Elevating Mid-Stack Play Near the Bubble: Future-Stack Equity, ICM Leverage Reversal & Aggression Windows
Straddle Smart: Why Most Players Misuse the Most Misunderstood Move in Poker
Mistake Tolerance in Poker: Why Some Boards Punish You More Than Others
Pressure Point Sizing: A New C-Betting Framework
The 2025 Pure Poker Tour kicks off on February 13 at Pure Casino Edmonton, with live coverage by Lyle Bateman throughout the series.
In just his second entry on Hendon Mob, Tien Shen has now booked a win, and it was a pretty big one. He got heads up against Alex Liu in the Main Event today with a 3:2 lead and the final two decided to chop it up, ICM style. Phung got $56,669 along with the trophy and the PPT swag while runner-up Liu got $54k.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 1/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,729 |
There was no heads-up play tonight as Alex Liu and Tien Phung agreed to an ICM deal. Liu was the shorter stack by about 3:2 and got $54k from the deal and second place.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 2/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
It was quite a run for Greg Wood today. He was nursing a short stack for much of the final table but still managed to ladder up to 3rd place. He shoved the shorty with king-jack but ran into queens for Alex Liu. The queens held and Wood was out for almost $30k.
The heads up players are on a short break with Tien Phung playing 6.085 million against 4.042 million for Liu.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 3/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The game went three ways after Nathan Masih flopped top-top and got his money in but ran into a straight to hit the rail for 4th place tonight.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 4/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Greg Wood was on life support with 245k after he paid his big blind. It all went in after Tien Phung raised to 75k and Nathan Masih called. Both players called the shove, then checked down the 5♣9♠10♣3♠4♥. Wood let out a yell as he rolled over pocket fours for the rivered set, ahead of eights for Masih and the busted flush and straight draws for Phung with queen-jack of clubs.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 4/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
DJ Sharma ran into the red-hot Tien Phung to end his run today in 5th place. He shoved his button with pocket fives, but Phung woke up with queens in the small blind and called it off. There was no Sharma Time as the queens held and the happiest guy at any poker table hit the cage for 5th place
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 5/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 16 – 1 | Greg Wood | 460,000 |
| 16 – 2 | ||
| 16 – 3 | DJ Sharma | 700,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Tien Phung | 5,500,000 |
| 16 – 5 | ||
| 16 – 6 | Alex Liu | 2,900,000 |
| 16 – 7 | ||
| 16 – 8 | Nathan Masih | 740,000 |
| 16 – 9 |
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 5/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
There are just 5 players left after Jeffrey Weiss hit the cage for 6th place tonight. He flopped a nine and looked to be in good shape in the race against the sevens of Nathan Masih, but Masih hit his set for the win.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 6/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 6 left now after Andy Truong couldn’t win a race. Tien Phung raised under the gun to 75k before Truong shoved 875k from the button. Phung made the call with ace-jack over tens for Truong, then flopped his jack on the K♣6♠J♣Q♠2♥ board to send Truong out in 6th.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 7/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 7 left now after Ryan Smith lost a race with deuces into king-jack to end his Main Event run in 8th place tonight.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 8/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Thomas Taylor just hit the cage in 9th place in a brutal cooler. Both he and Alex Liu flopped a straight when the flop was trey-four-five, but Taylor’s ace-deuce was on the low end with Liu’s seven-six hitting the top end.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Tien Phung started a limpfest under the gun with 4more players following him to the 8♣A♦3♠ flop. It checked around to the 6♥ turn where small blind Ryan Smith fired out 25k. DJ Sharma called from the big blind, as did Greg Wood from the button.
On the Q♠ river it checked around to Wood who fired 60k. Smith got out of the way quickly but Sharma put in the call, mucking when Wood turned over Sharma’s favorite hand, pocket sixes for the turned set.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Nathan Masih bet 50k under the gun, then called when Greg Wood raised it to 130k from the middle. The flop was Q♥J♥9♣ and after a check from Masih, Wood shoved.
Masih snap-called with pocket jacks for the flopped set against the top-top ace-queen for Wood. The 5♣7♠ didn’t help Wood and he was down to about 400k with Masih rocketing up to about 725k.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
DJ Sharma limped in early and Thomas Taylor and Nathan Masih both came along from the blinds to the A♦A♣J♠ flop. It checked around on both the 5♥J♣ turn and river.
“I think I have it,” Sharma said. “King-high.”
Taylor quietly said “Ace” as he tossed out the ace-king for the flopped trips and riverboat. It seemed clear Taylor was looking to trap, but no one else was taking the bait.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Tien Phung has about twice as many chips as second-place Alex Liu. Liu has 1.67 million to 3.31 million for Phung while no one else at the table has 1 million.
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 16 – 1 | Greg Wood | 840,000 |
| 16 – 2 | Ryan Smith | 395,000 |
| 16 – 3 | DJ Sharma | 910,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Tien Phung | 3,310,000 |
| 16 – 5 | Jeffrey Weiss | 800,000 |
| 16 – 6 | Alex Liu | 1,670,000 |
| 16 – 7 | Thomas Taylor | 640,000 |
| 16 – 8 | Nathan Masih | 580,000 |
| 16 – 9 | Andy Truong | 885,000 |
| Level: | 21 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Tien Phung is on a roll with the big stack now. I’ll get exact counts for everyone at the break, but Phung has been taking chips over the last few minutes. In the most recent hand, he was blind on blind with Jeff Weiss when he raised the small blind to 60k and got the call.
Both players checked the A♠10♦J♠ flop and Phung fired 40k on the 6♣ turn. They both went back to checks on the A♣ turn and Phung showed 10♣2♣ for two pair with the suited Doyle.
| Level: | 21 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,620 |
They are about 20 minutes from the next break and I’ll grab full chip counts while they are away from the table, but it looks like Tien Phung is the leader right now with about 3 million in front of him. There are just over 10 million in play, so he has close to 1/3rd of them.
| Level: | 21 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The final table is now set after David Devere bubbled the FT in 10th place tonight for a score of $5,640 while I was out of the room using the washroom.
| Level: | 21 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 10/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Shen Liew is out on the soft bubble to the final table after running his sevens into the aces of Alex Liu. Lie turned open-ended on 5♥4♦J♠6♦4♠ but then bricked the river to hit the rail.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 11/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 11 left now, 2 off the final table, after the exit if Sharmark Mohamed after a hand that I missed while I was in the washroom.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 12/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 12 left now after Naleen Narayan couldn’t find any help for his dominated king. He was up against king-queen with a suited king-seven and, with two kings on the K♥A♣K♣4♦J♥ runout, the bigger king of Tuen Phung held for the win and the bust.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 13/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Sharmark Mohamed opened it up to 30k from the cutoff and Nathan Masih called from the big blind. They both checked the 9♣3♥4♥ flop and Masih check-called for 40k on the Q♣ turn. He check-called again for 100k on the K♦ river and showed down queen-jack for the win against ace-five of diamonds for Mohamed.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 13/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Cody Goulet was the 14th-place finisher tonight, though I missed the action while I was having some dinner. There are now just under 30 minutes to play in Level 20.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 14/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Ian Alvarado hit the cage just before the end of Level 19 for 15th place. See below for the remaining 14 stacks with Alex Liu in a slight lead over Thomas Taylor and David Devere, all of whom have more than 1 million in play right now.
| T-S | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 14 – 1 | Nathan Masih | 665,000 |
| 14 – 2 | Naleen Narayan | 385,000 |
| 14 – 3 | ||
| 14 – 4 | Alex Liu | 1,200,000 |
| 14 – 5 | ||
| 14 – 6 | Shen Liew | 715,000 |
| 14 – 7 | Sharmark Mohamed | 810,000 |
| 14 – 8 | Tien Phung | 830,000 |
| 14 – 9 | ||
| 16 – 1 | Jeffrey Weiss | 635,000 |
| 16 – 2 | DJ Sharma | 730,000 |
| 16 – 3 | Thomas Taylor | 1,110,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Greg Wood | 790,000 |
| 16 – 5 | David Devere | 1,100,000 |
| 16 – 6 | Andy Truong | 300,000 |
| 16 – 7 | Cody Goulet | 320,000 |
| 16 – 8 | Ryan Smith | 670,000 |
| 16 – 9 |
| Level: | 19 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 15/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Nathan Masih raised the cutoff to 25k, then asked for a count when Kyle Hartree shoved the small blind. The count was 192k and Masih made the call for a race between Hartree’s pocket fives and ace-six for Masih.
The turn brought a six and nothing else on the K♥J♠2♠6♣10♠ board helped Hartree.
| Level: | 19 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 16/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
David Devere just got a double-plus through Ryan Smith and Tien Phung. The flop was already out reading 10♥5♠J♥ and Devere was all in with Smith reshoving more. That left Phung in the tank and he finally mucked his hand, letting out a shout of glee when the other two hands turned over.
Smith flopped a set of jacks while Devere was drawing to hearts with [invalid notations] runout, but the river sunk him with an unpaired heart.
Meanwhile, on the other table, Chris Symesko hit the rail for 17th place tonight.
| Level: | 19 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 17/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Alex Liu opened the cutoff to 26k and got calls from Shn Liuw and Sharmark Mohamed in the blinds. They all checked the 9♣8♠2♣ flop and Liuw bet 30k on the 5♠ turn.
Both players called to the 7♦ river and they all checked it again. Liuw showed ace-nine from the small blind and the other two players mucked with Mohamed commenting “I thought my 8 was good.”
Meanwhile, Shane Cutinha was the first player off the final two tables tonight in 18th place.
| Level: | 18 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 18/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
| Level: | 18 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 18/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 18 left now on the final two tables of the Main Event. See below for the recent cashes.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 19 |  Alexander Richmond | $3,020 |
| 20 | Abdul Zahir | $3,020 |
| 21 | Glenn Tarasoff | $3,020 |
| Level: | 18 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 21/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,780 |
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 14 – 1 | Nathan Masih | 256,000 |
| 14 – 2 | David Devere | 650,000 |
| 14 – 3 | Kyle Hartree | 418,000 |
| 14 – 4 | Alex Liu | 463,000 |
| 14 – 5 | Ian Alvarado | 249,000 |
| 14 – 6 | ||
| 14 – 7 | Sharmark Mohamed | 671,000 |
| 14 – 8 | ||
| 14 – 9 | Chris Symesko | 533,000 |
| 16 – 1 | ||
| 16 – 2 | Abdul Zahir | 318,000 |
| 16 – 3 | Thomas Taylor | 786,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Greg Wood | 1,080,000 |
| 16 – 5 | DNR | 190,000 |
| 16 – 6 | ||
| 16 – 7 | Cody Goulet | 325,000 |
| 16 – 8 | Ryan Smith | 891,000 |
| 16 – 9 | Tien Phung | 747,000 |
| 18 – 1 | Shen Liew | 540,000 |
| 18 – 2 | ||
| 18 – 3 | Andy Truong | 380,000 |
| 18 – 4 | Alexander Richmond | 283,000 |
| 18 – 5 | Naleen Narayan | 333,000 |
| 18 – 6 | ||
| 18 – 7 | Jeffrey Weiss | 368,000 |
| 18 – 8 | DJ Sharma | 344,000 |
| 18 – 9 | Shane Cutinha | 171,000 |
| Level: | 17 (4000/8000/8000) |
| Entries: | 21/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,780 |
They are down to 21 players left as Level 17 is drawing to a close. They’ll go on a break at the end of this level and I’ll get full chip counts then. Below is a look at the recent cashers.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Jason Pelletier | $3,020 |
| 23 | Julius Roque | $3,020 |
| 24 | Holly Berry | $3,020 |
| Level: | 17 (4000/8000/8000) |
| Entries: | 24/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 24 left now in the Main Event. See below for the recent cashouts.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | George Broumas | $3,020 |
| 26 | Denis Halvadzija | $3,020 |
| 27 | Johnny Dalphond | $3,020 |
With the Global Poker INdex awards being announced recently, I am honoured to announce that Poker Pro picked up some hardware from the event. Our writer Jonathan Raab put together an excellent look at botfarms emerging from certain markets and the article was recognized by the industry as the best of the year for written media content.
Good job to Jonathan, and TY to the GPI and all the voters who recognized the importance of the piece.
| Level: | 16 (3000/6000/6000) |
| Entries: | 27/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 27 left on the final three tables now after three exits. Among the players to bust recently was start-of-day chip leader David Ko. See below of the recent cashers.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Brenda Robertson | $2,290 |
| 29 | Chris Lahey | $2,290 |
| 30 | David Ko | $2,290 |
| Level: | 16 (3000/6000/6000) |
| Entries: | 30/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Level 16 has just kicked off and this is the first official level on the Day 2 schedule. The field is down to 30 players remaininging
Greg Wood now looks to be the big leader with close to 1 million. He’s been having a lot of fun late last night and today with one of his signature phrases, heard multiple times last night, being “I just bluffed my GRAMMA!”. Abdul Zahir is playing about 900k for what looks like the second stack.
