TonyBet Winter Festival at Playground

djgolfcan

Is anyone going to this ? There is a 3 day, $160 buyin tournament starting on Friday Jan 30 or Sat. Jan 31, 30min blinds for 19 levels, then 40min after that. $100,000 GUARANTEED prise pool.

Would be interested in sharing a ride / hotel with someone.

https://www.playgroundpoker.ca/tournaments#E2016-01-30

compuease

Sounds like a lot of play for a $160. buyin... Maybe interested..

UBetIFold

I know BF showed interest in going I believe. I'd love to go, been awhile since I played in a series there. Best of luck if your attending.

djgolfcan

I'm in if anyone wants tp join me to share costs.

compuease

djgolfcan;396945 wroteI'm in if anyone wants tp join me to share costs.

As I said I may be interested, never been there but I really should get back into poker. Have you been there before? If I go I would be glad to carpool/share room with you. May decide by next week, but if you get a better offer don't wait for me. Any idea on the non-poker costs?

Hellmuth's Mole

I've been jonesing for a few months for a Vegas trip to play a few days of tourney's but with the dollar I've lately been kicking around the idea of a "poker staycation". I will definitely be looking more into this. My day 1 would be one of the Saturday starts as I would at least be staying until Thursday since the Habs have a home game Wednesday. Probably take a shot at a satty into the main as work is easy to get off at that time of year. Looks like a decent array of different side events although the 20 minute blinds in most of them are a bit disconcerting.

Wetts1012

Hellmuth's Mole;396947 wroteI've been jonesing for a few months for a Vegas trip to play a few days of tourney's but with the dollar I've lately been kicking around the idea of a "poker staycation". I will definitely be looking more into this. My day 1 would be one of the Saturday starts as I would at least be staying until Thursday since the Habs have a home game Wednesday. Probably take a shot at a satty into the main as work is easy to get off at that time of year. Looks like a decent array of different side events although the 20 minute blinds in most of them are a bit disconcerting.

Most of Playgrounds daily MTT have 20 minute blinds, and they generally last between 7-9 hours. They're pretty good for a small buying single day tournament.

djgolfcan

compuease;396946 wroteAs I said I may be interested, never been there but I really should get back into poker. Have you been there before? If I go I would be glad to carpool/share room with you. May decide by next week, but if you get a better offer don't wait for me. Any idea on the non-poker costs?

No idea on the extra costs, it will be my first time going as well. After briefly looking on Air BnB, it looks like we could find a decent condo for $60 per night, or $30 each. My plan was to go for Saturday's Day 1s, stay Sat, Sun and if I make it that deep Monday night as well.

Gas would be $150, or $75 split. So extra costs would be approx. $170 each, at most.

Food and drinks provided by Playground, I assume.

Wetts1012

Food not provided if you're playing tournaments, only cash.

djgolfcan

Wetts1012;396960 wroteFood not provided if you're playing tournaments, only cash.

Good to know, I'm sure I can play cash when I'm hungry.

Card Dead

May end up being an expensive meal. ;)

I'd really love to go to this but it's a bad weekend for me.

GL tho - bring back lots of monies to donk off at my game the following weekend. :D

Irunit4times

Hey DJ,

So this is my suggestion, if you do an air bnb, try to make sure it is in Kahnawake and not on the other side of the bridge! Being winter, it is possible that the bridge gets closed, or weather has an impact on getting back and forth, and the last thing you want to do is not be able to make it across or have to drive all the way around. There are a few hotels close to playground, but you really need to decide on your threshold for hotels/motels. I stayed at the Rustic the last time I went with blondefish and some others, and I think Steve Kerr has stayed there as well before. Will be the closest cheapest option. With that said, only you know your limits on where you would stay.

As for the food, if your eating there and not playing cash it can get expensive for sure, so maybe stop somewhere else to eat outside of playground, or maybe even pack a bag with some water and snacks. I did and it helped. But, for me, I just went and sat down at the cash tables for my "free" meals. I would go an hour or 2 before a tournament in the morning, sit down and auto fold all bu the nuts while relaxing and having breakfast. Then, depending on when I get knocked out I would go back do the same thing until I was done eating and either stay and play if worthwhile or head out for some zzz.

If your going down there for poker, I would personally look more at the satellites and their schedules than playing the small buyin tournaments. So for example you play a $160 tournament and it has 100 runners, first prize would stand to be approx. $3,600 and would take up to 10 hours or so to win. Otherwise your min cashing for say $250 or something after 8 hours maybe. If you play some single table satellites for $100 or so for the main event, or $200 for a top 2 satellite, and grind those for 10 hours, your likely to win multiple seats, sell them for cash and play the main event, rather than having to win a small 10 hour tournament in order to play, and maybe you wouldn't even risk that stack. Its more ev playing the satellites in my opinion.

