, the first of 2 steps towards a seat for the $10,000,000 guaranteed MILLIONS Main Event. There will be a few opportunities to do business in that corner this weekend. Click here to see this weekend’s satellite schedule.

Playground 200 Level 3 photographs:

On the eve of level 2, Elvira Popescu, who finished 2nd in last month’s Playground 200 Event, doubled her belongings to the detriment of Jacques Blais.

When we got to the table, Popescu was all-in for her remaining 6,800, and Blais was eye-balling her. Considering the strength of his hand and the amount of chips already invested – Popescu started the hand with a full stack – he must have had a pretty strong feeling that he was beat to even consider a fold. In the end, and understandably, he wasn’t able to let go of this multi-colored pot and called.

Board:

Popescu:

Oof! Blais threw the face up, and mucked his other card. He is left with about 7K.

Today was the first day of the March Power Weekend, a mini-series comprised of 6 events, introduced by the amazing Mix Max tournament at noon and concluded by the 6-max Bounty on Monday night.

In between, a few other events you will want to take a look at, including the tournament that fronts the whole thing: The $200 + $20 Playground 200 NL Hold’em Re-entry.

The Playground 200 is fairly new, but already familiar and sought after, its $100,000 guarantee catching the eye of many. Players will be working with 25,000 chips and 30-minute levels, and unlimited re-entries are permitted until the end of level 6, which gives you over 3 hours to join the event or to jump back in, should you be on the wrong side of your luck in the early stages.

Day 1A will get underway in a few minutes, and will play 14 levels before its survivors bag their chips and send them to Sunday’s Day 2.

Good luck!