Wood picked up the lead in a hand that saw him turn a straight to send Ryan Parungao and Leo Brouwer to the cash cage on the same hand. See below for the recent cashing players.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Jay Tran | $2,290 |
| 32 | Leo Brouwer | $2,290 |
| 33 |  Ryan Parungao | $2,290 |
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 33/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The field is down to 33 remaining at the first break with Colten Yamagishi ending his day in 34th place. I missed a name on the previous payout list, so below is a look at all payouts so far from today.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | Colten Yamagishi | $2,290 |
| 35 | Bowen Leung | $2,290 |
| 36 | Lonnie Hallett | $2,290 |
| 37 | Ryan Cairns | $1,800 |
| 38 | Joseph Anderson | $1,800 |
| 39 | Shawn Taghavi | $1,800 |
| 40 | Jerry Li | $1,800 |
| 41 | Kurtis Antoniuk | $1,800 |
| 42 | Jeff Forester | $1,800 |
| 43 | Dj Sharma | $1,800 |
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 34/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 34 left in the Main Event now with 10 minutes to play in Level 15. Full payouts are listed under the Payouts tab with recent cahsers below.
| Place | Player | Prizes |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | Bowen Leung | $2,290 |
| 36 | Lonnie Hallett | $2,290 |
| 37 | Ryan Cairns | $1,800 |
| 38 | Joseph Anderson | $1,800 |
| 39 | Shawn Taghavi | $1,800 |
| 40 | Jerry Li | $1,800 |
| 41 | Kurtis Antoniuk | $1,800 |
| 42 | Jeff Forester | $1,800 |
| 43 | Dj Sharma | $1,800 |
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 41/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The final day of play is now underway in the Main Event. The action is scheduled to finish tonight but depending on how late things go, they may bring a few players back on Monday to finish it out.
They;ve lost one player since the start of play about 20 minutes ago with Jeff Forester hitting the rail for 42nd place (DJ Sharma bagged the 43rd place min-cash for his second stack).
| Event 13: | $1,100 Main Event ($940 + $160) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Feb 21, 1 PM Day 1b: Feb 22, 1 PM Day 2: Feb 23, Noon |
| Blinds: | 40 Minutes Day 1, 60 Minutes Day 2 |
| Entries: | 42/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The first Main Event of 2025 on the Pure Poker Tour was a pretty well-attended affair. By the time registration closed on Saturday night, there were 338 entries with a total prize pool of $317,720.
The leader going into Day 2 is Burnaby’s David Ko who bagged more than 150k more than anyone else on his Day 1a run. Ko is the founder of the UBC Poker Club and has been on fire since he burst onto the scene in 2023 with multiple WSOP-C Rings and a WPT title already.
Chris Symesko, who won an EPT event back in 2016 in Dublin, will be a dangerous #2 on Day 2 with just shy of 600k. Lonnie Hallett, who won the Seniors Bracelet in Vegas in 2023, bagged a bit more than 550k so there’s a lot of hardware and talent at the top end of the list.
Tien Phung, newcomer to the local scene, and Kyle Hartree, who won the 8-Max here at the 2024 version of this series, round out the top five for Day 2 with just over 500k each. While there were scheduled to be 43 players returning, DJ Sharma managed to Sharma Time himself into two bags this time around, so he’ll min-cash the smaller one tomorrow to start the day with 42 players in their seats.
Day 2 action kicks off at noon, with players asked to be in the room by 11:45 to get the bags open and get ready to play. Play will begin with a few minutes left in Level 14 with Level 15 played at 40 minutes and Level 16 moving to official Day 2 levels of 60 minutes.
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 14 – 1 | Nathan Masih | 189,000 |
| 14 – 2 | ||
| 14 – 3 | Jeffrey Weiss | 104,500 |
| 14 – 4 | Alex Liu | 447,000 |
| 14 – 5 | Ian Alvarado | 193,500 |
| 14 – 6 | Colten Yamagishi | 308,500 |
| 14 – 7 | Deni Halvadzija | 118,500 |
| 14 – 8 | Jason Pelletier | 134,000 |
| 14 – 9 | Chris Symesko | 590,500 |
| — | ||
| 15 – 1 | Jerry Li | 130,000 |
| 15 – 2 | Bowen Leung | 253,000 |
| 15 – 3 | Brenda Roberts | 107,500 |
| 15 – 4 | Shen Liew | 300,000 |
| 15 – 5 | Cody Goulet | 145,500 |
| 15 – 6 | Ryan Smith | 428,500 |
| 15 – 7 | George Broumas | 138000 |
| 15 – 8 | Johnny Dalphond | 216,000 |
| 15 – 9 | Sharmark Mohamed | 228,500 |
| — | ||
| 16 – 1 | Shane Cutinha | 273,000 |
| 16 – 2 | Abdul Zahir | 465,000 |
| 16 – 3 | Jeff Forester | 68,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Greg Wood | 342,500 |
| 16 – 5 | Kurtis Anthoniuk | 62,000 |
| 16 – 6 | Leo Brouwer | 139,000 |
| 16 – 7 | Ryan Parungao | 92,500 |
| 16 – 8 | Lonnie Hallett | 554,500 |
| 16 – 9 | Joseph Anderson | 116,500 |
| — | ||
| 17 – 1 | Tien Phung | 502,500 |
| 17 – 2 | David Ko | 753,500 |
| 17 – 3 | Holly Berry | 171,500 |
| 17 – 4 | Thomas Taylor | 115,500 |
| 17 – 5 | Naleen Narayan | 86,000 |
| 17 – 6 | Shawn Taghavi | 74,000 |
| 17 – 7 | David Devere | 483,500 |
| 17 – 8 | ||
| 17 – 9 | Kyle Hartree | 501,000 |
| — | ||
| 18 – 1 | DNR | 174,000 |
| 18 – 2 | ||
| 18 – 3 | Andy Truong | 38,000 |
| 18 – 4 | Alexander Richmond | 144,000 |
| 18 – 5 | Ryan Cairns | 259,000 |
| 18 – 6 | Julius Roque | 135,000 |
| 18 – 7 | Jay Tran | 88,000 |
| 18 – 8 | DJ Sharma | 162,000 |
| 18 – 9 | Chris Lahey | 147,000 |
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 16 – 2 | Abdul Zahir | 465,000 |
| 14 – 4 | Alex Liu | 447,000 |
| 18 – 4 | Alexander Richmond | 144,000 |
| 18 – 3 | Andy Truong | 38,000 |
| 15 – 2 | Bowen Leung | 253,000 |
| 15 – 3 | Brenda Roberts | 107,500 |
| 18 – 9 | Chris Lahey | 147,000 |
| 14 – 9 | Chris Symesko | 590,500 |
| 15 – 5 | Cody Goulet | 145,500 |
| 14 – 6 | Colten Yamagishi | 308,500 |
| 17 – 7 | David Devere | 483,500 |
| 17 – 2 | David Ko | 753,500 |
| 14 – 7 | Deni Halvadzija | 118,500 |
| 18 – 8 | DJ Sharma | 162,000 |
| 18 – 1 | DNR | 174,000 |
| 15 – 7 | George Broumas | 138000 |
| 16 – 4 | Greg Wood | 342,500 |
| 17 – 3 | Holly Berry | 171,500 |
| 14 – 5 | Ian Alvarado | 193,500 |
| 14 – 8 | Jason Pelletier | 134,000 |
| 18 – 7 | Jay Tran | 88,000 |
| 16 – 3 | Jeff Forester | 68,000 |
| 14 – 3 | Jeffrey Weiss | 104,500 |
| 15 – 1 | Jerry Li | 130,000 |
| 15 – 8 | Johnny Dalphond | 216,000 |
| 16 – 9 | Joseph Anderson | 116,500 |
| 18 – 6 | Julius Roque | 135,000 |
| 16 – 5 | Kurtis Anthoniuk | 62,000 |
| 17 – 9 | Kyle Hartree | 501,000 |
| 16 – 6 | Leo Brouwer | 139,000 |
| 16 – 8 | Lonnie Hallett | 554,500 |
| 17 – 5 | Naleen Narayan | 86,000 |
| 14 – 1 | Nathan Masih | 189,000 |
| 18 – 5 | Ryan Cairns | 259,000 |
| 16 – 7 | Ryan Parungao | 92,500 |
| 15 – 6 | Ryan Smith | 428,500 |
| 16 – 1 | Shane Cutinha | 273,000 |
| 15 – 9 | Sharmark Mohamed | 228,500 |
| 17 – 6 | Shawn Taghavi | 74,000 |
| 15 – 4 | Shen Liew | 300,000 |
| 17 – 4 | Thomas Taylor | 115,500 |
| 17 – 1 | Tien Phung | 502,500 |
Day 1b is complete with 27 players still alive. DJ Sharma bagged two stacks so only 42 players will return for Day 2. See below for a look at the 1b qualifiers, and stay tuned for the Day 2 seat assignments coming in ~1 hour.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Chris Symesko | 590,500 |
| Lonnie Hallett | 554,500 |
| Tien Phung | 502,500 |
| Kyle Hartree | 501,000 |
| David Devere | 483,500 |
| Abdul Zahir | 465,000 |
| Greg Wood | 342,500 |
| Shen Liew | 300,000 |
| Johnny Dalphond | 216,000 |
| Ian Alvarado | 193,500 |
| Nathan Masih | 189,000 |
| Holly Berry | 171,500 |
| DJ Sharma | 162,000 |
| Chris Lahey | 147,000 |
| Cody Goulet | 145,500 |
| Alexander Richmond | 144,000 |
| Leo Brouwer | 139,000 |
| George Broumas | 138,000 |
| Julius Roque | 135,000 |
| Jason Pelletier | 134,000 |
| Jerry Li | 130,000 |
| Denis Halvadzija | 118,500 |
| Thomas Taylor | 115,500 |
| Jeffrey Weiss | 104,500 |
| Ryan Parangao | 92,500 |
| Jay Tran | 88,000 |
| Kurtis Anthoniuk | 62,000 |
The 2024 Alberta Poker Index awards were presented here tonight on Day 1b of the Main Event and it was a pretty familiar crew with the trophies. Haven Taylor won her second straight Womens title while Julius Roque captured the Seniors trophy. Michael Malm was the runaway winner of the overall prize though with ~40% more points than anyone else. Malm’s run looks to be continuing — while he didn’t make it through this Main Event, he is leading the early 2025 standings.
| Level: | 16 (3000/6000/6000) |
| Entries: | 28/214 (44/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
The clock is paused for hand for hand play on the bubble now with 28 players left in the action.
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 29/214 (45/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
They are down to 29 players left in action with less than 10 minutes to play in Level 15. They’ll go hand for hand after the next elimination until the final player is out.
Kyle Hartree looks to have the big stack right now with about 700k in front of him but Lonnie Hallett and Tien Phung are both playing around 500k.
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 34/214 (50/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
They are down to 34 players left on the final four tables now, and they won’t go any lower than three tables tonight. The bags are set to come out at 27 players but it’s looking increasingly like there will only be 42 players coming back for Day 2 tomorrow as DJ Sharma looks to be bagging a second stack here tonight. If he does, he’ll play the bigger one tomorrow with the smaller one coming out of play.
| T-S | Player |
|---|---|
| 14 – 1 | Johnny Dalphond |
| 14 – 2 | Abdul Zahir |
| 14 – 3 | Tien Phung |
| 14 – 4 | |
| 14 – 5 | Alexander Richmond |
| 14 – 6 | Jeffrey Weiss |
| 14 – 7 | DJ Sharma |
| 14 – 8 | Greg Wood |
| 14 – 9 | George Broumas |
| 15 – 1 | Leo Brouwer |
| 15 – 2 | Bash Ramahi |
| 15 – 3 | Chris Lahey |
| 15 – 4 | Denis Halvadzija |
| 15 – 5 | Nathan Masih |
| 15 – 6 | Jason Pelletier |
| 15 – 7 | Holly Berry |
| 15 – 8 | Lonnie Hallett |
| 15 – 9 | Thomas Taylor |
| 16 – 1 | Brett Uhrich |
| 16 – 2 | Jay Tran |
| 16 – 3 | Cody Goulet |
| 16 – 4 | Kyle Hartree |
| 16 – 5 | Hamish Tong |
| 16 – 6 | Kenneth Der |
| 16 – 7 | Shen Liew |
| 16 – 8 | David Devere |
| 16 – 9 | Ian Alvarado |
| 17 – 1 | Ryan Parangao |
| 17 – 2 | Kurtis Anthoniuk |
| 17 – 3 | Julius Roque |
| 17 – 4 | Krista Meilleur |
| 17 – 5 | Tom T |
| 17 – 6 | Jerry Li |
| 17 – 7 | Garry Sandhu |
| 17 – 8 | Chris Symesko |
| 17 – 9 |
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 45/214 (61/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
They just broke down to the final 5 tables with 45 players left. That puts them 18 eliminations off the end of the night and with the average stack still more than 30 big blinds, they could be playing for a while yet.
| Level: | 13 (1500/3000/3000) |
| Entries: | 48/214 (64/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
The action has indeed slowed since the break. There are less than 5 minutes to play in Level 13 and the field has only dropped by 3 players since the end of the break. In addition to the big stacks I mentioned earlier, some of the players left in the game are Rob Lothian, Hanish Tong, George Broumas, Bash Ramahi, Krista Meilleur, and Garry Sandhu.
| Level: | 12 (1500/2500/2500) |
| Entries: | 51/214 (67/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
The break has just begun and they’ll be back at the felt in about 15 minutes for Level 13. The field is down to 51 players left now with bags coming out at 27. The action has moved very quickly over the last three levels but I expect it will slow down a bit now that they are getting closer to the end of the night.
