Charli Azoulay was first to act in a 3-way pot. With four community cards out, he fired 2.5K into two opponents and found some major resistance. His neighbor Giovanni Giannitti called, and Raphael Tran Dinh made it 6.5K to go.

Charli called, after some quick deliberation. Giovanni folded, leaving Charli and Raphael heads-up. Charli started the hand with a very healthy stack, having chipped up early. He looked at Raphael’s chips and threw 2 red chips forward, enough to put his opponent all-in. Raphael quickly called, visibly satisfied. Charli noticed and opened his aces in a resigned manner.

Charli:
Raphael:

Board:

We did not witness the early action for this hand, but we know that Hicham Hammoud check called the turn for 4,000 chips, keeping about twice that amount behind. When the very relevant river fell, Hammoud fired all-in into Andrew Boujaoude, who casually made the call.

Hammoud:
Boujaoude:

Board:

Hammoud was very strong when he check called, holding a top pair and a turned flush draw. The river was as ugly as it gets for him, but he decided that it was enough of a scare card to try and pick up the pot. Bad idea, Boujaoude had just passed him!

Although the Thursday night flight is usually smaller than the weekend crowds, this opening flight is growing at an impressive pace. Already 93 players have registered in Day 1A of the Playground 200, with another four levels to the late registration period.

Here are some early shots of the field:

This Power Weekend, as was the case with the previous two, features the Playground 200, a $100,000 guaranteed NL Hold’em tournament with one online Day 1 and three live Day 1s. Day 1A has already played its first few hands with 51 players at the tables.

The Playground 200 is a marquee Playground Event, one that has always attracted vast numbers, and we think that this one will follow in that line. Levels are 30-minute long, leaving players ample time to show their skills and work their way to Day 2, scheduled for Sunday at 12h00.

Fourteen levels will be played tonight before the survivors bag their chips. Good luck!