Playground Poker

Timothy Ulmer leads the pack after two levels

Level: 3
Small Blind: 100
Big Blind: 200
BB Ante: 200
Chip Average: 43K
Remaining: 51
Entries: 55

2018/10/29 | 18:21 by Playground Poker

After two 60-minute levels we have reached the first break in today’s WPT Main Event.

At 43,000, the average chip stack is barely higher than where it started (the starting stack was 40,000 chips). That said, there were a few players whose chip stacks were notable at the first break, even though it remains early in today’s flight. Congrats to the early leader, Timothy Ulmer!

First Name \| Prénom	Last Name \| Nom	Stack \| Tapis
Timothy	Ulmer	85,300
Marc	MacDonell	79,700
Karim	Kamal	74,400
Benjamin	Leblond	71,200
Peter	Katsoulis	56,000

Luongo exits on a 1-outer

Level: 20
Small Blind: 5K
Big Blind: 10K
BB Ante: 10K
Chip Average: 336K
Remaining: 226
Entries: 2536

2018/10/29 | 18:04 by Playground Poker

Fabio Luongo got the last of his chips into the pot in excellent shape. The all-in happened on the flop, and with showing on the board, he tabled for three-of-a-kind and was up against the of Danny Freitas. With over 95% equity to win the hand, Fabio had to dodge only two possible scenarios to win the pot – the case Ace, or running 8s. The turn eliminated one of those options, however the river brought an from space, sending Fabio home on a 1-outer.

Photographs from levels 19-20:

Leaderboard at the first break

Level: 20
Small Blind: 5K
Big Blind: 10K
BB Ante: 10K
Chip Average: 300K
Remaining: 255
Entries: 2536

2018/10/29 | 17:49 by Playground Poker

Players have just taken their first break of the night, and are now returning back to their seats to continue this Day 2 of the WPT500. Mukul Pahuja has a stranglehold lead on the field with his 1,790,000 chip stack, which nearly doubles any other player. Oroson Howard is the only other player currently sitting on a 7-figure stack.

Below are the top 10 stacks entering level 20:

First Name \| Prénom	Last Name \| Nom	Stack \| Tapis
Mukul	Pahuja	1,790,000
Oroson	Howard	1,030,000
Geoffrey	Hum	930,000
Tyler	Carslaw	930,000
Samuel	Spiwak	825,000
Steven	Firestone	816,000
Jesse	Johnston	803,000
Vasilios	Garantakos	800,000
Gary	Lucci	765,000
Fabrizio	Bruno	718,000

Pahuja bulldozing through the field

Level: 19
Small Blind: 4K
Big Blind: 8K
BB Ante: 8K
Chip Average: 287K
Remaining: 265
Entries: 2536

2018/10/29 | 17:26 by Playground Poker

Mukul Pahuja came into Day 2 with a less-than-average chip stack, bagging 109,000 in an online starting flight. In less than two levels of play, he managed to increase his holding to over 1,500,000, putting him far ahead of anyone else in the field.

We just saw him pick off two short stacks from his table in back-to-back hands. In the first hand, he open-shoved from the small blind and eliminated the big blind with over on a board.

On the very next hand, he was on the button facing an all-in of roughly 100,000. He isolated by raising all-in himself, and tabled . He was racing against , however took a massive lead in the hand after catching a set on the window card of a board.

The action continues in the WPT Main Event

Level: 2
Small Blind: 100
Big Blind: 200
BB Ante: 100
Chip Average: 42.5K
Remaining: 48
Entries: 151

2018/10/29 | 17:25 by Playground Poker

Here are some more shots of the players in the WPT Montreal Festival’s Main Event, now 20 minutes into level 2.

“Congratulations, you are now in the money!”

Level: 19
Small Blind: 4K
Big Blind: 8K
BB Ante: 8K
Chip Average: 236K
Remaining: 323
Entries: 2536

2018/10/29 | 17:03 by Playground Poker

“Congratulations, you are now in the money!” – these are the words players love to hear, and our tournament director has just spoken then as the WPT500 field was reduced to 323 runners, officially entering the payouts.

With the event split across 2 poker halls, the tournament director started hand-for-hand when the field reached 325 players. It only took one hand to find the 2 required eliminations, with Mark A and Stephane Edme as the unfortunate two eliminated prior to the payouts.

Action is back underway now with all 323 players having secured a payout of at least $920.

Congratulations!