Playground Poker

After four 60-minute levels our leaderboard is made up exclusively of players who have amassed over 100,000 chips. At the top is Gerald Karlic, who may or may not have been getting a massage for the entirety of the last four hours.

Registration is up to 309 entries (including 29 re-entries) and there are 254 players left in the action.

At table 59 just now we came across a short-stacked player, Kayvan Payman, shoving all in for his tournament life. Luckily for him, things worked out in his favor!

The board was initially showing a , which was initially checked around with two other players in the hand, Rishi Makkar and Said Michailidis.

The turn was a , making the flush possible. Kayvan raised 1,500, which was called by his two opponents, and the river was then dealt a .

With four hearts on the board now it was Kayvan’s turn to check. His check was followed by Rishi, but Said made it 3,000 to go. Looking at his short stack and realizing he was now almost obliged to make a move, Kayvan shoved for 7,100. Considering he had the nut flush, it wasn’t too hard of a decision to make. His all in chased Rishi from he hand, and Said made the call.

Kayvan showed his , and Said his . With the hand, Kayvan moved back from the brink of elimination and lived to play some more.

The WPT Main Event Day 1C has reached the halfway point. Level 4 has just come to an end and the players are now enjoying a 15 minute break. Here are some of the Halloween day photos of the action!

As we walked by table 33 we noticed a big pile of chips in the pot (approximately 25,000) alongside a 29,000 bet with 4 cards on the board.

Board:

Richard Kirsch had made the 29,000 chip bet, and it had flummoxed Patrick Serda. He asked the table jokingly about his options and what he should do, seeming genuinely on the fence. Richard promised Patrick that if he folded he would show him the winning hand.

After another minute of contemplation and a wry smile, Patrick decided he didn’t like the confidence his opponent was showing and folded. True to his word, Richard flipped over .

While Patrick could have folded two pairs, ultimately Richard was always going to be right if Patrick folded – his cards were definitely the winning hand.

We noticed that Bruce Kramer has a neat little diamond encrusted skull to cap his cards, as he has been playing tournaments all week. Perhaps he brings it because it’s lucky, or perhaps it’s meant to intimidate. Either way, its powers were not to be seen this hand up against Douglas James and Roberly Felicio.

We joined the hand with the board showing a , with a very healthy pot of 25K ready for the taking. Bruce checked utg, which was perhaps the sign James was looking. He raised 16,700, more than 1/3 of the average chip stack. That proved to be too rich for both his opponents, garnering two quick folds and a nice boost to James’ stack.

Rick Mask was facing a tough decision: At this early point in the tournament, should he call for roughly 1/3 of his stack? Up against Carla Sabini, a regular at Playground and a well known player at big events worldwide, he had his work cut out for him.

We joined the hand as Carla pushed in a bet of 13,000 with a board full of high spades showing. After two minutes of careful thought, Rick called and the river card came down.

The board was now showing . Luckily for Rick, he didn’t have to make any more decisions, as Carla checked. He checked in return, leading to Carla showing her 6-8 bluff. Rick turned over , making top two pair and adding a nice pile of chips to his stack.