25 remain entering level 18, and below is a look at the top stacks at the moment:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel | Hughes | 435,000 |
| Andrew | Boujaoude | 317,000 |
| Sebastien | Poirier | 300,000 |
| David | Whalen | 300,000 |
| Ian Pierre | Rivero | 286,000 |
| Quyen | Dao | 259,000 |
| Brian | Morgan | 256,000 |
Event 7 in the Playground Poker Spring Classic presented by partypoker.net is now down to 3 final tables, as only 27 players remain from the original 176. With 18 players scheduled to be paid, we are now approaching a crucial step in tournament poker: the bubble. Players will certainly be making adjustments to their game to help them through this often difficult step of the tournament – some will tighten their game in hopes of securing a cash prize, while others will take advantage of the situation and try to use it to increase their holdings, giving them a better chance at taking home the top prize of $20,000 + bounties.
For the moment it is still Daniel Hughes who has the strangle-hold lead in this 50/50 Bounty Event, as his 535,000 stack dwarfs his opponents. Yasir Naiem Abdel Gadir and Sebastien are picking up momentum, as they near the 300,000 chip mark in this 17th level. We will bring a more detailed update on the leaderboard during the next break, in about 20 minutes.
Here is a look at the remaining 27 players in the field:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Seat | Siège |
|---|---|---|
| Brian | Morgan | Table 62 - Seat 1 |
| Noeung | Troeung | Table 62 - Seat 2 |
| Quyen | Dao | Table 62 - Seat 3 |
| Dgianni | Di-Re | Table 62 - Seat 4 |
| Daniel | Hughes | Table 62 - Seat 5 |
| David | Whalen | Table 62 - Seat 6 |
| Darren | Morgan | Table 62 - Seat 7 |
| Miltiadis | Mavrigiannakis | Table 62 - Seat 8 |
| Adam | Cader | Table 62 - Seat 9 |
| Yohann | Wagner | Table 66 - Seat 1 |
| Frederic | Harland | Table 66 - Seat 2 |
| Eraldo | Edouard | Table 66 - Seat 3 |
| Sebastien | Poirier | Table 66 - Seat 4 |
| Tu Kien | Luong | Table 66 - Seat 5 |
| Paul | El-Khouri | Table 66 - Seat 6 |
| Franco | Cupello | Table 66 - Seat 7 |
| Andrew | Boujaoude | Table 66 - Seat 8 |
| Jeffrey | Cormier | Table 66 - Seat 9 |
| Paul | Piercey | Table 70 - Seat 1 |
| Kaplesh | Raichura | Table 70 - Seat 2 |
| Ian Pierre | Rivero | Table 70 - Seat 3 |
| Alexandre | Henry | Table 70 - Seat 4 |
| Bob | T | Table 70 - Seat 5 |
| Ron | Farber | Table 70 - Seat 6 |
| Houssam | Molhem | Table 70 - Seat 7 |
| Yasir Naiem Abdel | Gadir | Table 70 - Seat 8 |
| Ron | Corber | Table 70 - Seat 9 |
The story of the day belongs to Daniel Hughes, who has already amassed 8 bounty chips after 14 levels of play in this 50/50 Bounty Event in the Playground Poker Spring Classic. In addition to already pocketing $4,000 cash, he also leads the field by a huge gap – he more than doubles any other player in the field apart from second in chips Brian Morgan, and sits on 4 times the current average stack.
Here are the top counts entering level 15:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel | Hughes | 410,000 |
| Brian | Morgan | 212,500 |
| Andrew | Boujaoude | 176,000 |
| Quyen | Dao | 166,000 |
| Sebastien | Poirier | 165,000 |
| Behram | Antia | 154,000 |
Photographs from levels 14 and 15:
Kalpesh Raichura
As the tournament gets deeper the leaderboard should start to get more consistent, but the story of the last 4 levels is one of previous leaders keeping stacks while others catch up to them. Daniel Hughes is still the chip leader, and has already accumulated an impressive 5 bounty chips (including his own).
Daniel Hughes
During the last break following level 8, tournament staff removed the T25 chips from play and we took the opportunity to get a better handle on the current leaders in the event. Although stacks throughout are starting to grow very well, there were 4 players in particular whose chip counts put them at the head of the pack.
Event 7 in the Playground Poker Spring Classic – the $500 + $100 + $500 NL Hold’em 50/50 Bounty – had a total of 176 players join which contributed to a prize pool of $85,360.00, which will be distributed according to the following table.
Note that a portion of each player’s buy-in is not put into the prize pool, it is represented by a bounty chip. These bounty chips are an important component of the overall prizing in the event but are not centrally tracked in any way.
| Pos | Prize | Bourse |
|---|---|
| 1st | $20,000.00 |
| 2nd | $14,710.00 |
| 3rd | $11,100.00 |
| 4th | $8,500.00 |
| 5th | $6,250.00 |
| 6th | $4,700.00 |
| 7th | $3,500.00 |
| 8th | $2,500.00 |
| 9th | $2,000.00 |
| 10th-11th | $1,600.00 |
| 12th-13th | $1,400.00 |
| 14th-15th | $1,300.00 |
| 16th-17th | $1,200.00 |
| 18th | $1,100.00 |
Play has now been completed through 6 levels and with that, registration in Event 7 is now closed. The grand total of players in the event climbed to 176 total, which adds up to a huge prize pool! We’ll have the final prizes and payout information before too long.
The field in Event 7 is truly remarkable as there are just so many players with interesting back-stories and deep histories here at Playground Poker Club. Here are a few more…
Late registration ends at the end of the current level at which time the field size will be final and we’ll be able to work out the prize pool numbers.
Randy Khalil
By the time the first break has arrived we always look for an early chip leader, and most of the time there’s only one player who has taken a significant lead on the field. Event 7 is no exception – during the break that players were just granted after level 4 we checked the whole room and found that only Randy Khalil had built up a real lead. He’s already playing a stack of over 90K.
Randy does have a small reputation as a tournament front-runner – but his history in Playground events also shows that he can close too…
Randy Khalil
The field is full of interesting and accomplished players both local and visiting – some of them notable for their past exploits here at Playground Poker Club, others for their excellent play in events both here and abroad, and some just due to the sheer force of their personality!
Here’s a partial list of some of the players to watch today:
