2026 WSOPC Calgary Jan – Event #4: $400 NLH Mini Main Event

The final 15 stacks are in, and the chip leader from the opening flight is Ankhbayar Bayar with 1.425 million. Kyle Crego also has more than a million, but they are the only two with 7-figure bags.

Bradley Bishop has just over 900k, while Karandev Bhullar and Sandy Lam round out the top five with more than 850k. The Day 1a action ended a bit early, with the clock paused at 18:21 remaining in Level 21, and there is one fewer bag than expected after a double bust on the bubble.

Day 2 seat assignments will be published after all flights are complete, sometime Saturday evening. Players returning for Day 2 should be ready to play at 1 PM on Sunday, in the Chrome room.

Qualifying Stacks from Day 1a of the Mini Main Event

Day 1a of the Mini Main Event is complete, but there are fewer players advancing than expected. Based on the 319 entries, which beat both Oct & Jan 2025 Day 1a for this game (it was called the 4-Flight in Jan, but otherwise the same event), there should have been at least 16 bags at the end of the night.

Instead, they got to the bubble and then lost two players, Hongwei Liu (17th) and Timothy Smith (16th), on the same hand, leaving just 15 players still alive. That happened with 18:21 remaining in Level 21, so the first flight ended a bit early, with fewer qualifiers than expected. Below is a look at all the cashing players from Day 1a, and stay tuned for a list of qualifying bags in a following post.

Place	Player	Prize
16	Timothy Smith	$981
17	Hongwei Liu	$981
18	Ghislaine Johnson	$897
19	Youssef Hmama	$897
20	Sebastian Crema	$897
21	Bobby Jones	$897
22	Darren Mccagherty	$897
23	David Ballantine	$897
24	Victor Ma	$897
25	Darryl Power	$897
26	Teo Sanchez	$897
27	Rodney Poirier	$853
28	Colten Yamagishi	$853
29	Jerry Li	$853
30	Kevin Huynh	$853
31	Scott Serwa	$853
32	Mike Malm	$853
33	Neil Smith	$853
34	Brad Shackman	$853
35	Dallas Larson	$853
36	Patrick Girard	$812
37	Samson Mesenegeeshik	$812
38	Jonathan Breitenstein	$812
39	Daniel Lefebvre	$812
40	Richard Pepito	$812
41	Ramaz Haymour	$812
42	Levi Mcateer	$812
43	Seamus Mcgearty	$812
44	Bertrand Laroque	$812
45	Adam Cygman	$812
46	Lap Chi Duong	$812
47	Dj Sharma	$812
48	Yucheng Zhang	$812

They are down to 62 players left in the Mini Main Day 1a. That puts them 12 players off the money spots, with Level 14 coming to an end. They’ll keep playing once they hit the money, with as many as 32 players cashing out tonight. At least 16 players will bag today, but they’ll bag more if they get to the end of Level 22 before they hit 16 players.

The prizes for Day 1a are in, and 48 place will be paid tonight. The action will continue once they hit the money, with only the top 5%, or 16 players, expected to bag tonight. However, if they make it to the end of Level 22 without hitting 16 players, they’ll bag up then, no matter how many are left. See below for a look at the prizes to 17th place tonight.

Just as a reminder, there will be nothing under the Payouts tab until Day 2. For Day 1 pay, I’ll be posting the payouts in posts as we go. They are now just under 40 eliminations off the money.

Entries are now closed for Day 1 of the Mini Main Event, with the final tally on the board at 319. That is well ahead of both the Jan & Oct numbers for 1a in this event (note that in Jan last year, this game was called the 4-Flight). There will be 48 paid spots tonight, and at least 16 bags at the end. The action will continue until they hit 16 players, or the end of Level 22, whichever comes first.

The Day 1a field for the Mini Main has now exceeded the total for the opening flight in October. With just over an hour to enter today’s flight, the field is now 5 entries over the 276 recorded last time. With just 19 entries to go to hit 300, that still looks like a decent number to end on today.

The final three tables of the Black Chip Bounty have now moved to Chrome, so I’ll be watching that one most closely until it finishes, at which point I’ll move back to finish the endgame on this one.

Arya Ghai and Jeff “Ironman” Charlebois went at it in a couple of hands. Charlebois shoved the cutoff on Ghai’s big blind, and when Ghai woke up with a suited ace, he called. They were both playing an ace, with low kickers, and the board ran out to a chop.

In the very next hand, Charlebois again shoved, this time from the hijack. Ghai woke up with an ace-ten in the small blind and called off for a race against Charlebois’ pocket deuces. Ghai found a ten on the flop of 10♦4♣K♦J♥7♦ and held to take it down.