The big stack at the moment looks like Kyle Hartree with 375k in front of him with Tien Phung also playing more than 300k. DJ Sharma and Nathan Masih are both playing stacks in the 200k range with Abdul Zahir on just over 150k.
| Level: | 11 (1000/2000/2000) |
| Entries: | 79/214 (95/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
The 1b field is down to 79 players with the target number set at 27. There are about 25 minutes to play in Level 11 with the next break to follow Level 12. Day 1a ended with a few minutes to play in Level 14 and it seems unlikely today will end earlier than that, but at least for now, play is moving pretty quickly.
| Level: | 10 (1000/1500/1500) |
| Entries: | 97/214 (113/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
Day 1b saw more than $200k in prizes for a final total of 338 entries and $317,720 in prizes. There will be 27 players advancing from tonight’s flight for 43 returning to Day 2 play tomorrow, all in the money.
The full prizes are posted under the payouts tab, but below is a look at the final table payouts.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $65,529 |
| 2 | $45,140 |
| 3 | $29,340 |
| 4 | $22,570 |
| 5 | $17,380 |
| 6 | $13,770 |
| 7 | $10,830 |
| 8 | $8,580 |
| 9 | $7,000 |
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 102/211 (118/335 combined) |
| Prizes: | $198,340 (Combined: $314,900) |
The dinner break is just beginning with 211 entries on the board for Day 1b. That puts the combined total at 335 entries for total prizes of $314,900. If they get two more entries over dinner, that will push the 1b prize pool over $200k.
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 107/202 (123/326 combined) |
| Prizes: | $189,880 (Combined: $306,440) |
The final level of entries has just begun and the combined field is now at 326 entries for $306,440 in total prizes. Today’s field is now over 200 and will likely still climb a bit more before entries close in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
| Level: | 8 (500/1000/1000) |
| Entries: | 112/187 (128/311 combined) |
| Prizes: | $175,780 (Combined: $292,340) |
The combined field is now up to 311 entries with 187 on the board for 1b. That puts the 1b prizes at $175,780 with the total at $292,340. 196 entries today will push the combined prizes over $300k so they are just 9 entries away from that milestone.
| Level: | 7 (400/800/800) |
| Entries: | 112/171 (128/295 combined) |
| Prizes: | $160,740 (Combined: $277,300) |
There are still about 5 minutes left in the break following Level 6 and they’ll be in their seats for Level 7 shortly. The 1b field is now at 171 entries for a combined field of 295 entries and prizes of $277,300.
That puts them just 25 entries away from $300k in prizes, so that continues to look very doable with 2 hours and 45 minutes remaining to get into the Main Event.
| Level: | 6 (300/600/600) |
| Entries: | 111/159 (127/283 combined) |
| Prizes: | $149,460 (Combined: $266,020) |
The combined field is now at 283 entries for total prizes of $266,020. The 1b field is up to 159 with just under 3.5 hours left to enter. The field is currently 37 entries away from $300k in prizes.
| Level: | 5 (300/500/500) |
| Entries: | 112/145 (128/269 combined) |
| Prizes: | $136,300 (Combined: $252,860) |
The combined prizes are now over $250k with 145 entries on the board for Day 1b. That puts 269 entries in across both starting days for prizes of $252,860. The field is now 51 entries away from $300k.
| Level: | 4 (200/400/400) |
| Entries: | 109/129 (125/253 combined) |
| Prizes: | $121,260 (Combined: $237,820) |
The field for 1b is now over the 1a field with almost 5 hours left in entries. The 1b field is now at 129 for a combined field of 253 and prizes of $237k so far. They need another 13 entries to cap $250k, which looks like a lock, and 67 more entries to hit $300k, which looks very doable at this point.
Entries close after the dinner break following Level 9 at about 8:15 PM.
| Level: | 4 (200/400/400) |
| Entries: | 107/121 (123/245 combined) |
| Prizes: | $113,740 (Combined: $230,300) |
The combined prizes are now over $230k with 245 entries on the board across both flights. The 1b field is now 121 entries with a few minutes left in the break following Level 3. They’ll be in action for Level 4 in about 2 minutes with blinds at 200/400/400 with entries still open for five hours.
| Level: | 3 (200/300/300) |
| Entries: | 107/116 (123/240 combined) |
| Prizes: | $109,040 (Combined: $225,600) |
the combined prizes are now more than $225k with 116 entries on the board for 1b. There are still more than 10 minutes to ply in Level 3, so Day 1b has almost equaled the 1a total before the first break of the day.
At this point, $250k+ looks like a lock and $300k+ looks pretty likely. The entire social room is now full with spillover into the poker room, so it’s a big day here at the opening Main Event of the 2025 Pure Poker Tour.
| Level: | 2 (100/200/200) |
| Entries: | 87/90 (103/214 combined) |
| Prizes: | $84,600 (Combined: $201,160) |
In recognition of our friend Ryan “Snides” Snyder who passed away far too young last year, we have a limited number of memorial chips available for anyone who wants them. I have 9 chips identical to the above (front and back shown) and will give them out on a first-come, first-served basis.
| Level: | 2 (100/200/200) |
| Entries: | 80/81 (96/205 combined) |
| Prizes: | $76,140 (Combined: $192,700) |
The combined field is now over 200 and climbing with Level 2 about half complete. The 1b field is now at 81 entries with 8- still in play for a combined total of 205 entries so far.
That puts the combined prizes at more than $190k with the expectation that it grows bigger than $250k for sure. Among the players in the game looking for a piece of that from Day 1b are PPT Main winner John Donnelly, PPT Ambassador Have Taylor, Jerry Tria, Tyler Foran, Dylan Webb, Thomas Taylor, Ryan Cairns, Leo Brouwer, and Kim Pham.
| Level: | 1 (100/100/100) |
| Entries: | 42/42 (58/166 combined) |
| Prizes: | $39,480 (Combined: $156,040) |
Day 1b is now underway with 42 entries on the board. That already pushes the combined prizes over $150k and climbing with 7 hours left to enter today’s flight.
There are quite a few familiar faces in their seats today looking for a 1b bag including Holly Berry, Ty Adams, Curtis Singleton, Johnny Yu, Chantal Goulet, Cody Goulet, Julius Roque, Hamish Tong, Rob Lothian, Kim Graham, and winner of the NLH/PLO Mix and 3rd in the PLO Bounty, Stefan Maloney.
| Event 13: | $1,100 Main Event ($940 + $160) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Feb 21, 1 PM Day 1b: Feb 22, 1 PM Day 2: Feb 23, Noon |
| Blinds: | 40 Minutes Day 1, 60 Minutes Day 2 |
| Starting Stack: | 30k |
| Late Entry: | 9 Levels (~8:!5 PM) |
| Day 1 Ends: | Day 1 Plays Down to 12.5% |
| Entries: | 16/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
The The final flight to the Main Event is taking off at 1 PM on Saturday at Pure Casino Edmonton. Players can jump into this flight as late as the end of the dinner break following Level 9. With breaks, that will put the last chance to enter at about 8:15 PM.
Players start off with 30k in chips and will play 40-minute levels during Day 1 action. There is no hard stop for the end of Day 1 as they will play as long as it takes to get to 12.5% of the starting field. After that, the remaining players will bag up their chips for Sunday’s final day of play.
Day 1a got 124 entries for prizes of $116.5k with David Ko emerging as the chip leader. It took nearly 14 levels to whittle the field down to 12.5% (16 players in the case of 1a) and Ko ended up with more than 20% of the chips in play.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| David Ko | 753,500 |
| Alex Liu | 447,000 |
| Ryan Smith | 428,500 |
| Colten Yamagishi | 308,500 |
| Shane Cutinha | 273,000 |
| Ryan Cairns | 259,000 |
| Bowen Leung | 253,000 |
| Sharmark Mohamed | 228,500 |
| DNR | 174,000 |
| Joseph Anderson | 116,500 |
| Brenda Robertson | 107,500 |
| DJ Sharma | 105,500 |
| Naleen Narayan | 86,000 |
| Shawn Taghavi | 74,000 |
| Jeff Forester | 68,000 |
| Andy Truong | 38,000 |
Day 1b should be a big one with 150+ entries and prizes pushing past $250k towards $300k by the end of entries.
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 16/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
David Ko is one of the rising Canadian stars in the game and he keeps finding ways to win and stack chips. Earlier this week he took down the High Roller event and now he’s bagged the big lead from Day 1a of the Main Event.
The opening flight saw 124 entries for prizes of $116,560, which is a very respectable number for an opening flight. That meant 16 players would find a bag at the end of the night, and it took almost 14 full levels to get there with the final action taking place with just a few minutes left in Level 14.
While Ko has a substantial lead on the field with 753.5k, Alex Liu has almost 450k and Ryan Smith is on 428.5k for Day 2. Colten Yamagishi bagged 308.5k and he was the only one in the 300s.
| Player | Prize |
|---|---|
| David Ko | 753,500 |
| Alex Liu | 447,000 |
| Ryan Smith | 428,500 |
| Colten Yamagishi | 308,500 |
| Shane Cutinha | 273,000 |
| Ryan Cairns | 259,000 |
| Bowen Leung | 253,000 |
| Sharmark Mohamed | 228,500 |
| DNR | 174,000 |
| Joseph Anderson | 116,500 |
| Brenda Robertson | 107,500 |
| DJ Sharma | 105,500 |
| Naleen Narayan | 86,000 |
| Shawn Taghavi | 74,000 |
| Jeff Forester | 68,000 |
| Andy Truong | 38,000 |
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 17/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
Abdul Zahir was the bubble tonight, but it too some effort to make it happen. He was nearly felted by Shane Cutinha a few hands back, and then was all in at risk with ace-six into ace-jack. The flop had an ace and a jack on it, which looked awful for Zahir, but the board ran out to aces and kings queen high to chop the pot.
He was then all in at risk with king-three against ace-five for Ryan Smith and spiked his king to double, but he finally ran into it. He was all in with ten-jack but facing pocket kings for Cutinha and couldn’t find his outs. The final 16 are bagging their chips now — stay tuned for the final stacks shortly.
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 17/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
David Ko is close to 700k right now for the big lead. Alex Liu and Ryan Smith are also playing decent stacks with more than 400k each.
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 17/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
Brian Wells was the soft bubble tonight busting in 18th place. That brings them down to the hard bubble to Day 2 with 17 left. The clock is paused with 12:58 remaining in Level 14 and they are playing the first hand on the bubble.
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 18/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
They are down to the final two tables now with 18 players left in the game. That puts them two eliminations off the end of Day 1a. Below is a look at the final 18 players.
| T-S | Player |
|---|---|
| 13 – 1 | Andy Truong |
| 13 – 2 | Glenn Tarasoff |
| 13 – 3 | Shane Cutinha |
| 13 – 4 | DJ Sharma |
| 13 – 5 | Joseph Anderson |
| 13 – 6 | Ryan Smith |
| 13 – 7 | Brian Wells |
| 13 – 8 | David Ko |
| 13 – 9 | Abdul Zahir |
| 14 – 1 | Bowen Leung |
| 14 – 2 | Shawn Taghavi |
| 14 – 3 | Colten Yamagishi |
| 14 – 4 | Ryan Cairns |
| 14 – 5 | Sharmark Mohamed |
| 14 – 6 | Naleen Narayan |
| 14 – 7 | Alex Liu |
| 14 – 8 | Brenda Robertson |
| 14 – 9 | Jeff Forester |
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 19/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
They are down to 19 left in Day 1a of the Main Event now, just three players away from the bags coming out. Level 14 has just begun so it looks likely 1a will end sometime in this level or early Level 15.
| T-S | Player |
|---|---|
| 13 – 1 | Andy Truong |
| 13 – 2 | |
| 13 – 3 | |
| 13 – 4 | DJ Sharma |
| 13 – 5 | Joseph Anderson |
| 13 – 6 | |
| 13 – 7 | Brian Wells |
| 13 – 8 | David Ko |
| 13 – 9 | Abdul Zahir |
| 14 – 1 | Bowen Leung |
| 14 – 2 | |
| 14 – 3 | Colten Yamagishi |
| 14 – 4 | |
| 14 – 5 | Sharmark Mohamed |
| 14 – 6 | |
| 14 – 7 | Michael “Berny” Bernstein |
| 14 – 8 | Brenda Robertson |
| 14 – 9 | Jeff Forester |
| 15 – 1 | Willie Santos |
| 15 – 2 | Glenn Tarasoff |
| 15 – 3 | Alex Liu |
| 15 – 4 | |
| 15 – 5 | |
| 15 – 6 | Shane Cutinha |
| 15 – 7 | Hamish Tong |
| 15 – 8 | Naleen Narayan |
| 15 – 9 | Ryan Smith |
| Level: | 12 (1500/2500/2500) |
| Entries: | 27/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
They are down to the final 27 players on the break following Level 12. David Ko is currently the big leader.
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 13 – 1 | Andy Truong | 94,000 |
| 13 – 2 | Sharmark Mohamed | 209,000 |
| 13 – 3 | Mike Spiruda | 52,000 |
| 13 – 4 | DJ Sharma | 187,000 |
| 13 – 5 | Joseph Anderson | 79,500 |
| 13 – 6 | Darnell Kuzek | 90,000 |
| 13 – 7 | Brian Wells | 134,000 |
| 13 – 8 | David Ko | 404,000 |
| 13 – 9 | Abdul Zahir | 135,000 |
| 14 – 1 | Bowen Leung | 182,500 |
| 14 – 2 | Christopher Lawson | 17,000 |
| 14 – 3 | Colten Yamagishi | 122,500 |
| 14 – 4 | Daniel Luczyk | 160,000 |
| 14 – 5 | Ryan Cairns | 193,000 |
| 14 – 6 | Daniel Lefebvre | 69,000 |
| 14 – 7 | Michael “Berny” Bernstein | 40,500 |
| 14 – 8 | Brenda Robertson | 112,000 |
| 14 – 9 | Jeff Forester | 80,000 |
| 15 – 1 | Willie Santos | 62,500 |
| 15 – 2 | Glenn Tarasoff | 206,000 |
| 15 – 3 | Alex Liu | 203,500 |
| 15 – 4 | Rob Limpert | 97,500 |
| 15 – 5 | Johnny Dalphond | 142,000 |
| 15 – 6 | Shane Cutinha | 113,500 |
| 15 – 7 | Hamish Tong | 44,000 |
| 15 – 8 | Naleen Narayan | 114,500 |
| 15 – 9 | Ryan Smith | 284,500 |
| Level: | 11 (1000/2000/2000) |
| Entries: | 36/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
They are down to the final 4 tables with 36 players left as Level 11 ticks down. Below is a look at the final 36 players in the game with the bags coming out after 20 more eliminations.
| T-S | Player |
|---|---|
| 13 – 1 | Alex Liu |
| 13 – 2 | Sharmark Mohamed |
| 13 – 3 | Mike Spiruda |
| 13 – 4 | DJ Sharma |
| 13 – 5 | Joseph Anderson |
| 13 – 6 | Darnell Kuzek |
| 13 – 7 | Brian Wells |
| 13 – 8 | Jatinder Brar |
| 13 – 9 | Abdul Zahir |
| 14 – 1 | Bowen Leung |
| 14 – 2 | Keith Schultz |
| 14 – 3 | Colten Yamagishi |
| 14 – 4 | Daniel Luczyk |
| 14 – 5 | Ryan Cairns |
| 14 – 6 | Wilfred McNeely |
| 14 – 7 | Michael “Berny” Bernstein |
| 14 – 8 | Brenda Robertson |
| 14 – 9 | Jeff Forester |
| 15 – 1 | Willie Santos |
| 15 – 2 | Glenn Tarasoff |
| 15 – 3 | Johnny Yu |
| 15 – 4 | Rob Limpert |
| 15 – 5 | Jerry Li |
| 15 – 6 | Kevin Lee |
| 15 – 7 | Hamish Tong |
| 15 – 8 | Naleen Narayan |
| 15 – 9 | Ryan Smith |
| 16 – 1 | Johnny Dalphind |
| 16 – 2 | Thomas Taylor |
| 16 – 3 | Shane Cutinha |
| 16 – 4 | Andy Truong |
| 16 – 5 | Daniel Lefebvre |
| 16 – 6 | Shawn Taghavi |
| 16 – 7 | Christopher Lawson |
| 16 – 8 | Craig Froelich |
| 16 – 9 | David Ko |
| Level: | 10 (1000/1500/1500) |
| Entries: | 46/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
The dinner break is over with 124 entries on the board for the opening flight. That means there is $116,560 in prizes from today’s entries with a full 1b flight yet to run.
They’ll be bagging up 16 players later tonight but with 46 players still in action now, it will be a few levels before they get close to the end of Day 1a. There is no hard stop for today — they’ll keep playing until there are 16 players left, no matter how long it takes.
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 45/122 |
| Prizes: | $114,680 |
It looks like Garry Sandhu is leading the way at the dinner break with 224k. He is one of two players over 200k with Sharmark Mohamed sitting on just shy of 205k. Colten Yamagishi has 163.5 in play right now while Darnell Kukek is playing 151k.
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 44/121 |
| Prizes: | $113,740 |
The dinner break has just begun with 121 entries on the board. That puts the prizes at $113,740 but entries are open until the end of dinner so we may still see a few more entries added to the pool.
As the numbers are now, it looks like 15 players will bag up at the end of the night, but that will increase to 16 if there are a couple more entries before dinner ends.
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 49/120 |
| Prizes: | $112,800 |
Day 1a of the Main is proving to be a big one with 120 entries on the board with 30 minutes to play in Level 9. There are about 1 hour and 15 minutes left to enter this flight with a full flight yet to run tomorrow.
The prizes are currently at $112,800 and they are just 8 entries away from hitting $120k.
| Level: | 8 (500/1000/1000) |
| Entries: | 59/112 |
| Prizes: | $105,280 |
The 1a prizes are now over $105k, but it’s not just money they are playing for. The Main Event trophy, as well as some hot new PPT swag is also up for grabs, not to mention the coveted points for the Alberta Poker Index Player of the Year race for 2025. In 2024, Michael Malm ran away with the prize with Weston Pring a distant second, and while they’ve both played and done well in previous events this series, I’ve yet to see them in the field for today’s flight.
| Level: | 7 (400/800/800) |
| Entries: | 57/108 |
| Prizes: | $101,520 |
The prize pool now has six digits with $101,520 already waiting for Sunday’s Day 2. There are about 20 minutes left in Level 7, which puts the end of entries about 2 hours and 25 minutes away. It seems likely today’s prizes could end as high as $120k, though that would require 20 more entries before the end.
| Level: | 7 (400/800/800) |
| Entries: | 58/105 |
| Prizes: | $98,700 |
The field is now 2 away from $100k in prizes with 105 entries on the board as the second break ticks down to the end. They’ll be back in action for Level 7 shortly with blinds at 400/800/800 and there are still three more levels with the entry desk open. It remains open through the dinner break following Level 9 so there are about 2 hours and 45 minutes left to enter 1a.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Garry Sandhu | 162,000 |
| Willie Santos | 134,000 |
| Bowen Leung | 122,700 |
| Joseph Anderson | 99,500 |
| Colten Yamagishi | 99,000 |
| David Ko | 90,000 |
| DJ Sharma | 74,000 |
| Level: | 6 (300/600/600) |
| Entries: | 62/100 |
| Prizes: | $94,000 |
The field has just hit 100 entries on Day 1a with about 20 minutes to play in Level 6. They’ll take their second break at the end of this level with entries open for another three levels of poker after that, as well as the dinner break. With 100 entries, the prizes are now $94k and they only need 7 more entries to hit $100k in prizes for the opening flight.
| Level: | 6 (300/600/600) |
| Entries: | 65/96 |
| Prizes: | $90,240 |
The field is just 4 entries away from 100 for Day 1a putting the current prize pool at just over $90k. There are still 2.5 hours left to get into today’s flight, so a 100+ entry field with $100k+ in prizes seems like a lock at this point. That bodes well for a final prize pool tomorrow of more than $250k, possibly pushing $300k depending on the action tomorrow.
| Level: | 5 (300/500/500) |
| Entries: | 68/92 |
| Prizes: | $86,480 |
There are just under 10 minutes to play in Level 5 with more than 3.5 hours left to enter the game and the field is already nearing 100 entries. There are 92 entries on the board right now with 68 players still alive for prizes of more than $86k.
| Level: | 4 (300/500/500) |
| Entries: | 68/89 |
| Prizes: | $83,660 |
They are just a couple of entries shy of $85k in prizes with 89 entries on the board. There are about 30 minutes left to play in Level 5 with the next break scheduled following Level 6. Entries are open until the start of Level 10, though, so there is still lots of time to get into the opening flight. Entries will close for today in just over 4 hours.
| Level: | 4 (200/400/400) |
| Entries: | 71/80 |
| Prizes: | $75,200 |
Level 4 has just begun with 80 entries on the board and 71 players still in live action. That puts the prizes so far at more than $75k with just under 5 hours left to register for today’s flight and a full 1b flight tomorrow yet to run. At this rate, prizes of $200k+ look to be a lock, but that will depend on tomorrow’s entry action.
While on the break I spotted a few more familiar faces in the crowd including Jimmy Lee, Keith Graham, Pete Fylyma, Stacey Diederich, Garry Sandhu, Michael “Berny” Bernstein, Brian Wells, Johnny Yu, and Zeyu “Skytrain” Huang.
| Level: | 3 (200/300/300) |
| Entries: | 65/74 |
| Prizes: | $69,560 |
The field is one entry shy of $70k in prizes with the 1a players just off for their first break of the day. There are 74 entries on the board, which is a pretty solid number this early in a Day 1a so it bodes well for a decent prize pool by the end of Day 1b tomorrow.
Among the other players I’ve spotted so far today are Alex Liu, Ryan Comely, Kevin Lee, Hamish Tong, Russ Sluchinski, DJ Sharma, and Benny Sarnelli.
| Level: | 3 (200/300/300) |
| Entries: | 56/59 |
| Prizes: | $55,460 |
There are about 25 minutes remaining in Level 3 and the field is pushing 60 entries already. The current prizes are just over $55k and climbing with just under 6 hours left to get into the game.
The two players who chopped the PLO Bounty late last night, Glenn Tarasoff and Colten Yamagishi, are both in action here today in Day 1a of the Main.
| Level: | 2 (100/200/200) |
| Entries: | 44/45 |
| Prizes: | $42,300 |
The Main Event is underway and with about half of Level 2 complete, there are 45 entries on the board. That puts the prizes so far at $42,300 and climbing. Entries today are open for about 6 more hours so there’s lots of time for these numbers to grow.
Among the players I’ve spotted in today’s action are Matthew Ouellette, Haven & Thomas Taylor (here for their first events of the series), Rob Limpert, Kirk Nilson, Michael St. Pierre-Porter, Ryan Cairns, Kris Steinbach, Jerry Tria, and Nicholas Milkovich.
| Event 13: | $1,100 Main Event ($940 + $160) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Feb 21, 1 PM Day 1b: Feb 22, 1 PM Day 2: Feb 23, Noon |
| Blinds: | 40 Minutes Day 1, 60 Minutes Day 2 |
| Starting Stack: | 30k |
| Late Entry: | 9 Levels (~8:!5 PM) |
| Day 1 Ends: | Day 1 Plays Down to 12.5% |
The Main Event is here with the opening flight set to take off at 1 PM on Friday, Feb 21. Players can jump into this flight as late as the end of the dinner break following Level 9. With breaks, that will put the last chance to enter at about 8:15 PM.
Players start off with 30k in chips and will play 40-minute levels during Day 1 action. There is no hard stop for the end of Day 1 as they will play as long as it takes to get to 12.5% of the starting field. After that, the remaining players will bag up their chips for Sunday’s final day of play.
I should have my eyes squarely focused on this one and I’ll likely be on the floor pretty close to the start of play. There is a satellite game in the evening on Friday for a final shot at cheap seats to Day 1b on Saturday, but otherwise, the Main Event is the only game in town for Friday.
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 16/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
David Ko is one of the rising Canadian stars in the game and he keeps finding ways to win and stack chips. Earlier this week he took down the High Roller event and now he’s bagged the big lead from Day 1a of the Main Event.
The opening flight saw 124 entries for prizes of $116,560, which is a very respectable number for an opening flight. That meant 16 players would find a bag at the end of the night, and it took almost 14 full levels to get there with the final action taking place with just a few minutes left in Level 14.
