TonyBet Winter Festival

Big stacks following the last break of the day

  • Level: 12
  • Small Blind: 800
  • Big Blind: 1.6K
  • Ante: 200
  • Chip Average: 77.5K
  • Remaining: 53
  • Entries: 137


    • - by

    The last break of Day 1a has just finished, and players have 2 final levels to complete before bagging their chips onto Day 2. Shortly after time runs out in today’s flight, we will publish the full list of player-reported chip counts of the day.

    Here is a look at the leaderboard as play enters level 12:

    First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
    Rabah Belal AhinAl-Nasseri248,900
    MarcoSousa175,400
    Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perreault172,100
    TonyLaughing157,700
    BillKontaratos146,700
    RyanMcGarry145,200
    AlexandreRochette137,400
    Ivan FazalKarim132,800
    GeorgeCaragiorgas102,700
    YannDion102,300

    Photographs from level 11:

    El-Nasseri extends his lead

  • Level: 11
  • Small Blind: 600
  • Big Blind: 1.2K
  • Ante: 200
  • Chip Average: 71K
  • Remaining: 58
  • Entries: 137


    • - by

    Main1a-2209Rabah Belal Ahin Al-Nasseri was already chip leader of Day 1a before scoring a double knockout, putting him far ahead of the rest of the players in this flight so far.

    Edward Hislop opened the action to 2,500 from early position, and was followed by Rabah in middle position. Joel Thibeault 3bet all-in for 12,000 from the button, and Edward quickly made the call, holding a little over 50,000 behind. Rabah then announced all-in, and Edward once again quickly made the call.

    Rabah: Ace of Diamonds King of Clubs
    Edward: Queen of Hearts Queen of Clubs
    Joel: Ace of Spades 10 of Spades

    Rabah picked up just enough to win the pot on a King of Hearts 3 of Hearts 9 of Hearts 5 of Clubs Jack of Spades board, and increased his stack to over 235,000, almost double any other player at this stage.

    Level 10

  • Level: 10
  • Small Blind: 500
  • Big Blind: 1K
  • Ante: 100
  • Chip Average: 62.3K
  • Remaining: 66
  • Entries: 137


    • - by

    A new chip-leader has emerged since the dinner break, as Rabah Belal Ahin Al-Nasseri now tops the 66 remaining players here in level 10 with his stack of nearly 150,000.

    Former chip-leader Alexandre Rochette lost a few chips, but still holds a place amongst the big stacks, as he currently owns roughly 135,000. Local hero Bill Kontaratos has made some moves in recent orbits and climbed the leaderboard, now holding a healthy 3rd place stack upwards of 130,000. Duff Charette, Jesse Wheatley and Xin Qi are holding onto their six-figure stacks since dinner break, and round up the top 6 stacks.

    A little under 4 levels remain today.

    Photographs from level 9:

    Dinner Break leaderboard

  • Level: 9
  • Small Blind: 400
  • Big Blind: 800
  • Ante: 100
  • Chip Average: 52K
  • Remaining: 79
  • Entries: 137


    • - by

    After 8 levels of actions, players in Day 1a of the Main Event have earned a 45-minute dinner break, and are scattered across the tournament hall chatting away about nothing and everything.

    Alexandre Rochette certainly has a few stories to tell, as he managed to build his 30,000 starting stack into a cool 157,000, good enough for the current chip lead. 4 other players have managed to break the 6-figure cap as well, although Alexandre holds a healthy lead on the rest of the field.

    Here are the top 5 stacks entering level 9:

    First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
    Alexandre Rochette157,000
    XinQi111,900
    DuffCharette110,800
    RayanChamas106,800
    NazarethMaghakian106,600

    A few additional counts:

    First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
    MarcoSousa93,000
    RyanMcGarry91,200
    GeorgeCaragiorgas90,600
    Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perreault87,500
    BenoitJean82,100
    MarcoCaza74,400
    YannDion70,800
    Jonathan Poissant65,400
    AmiAlibay56,500
    SamuelBarre55,800
    AlexandreLavigne55,000
    JonathanRoy54,200
    DerekLerner51,400
    JasonComtois36,400
    RodneyRamalho23,700

    Photographs from level 7:

    Chamas doubles before the break

  • Level: 8
  • Small Blind: 300
  • Big Blind: 600
  • Ante: 75
  • Chip Average: 52K
  • Remaining: 79
  • Entries: 137


    • - by

    There’s only 5 minutes until the extended dinner break and Rayan Chamas has doubled up to put him among the leaders at this stage in the day.

