Four levels have been played so far in Day 1A of the PG1000, and a handful of players are pushing over 200K. Pierre Lamothe is only 16K behind Eric Cormier, who lost a few feathers but is still our top dog.

Here is our current top 10:

Some of their photos:

Donald Abdelhay, who couldn’t find a spot for over 3 levels of play, finally picked up a hand to work with. Also, he was fortunate enough to see a short stack go all-in on him.

Donald Abdelhay:
Rottanak Ly:

Board:

Abdelhay flopped big, and although Ly found some hope on the turn, the set of kings held, and Abdelhay moved up by about 25K.

Level 4 photographs:

After 2 hours of of play, and despite the very deep starting stacks, some players have managed to distance themselves from the pack. Two of them – Walter Asatoorian and Eric Cormier –  even doubled their belonging. Their respective tables count 2 players each in our current top 5, which is presented below:

During this early stage of Day 1A, players are mostly playing small pots and studying each other. The biggest pot we came across was between Louis Boutin and Yan Nadeau. Nadeau fired 3 post-flop barrels – 3.3K, 7K and 11K – and Boutin released on the river on the following board:

Nothing was shown, and these 2 players playing a pretty advanced game, anyone’s guess is valid. Here are some shots taken early in level 2:

Day 1A started with 45 players, and 12 more joined the field in the first level. Knowing the poker player’s tendency toward lateness, we can expect players to come in at a regular pace until the end of the flight.

Some known faces were noticed in the room. Here is a first look at the field:

Today marks the start of the Main Event in the Winter Festival 2018. At Playground Poker Club, we are ready for this marquee Event, and excited about distributing a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000. The tournament offers 3 starting flights throughout the weekend, and will endure through Day 2, 3 and 4, where it will see its conclusion on Wednesday.

Players will take on Day 1 with a 100K starting stack, and play 10 60-minute levels before bagging their chips onto Day 2. Registration will remain open for 12 levels, meaning you can technically play all Day 1s – not desirable but possible – as well as register a fresh stack during the first 2 levels of Day 2, which will be held on Monday at noon.

You will be able to follow the action right here, on Playground Poker Club’s house blog, throughout the Event. The tables are set. The early birds are circling their table. The tournament director made the announcement and cards are in the air. Good luck everyone!