Habib Rachidi Alaoui, whose stack climbed to greatness with a set of fives earlier, and Tommy Morissette-Lizotte have both managed to crush their respective table and are now extremely comfortable on top of the leaderboard.

During the 2nd break, we found 8 stacks over 100K:

Kevin Rousselle was down to just under starting stack when he found a flop to gamble with. Christian Portmann had caught a nice piece and jumped in the ring.

Rousselle:
Portmann:

Board:

The turn was good to Portmann, taking a few outs away from his opponent, but the river was unequivocal.

In the previous editions of the Playground 200, we usually had to wait for the weekend flights to see the players fill the room, but this Thursday night Day 1A rounded 222 entries, almost half the entries needed to cover the 100K guarantee!

Photographs from level 7:

When we arrived to the table, 3 players were all-in and both pots contained many red chips. Richard Tossings had the lead, but there were 2 cards to come and a truck load of outs to dodge.

Tossings:
Senat:
Siamoutas:

Board:

When the river appeared, Tossings pumped his fist. He faded all tens, kings, nines and diamonds… twice!

When Carl Des Granges bet 7,000 chips on the flop, Habib Rachidi Alaoui lost no time to call. It did not stop Des Granges from firing 15K on the turn, which sent Alaoui to the tank. It was later obvious that he wasn’t going anywhere, but rather trying to find the line that was most likely to get all the chips in.

Alaoui decided to move all-in, covering his opponent. Des Granges had another 30K or so behind, and he finally opted to make the call with a marginal hand, probably thinking that a bet this big had a good chance of being a bluff, and confirming Alaoui’s choice as the good one.

Alaoui:
Des Granges:

Board:

The river came clean, and Alaoui raked the almost-100K pot!!

The first 4 levels and the first break have passed, and with a field closing in on the 200 mark, many players have managed to double their initial stack. No one, however, surpassed the 75K mark, and as a result, we have an extremely tight race at the top.

4 players are within 3K of each other, with a good pack in the high 60s. François Gobeil, for now, sits atop, having benefited the most from the wild table-52 action.