    We arrived at the table with the board fully dealt and just over 50K in the pot.

    Board: 5 of Hearts King of Spades Ace of Clubs 4 of Diamonds 7 of Spades

    With 50K in the pot, Alexandre Roberge had shoved on the river – well over 60K, which more than covered Rayan’s relatively small stack behind. Rayan went in the tank… eventually time was called and the countdown began. Just when the dealer announced the 30-second mark, Rayan made the call, quite a lot confidence in his voice – but also a little doubt.

    Alexandre was the out of position player and had to show first – 5 of Spades 6 of Spades for a small pair and not much else. Rayan flipped over his Ace of Diamonds 10 of Diamonds for top pair and counted out the 23K that Alexandre would have to match.

    Photo update; Dinner break is approaching

  • Level: 8
  • Small Blind: 300
  • Big Blind: 600
  • Ante: 75
  • Chip Average: 46.2K
  • Remaining: 89
  • Entries: 137


    • - by

    Day 1a of the TonyBet Winter Festival Main Event is well into level 8, and following this level will be a 45-minute dinner break. As per usual, a wide range of options are available to players, with a buffet provided by the house – or players can always order from The Rail at any point in the day (or night, as it is open 24h a day).

    Photographs from level 7:

     

    First leaderboard of Day 1a!

  • Level: 7
  • Small Blind: 250
  • Big Blind: 500
  • Ante: 75
  • Chip Average: 39.5K
  • Remaining: 104
  • Entries: 137


    • - by

    The players in Day 1a of the Main Event have just taken their second break of the day and we took the opportunity to count some chips!

    First up is the leaderboard. The big stacks in the tournament are playing over 90K – 3x the starting stack, while rounding out the top 5 are two players over 70K.

    First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
    XinQi97,300
    AlexandreRoberge92,200
    AlexandreRochette91,900
    PatrickCartier74,600
    PascalMonarque72,400

    In addition, here are some counts for some of the notable players in the field.

    First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
    JonathanRoy53,000
    DerekLerner48,100
    AmiAlibay37,700
    YannDion32,200
    RayanChamas31,000
    EdwardHislop30,000
    Jean-PhilippePiquette18,300
    ChanracyKhun12,000

    Some photos from level 4

  • Level: 4
  • Small Blind: 100
  • Big Blind: 200
  • Ante: 25
  • Chip Average: 35.3K
  • Remaining: 108
  • Entries: 127


    • - by

    Here are a few photos of the players in Day 1a of the Main Event in the TonyBet Winter Festival.

    Photos taken during level 4

    First break of Day 1a

  • Level: 4
  • Small Blind: 100
  • Big Blind: 200
  • Ante: 25
  • Chip Average: 33.6K
  • Remaining: 109
  • Entries: 122


    • - by

    The players in Day 1a of the TonyBet Winter Festival Main Event have completed 3 levels of play and are now taking their first break of the day. While on break, they could relax in the TonyBet Lounge and check out the Champion’s Belt, which has arrived and is on display for players to view!

    Registration today has climbed to 122 players with another 3 levels (plus the break) of late registration still available. Some big name players have joined us for this event – we’ll publish some photos of the field during the next session.

    Twitter is abuzz…

  • Level: 2
  • Small Blind: 75
  • Big Blind: 150
  • Ante: 0
  • Chip Average: 31.1K
  • Remaining: 110
  • Entries: 114


    • - by

    The TonyBet Winter Festival is brand new and that’s just one reason there’s been a lot of buzz about the Main Event on Twitter recently. Here are some of the recent tweets from players in the action today:

    Playground Poker on Facebook

    Playground Poker on Facebook

    Contact Us

    Playground Poker Club

    1500 Route 138,
    Kahnawake, QC J0L 1B0
    +1-450-635-7653
    info@playgroundpoker.ca

    TonyBet Winter Festival