While Ko has a substantial lead on the field with 753.5k, Alex Liu has almost 450k and Ryan Smith is on 428.5k for Day 2. Colten Yamagishi bagged 308.5k and he was the only one in the 300s.
| Player | Prize |
|---|---|
| David Ko | 753,500 |
| Alex Liu | 447,000 |
| Ryan Smith | 428,500 |
| Colten Yamagishi | 308,500 |
| Shane Cutinha | 273,000 |
| Ryan Cairns | 259,000 |
| Bowen Leung | 253,000 |
| Sharmark Mohamed | 228,500 |
| DNR | 174,000 |
| Joseph Anderson | 116,500 |
| Brenda Robertson | 107,500 |
| DJ Sharma | 105,500 |
| Naleen Narayan | 86,000 |
| Shawn Taghavi | 74,000 |
| Jeff Forester | 68,000 |
| Andy Truong | 38,000 |
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 17/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
Abdul Zahir was the bubble tonight, but it too some effort to make it happen. He was nearly felted by Shane Cutinha a few hands back, and then was all in at risk with ace-six into ace-jack. The flop had an ace and a jack on it, which looked awful for Zahir, but the board ran out to aces and kings queen high to chop the pot.
He was then all in at risk with king-three against ace-five for Ryan Smith and spiked his king to double, but he finally ran into it. He was all in with ten-jack but facing pocket kings for Cutinha and couldn’t find his outs. The final 16 are bagging their chips now — stay tuned for the final stacks shortly.
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 17/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
David Ko is close to 700k right now for the big lead. Alex Liu and Ryan Smith are also playing decent stacks with more than 400k each.
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 17/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
Brian Wells was the soft bubble tonight busting in 18th place. That brings them down to the hard bubble to Day 2 with 17 left. The clock is paused with 12:58 remaining in Level 14 and they are playing the first hand on the bubble.
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 18/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
They are down to the final two tables now with 18 players left in the game. That puts them two eliminations off the end of Day 1a. Below is a look at the final 18 players.
| T-S | Player |
|---|---|
| 13 – 1 | Andy Truong |
| 13 – 2 | Glenn Tarasoff |
| 13 – 3 | Shane Cutinha |
| 13 – 4 | DJ Sharma |
| 13 – 5 | Joseph Anderson |
| 13 – 6 | Ryan Smith |
| 13 – 7 | Brian Wells |
| 13 – 8 | David Ko |
| 13 – 9 | Abdul Zahir |
| 14 – 1 | Bowen Leung |
| 14 – 2 | Shawn Taghavi |
| 14 – 3 | Colten Yamagishi |
| 14 – 4 | Ryan Cairns |
| 14 – 5 | Sharmark Mohamed |
| 14 – 6 | Naleen Narayan |
| 14 – 7 | Alex Liu |
| 14 – 8 | Brenda Robertson |
| 14 – 9 | Jeff Forester |
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 19/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
They are down to 19 left in Day 1a of the Main Event now, just three players away from the bags coming out. Level 14 has just begun so it looks likely 1a will end sometime in this level or early Level 15.
| T-S | Player |
|---|---|
| 13 – 1 | Andy Truong |
| 13 – 2 | |
| 13 – 3 | |
| 13 – 4 | DJ Sharma |
| 13 – 5 | Joseph Anderson |
| 13 – 6 | |
| 13 – 7 | Brian Wells |
| 13 – 8 | David Ko |
| 13 – 9 | Abdul Zahir |
| 14 – 1 | Bowen Leung |
| 14 – 2 | |
| 14 – 3 | Colten Yamagishi |
| 14 – 4 | |
| 14 – 5 | Sharmark Mohamed |
| 14 – 6 | |
| 14 – 7 | Michael “Berny” Bernstein |
| 14 – 8 | Brenda Robertson |
| 14 – 9 | Jeff Forester |
| 15 – 1 | Willie Santos |
| 15 – 2 | Glenn Tarasoff |
| 15 – 3 | Alex Liu |
| 15 – 4 | |
| 15 – 5 | |
| 15 – 6 | Shane Cutinha |
| 15 – 7 | Hamish Tong |
| 15 – 8 | Naleen Narayan |
| 15 – 9 | Ryan Smith |
| Level: | 12 (1500/2500/2500) |
| Entries: | 27/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
They are down to the final 27 players on the break following Level 12. David Ko is currently the big leader.
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 13 – 1 | Andy Truong | 94,000 |
| 13 – 2 | Sharmark Mohamed | 209,000 |
| 13 – 3 | Mike Spiruda | 52,000 |
| 13 – 4 | DJ Sharma | 187,000 |
| 13 – 5 | Joseph Anderson | 79,500 |
| 13 – 6 | Darnell Kuzek | 90,000 |
| 13 – 7 | Brian Wells | 134,000 |
| 13 – 8 | David Ko | 404,000 |
| 13 – 9 | Abdul Zahir | 135,000 |
| 14 – 1 | Bowen Leung | 182,500 |
| 14 – 2 | Christopher Lawson | 17,000 |
| 14 – 3 | Colten Yamagishi | 122,500 |
| 14 – 4 | Daniel Luczyk | 160,000 |
| 14 – 5 | Ryan Cairns | 193,000 |
| 14 – 6 | Daniel Lefebvre | 69,000 |
| 14 – 7 | Michael “Berny” Bernstein | 40,500 |
| 14 – 8 | Brenda Robertson | 112,000 |
| 14 – 9 | Jeff Forester | 80,000 |
| 15 – 1 | Willie Santos | 62,500 |
| 15 – 2 | Glenn Tarasoff | 206,000 |
| 15 – 3 | Alex Liu | 203,500 |
| 15 – 4 | Rob Limpert | 97,500 |
| 15 – 5 | Johnny Dalphond | 142,000 |
| 15 – 6 | Shane Cutinha | 113,500 |
| 15 – 7 | Hamish Tong | 44,000 |
| 15 – 8 | Naleen Narayan | 114,500 |
| 15 – 9 | Ryan Smith | 284,500 |
| Level: | 11 (1000/2000/2000) |
| Entries: | 36/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
They are down to the final 4 tables with 36 players left as Level 11 ticks down. Below is a look at the final 36 players in the game with the bags coming out after 20 more eliminations.
| T-S | Player |
|---|---|
| 13 – 1 | Alex Liu |
| 13 – 2 | Sharmark Mohamed |
| 13 – 3 | Mike Spiruda |
| 13 – 4 | DJ Sharma |
| 13 – 5 | Joseph Anderson |
| 13 – 6 | Darnell Kuzek |
| 13 – 7 | Brian Wells |
| 13 – 8 | Jatinder Brar |
| 13 – 9 | Abdul Zahir |
| 14 – 1 | Bowen Leung |
| 14 – 2 | Keith Schultz |
| 14 – 3 | Colten Yamagishi |
| 14 – 4 | Daniel Luczyk |
| 14 – 5 | Ryan Cairns |
| 14 – 6 | Wilfred McNeely |
| 14 – 7 | Michael “Berny” Bernstein |
| 14 – 8 | Brenda Robertson |
| 14 – 9 | Jeff Forester |
| 15 – 1 | Willie Santos |
| 15 – 2 | Glenn Tarasoff |
| 15 – 3 | Johnny Yu |
| 15 – 4 | Rob Limpert |
| 15 – 5 | Jerry Li |
| 15 – 6 | Kevin Lee |
| 15 – 7 | Hamish Tong |
| 15 – 8 | Naleen Narayan |
| 15 – 9 | Ryan Smith |
| 16 – 1 | Johnny Dalphind |
| 16 – 2 | Thomas Taylor |
| 16 – 3 | Shane Cutinha |
| 16 – 4 | Andy Truong |
| 16 – 5 | Daniel Lefebvre |
| 16 – 6 | Shawn Taghavi |
| 16 – 7 | Christopher Lawson |
| 16 – 8 | Craig Froelich |
| 16 – 9 | David Ko |
| Level: | 10 (1000/1500/1500) |
| Entries: | 46/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
The dinner break is over with 124 entries on the board for the opening flight. That means there is $116,560 in prizes from today’s entries with a full 1b flight yet to run.
They’ll be bagging up 16 players later tonight but with 46 players still in action now, it will be a few levels before they get close to the end of Day 1a. There is no hard stop for today — they’ll keep playing until there are 16 players left, no matter how long it takes.
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 45/122 |
| Prizes: | $114,680 |
It looks like Garry Sandhu is leading the way at the dinner break with 224k. He is one of two players over 200k with Sharmark Mohamed sitting on just shy of 205k. Colten Yamagishi has 163.5 in play right now while Darnell Kukek is playing 151k.
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 44/121 |
| Prizes: | $113,740 |
The dinner break has just begun with 121 entries on the board. That puts the prizes at $113,740 but entries are open until the end of dinner so we may still see a few more entries added to the pool.
As the numbers are now, it looks like 15 players will bag up at the end of the night, but that will increase to 16 if there are a couple more entries before dinner ends.
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 49/120 |
| Prizes: | $112,800 |
Day 1a of the Main is proving to be a big one with 120 entries on the board with 30 minutes to play in Level 9. There are about 1 hour and 15 minutes left to enter this flight with a full flight yet to run tomorrow.
The prizes are currently at $112,800 and they are just 8 entries away from hitting $120k.
| Level: | 8 (500/1000/1000) |
| Entries: | 59/112 |
| Prizes: | $105,280 |
The 1a prizes are now over $105k, but it’s not just money they are playing for. The Main Event trophy, as well as some hot new PPT swag is also up for grabs, not to mention the coveted points for the Alberta Poker Index Player of the Year race for 2025. In 2024, Michael Malm ran away with the prize with Weston Pring a distant second, and while they’ve both played and done well in previous events this series, I’ve yet to see them in the field for today’s flight.
| Level: | 7 (400/800/800) |
| Entries: | 57/108 |
| Prizes: | $101,520 |
The prize pool now has six digits with $101,520 already waiting for Sunday’s Day 2. There are about 20 minutes left in Level 7, which puts the end of entries about 2 hours and 25 minutes away. It seems likely today’s prizes could end as high as $120k, though that would require 20 more entries before the end.
| Level: | 7 (400/800/800) |
| Entries: | 58/105 |
| Prizes: | $98,700 |
The field is now 2 away from $100k in prizes with 105 entries on the board as the second break ticks down to the end. They’ll be back in action for Level 7 shortly with blinds at 400/800/800 and there are still three more levels with the entry desk open. It remains open through the dinner break following Level 9 so there are about 2 hours and 45 minutes left to enter 1a.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Garry Sandhu | 162,000 |
| Willie Santos | 134,000 |
| Bowen Leung | 122,700 |
| Joseph Anderson | 99,500 |
| Colten Yamagishi | 99,000 |
| David Ko | 90,000 |
| DJ Sharma | 74,000 |
| Level: | 6 (300/600/600) |
| Entries: | 62/100 |
| Prizes: | $94,000 |
The field has just hit 100 entries on Day 1a with about 20 minutes to play in Level 6. They’ll take their second break at the end of this level with entries open for another three levels of poker after that, as well as the dinner break. With 100 entries, the prizes are now $94k and they only need 7 more entries to hit $100k in prizes for the opening flight.
| Level: | 6 (300/600/600) |
| Entries: | 65/96 |
| Prizes: | $90,240 |
The field is just 4 entries away from 100 for Day 1a putting the current prize pool at just over $90k. There are still 2.5 hours left to get into today’s flight, so a 100+ entry field with $100k+ in prizes seems like a lock at this point. That bodes well for a final prize pool tomorrow of more than $250k, possibly pushing $300k depending on the action tomorrow.
| Level: | 5 (300/500/500) |
| Entries: | 68/92 |
| Prizes: | $86,480 |
There are just under 10 minutes to play in Level 5 with more than 3.5 hours left to enter the game and the field is already nearing 100 entries. There are 92 entries on the board right now with 68 players still alive for prizes of more than $86k.
| Level: | 4 (300/500/500) |
| Entries: | 68/89 |
| Prizes: | $83,660 |
They are just a couple of entries shy of $85k in prizes with 89 entries on the board. There are about 30 minutes left to play in Level 5 with the next break scheduled following Level 6. Entries are open until the start of Level 10, though, so there is still lots of time to get into the opening flight. Entries will close for today in just over 4 hours.
| Level: | 4 (200/400/400) |
| Entries: | 71/80 |
| Prizes: | $75,200 |
Level 4 has just begun with 80 entries on the board and 71 players still in live action. That puts the prizes so far at more than $75k with just under 5 hours left to register for today’s flight and a full 1b flight tomorrow yet to run. At this rate, prizes of $200k+ look to be a lock, but that will depend on tomorrow’s entry action.
While on the break I spotted a few more familiar faces in the crowd including Jimmy Lee, Keith Graham, Pete Fylyma, Stacey Diederich, Garry Sandhu, Michael “Berny” Bernstein, Brian Wells, Johnny Yu, and Zeyu “Skytrain” Huang.
| Level: | 3 (200/300/300) |
| Entries: | 65/74 |
| Prizes: | $69,560 |
The field is one entry shy of $70k in prizes with the 1a players just off for their first break of the day. There are 74 entries on the board, which is a pretty solid number this early in a Day 1a so it bodes well for a decent prize pool by the end of Day 1b tomorrow.
Among the other players I’ve spotted so far today are Alex Liu, Ryan Comely, Kevin Lee, Hamish Tong, Russ Sluchinski, DJ Sharma, and Benny Sarnelli.
| Level: | 3 (200/300/300) |
| Entries: | 56/59 |
| Prizes: | $55,460 |
There are about 25 minutes remaining in Level 3 and the field is pushing 60 entries already. The current prizes are just over $55k and climbing with just under 6 hours left to get into the game.
The two players who chopped the PLO Bounty late last night, Glenn Tarasoff and Colten Yamagishi, are both in action here today in Day 1a of the Main.
| Level: | 2 (100/200/200) |
| Entries: | 44/45 |
| Prizes: | $42,300 |
The Main Event is underway and with about half of Level 2 complete, there are 45 entries on the board. That puts the prizes so far at $42,300 and climbing. Entries today are open for about 6 more hours so there’s lots of time for these numbers to grow.
Among the players I’ve spotted in today’s action are Matthew Ouellette, Haven & Thomas Taylor (here for their first events of the series), Rob Limpert, Kirk Nilson, Michael St. Pierre-Porter, Ryan Cairns, Kris Steinbach, Jerry Tria, and Nicholas Milkovich.
| Event 13: | $1,100 Main Event ($940 + $160) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Feb 21, 1 PM Day 1b: Feb 22, 1 PM Day 2: Feb 23, Noon |
| Blinds: | 40 Minutes Day 1, 60 Minutes Day 2 |
| Starting Stack: | 30k |
| Late Entry: | 9 Levels (~8:!5 PM) |
| Day 1 Ends: | Day 1 Plays Down to 12.5% |
The Main Event is here with the opening flight set to take off at 1 PM on Friday, Feb 21. Players can jump into this flight as late as the end of the dinner break following Level 9. With breaks, that will put the last chance to enter at about 8:15 PM.
Players start off with 30k in chips and will play 40-minute levels during Day 1 action. There is no hard stop for the end of Day 1 as they will play as long as it takes to get to 12.5% of the starting field. After that, the remaining players will bag up their chips for Sunday’s final day of play.
I should have my eyes squarely focused on this one and I’ll likely be on the floor pretty close to the start of play. There is a satellite game in the evening on Friday for a final shot at cheap seats to Day 1b on Saturday, but otherwise, the Main Event is the only game in town for Friday.
Day 1b is complete with 27 players still alive. DJ Sharma bagged two stacks so only 42 players will return for Day 2. See below for a look at the 1b qualifiers, and stay tuned for the Day 2 seat assignments coming in ~1 hour.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Chris Symesko | 590,500 |
| Lonnie Hallett | 554,500 |
| Tien Phung | 502,500 |
| Kyle Hartree | 501,000 |
| David Devere | 483,500 |
| Abdul Zahir | 465,000 |
| Greg Wood | 342,500 |
| Shen Liew | 300,000 |
| Johnny Dalphond | 216,000 |
| Ian Alvarado | 193,500 |
| Nathan Masih | 189,000 |
| Holly Berry | 171,500 |
| DJ Sharma | 162,000 |
| Chris Lahey | 147,000 |
| Cody Goulet | 145,500 |
| Alexander Richmond | 144,000 |
| Leo Brouwer | 139,000 |
| George Broumas | 138,000 |
| Julius Roque | 135,000 |
| Jason Pelletier | 134,000 |
| Jerry Li | 130,000 |
| Denis Halvadzija | 118,500 |
| Thomas Taylor | 115,500 |
| Jeffrey Weiss | 104,500 |
| Ryan Parangao | 92,500 |
| Jay Tran | 88,000 |
| Kurtis Anthoniuk | 62,000 |
The 2024 Alberta Poker Index awards were presented here tonight on Day 1b of the Main Event and it was a pretty familiar crew with the trophies. Haven Taylor won her second straight Womens title while Julius Roque captured the Seniors trophy. Michael Malm was the runaway winner of the overall prize though with ~40% more points than anyone else. Malm’s run looks to be continuing — while he didn’t make it through this Main Event, he is leading the early 2025 standings.
| Level: | 16 (3000/6000/6000) |
| Entries: | 28/214 (44/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
The clock is paused for hand for hand play on the bubble now with 28 players left in the action.
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 29/214 (45/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
They are down to 29 players left in action with less than 10 minutes to play in Level 15. They’ll go hand for hand after the next elimination until the final player is out.
Kyle Hartree looks to have the big stack right now with about 700k in front of him but Lonnie Hallett and Tien Phung are both playing around 500k.
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 34/214 (50/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
They are down to 34 players left on the final four tables now, and they won’t go any lower than three tables tonight. The bags are set to come out at 27 players but it’s looking increasingly like there will only be 42 players coming back for Day 2 tomorrow as DJ Sharma looks to be bagging a second stack here tonight. If he does, he’ll play the bigger one tomorrow with the smaller one coming out of play.
| T-S | Player |
|---|---|
| 14 – 1 | Johnny Dalphond |
| 14 – 2 | Abdul Zahir |
| 14 – 3 | Tien Phung |
| 14 – 4 | |
| 14 – 5 | Alexander Richmond |
| 14 – 6 | Jeffrey Weiss |
| 14 – 7 | DJ Sharma |
| 14 – 8 | Greg Wood |
| 14 – 9 | George Broumas |
| 15 – 1 | Leo Brouwer |
| 15 – 2 | Bash Ramahi |
| 15 – 3 | Chris Lahey |
| 15 – 4 | Denis Halvadzija |
| 15 – 5 | Nathan Masih |
| 15 – 6 | Jason Pelletier |
| 15 – 7 | Holly Berry |
| 15 – 8 | Lonnie Hallett |
| 15 – 9 | Thomas Taylor |
| 16 – 1 | Brett Uhrich |
| 16 – 2 | Jay Tran |
| 16 – 3 | Cody Goulet |
| 16 – 4 | Kyle Hartree |
| 16 – 5 | Hamish Tong |
| 16 – 6 | Kenneth Der |
| 16 – 7 | Shen Liew |
| 16 – 8 | David Devere |
| 16 – 9 | Ian Alvarado |
| 17 – 1 | Ryan Parangao |
| 17 – 2 | Kurtis Anthoniuk |
| 17 – 3 | Julius Roque |
| 17 – 4 | Krista Meilleur |
| 17 – 5 | Tom T |
| 17 – 6 | Jerry Li |
| 17 – 7 | Garry Sandhu |
| 17 – 8 | Chris Symesko |
| 17 – 9 |
| Level: | 14 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 45/214 (61/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
They just broke down to the final 5 tables with 45 players left. That puts them 18 eliminations off the end of the night and with the average stack still more than 30 big blinds, they could be playing for a while yet.
| Level: | 13 (1500/3000/3000) |
| Entries: | 48/214 (64/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
The action has indeed slowed since the break. There are less than 5 minutes to play in Level 13 and the field has only dropped by 3 players since the end of the break. In addition to the big stacks I mentioned earlier, some of the players left in the game are Rob Lothian, Hanish Tong, George Broumas, Bash Ramahi, Krista Meilleur, and Garry Sandhu.
| Level: | 12 (1500/2500/2500) |
| Entries: | 51/214 (67/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
The break has just begun and they’ll be back at the felt in about 15 minutes for Level 13. The field is down to 51 players left now with bags coming out at 27. The action has moved very quickly over the last three levels but I expect it will slow down a bit now that they are getting closer to the end of the night.
The big stack at the moment looks like Kyle Hartree with 375k in front of him with Tien Phung also playing more than 300k. DJ Sharma and Nathan Masih are both playing stacks in the 200k range with Abdul Zahir on just over 150k.
| Level: | 11 (1000/2000/2000) |
| Entries: | 79/214 (95/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
The 1b field is down to 79 players with the target number set at 27. There are about 25 minutes to play in Level 11 with the next break to follow Level 12. Day 1a ended with a few minutes to play in Level 14 and it seems unlikely today will end earlier than that, but at least for now, play is moving pretty quickly.
| Level: | 10 (1000/1500/1500) |
| Entries: | 97/214 (113/338 combined) |
| Prizes: | $201,160 (Combined: $317,720) |
Day 1b saw more than $200k in prizes for a final total of 338 entries and $317,720 in prizes. There will be 27 players advancing from tonight’s flight for 43 returning to Day 2 play tomorrow, all in the money.
The full prizes are posted under the payouts tab, but below is a look at the final table payouts.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $65,529 |
| 2 | $45,140 |
| 3 | $29,340 |
| 4 | $22,570 |
| 5 | $17,380 |
| 6 | $13,770 |
| 7 | $10,830 |
| 8 | $8,580 |
| 9 | $7,000 |
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 102/211 (118/335 combined) |
| Prizes: | $198,340 (Combined: $314,900) |
The dinner break is just beginning with 211 entries on the board for Day 1b. That puts the combined total at 335 entries for total prizes of $314,900. If they get two more entries over dinner, that will push the 1b prize pool over $200k.
| Level: | 9 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 107/202 (123/326 combined) |
| Prizes: | $189,880 (Combined: $306,440) |
The final level of entries has just begun and the combined field is now at 326 entries for $306,440 in total prizes. Today’s field is now over 200 and will likely still climb a bit more before entries close in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
| Level: | 8 (500/1000/1000) |
| Entries: | 112/187 (128/311 combined) |
| Prizes: | $175,780 (Combined: $292,340) |
The combined field is now up to 311 entries with 187 on the board for 1b. That puts the 1b prizes at $175,780 with the total at $292,340. 196 entries today will push the combined prizes over $300k so they are just 9 entries away from that milestone.
| Level: | 7 (400/800/800) |
| Entries: | 112/171 (128/295 combined) |
| Prizes: | $160,740 (Combined: $277,300) |
There are still about 5 minutes left in the break following Level 6 and they’ll be in their seats for Level 7 shortly. The 1b field is now at 171 entries for a combined field of 295 entries and prizes of $277,300.
That puts them just 25 entries away from $300k in prizes, so that continues to look very doable with 2 hours and 45 minutes remaining to get into the Main Event.
| Level: | 6 (300/600/600) |
| Entries: | 111/159 (127/283 combined) |
| Prizes: | $149,460 (Combined: $266,020) |
The combined field is now at 283 entries for total prizes of $266,020. The 1b field is up to 159 with just under 3.5 hours left to enter. The field is currently 37 entries away from $300k in prizes.
| Level: | 5 (300/500/500) |
| Entries: | 112/145 (128/269 combined) |
| Prizes: | $136,300 (Combined: $252,860) |
The combined prizes are now over $250k with 145 entries on the board for Day 1b. That puts 269 entries in across both starting days for prizes of $252,860. The field is now 51 entries away from $300k.
| Level: | 4 (200/400/400) |
| Entries: | 109/129 (125/253 combined) |
| Prizes: | $121,260 (Combined: $237,820) |
The field for 1b is now over the 1a field with almost 5 hours left in entries. The 1b field is now at 129 for a combined field of 253 and prizes of $237k so far. They need another 13 entries to cap $250k, which looks like a lock, and 67 more entries to hit $300k, which looks very doable at this point.
Entries close after the dinner break following Level 9 at about 8:15 PM.
| Level: | 4 (200/400/400) |
| Entries: | 107/121 (123/245 combined) |
| Prizes: | $113,740 (Combined: $230,300) |
The combined prizes are now over $230k with 245 entries on the board across both flights. The 1b field is now 121 entries with a few minutes left in the break following Level 3. They’ll be in action for Level 4 in about 2 minutes with blinds at 200/400/400 with entries still open for five hours.
| Level: | 3 (200/300/300) |
| Entries: | 107/116 (123/240 combined) |
| Prizes: | $109,040 (Combined: $225,600) |
the combined prizes are now more than $225k with 116 entries on the board for 1b. There are still more than 10 minutes to ply in Level 3, so Day 1b has almost equaled the 1a total before the first break of the day.
At this point, $250k+ looks like a lock and $300k+ looks pretty likely. The entire social room is now full with spillover into the poker room, so it’s a big day here at the opening Main Event of the 2025 Pure Poker Tour.
| Level: | 2 (100/200/200) |
| Entries: | 87/90 (103/214 combined) |
| Prizes: | $84,600 (Combined: $201,160) |
In recognition of our friend Ryan “Snides” Snyder who passed away far too young last year, we have a limited number of memorial chips available for anyone who wants them. I have 9 chips identical to the above (front and back shown) and will give them out on a first-come, first-served basis.
| Level: | 2 (100/200/200) |
| Entries: | 80/81 (96/205 combined) |
| Prizes: | $76,140 (Combined: $192,700) |
The combined field is now over 200 and climbing with Level 2 about half complete. The 1b field is now at 81 entries with 8- still in play for a combined total of 205 entries so far.
That puts the combined prizes at more than $190k with the expectation that it grows bigger than $250k for sure. Among the players in the game looking for a piece of that from Day 1b are PPT Main winner John Donnelly, PPT Ambassador Have Taylor, Jerry Tria, Tyler Foran, Dylan Webb, Thomas Taylor, Ryan Cairns, Leo Brouwer, and Kim Pham.
| Level: | 1 (100/100/100) |
| Entries: | 42/42 (58/166 combined) |
| Prizes: | $39,480 (Combined: $156,040) |
Day 1b is now underway with 42 entries on the board. That already pushes the combined prizes over $150k and climbing with 7 hours left to enter today’s flight.
