$1,100 Main Event Day 1 | PlayNow Championship Winnipeg

09-08-2019 01:27 UTC-5

Day 1 of the Main Event is History

Lyle Bateman

Level 15 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

The Main Event is always the most anticipated event of the series at Club Regent Casino, and this year, the second biggest turnout ever came to try their hand at the big prizes. A total of 233 entries were recorded when the dinner break ended after Level 6.

That put $233,000 into the middle to divvy up between the top 24 finishers. The top prize is $61,499, and the 24th place finisher will still take home $2,476. Most of the final table of ten will take home at least $5,000, with only tenth place taking slightly less at $4,741.

There were quite a few notable players who came by to take a shot at the title, but not all of them were able to make it through the first day. Kyle Hartree, Deven Lane, Norbert Rosario, and Mark Charles were all looking to add some points to their Player of the Series standings with a deep run in the Main, but they all fell short of the mark. Fashion mogul Peter Nygard had an amazing run through the early and middle stages of Day 1, but ended up card dead at the end of the night and busted in the final level of the day.

Equally, there were quite a few big names that bagged chips at the end of Day 1. Patrick "Super" Serda, the second biggest poker winner in Manitoba, bagged a stack. Also still in the mix are beasts like Eric Wasylenko, Chris Clisby, Mark Golub, Anders Prokopowich, 2018 Spring Champion Shaner Yo, Dave Shiska, Dylan Ellis, and Shawn Sperber among many others.

Full chip counts and seat assignments will be posted shortly.

Action for Day 2 kicks off at noon on Sunday, and they'll play down to a winner before they quit. PokerNews Canada will be on the floor from start to end to bring you all the action as a new Main Event Champion is crowned.

09-08-2019 00:52 UTC-5

Action Slowing

Lyle Bateman

Level 15 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

With just 20 minutes left in the night, the action is starting to slow down a bit. The field is now down to 50 players remaining, which all remaining players are in the special tournament area of the Club Regent Casino poker room. There's still a few more minutes of play left, but the final results from Day 1 will be published shortly.

09-07-2019 21:15 UTC-5

Celebrity in the Field

Lyle Bateman

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

You never know who might come out for a poker tournament. Sitting among the field today is Peter Nygard, a Finnish-Canadian fashion icon with more than 50 years in the business.

With its origins in Winnipeg, his Nygard Fashions is a global brand that has headquarters in Toronto and New York, with a flagship retail outlet in Times Square.

And he's doing more than just making an appearance. He's sitting at a stacked table that includes Eric Wasylenko, Paul Esposti, Mark Golub, and Igor Grinevsky, and he's managed to stack up around 120,000 chips despite being in tough competition.

Player	Chips	Progress
Peter Nygard	120,000 10,000	10,000

Tags: Paul Esposti Mark Golub Eric Wasylenko Igor Grinevsky Peter Nygard

09-07-2019 18:10 UTC-5

Shiska's River Bet Takes It

Lyle Bateman

Level 7 : 300/600, 600 ante

Dave Shiska (pictured in a previous event)

After an early position raise and a call from the hijack, Dave Shiska came along from the small blind. The flop was and action checked around. The same lack of action greeted the turn card but when the river hit the felt, Shiska led out for 2,400. The initial raiser counted out a call and paused for a bit before putting it back in his stack and mucking his cards, and the other player in the hand quickly followed suit.

Tags: Dave Shiska

09-07-2019 16:14 UTC-5

Player of the Series Race

Lyle Bateman

Level 6 : 300/500, 500 ante

Every series, the PlayNow Poker Championship adds extra value by running a Player of the Series race. Players get points for participation in each event, as well as extra points depending how deep they run. Points are weighted by the prize a player receives, and bonus points are available for players who make multiple deep runs during the series.

After his win in the $600 event, and 15th place finish in the Bounty Event, Mikki Gagic is the current point leader with 874.24 points. Zoe Chua, the runner up in the $600 event is in second with about 450 points less than that, and the winner of the Bounty event, Norbert Rosario is just behind him in third.

Because the points are weighted to the prize pool, players who run deep in the Main Event will amass the most points. A few of the others on the list who could overtake the lead with a deep run in the main include Mark Charles (333.16), Deven Lane (277.6), Paul Esposti (261.52) and Kyle Hartree (214.72).

Here's a look at the current top 10 in points:

Place	Player	Points
1	Mikke Gagic	874.24
2	Zoe Vhua	422.58
3	Norbert Rosario	387.2
4	Mark Charles	333.16
5	Deven Lane	277.6
6	Paul Esposti	261.52
7	Kyle Hartree	214.72
8	Anthny Joubert	187.68
9	Codey Chief	186.72
10	Ron Lauzon	174.22

09-07-2019 14:50 UTC-5

Newton Turns a Win

Lyle Bateman

Level 4 : 200/300, 300 ante

Action folded to Matt Newton on the button, and he limped in. Jeremy Plett completed from the small blind and Farrel Rempel checked his option.

The flop came and after a check from Plett, Rempel fired 800 into the middle. Newton called, but Plett mucked his hand.

Rempel checked the turn and Newton tossed 1,500 into the middle, which was enough to get Rempel to fold his hand.

Tags: Farrel Rempel Jeremy Plett Matt Newton

09-07-2019 13:30 UTC-5

Rosario Use Position

Lyle Bateman

Level 2 : 100/200, 0 ante

Norbert Rosario, pictured after winning $300 Bounty

Brian Henningson was the first into the pot with a limp from the hijack, but when action got Norbert Rosario, fresh off his win in the $300 Bounty event last night, he bumped it up to 600.

Henningson made the call, and the flop came . He checked to Rosario who tossed 1,200 into the middle, and Henningson released his hand.

Player	Chips	Progress
Brian Henningson	45,000 1,000	1,000
Norbert Rosario	25,000

Tags: Brian Henningson Norbert Rosario

09-07-2019 12:37 UTC-5

Faces in the Crowd

Lyle Bateman

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante

Action in Level 1 is well underway, and there are tons of familiar faces in the field. Among the familiar players at the felt today are Claire and Leo Leclerc, Leor Wasserman, winner of Event 1 MIcky Gagic, winner of Event 2 Norbert Rosario, Dylan Ellis, Ferosh Tailor, Dave Shiska, and Shawn Sperber are just a few of the faces in the crowd today.

09-07-2019 11:07 UTC-5

Time for the Big Show

Lyle Bateman

However popular the other side events are at the PlayNow Poker Championship, the real show everyone comes for is the $1,100 Main Event. With 45 minute blind levels and 25,000 chips to start, the Main Event is more of a marathon than the other events on the schedule.

Last year it was Rick Blom who ended up with all the chips. Blom went on the card-run of his life on the final two tables, holding when he had to, and getting there when he had to. Blom won the trophy, championship ring and nearly $60,000 for his troubles, but the winner of this year's even will have an extra prize to add to the their haul, the custom jacket available only to PNPC Main Event winners.

Play starts at 12:05 p.m. local time, and late registration will be open for the first six full levels, closing just at the start of Level 7. In the 2018 edition of this event, 225 entries were recorded, and it's likely to be very similar this year, which should put more than $200,000 into the prize pool.

Stay tuned here for all the action through the day as pokernews Canada is on the floor from "Shuffle up and deal" through "Let's bag and tag".