Darren Elias Is Going For Fifth Title At The WPT Playground

Day 2 of the CAD $3,500 buy-in, CAD $1.5 million GTD World Poker Tour (WPT) Playground Championship noticed 286 gamers from the 806-entry subject return to motion, however because of late registration being open till the beginning of play, 34 gamers joined the combo to convey the overall subject as much as 840 runners.

That meant a CAD $2,688,000 prize pool – properly forward of the CAD $1.5 million assure – was accessible to the highest 105 finishers with CAD $412,300 put aside for the eventual winner.

After 10 ranges of play, the sphere was whittled right down to 53 gamers with Zhi Gang Yang and his stack of two.15 million main the way in which. Others to make it by means of the night time have been Michael Wang (505,000), Duff Charette (490,000), WPT Playground Prime Championship fifth-place finisher Sethuran Vijayaratnam (350,000), and Darren Elias (365,000), who’s alive for WPT title No. 5.

Elias (proven within the lead picture) has a report 4 WPT titles, although his final win got here again in 2018. If he have been to win, it might be his second title at cease in Canada as he beforehand topped a 489-entry subject to win the 2017 WPT Fallsview Poker Traditional at Fallsview On line casino Resort in Ontario, good for $335,436.

WPT Playground High 10 Finish-of-Day-2 Chip Counts

PlacePlayerCount 1Zhi Gang Yang2,150,000 2Stephen Dauphinais2,140,000 3Connor Daynard2,060,000 4Zachary Fischer1,965,000 5Johan Lees1,760,000 6Antoine Sankari1,650,000 7Patrick Nguyen1,470,000 8Ari Shin1,340,000 9Zak Vankeuren1,245,000 10Jason Alvarez1,230,000

Some gamers to return for Day 2 however fail to make the cash have been former NHL star and WPT World Ambassador Phil Kessel, defending champ David Dongwoo Ko, WPTDeepStacks champion Mike Leah, three-time WPT champ Eric Afriat, and bubble boy Frederic Harvey, who was on the fallacious finish of a kings-versus-aces confrontation with 106 gamers remaining.

As for Afriat, the stay updates had him falling in Degree 17 (5,000/10,000/10,000) when he moved all in below the gun with the Q♣9♣ and Patrick Nguyen known as subsequent to behave earlier than Antoine Sankari jammed excessive from the button. Each blinds folded and Nguyen, who had round 400,000, known as off with the J♠J♣. The jacks have been forward of Sankari’s 10♥10♠ they usually held after the board ran out 2♦4♣3♦2♣J♦. Nguyen greater than doubled whereas Afriat was eradicated wanting the cash.

Some gamers who did make the cash have been Sergei Gurin (sixty fifth – CAD $6,190), Michael Farrow (seventieth – CAD $6,190), Sebastien Aube (84th – CAD $5,327), Rob Wazwaz (ninetieth – CAD $5,327), Lily Kornik (98th – CAD $4,607), and WPT World Ambassador Patrick “Egyption” Tardif (a hundred and first – CAD $4,607).

The surviving 53 gamers will return for Day 3 motion at 11 a.m. native time on Monday. Tables will now be eight-handed and ranges will increason to 90 minutes when there are 40 gamers remaining.

Right here’s a have a look at the remaining payouts:

WPT Playground Championship Payouts

PlacePrize in CAD 1$412,300 (US $296,779) (together with a seat within the WPT World Championship) 2$265,000 (US $190,750) 3$196,000 (US $141,083) 4$146,000 (US $105,093) 5$111,000 (US $79,899) 6$84,000 (US $60,464) 7$65,000 (US $46,788) 8$50,000 (US $35,991) 9-10$39,500 (US $28,433) 11-12$35,500 (US $25,553) 13-15$31,500 (US $22,674) 16-19$27,500 (US $19,795) 20-23$24,000 (US $17,276) 24-31$20,500 (US $14,756) 32-39$17,300 (US $12,453) 40-47$14,400 (US $10,365) 48-53$12,200 (US $8,782)

PokerNews will likely be on-site on the WPT Playground providing content material all through, so make sure to verify again each day as we convey you updates and tales straight from the event ground.

*Images courtesy World Poker Tour (WPT) / Alicia Skillman