The first of three Day 1 flights of the $3,500 World Poker Tour Playground Championship event drew 143 entrants. Ten levels of play eliminated 99 entrants to leave the field with 44 advancing players with Giuseppe Corapi leading on top with 401,000.
Forming the chase pack is Zan VanKeuren (370,500) and Tommy Nguyen (342,500). Kevin Javier and Santiago Plante landed in the top ten chip counts and four-time WPT champion Darren Elias put nearly 200,000 in the bag. Each player has the option to explore Montreal’s sites while waiting for Day 2 on Sunday.
Canadian pros turn out
Mike Leah, Eliot Hudon, Chanracy Khun, Griffin Benger, David Dongwoo Ko and Ema Zajmovic were among some of the Canadian pros that took the felt today but they’ll have to return for another Day 1 flight to play for their name on the Mike Sexton Champion’s Cup.
David Dongwoo Ko is back in Montreal after winning a WPT title in May. Eric Afriat is a staple at WPT events and as a Montreal native he has some extra motivation to win. He spoke with PokerOrg early in the day about chasing Player of the Year and Canadian players.
Hudon was eliminated late in the day when his pocket kings were cracked by Tommy Nguyen’s pocket aces. In just three short years, Hudon rocketed up Canada’s all-time money list to 20th place with $4.8 million. On average, the 19 above him and 20 below him have a decade more experience.
Darren Elias and Eric Afriat chop it up on Day 1A. 
Survivors return on Sunday
Two more Day 1 flights run on Friday and Saturday with a mirrored schedule and Day 2 combines the three fields at 11:00 am on Sunday – with open registration until the start of play. Day 3 starts with 60-minute levels but once the field is trimmed to 40 remaining players, the levels go up to 90 minutes.
The Main Event was flanked on all sides at the start of play with 200 returning players for Day 2 of the WPT Prime event that drew 1,587 entrants. They had the tall order of playing down to tables with a winner crowned on Friday. The Main Event field finished with three tables still in action.
Top Five Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giuseppe Corapi | 401,000 |
| 2 | Zak VanKeuren | 370,500 |
| 3 | Tommy Nguyen | 342,500 |
| 4 | Jatiner Singh | 301,000 |
| 5 | Kevin Javier | 276,500 |
Photos courtesy of WPT/Alicia Skillman
