Players are rushing in to take advantage of the possible overlay. 132 players are at the tables, going into level 2, but we’re still pretty far from the needed number of 303 players. It looks like even with tonight’s great participation, Event 1 could come a bit short, which means 2 things: a very likely overlay, and a huge field of players that should produce Day 2’s chip leader. It could be you! Registration remains open until 9h15pm.
Here is a quick look at the field:
Tonight is the last starting flight of Event 1 of the Winter Festival 2018, Playground’s first bang on the new calendar. Event 1 has a $100,000 guarantee, and 303 players are needed tonight to meet it. Can it happen? You can be the judge of that. One thing is for sure, tonight will see one of 2 things: A substantial overlay or a huge field! In both cases, you will not want to miss this last flight.
75 players have registered so far, and the tournament director is currently announcing Shuffle up and Deal. Come and join the party!
Poker players interested in extra money – which is to say all of you – should pay special attention to Event #1, which looks like it may have an overlay on the prize pool! At least 280 more entries will be required in the final starting flight tonight in order to match the guarantee.
What’s an overlay, you ask? When there’s a prize pool guarantee, the overlay is the amount that has to be made up between the prize pool generated by buy-ins and the guaranteed amount. It’s a great value for players because the tournament is just a little bit easier to navigate with fewer players in the field – but the prize pool remains the same!
Day 1D in Event #1 begins at 7:00pm tonight with late registration available through the end of the first break following level 4. That means players can jump in any time until 9:15pm tonight. And remember – as a next-day re-entry event, you can play tonight even if you’ve already played in a Day 1. Even if you’ve already qualified for Day 2 – there’s no harm in trying to build up a bigger stack that can take on the likes of Albert Nguyen, the overall chip leader so after the 3 starting flights already in the books.
After 14 levels of tough poker, Christopher Tavares wrote his name on top of tonight’s qualifiers’ list. There are 29 names on that list, and they will be added to the Combined Day 1 Results list, in the results section.
Here is a sneak peek:
Tomorrow will need to welcome at least 280 players to cover the huge $100K guarantee. Value Alert!
Adam Cader missed qualification by a hair. He 3-bet shoved Nicolas Majdalani for about 50K.
Adam Cader: 
Nicolas Majdalani: 
Board: 
Robert Dagenais went all-in on the flop for about 20K. Michael Macdonell called.
Robert Dagenais: 
Michael Macdonell: 
Board: 
Moments later on the same table, just before it broke and sent its survivors to 1 of 4 remaining tables, Kevin Scheen was the victim of a set-up:
Steven Nicolas Curkovich:
Kevin Scheen: 
Board: 
The huge pot was pushed to Curkovich. Play continues with 35 minutes left to the night.
Some deep-runner photographs:
