2017 Playground Poker Club and partypoker World Cup of Cards

$1,100 Playground1000
Day: 2
Event Info

2017 Playground Poker Club and partypoker World Cup of Cards

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
77
Prize
200,000 CAD
Event Info
Buy-in
1,100 CAD
Prize Pool
1,000,000 CAD
Entries
867
Level Info
Level
34
Blinds
300,000 / 600,000
Ante
300,000

Carlos Gerones Finishes Day 2 of the Playground1000 $1M Guaranteed With the Chip Lead

Level 17 : 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Carlos Gerones
Carlos Gerones

Day 2 of the $1,100 No Limit Hold'em partypoker Playground1000 $1,000,000 Guaranteed event is in the books and just 133 players remain in the hunt for the glory.

There are still two more days of play left before a champion is crowned, and so far Carlos Gerones leads the way with 2,304,000 chips. The Canadian only has one listed cash from two years ago right here at Playground, so this could be a chance for him to top his only $4,414 result. Gerones led midway through the day after stacking an opponent when he flopped a flush and improved to a straight flush to scoop a massive 1.7 million-chip pot. Close behind him is 2017 WSOP Main Event last-Canadian standing David Guay in second (1,950,000) with Matthew Wilkins (1,681,000), Fakher Alizai (1,586,000) and Kevin Rivest (1,483,000) rounding out the top five stacks.

In addition to these top stacks, partypoker Team Pros Kristen Bicknell (301,000) and Natalia Breviglieri (500,000) remain in the field with a shot at some big money to add to their already-impressive poker resumes.

Event #20 began with an Online Day 1 and continued with four Live Day 1's that concluded with a turbo in the middle of the day today for flight 1d. A total of 384 players came back to battle, plus another 136 Day 2 re-entries were added to the tally. All in all, this event attracted a total of 867 entries, eventually paying 100 spots.

First place will take home $200,000, the trophy and the glory that comes with taking down an event at the World Cup of Cards. A full break down of the prize pool is under the Payouts tab above. Here is a look at the breakdown of the payouts for the final table:

PlacePrize (CAD)
1st$200,000
2nd$120,000
3rd$80,000
4th$54,500
5th$40,000
6th$30,000
7th$22,500
8th$15,000
9th$10,000

This event is just 33 spots from the money and players will reach the bubble at some point in the first half of Day 3 tomorrow.

While many familiar faces moved on, a good chunk failed to get anything going. This includes Marc Etienne Mclaughlin, Laurence Grondin, Thomas Lefort, Duff Charette, Jiachen Gong, Francois Billard, Jean-Pascal Savard, Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault, Guillaume Nolet, and Sam Tsehai.

Day 3 ramps back up at 1:00 p.m. local time tomorrow. PokerNews will continue to be on site to bring you all of the coverage throughout this jam-packed festival, so keep it locked right here to stay in the loop!

Here's a look at the table draw for Day 3 tomorrow:

Tags: Carlos GeronesDavid GuayFakher AlizaiKristen BicknellNatalia Breviglieri

Brunskole Doubles Through Chartier

Level 17 : 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante
Matthew Brunskole
Matthew Brunskole

We got to the table with 400,000 in the pot on a board reading {a-Hearts}{8-Spades}{4-Spades}{4-Clubs}{9-Diamonds}.

Sam Chartier was in late position and checked to Matthew Brunskole in the cutoff. Brunskole shipped his remaining 271,000 chips in the middle and Chartier went into the tank. It took several minutes for him to come to a decision, but eventually he called.

Brunskole tabled {8-Diamonds}{8-Clubs} for a full house, eights full of fours. Chartier mucked and paid the bet.

Player Chips Progress
Matthew Brunskole ca
Matthew Brunskole
830,000 210,000
Sam Chartier ca
Sam Chartier
640,000 -176,000

Tags: Matthew BrunskoleSamuel Chartier

Eric Afriat Runs Into Aces to Bust

Level 15 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Eric Afriat
Eric Afriat

Eric Afriat was all-in before the flop for his last 131,000 and was called by Kyle Janisse.

Unfortunately Afriat was on the bad end of a cooler with {a-Hearts}{k-Clubs}, up against Janisse's {a-Spades}{a-Diamonds}.

The flop came {j-Spades}{9-Diamonds}{4-Hearts} and Janisse stayed ahead with two aces. Afriat picked up some outs when the {k-Hearts} hit the turn but the river was the {2-Diamonds} and Afriat was eliminated.

Player Chips Progress
Kyle Janisse ca
Kyle Janisse
310,000
Eric Afriat ca
Eric Afriat
WPT 3X Winner
Busted

Tags: Eric AfriatKyle Janisse

Straight Flush Boosts Gerones

Level 14 : 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Carlos Gerones
Carlos Gerones

On a {q-Clubs}{6-Clubs}{10-Clubs} flop, Carlos Gerones raised a bet from the player in the big blind to 131,000 only to see a third player in the hand shove all-in for 212,000. The player in the big blind folded and Gerones snap-called.

Opponent: {q-Diamonds}{10-Diamonds}
Gerones: {k-Clubs}{j-Clubs}

Gerones had flopped the second nuts and had his opponent drawing to a full house only. The turn was the {9-Hearts} and the {9-Clubs} completed the board as Gerones improved to a straight flush and dragged in the sizeable pot.

Player Chips Progress
Carlos Gerones ca
Carlos Gerones
1,700,000 409,000

Tags: Carlos Gerones

Ace-King For the Oyster King

Level 14 : 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Armand King
Armand King

A roar echoed through the tournament hall as Armand King erupted with excitement after rivering his opponent to double up.

It wasn't an ordinary double up either. It was a pot that put Armand back at the top of the chip counts. But the big story was the hand each player tabled.

King limped in from early position and then three-bet an open from Tien Phung. Phung four-bet jammed all-in and King called.

Phung: {a-Hearts}{k-Hearts}
King: {a-Clubs}{k-Clubs}

The board ran out {3-Clubs}{7-Spades}{6-Clubs}{5-Spades}{8-Clubs} and King rivered a flush to scoop the largest pot of the tournament thus far.

King was the player at risk and Phung was forced to match King's stack of 451,000.

Phung was left with 23,500 and King finished Phung off the very next hand, rivering a straight to crack Phung's pocket tens with king-queen.

Player Chips Progress
Armand King ca
Armand King
990,000 330,000
Tien Phung ca
Tien Phung
Busted

Tags: Armand KingTien Phung

Mike Leah Gets Counterfeited on the River to Bust

Level 14 : 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Mike Leah
Mike Leah

Presten Cloutier raised to 12,000 from late position and Mike Leah moved all-in for 93,000 from the hijack. Action was back on Cloutier and he was visibly torn by the decision. After some chatter from Leah, he eventually called.

Mike Leah: {10-Spades}{10-Clubs}
Presten Cloutier: {k-Clubs}{q-Spades}

It was a flip, and the flop came {j-Clubs}{j-Spades}{8-Spades} to keep Leah in the lead. The turn was the {a-Spades}, and Cloutier picked up outs, in addition to his over cards, to make a flush, plus the ace made for another over card should the board double pair.

Sure enough, the river was the {a-Clubs} and Leah was counterfeited to bust.

Player Chips Progress
Presten Cloutier ca
Presten Cloutier
527,000 157,000
Mike Leah ca
Mike Leah
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Busted

Tags: Mike LeahPresten Cloutier

Cormier Ships a Huge Pot

Level 13 : 2,500/5,000, 5,000 ante
Jeff Cormier
Jeff Cormier

A huge pot of what looked to be about 500,000 was brewing between Jeff Cormier and William Blais. We arrived to the table on the river of a {5-Clubs}{9-Clubs}{7-Clubs}{2-Spades}{3-Clubs} board.

Cormier slid out a bet worth 114,000 and Blais took some time before laying his hand down.

"That club saved you. I was trapping," Cormier uttered as he tabled {a-Clubs}{a-Hearts}.

Player Chips Progress
Jeff Cormier ca
Jeff Cormier
880,000 380,000
William Blais ca
William Blais
258,000 -64,000

Tags: Jeff CormierWilliam Blais

Bicknell Has Heaps; Seeks First Playground Poker Cash

Level 13 : 2,500/5,000, 5,000 ante
Kristen Bicknell
Kristen Bicknell

One of Canada's most familiar faces on the live poker scene these days is partypoker Team Pro Kristen Bicknell.

The online phenom took to the live felt on a full-time basis a couple of years ago while still dabbling in the live scene before that. Bicknell now owns two World Series of Poker bracelets after winning the 2013 Ladies' Event and then the 2016 Bounty Event.

Bicknell signed with partypoker earlier this year as a Team Pro and has been representing the brand with pride, traveling to play tournaments across the world. In an interview earlier in the year, Bicknell expressed that she hoped to represent a company in the poker world without having to change who she is and still play the game she loves. She has most certainly been accomplishing that.

To date, Bicknell's live earnings sit at around $925,000 and she looks to cross the $1 million mark with a big cash this series. She also sits just a few points behind Cate Hall as the top female this year by GPI rankings. With her clear intention of supporting women in poker, it would be no surprise to see her motivated to end the year with a bang if only to clinch this award alone.

Bicknell currently sits on a stack of 800,000 after heating up early on Day 2, so look for her to make waves as the series gets deeper. She has yet to book a cash here at Playground and hopes to correct that here.

Player Chips Progress
Kristen Bicknell ca
Kristen Bicknell
800,000 186,000

Tags: Kristen Bicknell

"Nobody Believes me?"

Level 11 : 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
Armand King
Armand King

Armand King opened to 9,000 from early position and got calls from three players. "Nobody believes me?, asked King as the dealer fanned out a {10-Spades}{7-Diamonds}{q-Spades} flop.

The player in the big blind checked and King announced a bet of 80,000 quickly getting all three of his opponents to fold.

"They believe me now," stated King as the dealer pushed him the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Armand King ca
Armand King
630,000 -55,100

Tags: Armand King

The Field Converges on Day 2 of the Playground1000

Through four live Day 1s at Playground Poker Club and an online Day 1 on partypoker, a total of 384 entries will converge on Day 2 of the $1,000,000 guaranteed partypoker LIVE Playground1000. The 20th event of the 2017 World Cup of Cards featured a buy-in of $1,100 but only received 729 entries, falling short of the guarantee.

However, late registration is open for the first three levels of Day 2 closing at approximately 8:15 p.m.

Leading the pack when action resumes at 5 p.m. local time is Armand King. King bagged 685,100 on Day 1b and the mark held through the final qualifying flights. Matthew Brunskole came close on Day 1c but could only muster 659,700.

Other top stacks and notables in the field include Georges Hallak (626,500), Alexander Puchalski (626,0000), Rong Xu (546,300), Shawn Daigle (490,500), Samuel Chartier (451,200), Laurence Grondin (360,400), partypoker ambassador Kristen Bicknell (352,300), Mike Leah (348,500), and 2013 Main Event Champion Ryan Reiss (323,100).

There are eight 60-minute levels on the schedule for Day 2 finishing at approximately 1:45 a.m local time. There will be a 15-minute break every two levels and late-registration will remain open until the end of Level 12, the third level of the day.

PokerNews will be here throughout the festival, bringing you all the news and updates. Follow @pokernews on Twitter for live updates and more. Also, follow PokerNews on Facebook and Instagram.