Power Weekend News

The heads up action between both women was intense but brief.

Although Brigitte started with twice her rival’s stack, Lucie managed to climb back up until she had just about 1 million chips. But Brigitte could not be deterred from her goal and sure enough, a few hands later she got her wish.

Lucie tried to make a grab for the pot and went all in holding:

She was, however, a bit taken by surprise when Brigitte snap called all-in with

The dealer ran the board

So this spelled the end for Lucie Lee, who goes home with a 2nd place finish.

Congratulations to Brigitte Korak for her 1st place position. The enchanting lady was all smiles, having overcome 49 other ladies to get to this point.

Women’s Event Champion: Brigitte Korak, $835

The winning hand

2nd place: Lucie Lee, $650

Event #6 of the October Power Weekend, the Megastack Turbo Re-entry, had a robust turnout of 86 entries. The huge starting stack of 50,000 in chips was immensely appealing and helped create some wild action in the early levels. Given the number of chips and the turbo format, the players sprinted out of the gate and put those chips to work. There was no shortage of huge opening bets and raises, enough to even bring about 11 re-entries before the end of the late registration and re-entry period.

Trevor Dixon jumped out to the early lead, but he saw the cards turn against him following the first break and ended up busting in the middle of the pack. Anderson Frank-Graham had his turn in the driver’s seat at the second break, but he was soon overtaken by our eventual champion, Stefano Parisé.

Parisé had a healthy stack from the early levels, but the turning point for him arrived in the fourteenth level of play when he took down a massive four-way all in pot to catapult his way in to the chip lead. It turned out to be a lead he would not relinquish, as he had the biggest stack in play all the way to the end of the tournament. He picked his spots carefully (and successfully) in the late stages and found ways to steadily increase his stack.

Once play began at the final table, Parisé’s chip lead had narrowed significantly. But he quickly distanced himself from the rest of the field once again when he eliminated Fabien Domenech, who had one of the larger stacks in play, in the first orbit. At that stage, Parisé had a huge chip lead, and he stayed out of the fray as the other players gradually eliminated each other. When it came down to the final three – Parisé, Joshua Caballero and Joshua Peteigney – two big hands collided, and Parisé eliminated Caballero following a huge flip where his pocket jacks held against Caballero’s ace-king.

Parisé had a gigantic chip advantage over Peteigney when heads-up play began, leading by more than a 10:1 margin. Despite doubling up Peteigney early on, Parisé was never at risk. In the end, it came down to a classic race in a pre-flop all in, and one of Parisé’s over cards to Peteigney’s pair connected with the board to seal the victory.

It turned out to be a good showing for Peteigney who made his first ever cash at a Power Weekend event, taking home $1,508 as the runner-up. But this was truly Parisé’s day, congratulations to our Megastack champion!

Event #6 Champion: Stefano Parisé, $2,072

Last hand of play:

After over 7 hours of play, Michael McKinnon has emerged as the Champion of Event #4 in the October Power Weekend – the $100 + $10 Deepstack Turbo Re-entry. For long periods of play it looked like other results were practically guaranteed – both Gary Lucci and George Iliacopoulos looked to have insurmountable leads – but Michael persevered and managed to come out on top!

The final act in the tournament started with three players remaining, after a deal had been struck and Mario was removed in the first hand following the deal. This set up a stretch of almost two full levels that were played 3-way between George, Michael, and Franco Casarcia. At this point, George had an overwhelming chip lead and it seemed that the players were simply “playing out the string” to borrow a term from the baseball world.

Eventually, Franco’s stack had dwindled to almost nothing and he went all-in on the button holding just . Amazingly, he was in the lead – George called with ! George hit right on the flop of , however, and Franco’s best hope was for a fourth club to appear. The turn and river were not cards that helped him, and George’s pair of Fours was good.

Heads up play lasted for under 10 hands. After a hand that saw three cards to a wheel on the board, action went crazy and there was an all-in and a call on the river… but upon showdown, we learned that both players had been playing 4-3 off all along and both had made the straight! Chop it up!