There are quite a few familiar faces in their seats today looking for a 1b bag including Holly Berry, Ty Adams, Curtis Singleton, Johnny Yu, Chantal Goulet, Cody Goulet, Julius Roque, Hamish Tong, Rob Lothian, Kim Graham, and winner of the NLH/PLO Mix and 3rd in the PLO Bounty, Stefan Maloney.
| Event 13: | $1,100 Main Event ($940 + $160) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Feb 21, 1 PM Day 1b: Feb 22, 1 PM Day 2: Feb 23, Noon |
| Blinds: | 40 Minutes Day 1, 60 Minutes Day 2 |
| Starting Stack: | 30k |
| Late Entry: | 9 Levels (~8:!5 PM) |
| Day 1 Ends: | Day 1 Plays Down to 12.5% |
| Entries: | 16/124 |
| Prizes: | $116,560 |
The The final flight to the Main Event is taking off at 1 PM on Saturday at Pure Casino Edmonton. Players can jump into this flight as late as the end of the dinner break following Level 9. With breaks, that will put the last chance to enter at about 8:15 PM.
Players start off with 30k in chips and will play 40-minute levels during Day 1 action. There is no hard stop for the end of Day 1 as they will play as long as it takes to get to 12.5% of the starting field. After that, the remaining players will bag up their chips for Sunday’s final day of play.
Day 1a got 124 entries for prizes of $116.5k with David Ko emerging as the chip leader. It took nearly 14 levels to whittle the field down to 12.5% (16 players in the case of 1a) and Ko ended up with more than 20% of the chips in play.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| David Ko | 753,500 |
| Alex Liu | 447,000 |
| Ryan Smith | 428,500 |
| Colten Yamagishi | 308,500 |
| Shane Cutinha | 273,000 |
| Ryan Cairns | 259,000 |
| Bowen Leung | 253,000 |
| Sharmark Mohamed | 228,500 |
| DNR | 174,000 |
| Joseph Anderson | 116,500 |
| Brenda Robertson | 107,500 |
| DJ Sharma | 105,500 |
| Naleen Narayan | 86,000 |
| Shawn Taghavi | 74,000 |
| Jeff Forester | 68,000 |
| Andy Truong | 38,000 |
Day 1b should be a big one with 150+ entries and prizes pushing past $250k towards $300k by the end of entries.
In just his second entry on Hendon Mob, Tien Shen has now booked a win, and it was a pretty big one. He got heads up against Alex Liu in the Main Event today with a 3:2 lead and the final two decided to chop it up, ICM style. Phung got $56,669 along with the trophy and the PPT swag while runner-up Liu got $54k.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 1/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,729 |
There was no heads-up play tonight as Alex Liu and Tien Phung agreed to an ICM deal. Liu was the shorter stack by about 3:2 and got $54k from the deal and second place.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 2/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
It was quite a run for Greg Wood today. He was nursing a short stack for much of the final table but still managed to ladder up to 3rd place. He shoved the shorty with king-jack but ran into queens for Alex Liu. The queens held and Wood was out for almost $30k.
The heads up players are on a short break with Tien Phung playing 6.085 million against 4.042 million for Liu.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 3/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The game went three ways after Nathan Masih flopped top-top and got his money in but ran into a straight to hit the rail for 4th place tonight.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 4/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Greg Wood was on life support with 245k after he paid his big blind. It all went in after Tien Phung raised to 75k and Nathan Masih called. Both players called the shove, then checked down the 5♣9♠10♣3♠4♥. Wood let out a yell as he rolled over pocket fours for the rivered set, ahead of eights for Masih and the busted flush and straight draws for Phung with queen-jack of clubs.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 4/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
DJ Sharma ran into the red-hot Tien Phung to end his run today in 5th place. He shoved his button with pocket fives, but Phung woke up with queens in the small blind and called it off. There was no Sharma Time as the queens held and the happiest guy at any poker table hit the cage for 5th place
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 5/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 16 – 1 | Greg Wood | 460,000 |
| 16 – 2 | ||
| 16 – 3 | DJ Sharma | 700,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Tien Phung | 5,500,000 |
| 16 – 5 | ||
| 16 – 6 | Alex Liu | 2,900,000 |
| 16 – 7 | ||
| 16 – 8 | Nathan Masih | 740,000 |
| 16 – 9 |
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 5/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
There are just 5 players left after Jeffrey Weiss hit the cage for 6th place tonight. He flopped a nine and looked to be in good shape in the race against the sevens of Nathan Masih, but Masih hit his set for the win.
| Level: | 23 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 6/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 6 left now after Andy Truong couldn’t win a race. Tien Phung raised under the gun to 75k before Truong shoved 875k from the button. Phung made the call with ace-jack over tens for Truong, then flopped his jack on the K♣6♠J♣Q♠2♥ board to send Truong out in 6th.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 7/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 7 left now after Ryan Smith lost a race with deuces into king-jack to end his Main Event run in 8th place tonight.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 8/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Thomas Taylor just hit the cage in 9th place in a brutal cooler. Both he and Alex Liu flopped a straight when the flop was trey-four-five, but Taylor’s ace-deuce was on the low end with Liu’s seven-six hitting the top end.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Tien Phung started a limpfest under the gun with 4more players following him to the 8♣A♦3♠ flop. It checked around to the 6♥ turn where small blind Ryan Smith fired out 25k. DJ Sharma called from the big blind, as did Greg Wood from the button.
On the Q♠ river it checked around to Wood who fired 60k. Smith got out of the way quickly but Sharma put in the call, mucking when Wood turned over Sharma’s favorite hand, pocket sixes for the turned set.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Nathan Masih bet 50k under the gun, then called when Greg Wood raised it to 130k from the middle. The flop was Q♥J♥9♣ and after a check from Masih, Wood shoved.
Masih snap-called with pocket jacks for the flopped set against the top-top ace-queen for Wood. The 5♣7♠ didn’t help Wood and he was down to about 400k with Masih rocketing up to about 725k.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
DJ Sharma limped in early and Thomas Taylor and Nathan Masih both came along from the blinds to the A♦A♣J♠ flop. It checked around on both the 5♥J♣ turn and river.
“I think I have it,” Sharma said. “King-high.”
Taylor quietly said “Ace” as he tossed out the ace-king for the flopped trips and riverboat. It seemed clear Taylor was looking to trap, but no one else was taking the bait.
| Level: | 22 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Tien Phung has about twice as many chips as second-place Alex Liu. Liu has 1.67 million to 3.31 million for Phung while no one else at the table has 1 million.
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 16 – 1 | Greg Wood | 840,000 |
| 16 – 2 | Ryan Smith | 395,000 |
| 16 – 3 | DJ Sharma | 910,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Tien Phung | 3,310,000 |
| 16 – 5 | Jeffrey Weiss | 800,000 |
| 16 – 6 | Alex Liu | 1,670,000 |
| 16 – 7 | Thomas Taylor | 640,000 |
| 16 – 8 | Nathan Masih | 580,000 |
| 16 – 9 | Andy Truong | 885,000 |
| Level: | 21 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Tien Phung is on a roll with the big stack now. I’ll get exact counts for everyone at the break, but Phung has been taking chips over the last few minutes. In the most recent hand, he was blind on blind with Jeff Weiss when he raised the small blind to 60k and got the call.
Both players checked the A♠10♦J♠ flop and Phung fired 40k on the 6♣ turn. They both went back to checks on the A♣ turn and Phung showed 10♣2♣ for two pair with the suited Doyle.
| Level: | 21 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,620 |
They are about 20 minutes from the next break and I’ll grab full chip counts while they are away from the table, but it looks like Tien Phung is the leader right now with about 3 million in front of him. There are just over 10 million in play, so he has close to 1/3rd of them.
| Level: | 21 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 9/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The final table is now set after David Devere bubbled the FT in 10th place tonight for a score of $5,640 while I was out of the room using the washroom.
| Level: | 21 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 10/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Shen Liew is out on the soft bubble to the final table after running his sevens into the aces of Alex Liu. Lie turned open-ended on 5♥4♦J♠6♦4♠ but then bricked the river to hit the rail.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 11/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 11 left now, 2 off the final table, after the exit if Sharmark Mohamed after a hand that I missed while I was in the washroom.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 12/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 12 left now after Naleen Narayan couldn’t find any help for his dominated king. He was up against king-queen with a suited king-seven and, with two kings on the K♥A♣K♣4♦J♥ runout, the bigger king of Tuen Phung held for the win and the bust.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 13/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Sharmark Mohamed opened it up to 30k from the cutoff and Nathan Masih called from the big blind. They both checked the 9♣3♥4♥ flop and Masih check-called for 40k on the Q♣ turn. He check-called again for 100k on the K♦ river and showed down queen-jack for the win against ace-five of diamonds for Mohamed.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 13/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Cody Goulet was the 14th-place finisher tonight, though I missed the action while I was having some dinner. There are now just under 30 minutes to play in Level 20.
| Level: | 20 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 14/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Ian Alvarado hit the cage just before the end of Level 19 for 15th place. See below for the remaining 14 stacks with Alex Liu in a slight lead over Thomas Taylor and David Devere, all of whom have more than 1 million in play right now.
| T-S | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 14 – 1 | Nathan Masih | 665,000 |
| 14 – 2 | Naleen Narayan | 385,000 |
| 14 – 3 | ||
| 14 – 4 | Alex Liu | 1,200,000 |
| 14 – 5 | ||
| 14 – 6 | Shen Liew | 715,000 |
| 14 – 7 | Sharmark Mohamed | 810,000 |
| 14 – 8 | Tien Phung | 830,000 |
| 14 – 9 | ||
| 16 – 1 | Jeffrey Weiss | 635,000 |
| 16 – 2 | DJ Sharma | 730,000 |
| 16 – 3 | Thomas Taylor | 1,110,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Greg Wood | 790,000 |
| 16 – 5 | David Devere | 1,100,000 |
| 16 – 6 | Andy Truong | 300,000 |
| 16 – 7 | Cody Goulet | 320,000 |
| 16 – 8 | Ryan Smith | 670,000 |
| 16 – 9 |
| Level: | 19 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 15/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Nathan Masih raised the cutoff to 25k, then asked for a count when Kyle Hartree shoved the small blind. The count was 192k and Masih made the call for a race between Hartree’s pocket fives and ace-six for Masih.
The turn brought a six and nothing else on the K♥J♠2♠6♣10♠ board helped Hartree.
| Level: | 19 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 16/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
David Devere just got a double-plus through Ryan Smith and Tien Phung. The flop was already out reading 10♥5♠J♥ and Devere was all in with Smith reshoving more. That left Phung in the tank and he finally mucked his hand, letting out a shout of glee when the other two hands turned over.
Smith flopped a set of jacks while Devere was drawing to hearts with [invalid notations] runout, but the river sunk him with an unpaired heart.
Meanwhile, on the other table, Chris Symesko hit the rail for 17th place tonight.
| Level: | 19 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 17/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Alex Liu opened the cutoff to 26k and got calls from Shn Liuw and Sharmark Mohamed in the blinds. They all checked the 9♣8♠2♣ flop and Liuw bet 30k on the 5♠ turn.
Both players called to the 7♦ river and they all checked it again. Liuw showed ace-nine from the small blind and the other two players mucked with Mohamed commenting “I thought my 8 was good.”
Meanwhile, Shane Cutinha was the first player off the final two tables tonight in 18th place.
| Level: | 18 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 18/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
| Level: | 18 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 18/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 18 left now on the final two tables of the Main Event. See below for the recent cashes.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Alexander Richmond | $3,020 |
| 20 | Abdul Zahir | $3,020 |
| 21 | Glenn Tarasoff | $3,020 |
| Level: | 18 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 21/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,780 |
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 14 – 1 | Nathan Masih | 256,000 |
| 14 – 2 | David Devere | 650,000 |
| 14 – 3 | Kyle Hartree | 418,000 |
| 14 – 4 | Alex Liu | 463,000 |
| 14 – 5 | Ian Alvarado | 249,000 |
| 14 – 6 | ||
| 14 – 7 | Sharmark Mohamed | 671,000 |
| 14 – 8 | ||
| 14 – 9 | Chris Symesko | 533,000 |
| 16 – 1 | ||
| 16 – 2 | Abdul Zahir | 318,000 |
| 16 – 3 | Thomas Taylor | 786,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Greg Wood | 1,080,000 |
| 16 – 5 | DNR | 190,000 |
| 16 – 6 | ||
| 16 – 7 | Cody Goulet | 325,000 |
| 16 – 8 | Ryan Smith | 891,000 |
| 16 – 9 | Tien Phung | 747,000 |
| 18 – 1 | Shen Liew | 540,000 |
| 18 – 2 | ||
| 18 – 3 | Andy Truong | 380,000 |
| 18 – 4 | Alexander Richmond | 283,000 |
| 18 – 5 | Naleen Narayan | 333,000 |
| 18 – 6 | ||
| 18 – 7 | Jeffrey Weiss | 368,000 |
| 18 – 8 | DJ Sharma | 344,000 |
| 18 – 9 | Shane Cutinha | 171,000 |
| Level: | 17 (4000/8000/8000) |
| Entries: | 21/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,780 |
They are down to 21 players left as Level 17 is drawing to a close. They’ll go on a break at the end of this level and I’ll get full chip counts then. Below is a look at the recent cashers.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Jason Pelletier | $3,020 |
| 23 | Julius Roque | $3,020 |
| 24 | Holly Berry | $3,020 |
| Level: | 17 (4000/8000/8000) |
| Entries: | 24/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 24 left now in the Main Event. See below for the recent cashouts.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | George Broumas | $3,020 |
| 26 | Denis Halvadzija | $3,020 |
| 27 | Johnny Dalphond | $3,020 |
With the Global Poker INdex awards being announced recently, I am honoured to announce that Poker Pro picked up some hardware from the event. Our writer Jonathan Raab put together an excellent look at botfarms emerging from certain markets and the article was recognized by the industry as the best of the year for written media content.
