Registration for Event 10, the $500 + $50 2-day Freeze, will remain open through the first 6 levels and break, which means players still have until 9:15pm to enter. Registration is nearing the 100 entries mark at this point, and players are steadily rolling in.
It’s not too late to join in the action and take home a piece of the prize pool!
Event 10 of the TonyBet Winter Festival, which features a deepstack structure and a hefty $500 + $50 buy-in, is all set and ready to begin!
This tournament will be played over 2 days, or rather 2 evenings, and includes gradual blind levels. The first 6 levels will be set at 20 minutes long, and will then increase to 30 minutes long until the final table is reached, where they will jump up to 40 minutes long. This event was designed to allow players to participate in a big buy-in event without necessarily impeding on business hours or weekend time – hence the weeknight starting times. Day 1 will play through 16 levels, and the remaining players will then return tomorrow evening for the conclusion of the event.
The tournament is now underway, and late registration will remain open until the end of the break following level 6, or roughly 9:10pm. Come down to Canada’s premiere poker destination and join in the action!
See you on the felts!
*note there was a minor adjustment made to the structure: instead of levels 1 through 10 being 20 minutes long, it will actually only be levels 1 through 6 which will be 20 minutes long, and the rest (until the final table) will increase to 30 minutes long.
It has only been around 30 minutes that the money bubble has burst, yet we have already lost 14 players since it’s occurrence. Hand-for-hand lasted for over a full level, and left many players very short stacked in the process. Once the money pressure was lifted, chips were being thrown into the middle with much more ease, leading to this slew of eliminations.
One player who has consistently maintained a spot amongst the chip leaders is Eric Borduas, who is the first player to breach the 7-figure mark so far in this Main Event of the TonyBet Winter Festival. He tops the remaining 49 players with a stack of 1,064,000, although a few players are managing to keep up with his pace.
Here is a look at the leaderboard as play enters level 20:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Eric | Borduas | 1,064,000 |
| Ryan | McGarry | 921,000 |
| Benoit | Jean | 827,000 |
| William | Molson | 588,000 |
| Maxime | Lejeune Hebert | 567,000 |
| Danny | Kalpakis | 501,000 |
| Alexandre | Lavigne | 491,000 |
| Charle-Alexandre | Bergeron | 474,000 |
| Marco | Caza | 472,000 |
| Dean | Murphy | 465,000 |
| Marco | Sousa | 445,000 |
| Jiachen | Gong | 443,000 |
A sigh of relief has just swept the tournament hall at Playground Poker Club, as a fairly long hand-for-hand just came to an end with the elimination of Sebastien Lapierre in 64th place.
Sebastien was down to just 35,000 when he moved all-in with 
, and it was all but over for him when his opponent, who made the call with 
, flopped a set on the 
board. The 63 other players in the field applauded themselves, as they locked in a minimum cash-out of $1,750, and can now place their focus on more important matters, such as making it through Day 2 and closer to the elusive final table.
Vahid Hoseyni was amongst the most relieved of the players left in the field, as he squeezed his way into the money with only 5,000 left to his name, with the big blind just around the corner.
Congratulations to all the players who have made the money in this Main Event of the TonyBet Winter Festival!
Photographs taken just before the bubble burst:
The Main Event of the TonyBet Winter Festival is now hand-for-hand, as a few quick eliminations since the break have lead us to one spot away from the money.
A few stacks are dangerously low, and are virtually racing against one another. The most recent casualty was Andre Pelletier, who virtually blinded out of the tournament. Bill Kontaratos ran QQ into KK a few hands ago and has been on life support since, but is still around at the moment. Rayan Chamas was also crippled on the bubble, as his call with top-pair on the flop was outdrawn by the second pair of his opponent, leaving him with only a few blinds to his name.
The tournament just came off a short chip up break, where the T500 chips were raced off, and play is back in action in level 18 with 70 players remaining. 7 eliminations separate us from being in the money, and there are a number of short stacks at risk.
