We were late for most of the action, but Francois Goulet has eliminated Philippe Belley when a rivered Heart brought on a flush-over-flush situation. Goulet was the first to act on the river and his bet was greater than Belley’s remaining stack – and he got the call holding the nut flush compared with a lower flush for Belley. The pot vaults Goulet – a dangerous player – up to somewhere close to 4.3M in chips, good enough for 2nd overall.
The remaining 20 players in the Playground 1000 just took a break and while they were away from the table, we managed to get full counts for the entire field. The table below lists the players by table and seat, but if you click or tap on the column header you can re-sort by chip count (or by name).
The current chip leader is Ruben Perceval, who took most of Rayan Chamas’ chips (at least the ones that Santiago Plante hadn’t already taken) during the last part of level 23.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Seat | Siège | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omid | Shahbazian | Table 62 - Seat 2 | 1,095,000 |
| Elaine | Rawn | Table 62 - Seat 3 | 1,175,000 |
| Griffin | Benger | Table 62 - Seat 4 | 2,330,000 |
| Santiago | Plante | Table 62 - Seat 5 | 3,920,000 |
| Ruben | Perceval | Table 62 - Seat 6 | 5,100,000 |
| Said | Michailidis | Table 62 - Seat 7 | 3,875,000 |
| Aaron Roy | Parsons | Table 62 - Seat 8 | 1,840,000 |
| Francis | Collins | Table 69 - Seat 2 | 2,545,000 |
| Jaered Daniel | Besse | Table 69 - Seat 3 | 1,945,000 |
| Azim | Popatia | Table 69 - Seat 4 | 1,180,000 |
| Eric | Schanck | Table 69 - Seat 5 | 3,105,000 |
| David | Sorgente | Table 69 - Seat 7 | 3,115,000 |
| Pierre Paul | Paulin | Table 69 - Seat 8 | 2,280,000 |
| Philippe | Belley | Table 70 - Seat 1 | 780,000 |
| Francois | Goulet | Table 70 - Seat 2 | 2,810,000 |
| Daune | Fernandez | Table 70 - Seat 4 | 3,805,000 |
| Martin | Dej | Table 70 - Seat 5 | 2,125,000 |
| Nick | Nickoletopoulos | Table 70 - Seat 6 | 760,000 |
| David | Bertrand | Table 70 - Seat 7 | 2,275,000 |
| John | Helou | Table 70 - Seat 8 | 3,820,000 |
Day 3 of the Playground 1000 has dropped to 24 players, and as this is an 8-handed tournament, that means that a full redraw has been performed for the remaining players. Play now continues in level 23.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Seat | Siège | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omid | Shahbazian | Table 62 - Seat 2 | 1,095,000 |
| Elaine | Rawn | Table 62 - Seat 3 | 1,175,000 |
| Griffin | Benger | Table 62 - Seat 4 | 2,330,000 |
| Santiago | Plante | Table 62 - Seat 5 | 3,920,000 |
| Ruben | Perceval | Table 62 - Seat 6 | 5,100,000 |
| Said | Michailidis | Table 62 - Seat 7 | 3,875,000 |
| Aaron Roy | Parsons | Table 62 - Seat 8 | 1,840,000 |
| Francis | Collins | Table 69 - Seat 2 | 2,545,000 |
| Jaered Daniel | Besse | Table 69 - Seat 3 | 1,945,000 |
| Azim | Popatia | Table 69 - Seat 4 | 1,180,000 |
| Eric | Schanck | Table 69 - Seat 5 | 3,105,000 |
| David | Sorgente | Table 69 - Seat 7 | 3,115,000 |
| Pierre Paul | Paulin | Table 69 - Seat 8 | 2,280,000 |
| Philippe | Belley | Table 70 - Seat 1 | 780,000 |
| Francois | Goulet | Table 70 - Seat 2 | 2,810,000 |
| Daune | Fernandez | Table 70 - Seat 4 | 3,805,000 |
| Martin | Dej | Table 70 - Seat 5 | 2,125,000 |
| Nick | Nickoletopoulos | Table 70 - Seat 6 | 760,000 |
| David | Bertrand | Table 70 - Seat 7 | 2,275,000 |
| John | Helou | Table 70 - Seat 8 | 3,820,000 |
Here are a few photos from the action during level 21. The pace of play has slowed down considerably as the tournament is now down to 4 tables.
There are just 31 players remaining after the first 2 levels of play on Day 3 of the Playground 1000, and with so many eliminations it was almost surprising to see that no single player has a crazy lead on the field – all of the chips have been distributed reasonably efficiently among the remaining players.
John Helou is the chip leader to this point, with 3.785M in his stack, followed by Rayan Chamas as the other player currently playing over 3M. Here is the full Top 5 list.
| First Name | Last Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| John | Helou | 3,785,000 |
| Rayan | Chamas | 3,170,000 |
| François | Goulet | 2,750,000 |
| David | Sorgente | 2,695,000 |
| Daune | Fernandez | 2,395,000 |
Experienced players know that position is extremely important in poker – but there are a few limited situations in which being out of position can be beneficial – or at least give a player a chance to win an otherwise-unwinnable pot. Ruben Perceval just benefitted from exactly that situation, rare as it is.
When we arrived at the table, the river had already been dealt with 4 players in the hand – itself a very rare situation in a decent-level NL Hold’em tournament. Perceval laid out a bet of 125K, and watched calmly as 3 players in a row folded, one after the other.
What was the board that prompted this? Well it was as wet as a full Hold’em board can be: 
.
So? Was it a bluff relying on his position, or a bet for thin value holding a full house? We may never know…
