Just after midnight as the clock ticked over into Saturday, the Bad Beat Jackpot was triggered at Playground located just outside Montreal, Canada. The CAD $964,471 jackpot – which came three weeks after the property’s CAD $2.2 million jackpot (the second-largest in history) – hit when Aymen Rhammaz won with a straight flush against the quad kings of Chad Whittaker, who took the lion’s share of the jackpot as the “loser.”
Less than 12 hours later, the third and final flight of the CAD $3,500 buy-in, CAD $1.5 million GTD World Poker Tour (WPT) Playground Championship took place. Day 1c attracted 434 runners, which along with Day 1a’s 143 and 1b’s 229 brought the total field up to 806 entries. However, final numbers are not yet known as late registration is open until the start of Day 2.
After 10 levels of play, 168 players remained with Jackson Oniske and his stack of 379,000 leading the way. That was a bit behind that of both Day 1b chip leader Connor Daynard (435,500) and Day 1a’s Giuseppe Corapi (401,000)
Some others to bag on Day 1c were Duff Charette (319,500), Umut Ozturk (214,500), WPT Global Ambassador Patrick Tardif (204,500), three-time WPT champ Eric Afriat (115,000), Kevin Rabichow (69,500), Frank Lagodich (58,500), Eliot Hudon (58,500), and Guy Richard (51,500).
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jackson Oniske | 379,000 |
| 2 | Gianluca Cedolia | 326,000 |
| 3 | Brady Spencer | 325,000 |
| 4 | Duff Charette | 319,500 |
| 5 | Robin Wezelenburg | 304,000 |
| 6 | Jamie Sequeira | 300,000 |
| 7 | Mahmut Zor | 293,000 |
| 8 | Vadim Rozin | 285,000 |
| 9 | Alexander Bylicki | 262,000 |
| 10 | Felix Martel-Racine | 257,000 |
Among the Day 1c eliminations were Ori Hasson, Josh Frazer-James, Igor Tregoubov, Henry Tran, Maurizio Lo Russo, Michael Goodman, and Diana Shamshoum.
Another player to fall was Yuan Yuan Li, who busted in Level 8 (600/1,200/1,200). It happened when Li got it all in preflop with ace-king and was flipping against the pocket jacks of Josh Silverman. The board ran out 10-high with four diamonds, and Silverman held the J♦for a flush. Unfortunately for Li, neither his king nor ace was a diamond and he was eliminated from the tournament.
The good news is that Li and others who failed to survive the night have the option to jump back in action if they wish as late registration is open until the start of play on Day 2, which will begin at 11 a.m. local time on Sunday, October 27.
PokerNewswill be on-site at the WPT Playground for the next week offering content throughout, so be sure to check back daily as we bring you updates and stories straight from the tournament floor.
*Photos courtesy World Poker Tour (WPT) / Alicia Skillman