That being said, it will be a fun trip regardless or which way you choose to play there if it is your first time. But I warn you, you may see the venue, taste the food, and see the waitresses and never want to leave! seriously though, its heaven on earth for poker players!

I do know a few friends that have already won their seats to the main event and I may try to satellite my way in online as well and if I do, then I would go and potentially want to carpool and split a room. Ill have to see what Buddy's plans are for there as well. I havn't talked to him lately, but I am sure he is still playing as much as ever.

Have a good time though either way and good luck!

Let us know if any baps are underway as well!

Irunit4times

Let me correct myself, I did not actually look at the schedule until now and just saw that the smaller tournaments you were talking about were 100k guarantees. That changes things a bit. I assumed you were talking about daily tournaments etc. ANyways, good luck down there if you go whatever you play.

Wetts1012

Not sure if advising to stay at an airbnb in Kahna is a sound idea, in general its pretty sketchy....Ive done the bridge detour many times, including in some pretty bad weather - worst case it is an additional 15 minutes. You're going on a vacation, enjoy yourself, and stay in Montreal.

Even places in Dorval are a 15 minute drive across the 13, and are abut 120/night. If you're chopping its 60 each.

BlondeFish

compuease et al, give a Playground Poker Club festival a try. It is my #1 tournament room in the WORLD.

- By playing the $100,000 Guaranteed Event #1, your $25 fee supports charity (Starlight Children's Foundation Canada). Larry Robinson, who is Playground's Director of Charitable Initiatives, and other hockey legends will be there. Tony G, the busy new politician, may be there again like in November when he negotiated sponsoring this festival.

- Very competent and TDA-compliant supervisors and dealers. I talked with the three representatives they sent to the TDA Summit in June; Fallsview may have sent one non-poker executive.

- Most beautiful waitresses and bartenders, & $1/minute massage from pretty Registered Massage Therapists.

- Free alcohol, energy drinks, etc; free food if you play the 1/2+ cash games with $7+$1 rake/BBJ.

- Customer-friendly staff; many other attention to details not found in most of the poker rooms I've played in.

The infamous Rustik Motel, which has hidden security cameras that helped the chipleader get arrested during the WPT Fallsview final table last year, has been renovated since Irunit4times and I stayed there during WPT Montreal for ~$65/night + taxes. PocketTwos liked his Airbnb accommodations. I will probably try Airbnb for the first time next poker trip I go with DirtArse or PocketTwos.

You will all eat it up at Playground. To Hellmuth's Mole, play in their tournaments first before you buy into the unbeatable tournaments in the US where it will cost you > 40% more in C$ + 30% taxes.

Unfortunately, there are too many poker conflicts for me personally, so you will probably find me and TorontoPimp staying in the insane action at Fallsview on January 29/30. My horses and I have to be back in time for the highly +EV Casino Rama tournament on Monday, February 8, so we can't play the Playground ME. IF I can find somebody who is driving after January 30 and returning at the end of Satellite Day, February 4, then I would love to play Events 7, 6 and ALL the SNG/MTT satellites.

compuease;396946 wroteAs I said I may be interested, never been there but I really should get back into poker.
:
Any idea on the non-poker costs?

Hellmuth's Mole;396947 wroteI've been jonesing for a few months for a Vegas trip to play a few days of tourney's but with the dollar I've lately been kicking around the idea of a "poker staycation". I will definitely be looking more into this. My day 1 would be one of the Saturday starts as I would at least be staying until Thursday since the Habs have a home game Wednesday.

djgolfcan;396945 wroteI'm in if anyone wants tp join me to share costs.

PocketsTwos

Indeed, AirBnB was cheap, clean, and convenient. I stayed at a house closer to downtown in LaSalle area/neighbourhood. I will do that again next time I'm there. It was about a 15-20 minute to playground from where I stayed last time. The good thing was that I was not going with rush hour traffic with the timing of going to and fro from Playground. Bridge maintenance did occur a couple times (usually late at night) so some detours were required. I had a lot of ammenties in the neighbourhood where I stayed. I paid $40/night including parking. So check out AirBnB - there are many options for Montreal on their website.

Also, I will look at my schedule...I may be interested in carpooling/ sharing accommodations.

djgolfcan

My plans have changed slightly. When I told my wife what I was planning to do, she told my daughters and now its a family trip to Montreal. A girls weekend and poker trip for Dad.
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Sorry for those who wanted to car pool or share accommodations.

Colin408

If anyone of you guys is there between 26-29 let me know!

Wetts1012

ill be there from the 25th-27th.

Colin408

Nice, playing cash or tourneys?