Thanks mikelbyl for answering all our questions quickly.

Any update on the lunch/dinner and when it will take place?

Oh sure - there's a 45-minute long dinner break on Day 1s (only) of the Main event and a buffet will be served. It will happen after level 6, which is also the level at which late reg ends - so late reg will continue until the end of the break.

The PDF structure on the mini-site has this information in it already BTW - if you want an updated version you can get it now.

Hi Mikel,

Just to confirm, both those hotels offer complimentary shuttles? I attended the Full Tilt tourney there a few months ago and loved the poker room, but cabbed from my hotel in Chinatown and it was super expensive + was stuck on one of the bridges for what seemed like forever (and it was a weekend too) . So a shuttle would definitely make one of these hotels worth it. How often would they run/how do they work? Do you just show up in the lobby or do you register in advance for one?

Thanks!

No actually this time we're not doing shuttles. With experience we found that a high number of people simply never use the shuttles - with cab sharing and carpooling they find it's much more convenient to get to the club via other means.

Are there hotels within walking distance of playground? I guess I could just Google this. Don't mind me.

There's 1 motel - Motel Rustik but it's pretty spartan.

http://www.motelrustik.ca/

Why not have a playground rep standing at Angrignon metro(with a bunch of change for the bus)
for an hour or 2 before big events start. It would cost playground like 40$ and help tons of people save money.

even have him/her there arranging shared cabs...

Hmmm I'm going to take that idea and a couple other thoughts people have had and we'll see what we can come up with.

How about a meet up with 2+2ers an hour before one of the days. You seem very dedicated to this thread so it could be a good chance to bounce off ideas with your players.

Looking forward to the 8 hour drive with the family to play Day1C. (god bless the creators of Jake and the Never Land Pirates and Wild Kratts.)

I booked at one of the partner hotels without really looking at other options because of the shuttle

Looking for roommate from ~19th-27th. I'll be driving to Playground every day.

How many played in the Thursday satellite and what time did it end? I'm driving today from #WeTheNorth to join a friend in Brossard, hopefully in time for the noon $70+$15 tournament if I'm not too sleepy. Will the Toronto Raptors Game 6 (TSN, 7 PM) be available on a TV screen?

Last night was Day 1a of the Mega Overlay which had 172 entries, with quite a few more than that expected tonight and tomorrow afternoon.

For the record, up to today about 35 or a few more seats have already been awarded with another 30-40 expected from the Mega Overlay and another 35 (approx) guaranteed in satellites yet to be run. Based on past performance that 35 guaranteed seats could blow up to 60 or 70 total - not including Sit n Go seats, which is harder to predict.

Along with the 86 online satellite seats that have been awarded (and more of those to come as well), the event is tracking to move well past 200 seats just in satellite seats, which is a pretty great number. As you know, lots of satellite seats may be correlated with extra value in the tournament in the sense that satty winners are often (not always though!) as experienced as players who have the bankroll to pay their entry fee in full.

Just published - our updated FAQ for the PokerStars Canada Cup!

http://www.playgroundpoker.ca/pokers...anada-cup#tab6

Almost any information you need can be found within. Both HTML and handy PDF formats.

Played Day 1c of the Mega Overlay Satty (and busted last level of the day): I'd like to emphasize (a) once again extremely well-organized tournament with great structure for a satty and (b) what amazing value you receive at Playground Poker:

1) My buy-in was $135 + $15 entry fee + $5 dealer add-on + $2 debit card fee = $157
2) With approx 600 entries and assuming everyone paid what I did (some did not have the $2 fee due to paying cash; some maybe paid more if using credit cards) that's $94,200 gross for PP
3) They are awarding 34 seats = $112,200 = $18,000 net overlay (gross overlay is $33,000 but then they take $15,000 in fees some of which goes to the dealers/staff)
4) So even before other benefits (see below), all 600 players are gaining $30 of free overlay on their gross buy-in costs
5) Other benefits include great seats/tables/cards/chips, good dealers, hot cocktail waitresses in sexy outfits, low-cost, tax-free food (I paid only $9 for a good pizza) and free drinks for as long as you're in the tourny (worth at least $5/hr equivalent to average $20/entry).

In summary each player is basically given $50 by PP to play in this event and have an enjoyable time. Great job!

Thanks, Stuart

Glad you had an enjoyable tournament - did you make Day 2 today? If so, good luck, hope you lock up your seat.

And - credit where credit is due - in this particular case PokerStars contributed the overlay amount, so our partners in this series should get the kudos!

bump

just checked the mercier bridge updates, looks like there should be no issues getting to playground during the event.

thx for this ^

Buy in with credit card or US cash am option?

Yes. There's an exchange rate offered here but you can also change your money near a hotel downtown, lots of currency exchange places there, esp on St-Catherine St (near both hotels).

On the structure sheet for the 10k it says pre-purchased stacks will be in play from the start of the tournament, does this include if I register in the pokerstars client or just if I have collected a seating ticket?

Hmmm that's an awesome question - I'm going to have to check with some colleagues tomorrow to get the correct answer for you.

So here's the drill for tickets purchased through the PokerStars client (for both the Main Event and the HR)...

Players who have purchased through PokerStars may purchase or request a refund until 3 hours prior to an event. After this 3 hour threshold has passed, but before the beginning of the event, we will buy the players in via the process at the club, and that player is treated the same as any other player who pre-purchased their stack, which is to say that their chips will be put into play and blinded off until he or she arrives to take his or her seat in the event.

Basically the tradeoff for the convenience of buying through the client is that you have to show up on time for the event.

We know it's not ideal for every player, but in an event of this size, the #1 thing from a customer service point of view is not to have players sitting at tables that can't start due to not enough players having arrived, and to have rules that are consistent and easily understood for everyone.

That is less than ideal but I can understand if that's how they want to do it. Thanks for the response.

We tried an alternative once that was closer to how we run daily tournaments, but there was more than one table with (for example) 7 sold seats but only 2 players there in person. Frustration level for those players was high!

They couldn't start, if we moved them then the table they were leaving had too few players left to start efficiently, and the other alternative (close the table and redistribute) means you end up with a whole bunch of players with out-of-date seating tickets. Esp if the tourney gets to capacity and that table is opened anew later on... well you can imagine.