Good job to Jonathan, and TY to the GPI and all the voters who recognized the importance of the piece.
| Level: | 16 (3000/6000/6000) |
| Entries: | 27/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 27 left on the final three tables now after three exits. Among the players to bust recently was start-of-day chip leader David Ko. See below of the recent cashers.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Brenda Robertson | $2,290 |
| 29 | Chris Lahey | $2,290 |
| 30 | David Ko | $2,290 |
| Level: | 16 (3000/6000/6000) |
| Entries: | 30/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
Level 16 has just kicked off and this is the first official level on the Day 2 schedule. The field is down to 30 players remaininging
Greg Wood now looks to be the big leader with close to 1 million. He’s been having a lot of fun late last night and today with one of his signature phrases, heard multiple times last night, being “I just bluffed my GRAMMA!”. Abdul Zahir is playing about 900k for what looks like the second stack.
Wood picked up the lead in a hand that saw him turn a straight to send Ryan Parungao and Leo Brouwer to the cash cage on the same hand. See below for the recent cashing players.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Jay Tran | $2,290 |
| 32 | Leo Brouwer | $2,290 |
| 33 | Ryan Parungao | $2,290 |
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 33/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The field is down to 33 remaining at the first break with Colten Yamagishi ending his day in 34th place. I missed a name on the previous payout list, so below is a look at all payouts so far from today.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | Colten Yamagishi | $2,290 |
| 35 | Bowen Leung | $2,290 |
| 36 | Lonnie Hallett | $2,290 |
| 37 | Ryan Cairns | $1,800 |
| 38 | Joseph Anderson | $1,800 |
| 39 | Shawn Taghavi | $1,800 |
| 40 | Jerry Li | $1,800 |
| 41 | Kurtis Antoniuk | $1,800 |
| 42 | Jeff Forester | $1,800 |
| 43 | Dj Sharma | $1,800 |
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 34/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
They are down to 34 left in the Main Event now with 10 minutes to play in Level 15. Full payouts are listed under the Payouts tab with recent cahsers below.
| Place | Player | Prizes |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | Bowen Leung | $2,290 |
| 36 | Lonnie Hallett | $2,290 |
| 37 | Ryan Cairns | $1,800 |
| 38 | Joseph Anderson | $1,800 |
| 39 | Shawn Taghavi | $1,800 |
| 40 | Jerry Li | $1,800 |
| 41 | Kurtis Antoniuk | $1,800 |
| 42 | Jeff Forester | $1,800 |
| 43 | Dj Sharma | $1,800 |
| Level: | 15 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 41/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The final day of play is now underway in the Main Event. The action is scheduled to finish tonight but depending on how late things go, they may bring a few players back on Monday to finish it out.
They;ve lost one player since the start of play about 20 minutes ago with Jeff Forester hitting the rail for 42nd place (DJ Sharma bagged the 43rd place min-cash for his second stack).
| Event 13: | $1,100 Main Event ($940 + $160) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Feb 21, 1 PM Day 1b: Feb 22, 1 PM Day 2: Feb 23, Noon |
| Blinds: | 40 Minutes Day 1, 60 Minutes Day 2 |
| Entries: | 42/338 |
| Prizes: | $317,720 |
The first Main Event of 2025 on the Pure Poker Tour was a pretty well-attended affair. By the time registration closed on Saturday night, there were 338 entries with a total prize pool of $317,720.
The leader going into Day 2 is Burnaby’s David Ko who bagged more than 150k more than anyone else on his Day 1a run. Ko is the founder of the UBC Poker Club and has been on fire since he burst onto the scene in 2023 with multiple WSOP-C Rings and a WPT title already.
Chris Symesko, who won an EPT event back in 2016 in Dublin, will be a dangerous #2 on Day 2 with just shy of 600k. Lonnie Hallett, who won the Seniors Bracelet in Vegas in 2023, bagged a bit more than 550k so there’s a lot of hardware and talent at the top end of the list.
Tien Phung, newcomer to the local scene, and Kyle Hartree, who won the 8-Max here at the 2024 version of this series, round out the top five for Day 2 with just over 500k each. While there were scheduled to be 43 players returning, DJ Sharma managed to Sharma Time himself into two bags this time around, so he’ll min-cash the smaller one tomorrow to start the day with 42 players in their seats.
Day 2 action kicks off at noon, with players asked to be in the room by 11:45 to get the bags open and get ready to play. Play will begin with a few minutes left in Level 14 with Level 15 played at 40 minutes and Level 16 moving to official Day 2 levels of 60 minutes.
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 14 – 1 | Nathan Masih | 189,000 |
| 14 – 2 | ||
| 14 – 3 | Jeffrey Weiss | 104,500 |
| 14 – 4 | Alex Liu | 447,000 |
| 14 – 5 | Ian Alvarado | 193,500 |
| 14 – 6 | Colten Yamagishi | 308,500 |
| 14 – 7 | Deni Halvadzija | 118,500 |
| 14 – 8 | Jason Pelletier | 134,000 |
| 14 – 9 | Chris Symesko | 590,500 |
| — | ||
| 15 – 1 | Jerry Li | 130,000 |
| 15 – 2 | Bowen Leung | 253,000 |
| 15 – 3 | Brenda Roberts | 107,500 |
| 15 – 4 | Shen Liew | 300,000 |
| 15 – 5 | Cody Goulet | 145,500 |
| 15 – 6 | Ryan Smith | 428,500 |
| 15 – 7 | George Broumas | 138000 |
| 15 – 8 | Johnny Dalphond | 216,000 |
| 15 – 9 | Sharmark Mohamed | 228,500 |
| — | ||
| 16 – 1 | Shane Cutinha | 273,000 |
| 16 – 2 | Abdul Zahir | 465,000 |
| 16 – 3 | Jeff Forester | 68,000 |
| 16 – 4 | Greg Wood | 342,500 |
| 16 – 5 | Kurtis Anthoniuk | 62,000 |
| 16 – 6 | Leo Brouwer | 139,000 |
| 16 – 7 | Ryan Parungao | 92,500 |
| 16 – 8 | Lonnie Hallett | 554,500 |
| 16 – 9 | Joseph Anderson | 116,500 |
| — | ||
| 17 – 1 | Tien Phung | 502,500 |
| 17 – 2 | David Ko | 753,500 |
| 17 – 3 | Holly Berry | 171,500 |
| 17 – 4 | Thomas Taylor | 115,500 |
| 17 – 5 | Naleen Narayan | 86,000 |
| 17 – 6 | Shawn Taghavi | 74,000 |
| 17 – 7 | David Devere | 483,500 |
| 17 – 8 | ||
| 17 – 9 | Kyle Hartree | 501,000 |
| — | ||
| 18 – 1 | DNR | 174,000 |
| 18 – 2 | ||
| 18 – 3 | Andy Truong | 38,000 |
| 18 – 4 | Alexander Richmond | 144,000 |
| 18 – 5 | Ryan Cairns | 259,000 |
| 18 – 6 | Julius Roque | 135,000 |
| 18 – 7 | Jay Tran | 88,000 |
| 18 – 8 | DJ Sharma | 162,000 |
| 18 – 9 | Chris Lahey | 147,000 |
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 16 – 2 | Abdul Zahir | 465,000 |
| 14 – 4 | Alex Liu | 447,000 |
| 18 – 4 | Alexander Richmond | 144,000 |
| 18 – 3 | Andy Truong | 38,000 |
| 15 – 2 | Bowen Leung | 253,000 |
| 15 – 3 | Brenda Roberts | 107,500 |
| 18 – 9 | Chris Lahey | 147,000 |
| 14 – 9 | Chris Symesko | 590,500 |
| 15 – 5 | Cody Goulet | 145,500 |
| 14 – 6 | Colten Yamagishi | 308,500 |
| 17 – 7 | David Devere | 483,500 |
| 17 – 2 | David Ko | 753,500 |
| 14 – 7 | Deni Halvadzija | 118,500 |
| 18 – 8 | DJ Sharma | 162,000 |
| 18 – 1 | DNR | 174,000 |
| 15 – 7 | George Broumas | 138000 |
| 16 – 4 | Greg Wood | 342,500 |
| 17 – 3 | Holly Berry | 171,500 |
| 14 – 5 | Ian Alvarado | 193,500 |
| 14 – 8 | Jason Pelletier | 134,000 |
| 18 – 7 | Jay Tran | 88,000 |
| 16 – 3 | Jeff Forester | 68,000 |
| 14 – 3 | Jeffrey Weiss | 104,500 |
| 15 – 1 | Jerry Li | 130,000 |
| 15 – 8 | Johnny Dalphond | 216,000 |
| 16 – 9 | Joseph Anderson | 116,500 |
| 18 – 6 | Julius Roque | 135,000 |
| 16 – 5 | Kurtis Anthoniuk | 62,000 |
| 17 – 9 | Kyle Hartree | 501,000 |
| 16 – 6 | Leo Brouwer | 139,000 |
| 16 – 8 | Lonnie Hallett | 554,500 |
| 17 – 5 | Naleen Narayan | 86,000 |
| 14 – 1 | Nathan Masih | 189,000 |
| 18 – 5 | Ryan Cairns | 259,000 |
| 16 – 7 | Ryan Parungao | 92,500 |
| 15 – 6 | Ryan Smith | 428,500 |
| 16 – 1 | Shane Cutinha | 273,000 |
| 15 – 9 | Sharmark Mohamed | 228,500 |
| 17 – 6 | Shawn Taghavi | 74,000 |
| 15 – 4 | Shen Liew | 300,000 |
| 17 – 4 | Thomas Taylor | 115,500 |
| 17 – 1 | Tien Phung | 502,500 |
| Place | Player | Prizes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tien Phung | $65,529 |
| 2 | Alex Liu | $45,140 |
| 3 | Greg Wood | $29,340 |
| 4 | Nathan Masih | $22,570 |
| 5 | Dj Sharma | $17,380 |
| 6 | Jeffrey Weiss | $13,770 |
| 7 | Andy Truong | $10,830 |
| 8 | Ryan Smith | $8,580 |
| 9 | Thomas Taylor | $7,000 |
| 10 | David Devere | $5,640 |
| 11 | Shen Liew | $4,610 |
| 12 | Sharmark Mohamed | $4,610 |
| 13 | Naleen Narayan | $4,010 |
| 14 | Cody Goulet | $4,010 |
| 15 | Ian Alvarado | $4,010 |
| 16 | Kyle Hartree | $3,490 |
| 17 | Chris Symesko | $3,490 |
| 18 | Shane Cutinha | $3,490 |
| 19 | Alexander Richmond | $3,020 |
| 20 | Abdul Zahir | $3,020 |
| 21 | Glenn Tarasoff | $3,020 |
| 22 | Jason Pelletier | $3,020 |
| 23 | Julius Roque | $3,020 |
| 24 | Holly Berry | $3,020 |
| 25 | George Broumas | $3,020 |
| 26 | Denis Halvadzija | $3,020 |
| 27 | Johnny Dalphond | $3,020 |
| 28 | Brenda Robertson | $2,290 |
| 29 | Chris Lahey | $2,290 |
| 30 | David Ko | $2,290 |
| 31 | Jay Tran | $2,290 |
| 32 | Leo Brouwer | $2,290 |
| 33 | Ryan Parungao | $2,290 |
| 34 | Colten Yamagishi | $2,290 |
| 35 | Bowen Leung | $2,290 |
| 36 | Lonnie Hallett | $2,290 |
| 37 | Ryan Cairns | $1,800 |
| 38 | Joseph Anderson | $1,800 |
| 39 | Shawn Taghavi | $1,800 |
| 40 | Jerry Li | $1,800 |
| 41 | Kurtis Antoniuk | $1,800 |
| 42 | Jeff Forester | $1,800 |
| 43 | Dj Sharma | $1,800 |
