The World Poker Tour (WPT) has returned to Montreal for the first time since 2019 and Playground Poker Club has grown to welcome bigger crowds than ever.
Day 1A drew 127 entries to take a big bite out of the C$2,000,000 guarantee, and an expanded poker facility is ready to welcome those big weekend crowds in the WPT's return to Montreal after nearly five years.
Playground Poker Club opened in 2010 and hosted its first WPT in 2012 when 1,173 players christened major poker in Montreal. After the successful first stop, the WPT made trips to La Metropole an annual affair with a series every November and several years of spring trips.
Montreal has played host to WPT events since 2012. The club has grown alongside the WPT, with major expansions in 2012 and 2018, and a recent major renovation of the poker room. It started as a small room with less than two dozen tables and its loyal following has fueled consistent growth for more than a decade.
Playground Poker Club boasts two tournament areas and a new room for cash games. An under-construction hotel will complete the latest expansion that also added two new restaurants and several thousand square feet of electronic gaming.
The renovations are well-timed to take advantage of the growth of live poker, especially large mid-major tournaments like WPT Prime, which will play down to a this weekend.
While the WPT Prime battles it out upstairs with 32 players remaining from a field of 1,291, the flagship event of the series is officially underway in the large tent instruction attached to the main building.
The cast of Day 1A
Leading the way is Dongwoo Ko, the only player with over 400K chips in the bag. He is followed by Kevin Dispasquale with 364,500 and Choon Pyo Chun with 310,000. They'll all return on Sunday for Day 2 with blinds at 1,500/2,500/2,500.
Several WPT regulars turned out to take their shot in the first flight, including Champions Club members Eric Afriat, Tony Dunst, and Tony Sinishtaj — who comes to Montreal fresh off his final table finish in the Main Event at the Borgata Spring Poker Open. None of them found a bag for Day 2 but we are likely to see them take another shot on Friday or Saturday.
Patrick Tardif found a small bag for Day 2. Still in the mix are WPT Global's Patrick Tardif and Timothy Ulmer, along with 2017 Lucky Hearts Open champion Darryll Fish.
Day 1B kicks off at 11am local time on Friday with Day 1C to follow at the same time on Saturday. All returning players will meet on Sunday for Day 2 with those survivors returning to play down to a final table on Monday's Day 3. The final table goes down on Wednesday, May 22.
Photos courtesy of World Poker Tour/Enrique Malfavon
