As we mentioned earlier would happen, registration continues to grow at a steady pace as players continue to join the tournament, and with just over an hour of late reg still available, that trend should continue. There are currently 133 entries and counting.
Photos taken during levels 2-3
Just minutes ago the tournament director made his announcements and uttered the age-old command to the dealers: “Shuffle up and Deal” – and with that, cards were in the air in this 3rd of 6 starting flights in Event 3.
Late registration is open until the end of the break following level 4 today – which means that players are free to buy-in at any time until 1:15pm this afternoon. Based on experience, a healthy proportion of the field today – perhaps even a majority – will take the opportunity to late register, so the number of entries should continue to grow throughout this initial phase of the tournament.
Event blog staff will be here throughout the day to bring you photos and tournament updates, so stay tuned to this blog all day and refresh often to get the updates as they’re published!
It’s a slightly chilly but lovely Saturday morning in the Montreal area, and players are beginning to assemble now for the start of the 3rd of 6 starting flights in The $250 Frenzy, aka Event 3 in the Playground Poker Spring Classic presented by partypoker.net. Play gets underway at 11am and will continue through 14 30-minute levels today – and everyone left with chips at the end of the day will have qualified for Day 2.
This is a next-day re-entry event, meaning that players many enter as many of the 6 starting flights as they wish (one entry per “day”) to try and qualify for the restart on Day 2. If a player qualifies twice, only his or her largest stack will remain in play when action resumes on Monday evening – all other chips will be removed.
With a $200,000 prize pool guarantee – and quite likely a final prize pool quite a bit larger than that – there is tremendous value in this tourney, enough for players to take a few tries to qualify.
Good luck to all on the felts today! Your chip-lead target so far is over 300K – so you’ve got some work to do!
Marco Lang
Day 1b of Event 3 in the Playground Poker Spring Classic began tonight at 7:30pm and played through 14 30-minute levels before players counted and bagged their chips for their return to play on Day 2. This 2nd of 6 starting flights attracted a total of 212 entries and when the end of the day arrived there were 41 players left.
Marco Lang
Any player who entered either (or both of) today’s starting flights in the tournament may re-enter in a subsequent starting flight – this is a “next day re-entry” event, meaning that players enter each of the 6 starting flights once.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Marco | Lang | 311,000 |
| Ruben | Perceval | 255,000 |
| Krzysztof | Birecki | 252,000 |
| Mathyeu | Provost | 203,500 |
| Jean Francois | Alexandre | 193,500 |
| Dany | Charette | 171,500 |
| Jean-Manuel | Estrala | 168,500 |
| Mustafa | Erzincanli | 151,000 |
| Ronald | Lebel | 134,500 |
| Jaroslaw Zbigniew | Jaskiewicz | 133,500 |
| Aaron | Czaja | 128,500 |
| Simon | Pin-Disle | 124,000 |
| Dominic | Champagne | 117,000 |
| Richard | Lord | 115,000 |
| Tony | Laughing | 109,000 |
| Michael | Korovine | 108,500 |
| Ara | Kataroyan | 101,000 |
| Rene | Berube | 97,000 |
| Stephane | Gosselin | 96,500 |
| Elie | A | 94,500 |
| Donald | Pothier | 94,000 |
| Raffi | Ghazarian | 92,000 |
| Francis | Jette | 89,000 |
| Qiang | Dong | 81,000 |
| Seyed Arian | Alemzadeh Bahreyni | 74,500 |
| Eric | Bergeron | 70,000 |
| Jordan | M | 67,000 |
| Robert | Aho | 66,000 |
| Stuart | Taylor | 63,500 |
| Giuseppe | Ladeluca | 59,000 |
| James | McDermott | 58,500 |
| Jean | Noreau | 58,000 |
| Stephane | Houle | 55,500 |
| Stefano | De Bellis | 43,500 |
| David Lee | Beliveau | 41,000 |
| Patrick | Dattilo | 40,000 |
| Shaun | Bowring | 37,000 |
| Josip | Zlomislic | 31,000 |
| Ben | Menache | 28,000 |
| Patrice | Primeau | 21,000 |
| Sebastien | Hamel | 14,000 |
Level 13 is winding down, and players therefore have only one level left to complete before they bag and tag their chips for Day 2. Shortly after the completion of the night, we will publish the full list of player-reported chip counts from this flight.
Photographs from levels 12 and 13:
The last break is now over here in Day 1b of The $250 Frenzy, and only 3 levels remain before this flight comes to a close. Below is a quick update on the top stacks as play enters level 12:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Mustafa | Erzincanli | 175,100 |
| Jean-Manuel | Estrala | 153,800 |
| Elie | A | 127,500 |
| Aaron | Czaja | 122,100 |
| Stephane | Drapeau | 118,000 |
| Ronald | Lebel | 117,200 |
Level 10 is almost over, and players still need to complete 4 more 30-minute levels before calling it a night. There is one last break scheduled after level 11, and at that point we will bring an update on the leaderboard. Below you will find some photographs from levels 9 and 10:
Stacks are growing here in Day 1b of The $250 Frenzy, and a few players have already broken the 6-figure mark. Here is a look at the leaderboard as play enters level 9:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Geotano | Di Maria | 142,900 |
| Kahled | Baalbaki | 115,200 |
| Vittorio | Dicriscio | 104,300 |
| Jean-Manuel | Estrala | 103,100 |
| Ronald | Lebel | 94,500 |
Clock has just struck 0 in level 7, and given players are scheduled to play for 14 levels today, we have just passed the half-way mark of the night. A few players have gained some momentum and there are now several big stacks in play, the biggest of which seems to belong to Gaetano Di Maria, who holds upwards of 140,000. There will be a short break following level 8, and we will then bring an update on the leaderboard.
Photographs from levels 6 and 7:
Late registration is now over for Day 1b of The $250 Frenzy, and tonight’s flight attracted a total of 212 players, bringing our total up to 340 after 2 flights. At this pace the tournament is on par to break the $200,000 guarantee, however history dictates that the later flights attract more players than the earlier ones, so we might very well see a massive prize pool develop for this 3rd event in the Playground Poker Spring Classic.
No player has really take a big leap ahead of the field so far, granted there have only been 4 levels of play so far. The biggest stack we came across for now belongs to Ruben Perceval, who with his most recent pot just before the break has climbed up to 64,225 in chips. A few players have also broken the 50,000 mark, but for now the field seems to still be warming up. This should change momentarily, as the early flights in multi-day events such as this one tend to be quite aggressive, as players are trying to build a big stack for Day 2 knowing they will have more chances to qualify.
Photographs taken during levels 3 and 4:
