Playground Poker

Here are the 10 winners moving on to STEP 2

2019/03/22 - 23:56 by Playground Poker

The tournament director put the action in “hand for hand” mode when the players were down to 11. After a few hands in this format, Hélène Korak raised preflop to 11,000, and after a few moments, Antoine Sankari turned up the pressure and pushed all-in. The other players folded, leaving Hélène with a hard decision. Antoine had more chips, so it was do or die. After some thought, she grabbed all her chips and said, “all-in”, slamming the stack on the table and showing .

This didn’t sit well with Antoine who turned over his hand: . Things were looking great for Hélène. Unfortunately for Hélène, the window was hiding a card that would sent her to the rail, on the flop. Still hopeful, Hélène asked for a king, but the turn and river would not save her.

The conclusion of this hand signaled the end of the satellite and made 10 smilling winners the lucky recipients of the coveted STEP 2 tickets. Players will be returning to the tables tomorrow at 8:00PM when the STEP 2 kicks off. Any player can buy directly into any of the steps. STEP 2 buy-ins are $445, and STEP 3 buy-ins are $1,665.

Congratulations to:

André Vézina
John W. Kedziora
Adam Cader
Robert Turcotte
Rishi Makkar
Jason Guily
Antoine Sankari
Tomislav Pavkovic
Daniel Belisle
Alain Lavoie

Level 6 Through the lens

Level: 7
Small Blind: 250
Big Blind: 50
BB Ante: 500
Chip Average: 34,047
Remaining: 84
Entries: 143

2019/03/22 - 22:35 by Playground Poker

Before the break, we had a chance to go around the tables and catch a few pictures of the players in action. Now that the late registration is closed, the players are settling into their groove and are putting their rally caps on.

Here are a few photos of the players, from levels 5 and 6.

Playground 100 on break; Iacovella in the lead

Level: 7
Small Blind: 250
Big Blind: 500
BB Ante: 500
Chip Average: 31,428
Remaining: 91
Entries: 143

2019/03/22 - 22:31 by Playground Poker

The 91 players still in the tournament just had a short break, which allowed us to bring you the first leaderboard of the evening.

With the average stack at 31K, we decided that every stack above 75,000 would make the board.

Marcello Iacovella is off to a nice start and tops off the list as the only player above 100K, with a respectable 106,400 stack. His adventure is not over by any means; there are quite a few players hot on his heals. There is Damien Gozzi with 92,300 chips, as well as Vladislav Gulii, who’s sitting on 88,400 chips.

As everyone knows, it’s not over ’till the bags come out; and that will be when only 10% of the field remains. Since the registration period just closed and the boards are showing a total of 143 entries (including 26 re-entries), this means that play will stop when 15 players remain.

At that point, everyone left standing will be in the money, and qualified to play Day 2 on Sunday.

First Name \| Prénom	Last Name \| Nom	Stack \| Tapis
Marcello	Iacovella	106,400
Damien	Gozzi	92,300
Vladislav	Gulii	88,400
Nabil	Nahoul	79,700
Daniel	Nash	72,600

You do the math!

Level: 6
Small Blind: 250
Big Blind: 500
BB Ante: 500
Chip Average: 22,666
Remaining: 15
Entries: 17

2019/03/22 - 21:22 by Playground Poker

This year, MILLIONS North America has moved from a $5,300 buy-in to a $10,300 buy-in Main Event, and boasts a $5,000,000 guarantee.

There are now only two starting flights and the tournament follows a next-day re-entry format, allowing a maximum of two possible entries per player.

That being said…

A STEP 1 Satellite ticket will cost any player $80 + $10. The STEP 1 satellites guarantee an impressive 10 seats into the STEP 2, a value of $445. If that was not enough, the STEP 2 satellites have a whopping 25 seats guarantee into the STEP 3, worth $1,655. From there, all the STEP 3 satellites have a 5-seat guarantee into the Main Event, worth $10,300; yes, 5 seats!

The math is simple: $90 for a $10,300 ticket and a chance to get a piece of the $5,000,000 guarantee MILLIONS Main Event. You will not find better value.

Right now there are 14 players left in the STEP 1 in progress, with still more than one hour left on the late registration clock. Don’t miss out on the possible value.

Here are a few photos of the players, from the early levels.

115 players and counting

Level: 4
Small Blind: 100
Big Blind: 200
BB Ante: 200
Chip Average: 22,095
Remaining: 105
Entries: 116

2019/03/22 - 21:09 by Playground Poker

The players are entering the tournament hall at a steady pace. There are now 116 registrations on the boards, and there is still a lot of time left on the late registration clock; roughly 60 minutes.

As expected, the players are in it to win; taking no hostages and trying to get their hands on as many chips as they can early in the game. With blinds going up every 20 minutes, the pace is decent, but there is no time to waste. After 3 full levels of play, the total chips in play are already well above the two million mark.

Here are a some photos from levels 1 and 2.

Satellite STEP 1 Turbo Re-entry is under way

Level: 2
Small Blind: 100
Big Blind: 200
BB Ante: 0
Chip Average: 20,000
Remaining: 12
Entries: 12

2019/03/22 - 20:29 by Playground Poker

During the March Power Weekend Playground Poker Club is host to quite a few ways to qualify for the premier event of the year, the MILLIONS North America Main Event.

Tonight there is a STEP 1 satellite. For a small investment of $80 + $10, the players are getting huge value for their buck. Tonight’s satellite has a whopping 10 seats guaranteed for the STEP 2.

Cards are in the air, and the 12 registered players are hoping to snag one of the 10 seats up for grabs tonight.

Those who advance will be automatically registered for the STEP 2 satellite on March 23 at 8pm.

Players can buy-in directly to any STEP along the way, but the STEP 1s offer huge value. How can you beat an opportunity to get into such a big tournament for such a small fee?

There have already been a number of qualifiers to play their way into the Main Event from a single STEP 1 entry, you might be next!