Is a Title No. 5 Coming? Darren Elias Headed to Day 3 of WPT Playground Championship
Day 2 of the CAD $3,500 buy-in, CAD $1.5 million GTD World Poker Tour (WPT) Playground Championship saw 286 players from the 806-entry field return to action, but thanks to late registration being open until the start of play, 34 players joined the mix to bring the total field up to 840 runners.
That meant a CAD $2,688,000 prize pool – well ahead of the CAD $1.5 million guarantee – was available to the top 105 finishers with CAD $412,300 set aside for the eventual winner.
After 10 levels of play, the field was whittled down to 53 players with Zhi Gang Yang and his stack of 2.15 million leading the way. Others to make it through the night were 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 is alive for WPT title No. 5.
Elias (shown in the lead image) has a record four WPT titles, though his last win came back in 2018. If he were to win, it would be his second title at stop in Canada as he previously topped a 489-entry field to win the 2017 WPT Fallsview Poker Classic at Fallsview Casino Resort in Ontario, good for $335,436.
WPT Playground Top 10 End-of-Day-2 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhi Gang Yang | 2,150,000 |
| 2 | Stephen Dauphinais | 2,140,000 |
| 3 | Connor Daynard | 2,060,000 |
| 4 | Zachary Fischer | 1,965,000 |
| 5 | Johan Lees | 1,760,000 |
| 6 | Antoine Sankari | 1,650,000 |
| 7 | Patrick Nguyen | 1,470,000 |
| 8 | Ari Shin | 1,340,000 |
| 9 | Zak Vankeuren | 1,245,000 |
| 10 | Jason Alvarez | 1,230,000 |
Some players to return for Day 2 but fail to make the money were former NHL star and WPT Global 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 wrong end of a kings-versus-aces confrontation with 106 players remaining.
As for Afriat, the live updates had him falling in Level 17 (5,000/10,000/10,000) when he moved all in under the gun with the Q?9? and Patrick Nguyen called next to act before Antoine Sankari jammed over the top from the button. Both blinds folded and Nguyen, who had around 400,000, called off with the J?J?. The jacks were ahead of Sankari’s 10?10? and they held after the board ran out 2?4?3?2?J?. Nguyen more than doubled while Afriat was eliminated short of the money.
Some players who did make the money were Sergei Gurin (65th – CAD $6,190), Michael Farrow (70th – CAD $6,190), Sebastien Aube (84th – CAD $5,327), Rob Wazwaz (90th – CAD $5,327), Lily Kornik (98th – CAD $4,607), and WPT Global Ambassador Patrick “Egyption” Tardif (101st – CAD $4,607).
The surviving 53 players will return for Day 3 action at 11 a.m. local time on Monday. Tables will now be eight-handed and levels will increason to 90 minutes when there are 40 players remaining.
Here’s a look at the remaining payouts:
WPT Playground Championship Payouts
| Place | Prize in CAD |
|---|---|
| 1 | $412,300 (US $296,779) (including a seat in 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 be on-site at the WPT Playground 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
