Big Hand Early Keeps Darren Elias’ Quest for No. 5 Alive at WPT Playground
The CAD $3,500 buy-in, CAD $1.5 million GTD World Poker Tour (WPT) Playground Championship kicked off on Thursday with Day 1a action. The first of three starting flights attracted 143 runners to the Montreal poker mecca, and after 10 levels of play just 44 remained with Giuseppe Corapi and their stack of 401,000 leading the way.
Some others to bag big were Zak Vankeuren (370,500) and Tommy Nguyen (342,500), while Rayan Chamas (177,000), Mark Bailey (172,000), Jeremy Platt (87,000), and Casey Yenta (57,500) all punched their ticket to Day 2.
WPT Playground Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giuseppe Corapi | 401,000 |
| 2 | Zak Vankeuren | 370,500 |
| 3 | Tommy Nguyen | 342,500 |
| 4 | Jatinder Singh | 301,000 |
| 5 | Kevin Javier | 276,500 |
| 6 | Maher Achour | 274,000 |
| 7 | Ari Shin | 263,500 |
| 8 | Michael Zahir Hasan Khan | 254,000 |
| 9 | Georgees Zero | 251,000 |
| 10 | Santiago Plante | 235,500 |
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Another player who survived the night was four-time WPT champ Darren Elias (lead photo), who bagged up 193,000. In Level 2 (200/300/300), reporter Liam Gannon saw Nick Skodatikas call from early position before Elias raised to 1,300. Jatinder Singh called from the button, Skodatikas called the additional 1,000, and it was three-way action to a flop of A♥6♠K♣.
Elias continued for 1,000, both his opponents called, and the 3♣ appeared on the turn. Skodatikas shifted gears by betting out 2,100 and Elias raised it to 9,000. Singh got out of the way but Skodatikas called to see the A♦ pair the board on the river.
Skodatikas bet again, this time 6,000, and Elias raised to 25,000. Skodatikas hit the tank before going all in for 28,300 total and Elias snap-called. Skodatikas showed the A♠8♠ for trip aces but it was no good as Elias rolled over the A♣3♠ for a full house. Skodatikas exited the tournament while Elias vaulted into the early chip lead.
Among those to fall on Day 1a were Igor Tregoubov, Mike Leah, Griffin Benger, Jason Sagle, Ema Zajmovic, Chanracy Khun, three-time WPT champ Eric Afriat, and defending champ David Dongwoo Ko.
Another player to fall on Day 1a was 2022 WPT World Champion Eliot Hudon, who busted in Level 9 (1,000/1,500/1,500) at the hands of Tommy Nguyen. In a four-bet preflop pot, the flop fell seven-high before Hudon bet 18,000, Nguyen raised to 40,000, and Hudon jammed for 123,000. Nguyen called with pocket aces and was ahead of Hudon’s kings. Neither the turn nor river changed a thing and Hudon exited late in the night.
The Day 1b flight will kick off at 11 a.m. local time on Friday with the third and final flight taking place at the same time on Saturday. The surviving players from all three flights will then return for Day 2 on Sunday, October 27.
PokerNews will 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)
