This past February, at the sixth Annual Global Poker Index (GPI) Awards ceremony, Canada's Playground was honored with the Fans’ Choice: Best Poker Room GPI Award — a historically competitive category. Located just south of Montreal in Kahnawake, Quebec, the casino has earned a reputation as one of the premier destinations for poker players, both in Canada and around the world.
Playground has come a long way since it originally opened with 17 tables back in 2010. Since then, the card room, now with 98 tables, has evolved into an all-in-one gaming and entertainment juggernaut. But what exactly has driven Playground’s growth over the years?
Record-breaking tournament fields
For years, Playground has regularly hosted tournament series for brands such as the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour, plus several in-house series such as their World Cup of Cards every January. Few card rooms in North America can rival the field sizes that Playground’s tournament series regularly attract. The recently concluded WSOP Circuit series here is no exception, with the $300 Colossus drawing 2,992 entries — Playground grinder Ruoxiao Shi took down that event for an $80,000 payday.
While the massive prize pools have attracted pros from all over the world, it’s the emphasis that Playground puts on player experience that keeps them coming back, something that WPT champion David Ko reflected on in a conversation with PokerOrg.
“I came to Playground a couple years ago to play some of the WSOP and WPT events. It’s the best poker room in the world, officially awarded now. Great dealers, great staff. Really good environment.”
Free food
If cash games are more your speed, Playground has plenty of options in that department as well, with stakes ranging from $1/$2 to $10/$25, with games running 24/7. More into Omaha? Playground has you covered, with 4-card and 5-card PLO being spread daily at stakes as low as $2/$2.
“It’s been amazing,” poker content creator Abby Merk said of her first experience at Playground over the past week. “The action here’s insane, and you get free food when you play cash, so that’s a win-win.”
If free food and non-stop action weren’t enough to entice you, Playground also offers a plethora of promotions for cash game players. A pool of $150,000 is set to be awarded in April via high-hand promotions that run every day, and tournament leaderboards that can award Main Event seats to upcoming tournament series.
The bad beat jackpot
Playground has famously played host to some of the biggest bad beat jackpots in live poker history. This past October saw the second-largest bad beat jackpot ever hit when one lucky player got the lion’s share of CAD $2,275,388 after his quad nines ran into another player's quad aces. Only one bad beat jackpot in poker history has been bigger, when in the summer of 2023, Hoan Truong flopped quad tens only for Marc Andre Ouellon to turn a ten-high straight flush. The pot that ensued saw both players receive their share of the CAD $2,590,185 jackpot.
As of this writing, the jackpot is currently sitting at over $1,000,000 and growing every day.
Top-shelf player experience
While talking to some of the regulars here at Playground we found that it’s the player experience that keeps them coming back more so than any jackpot or tournament series, something that previous WSOPC Main Event champion Dustin Melanson echoed.
“I’ve been a regular here since Playground first opened over a decade ago, and it’s been a wild ride. This place is not comparable with other places. There are next-level dealers, supervisors, service, and food. Everything is always on point, and these guys always know what to do to cater to the players and make it the best experience for them.”
Melanson’s sentiments were echoed by Canadian poker legend Mike Leah. “I just think it’s a little bit of everything. They treat the players well with comfortable chairs, good masseuses, good waitresses, good floor people, and great dealers. They just do everything well.”
World-class staff
While it’s easy to point to the excellent tournament series, promotions and cash games when talking about what propelled Playground to win the GPI award for best poker room, Playground’s assistant director of poker operations Andrew Johnson was quick to point out that none of those things would be possible without Playground’s world-class staff.
“Truly, I’m most excited for our players and staff. This award is as much theirs as anyone’s. Every single person in this building has played a part in making this happen. From the dealer training team to the dealers themselves. Massage therapists, chip runners, guest services, food and beverage teams, supervisors and managers, everyone has contributed,” Johnson told us before also commending Playground’s IT experts as well as its HR, marketing, and finance teams. “It truly takes a village to deliver this kind of level of service and we are so honored to have earned the trust and votes of our players.”
The Moneymaker Tour is next up for Playground with its first Canadian series on May 7 and PokerOrg will be back in the Great White North to bring you all the sights and sounds.
Photo courtesy of Playground Poker Club.