Here is a look at the current chip leaders entering level 18:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Eric | Borduas | 785,000 |
| Ryan | McGarry | 594,000 |
| Benoit | Jean | 524,000 |
| Charles-Alexandre | Bergeron | 491,000 |
| Philip | Daze | 478,000 |
| William | Molson | 451,000 |
| Jiachen | Gong | 438,000 |
| Danny | Kalpakis | 436,000 |
| Marco | Caza | 427,000 |
| Seth | Manning | 406,000 |
| Kevin | MacDonald | 402,000 |
| Maxime | Lejeune Hebert | 383,000 |
| Marc | Saddik | 356,000 |
| Shane | Brotherwood | 334,000 |
And here are the short stacks nearing the bubble:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Ivan Marcelino | De Sousa | 97,000 |
| Kevin | Dawe | 77,000 |
| Sebastien | Lapierre | 73,000 |
| Jean Sebastien | Dubois | 70,000 |
| Alexander | Matveev | 53,000 |
| Jesse | Wheatley | 51,000 |
| Andre | Pelletier | 46,000 |
Photographs from level 17:
Level 17 is underway in this Day 2 of the TonyBet Winter Festival Main Event, and the money-bubble is inching towards us. Only 77 players remain in the field, and with 63 scheduled to be paid, we can expect players to adjust their style of game to adapt to the situation.
The bubble is a very strategic moment in the tournament for many players, as some players can’t help but tighten up to assure themselves a spot in the money, while others turn on a more aggressive game to take advantage of this exact scenario. Big stacks tend to get bigger, while small stacks sometimes slowly blind out.
We will keep you posted on the events occurring around the bubble.
Photographs from level 16:
Day 1c of the Main Event has just wrapped up, and as this was the last flight for this tournament, we are now set for Day 2. 150 of the 520 players that entered this have managed to score themselves a seat for tomorrow’s Day 2, although this number includes players who have qualified twice, and will be adjusted once all the counts are in.
Online qualifier Rabah Belal Ahin Al-Nasseri is the overall chip leader, and has actually managed to qualify himself more than once after winning 3 seats online. Only his biggest stack will move on to Day 2, while the rest of the chips will be taken out of play.
The top 6 stacks entering Day 2 are from starting flights 1a and 1b, as the biggest stack to pass from Day 1c was that of Christina Knot, who bagged 269,100. Other big stacks from this last flight include [3-time Main Event final-tableist at Playground Poker Club] Alexandre Lavigne (196,000), Shane Brotherwood (191,000) and Tedde Ballanger (190,000). Local pro Isabelle Mercier stayed under the radar most of the day, until ramping up her stack in the final moments of the day, and she finally bagged a healthy 120,400 stack.
Once the tournament staff has finished compiling all the data, we will release the full list of player-reported chips counts from all 3 starting flights, as well as the seating assignments for Day 2.
As a reminder for any player that made Day 2, the tournament is scheduled to start at 12pm Monday February 8th, and players are required to show a valid photo ID to take their seats.
See you tomorrow!
Photographs from level 12:
As promised, we brought an update to the leaderboard on this the last break of Day 1c. Christina Knot has recently taken over the chip lead, and has been consistently amongst the leaders since just before the dinner break, while Rodney Hollet holds the second largest stack.
Players have two more levels left to complete before bagging their remaining chips onto Day 2, which will take place tomorrow February 8th at 12:00pm.
Leaderboard as play enters level 12:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Christina | Knot | 206,600 |
| Rodney | Hollet | 175,300 |
| Rene | Gauvin | 169,600 |
| Scott | Shevlock | 169,500 |
| Rene | Berube Sarginson | 169,300 |
| Grant | Pazarka | 159,700 |
| Marco | Cannizzaro | 155,800 |
| Adam | Mizzi | 144,300 |
| Senthurnan | Vijayaratnam | 143,800 |
| Sean | Windover | 135,700 |
| Seth | Manning | 115,000 |
The dealers are seated, the cards are fanned and the players are starting to roll in and take their seats for this Event 9 of the TonyBet Winter Festival, which is a one-day Deepstack Turbo tournament. Players will start with 25K in chips, and the blinds will increase every 15 minutes of play – certainly leading to a more aggressive style of play.
The tournament will begin at 8pm sharp, although late registration will remain open through the first 5 levels and break, so players will have until 9:30pm to jump into the action. Come on down and join us!
See you on the felts!
TonyBet Winter Festival at Playground Poker Club
