With some chip loss from Jake Labonte’s stack, and Paul’s stunning rise in the last stint, we have a new chip leader in the 500$ + 50$ NL Hold’em Freeze! Paul is now sitting way on top of the leaderboard, our only player to currently have over 300K in chips (352K!). He is brutalizing the far corner’s table, having recently claimed a great number of chips from his opponents. Labonte is next in line, still very healthy, with 260K.

Here is our top 5, followed by some of their photos:

The $550 Freeze is moving along at a wicked pace, and one player is doing all he can to win it immediately. Jake Labonte had a healthy lead at the last break, but after just a few more levels he has grown his stack to over 325K – well over 4 times the current chip average, and more than 100K separating him from the player in 2nd place at the moment, Shaan Siddiqui.

All that being said, there are still come extremely skilled and experienced players left in the field (including, notably, Siddiqui), and there’s a long way to go before anyone can claim the Champion’s Trophy!

The stacks in the $550 Freeze are growing to impressive heights in some cases – and quickly dwindling to 0 in other cases. There are just 60 players left as we approach the break following level 11 – the pace of play is quick and should remain so for at least the next few levels.

Here are a few shots of the remaining field taken during levels 10-11:

The players in today’s $550 Freeze have just returned from their second break of the day. During the break, tournament staff removed the green T25 chips from play – and we surveyed the stacks to find the current leaders.

Three players have taken a big lead on the field and have already surpassed the 100K chip mark, while Pascal Monarque is behind a little but still playing over 2x the current chip average. Behind these leaders are a fairly large group of players in the 65K to 75K range – with stacks that are ready to “strike” at any time and grow much larger. This group of players includes William Blais, Sylvain Lessard, David Sorgente, and Behrooz Ghaedi.

Event #5 in the 2017 Playground Winter Festival attracted a total of 166 runners adding up to a prize pool of $80,510.00. This will be distributed among the final 17 players in the tournament according to the following payout table.

The $550 Freeze has moved into level 7, and with the end of the 6th level of play came the end of late registration. There are a total of 166 players in the event – tournament staff is working now to finalize the prize pool and payout structure which we’ll publish as soon as available.

Late registrants in the event included Jean-Philippe Piquette, Jake Labonte, and Martin Dej. Kinson Cheung also joined the field, fresh from a very successful series in the Bahamas earlier this winter.