As our seventh level of play on Day 1B winds down, the players are putting each other to the test. Mathieu Boulanger-Vaugeois, better known around Playground by his alias “Matt Damon,” was just put to one such test when he was check-raised by Francis Sabourin on the turn in a big pot. The board read , and Boulanger-Vaugeois had position on Sabourin. Sabourin check-raised the turn, making it 35.3K to go after the initial 10K bet by Boulanger-Vaugeois. The call was made and the players saw the river. Sabourin continued his story and led out for 45K. This bet cranked up the pressure on Boulanger-Vaugeois, who had roughly 75K left behind. After thinking over some of Sabourin’s possible hands out loud and spending several minutes in the tank, he made the call. Sabourin tabled , and Boulanger-Vaugeois showed . There were a few remarks heard around the table about what a tough spot he had found himself in, to which Boulanger-Vaugeois agreed; “I was only beating that hand or a bluff.”

At the 3rd break of Day 1B, John Helou, on his second bullet today, has the most chips. Martin Messier joins him in the 300K club, and when Helou’s table broke, chance sent him on Messier’s table.

With 4 levels ahead, there is a lot of poker to be played before a new list of qualifiers joins the 49 players who put their name on the Playground 1000 Combined Day 1 Results list.

Here is our current top 10:

John Helou, after busting, decided to give 1B another chance, rather than come back tomorrow. He did not lose any time to do well with his new stack, counting over 225K.

When Rabah Belal Ahin Al-Nasseri pushed a pre-flop raise, Helou 3-bet him to 7,500. The call was made, and the flop was checked by both. Al-Nasseri made a small 6K bet on the turn, and Helou called. The river saw the exact same action, but before calling, Helou smiled, probably wondering why the bet was so small. Because Helou opened as soon as he called, we did not get to see Al-Nasseri’s hole cards.

John Helou:

Board:

Helou is well on his way to bag a decent amount of chips tonight. Second bullet aims better!

Chris Arvanitis does have the biggest stack at the 2nd break, but this leaderboard is extremely compact. We counted 6 players between 200K and 228K, which is the leading stack.

There 6 players are listed below: