Chip leader Stéphane Lacasse was running good until Ramsey Belmaaza was transfered to his table.  As Ramsey started to scoop up chips one pot after another, Stéphane said, “at least the chips aren’t coming from me!”, with a smile.

The chuckles were short-lived and the tide turned for Lacasse in the next  hand.  The hand started out normally with a 2,500 pre-flop raise, from Philippe Bouchard, which was called by Antony Pelletier, Lacasse, and Alexandre Nadeau-Lévesque.  Newcomer Alexandre was playing his first hand at the table.

The four players watched the flop come out: .  First to act, Lacasse made a small 7,500 bet, which was quickly called by Alexandre.  Both Bouchard and Pelletier folded immediately.  The turn came and Lacasse waited a little before betting 12,000 chips.  This left Alexandre who quickly shoved all his 38,800 chips forward.

Obviously not expecting this, Lacasse went deep into the tank and divided his reflection time between scratching his head and staring at Nadeau-Lévesque, who was sitting right next to him.  It took a few minutes before one word was heard from Lacasse’s mouth: “call”.  Stéphane let out a sign as Alexandre showed his hand: ; he had hit trips on the flop.  The dealer laid out Stéphane’s cards in front of the board: , showing top pair, top kicker.

The river sealed Lacasse’s fate: .

So, Lacasse pays for his opponent’s quads and sees his stack reduced to about half to average.

The 52 players are taking a short break and we hit the felts to see where the chips are. With the average stack hovering around 53,000, we were looking for stacks of a minimum of 90,000. We found the mother-load on table #35 in Stéphane Lacasse’s seat: 145,500, easily 30K in ahead of his closest rival Jonathan B., who has 114,000. Pablo Mariz is the only other player above 100K, with a stack of 103,900.

Everything can, and will, change before the bags come out tonight. All eyes will be on Stéphane Lacasse and, more importantly, on his 145,500 friends!

Things are progressing at steady pace in Day 1A of the Playground 500. There are currently 55 entries, of which 51 players are left. The players seem to be taking a laid-back approach. With a starting stack of 50,000 chips and 30-minute levels, it is to be expected. There are still ten more levels to go before players bag the chips.

The late registration is open for a little more than 2:30 hours, so there is still plenty of time to fire a bullet in the Playground 500.

Here are a few more photos of the players, from levels 3 and 4.

The players are registering at a slow but steady pace for this first Day 1 of the Playground 500. There is still plenty of time to get into the action. Here are a few photos from levels 1 and 2.

Play just got under way in the tournament hall, as the 26 registered players take their seats, and settle in for 14 levels of play.

We expect the number of entries to go up, while the players take full advantage of the late registration period set to close around 11:30pm tonight.

Every player will want to get in the action for Event #2 $500 + $50 Playground 500 Day 1’s. Tonight we are kicking things off with the first of four Day 1 flights:

Day 1A: Wednesday March 20th at 7:00pm
Day 1B: Thursday march 21st, at 11:00am
Day 1C: Thursday, March 21st, at 7:00pm
Day 1D: Friday March 22nd, at 12:00pm (Turbo)

On all Day 1’s there will be 14 levels (30 minutes each) of play. After level 14, players still in will bag their chips and move on to Day 2. Tonight play will be 9-handed and the registration period is open until the beginning of level 9, roughly at 11:30 pm. Players start with a whopping 50,000 chips and may re-enter at any time and as many times as they wish until the end of the registration period.

Come in from the wind and come join the fun at Playground Poker Club.

Let the games being…