A couple of hands later was the definitive hand of the tournament, however. Michael was in the bb so George was first to act – and he kept things simple and just said all-in – only to be surprised by a snap call from Michael.

George:
Michael:

Michael’s pocket Aces held on the board and he doubled up – and was now the clear leader in the tournament. It didn’t take long to play out after that. About 3 hands later Michael open shoved his big stack from the sb/button and George made the call.

George:
Michael:

George had the lead… but not for long. The flop came – trips for Michael! There were no miracles on the turn and river, and the tournament was over!

Congratulations!

Event #4 Champion: Michael McKinnon, $1,420

Final hand of play

Event #3 of the Playground Power Weekend – a $200 + $30 + $100 PL Omaha Bounty Re-Entry event – has just come to an end and we have crowned our winner: Manfred Gunther.

No less than 40 entries were logged for this tournament, including 10 re-entries. The action was fast and intense for the most part of the evening. Midway through the tournament, quite a few of the shorter stacks ended up on the table hosting most of the chip leaders. That put a heightened amount of pressure on them, and the eliminations were at a steady pace.

After 11 levels, we were down to the last 9 players and a full seating redraw took place for the final table action. It was no surprise that Manfred Gunther, who had a pristine run all evening, was the chip leader on the final table. His stack alone was bigger than the combined stacks of the four shortest ones. The two lowest stacks, belonging to Paul Brun and Isabelle Morin, busted quickly in 9th and 8th positions respectively. Then, in a surprise turn of events, early chip leader Azizul Haque was sent to the rail in 7th position, followed closely by bubble player Shijaudin Daud Sha in 6th.

The 5 remaining players were in the money and Ron G. became the first player to cash out. With the elimination of Chris Arvanitis in 4th position, the remaining 3 players agreed on an ICM chop with $150 left aside for the 1st place winner. Dylan Timothy was eliminated in 3rd place, leaving Manfred Gunther and Ivan Driard to duke it out.

Heads up action began in the late stages of level 18. With the consent of both players, the tournament director reduced the usual 20-minute blinds to 10-minutes each.

From then on the chips went back and forth between both players with clockwork precision. The only sound we could hear was “Pot”. Both players battled on until the final hand when both of them landed a straight.

Mandred Gunther:

Ivan Driard:

Board:

Ivan Driard couldn’t resist a smile when he saw that Manfred’s straight was higher than his, thus putting an end to the short-lived heads up match. Ivan goes home in 2nd place with $1,850.

Asked if his road to success had been easy or not, Manfred Gunther replied: “Hey, I doubled up in the first hand and never looked back. I did not struggle at all and I had a blast.” We all know life on the felt is seldom that easy!

Event #3 Champion: Manfred Gunther, $2,350

2nd place: Ivan Driard (left), $1850

The winning hand

Event #1 in the October Power Weekend was a $100 + $10 8-Max Re-entry. 72 entries joined the tourney, and 9 players got paid. It took about 6 hours to get to the final table, but the final 9 got it done in just an hour and a half!

When Michael Zenetzis left in 3rd, heads up play was between Anderson F and Mike Lafable. The pair have played together for the longest time right here at Playground, but today they found that they are also frequent opponents on the virtual felts!

Anderson, reportedly, worked his way into this tournament from a centroll that cost him 0.21$! From there, he worked his way through 4 levels of feeders to get the PP LIVE Dollars that he used to buy into the first event of the Power Weekend. What a parlay!

The duel did not last very long. Zenetzis had barely left the room when the two got it in. Mike flatted the button. Anderson raised him to 55K, which was met by a 200K 3-bet. An all-in and a snap call followed, and the showdown was the classic of all classic races. You already know what the cards were, but you can confirm your guess by scrolling down!

Anderson called for an ace in the window, rooting for his opponent, and it came! Mike was thus able to add $250 to the $1,550 he had booked in the deal the players made earlier.

Congratulations!

Event #1 Champion: Mike Lafable – $1,800

Runner-up and 3rd place: Anderson F – $1,340, Michael Zenetzis –  $1,084 (picture taken mid-tourney!)

Last hand of play: