2017 PCA Main Event Champion Christian Harder opened to 5.9K from utg +1, and was met with a 3-bet to 13K from Thundup Ringpa in the cutoff. He replied by moving in his 40.9K stack, and Thundup called after a minute in the tank.
Christian: 
Thundup: 
Board: 
Another level has passed in Day 2 of the WPT Playground, and chip-leader Eric Afriat has managed to increase his lead as he now surpasses the 450K mark, while Nghi Van Tran and Matthew Wilkins round the top three as they both sit above 320K.
Only 10 tables remain in play.
Photographs from level 13:
Francois Billard has just eliminated a player he edged by just a thousand or so chips, giving him a “pure” double up as play moves from level 13 to level 14.
We arrived at the table as the turn was dealt, the board showing 
. The player in Seat 9 acted first and led out with a moderate bet, only to be faced with a shove from Francois, who was playing immediately to his left in Seat 1. The deliberations didn’t take long – call.
Francois: 
Seat 9: 
Francois had turned an insurmountable straight, and the 
on the river was just a formality. As they counted down the stack, Francois was found to have 102,200 behind – which only passed his opponent by a couple of hundred chips.
Players are on a short break after 2 levels of play, and we took advantage of this time to bring an update on the chip-leaders.
Eric Afriat has chipped his way to the top of the leaderboard after 12 levels of play since the start of the event. He is the only player currently above the 300K mark, although Anthony Zinno is very close behind. The top stacks entering level 12 are listed in the table below.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Eric | Afriat | 313,200 |
| Anthony | Zinno | 295,000 |
| Carl | Des Granges | 249,000 |
| Jordan | Saccucci | 242,700 |
| Kevin | Schulz | 237,000 |
| Tam | Ho | 229,700 |
| Ryan | Tack Yu | 224,100 |
| Nghi Van | Tran | 207,400 |
| Michel-Claude | Baroud | 204,000 |
| Samuel Louis | Gagnon | 203,500 |
| Demo | Kiriopoulos | 202,300 |
| Aaron | Shepard | 189,000 |
| Marc André | Ladouceur | 183,200 |
| Ruben | Perceval | 176,200 |
| Shaan | Siddiqui | 175,900 |
Photographs from level 12:
Jordan Saccucci has already had a great series during this year’s Winter Festival, but a solid finish in the WPT Playground would eclipse all of the success he has had so far – and he just won a pot that puts him in a good position for a deep run.
We arrived at the table after Jordan had made a button shove over the top of Ron Laplante’s mid-position bet to 30K on the river with the community cards reading: 
. The action had been robust before the river – the pot already contained at least 60K in chips, and Ron took a few minutes to consider his alternatives before making the call.
Jordan: 
Ron: 
Ron had been soundly out-flopped, more than caught up on the turn – but finally was beaten when Jordan’s trip Jacks filled up on the river.
Alex Difelice opened to 4.1K from early position, and Samuel Louis Gagnon flat-called from middle position. Patrick Blye 3-bet to 19K from late position, and when action came back around to Alex he 4-bet all-in. After a moment in the tank, Samuel announced he was also all-in, covering both opponents. Patrick, who had committed nearly half of his stack, found a fold.
Alex: 
Samuel:
Board: 
The dealer cut down Samuel’s almost 100K stack, and then confirmed that Alex was covered by a small margin. With that pot, Samuel climbed near the top of the leaderboard as he closes on 200K.