Event #4 - The $250 Frenzy | Page 16 of 18 | Playground Winter Festival 2018

Frenzy – Day 1B

Level: 1
Small Blind: 50
Big Blind: 100
Button Ante: 0
Chip Average: 20K
Remaining: 33
Entries: 33

2018/01/19 - 19:02 by Jôle Simard

Event 4 is now in full swing. Day 1A just wrapped up with 16 qualifiers for Day 2, and our dealers are waiting at the tables for Day 1B to start.

Event 4 is the famous Frenzy, a $250 event with a $200,000 guarantee and 6 starting flights. It will unfold throughout the weekend at the pace of 2 flights per day, with Day 2 scheduled on Monday night at 7pm.

The starting stack is 20,000 chips, and just like in Event 1, all flights will play 14 levels, after which the survivors will bag their chips and send them to Day 2.

You have until 9:15 to register in Day 1B, secure your seat for Day 2, and have the whole weekend to play some cash games or simply relax at home, thinking about your game plan.

With 33 players already at the tables, cards are in the air!

Day 1A winding down

Level: 14
Small Blind: 1.2K
Big Blind: 2.4K
Button Ante: 1.2K
Chip Average: 89.5K
Remaining: 21
Entries: 94

2018/01/19 - 18:17 by Shawn McCrory

Play is winding down in Day 1A, but the players show no signs of slowing down as we approach the last level of the day. Pre-flop all-ins are becoming more and more frequent as the blind pressure increases on the short stacks. But even the big stacks are happy to take their chances early in hands.

A good example was a hand we just saw where David Bolduc Hamel faded all kinds of outs to eliminate two players, Matthew Nichol and Luc Lavoie. When we came to the table the chips were going in on an action flop: . Hamel held , Nichol had and Lavoie showed . Somehow, the board ran out dry for Hamel’s opponents with a turn and a river. The best hand held up and two players were sent packing.

Hammoud still in the lead

Level: 12
Small Blind: 800
Big Blind: 1.6K
Button Ante: 800
Chip Average: 60.6K
Remaining: 31
Entries: 94

2018/01/19 - 17:33 by Shawn McCrory

Play has resumed following our final break of the day. 32 players now remain out of a starting field of 94.

Hicham Hammoud has maintained his momentum since the last break and still leads the way with 166,000. There is an increasing disparity between the big and small stacks at this stage, we expect the action to continue at a frantic pace all the way to the completion of our last level of the day.

Here are the top three chip leaders:

First Name	Last Name	Chip Count
Hicham	Hammoud	166,000
Joel	Giguère	146,000
Michael	Mellor	135,000

More photos from Day 1A

Level: 10
Small Blind: 500
Big Blind: 1K
Button Ante: 1K
Chip Average: 47K
Remaining: 40
Entries: 94

2018/01/19 - 16:27 by Shawn McCrory

Chips are flying in Day 1A

Level: 9
Small Blind: 400
Big Blind: 800
Button Ante: 800
Chip Average: 31.9K
Remaining: 59
Entries: 94

2018/01/19 - 15:35 by Shawn McCrory

The feverish action continues in the $250 Frenzy. A third of the starting field has been eliminated at this point, and the players are taking every opportunity to build their stacks.

A case in point was a hand that just went down when three players, each with an above average stack, were all in before the flop. It’s not often you see over 150 big blinds up for grabs pre-flop at this stage in a tournament, but with the blinds at 300/600, Sylvain Lacasse, Rohit K and Hicham Hammoud each woke up with monsters and took their chances. Lacasse had , K had while Hammoud had , in a 3-way variant on the “classic” race. The flop of helped Hammoud lengthen his lead over his opponents. The on the turn left no doubt as to the winner. The river brought the , but nobody seemed to notice, as Hammoud pushed forward his chips for the dealer to count. When he collected all his new found chips, Hammoud was our new chip leader with 108,000.