Victor Ma looks to be the chip leader after 8 levels of play, with 149k. Evan Taylor and Jonathan Chimu also have more than 100k. Below is a look at the top ten stacks as counted on the break by dealers.

The players from Day 1a are now on their second break of the day, with the field at 250 entries. That is just 26 away from the October numbers, and it seems likely there will be at least that many entries over the next two hours before it all closes.

The prizes now are nearing $80k, but if they can find another 50 entries for 300, that would put the prizes close to $95k for the opening flight.

There are about 15 minutes left in Level 8, with the second break of Day 1a scheduled following this level. The field is now at 242 for today’s flight, putting it just 32 entries away from matching Oct 2025. With more than 2 hours left to enter, it looks like a lock to beat that number, but entries do tend to slow a bit after the second break. It still looks like ~300 entries is a decent bet today.

Zhiyu Chen raised early to 2k before Loyd Columbres shoved all in for 16.4 from the hijack. It folded back to Chen who put in the call with a starting stack.

It was a race between nines for Columbres against king-jack of soades for Chen. Chen found a jack on the flop, but Columbres had already set up with the win with a nine on the board of [invalid notations]9c7hJdAh6c[/pcn[. The hand doubled Calumbres to more than $35k, while Chen is down to a bit more than 13k.

The 1a field is now closing in on 220 entries as Level 7 begins. That leaves three hours left in the entry period, with the next break following Level 8, and then four more levels of entry after that.

At the moment, the field is only about 60 entries away from capping the October 2025 numbers, so it’s still looking like a solid bet.

Level 6 has just begun, and the field is now over 200 entries, with prizes nearing $65k. There are now a bit more than 3 hours left to enter today’s flight, so capping the 276 entries from October 2025 still looks to be in the cards.

Among the players in today’s flight are DJ “Sharma Time” Sharma, who has just apparently hit a hand, as I heard shouts of Sharma Time across the casino. Along with the McDonald’s magnate from Edmonton, the 2024 & 2025 API Player of the Year, Mike Malm, is also in action today, along with Josh Myers, Stephen Dejarlais, Shane Chief, Skyler York, Victor Ma, Eric Vansteelandt, Jacob Sujata, Jerry Li, Jordan Banfield, Wayne Hoffert, Ghislaine Johnson, Chad Winnick, Sebastian Crema, Gail Flaherty, and Scot Munro.

The 1a players are back in their seats for the start of Level, and today’s field is up to 191 entries now. That means the prize pool so far is creeping up towards $60k, and it seems likely the 200-entry mark will fall sometime during this level. There are now just under 4 hours left to get into the opening flight, but there are 3 more flights before Sunday’s Day 2.

The Day 1a players are heading out for their first break of the day with the conclusion of Level 4. There are 186 entries on the board as they head out, with 154 players left alive currently.

The total for Day 1a in October was 274, so this game is still easily on pace to cap that number, and perhaps go to 300 or more.

About 15 minutes remain in Level 4, with the first break of the day scheduled following this level. The field is now at 174 entries for prizes of almost $55k, with more than 4 hours left to enter today’s opening flight.

Of course, players still have three more shots at a bag in this event after today’s flight closes, with final numbers for this event expected to easily exceed 1,500. As it stands, Day 1a is already only about 100 entries off the 2025 October numbers for the opening flight.

Level 2 is just coming to a close, with 135 entries on the board already. In October, the opening flight to the Mini Main Event saw 276 entries, so today’s flight is well on the way to meeting or beating that number. There are still almost 5 hours left to enter today’s flight.

The players will take their first break of the day following Level 4, with entries open until the beginning of Level 13, which should be about 9:45 PM.

The first flight of the Mini Main has just began. Already it has seen a surge of players with 98 players having entered. One unlucky player has hit the rail, and there is plenty of time to join the action. Late registration will remain open for approximately five and a half hours.

Event #4: $400 NLH Mini Main Event ($330 + $70)

The opening flight to the Mini Main Event takes off at 4 PM on Thursday afternoon. Players get 30k in chips to start, and the blinds for Day 1a & c are 25 minutes long.

Players have 12 levels to get into the game, which should put the last chance to enter at about 9:45 PM. After that, the bags will come out at the end of Level 22, or with 5% of the field remaining, whichever comes first. If it goes the full 22 levels, Days 1a/c will finish after 4 AM.

October 2025’s series saw Nicholas Lee take down this game for more than $75k. That was the biggest share of more than $550k in prizes from a field of 1,668, among the largest fields WSOP-C Calgary has seen. Lee was heads up against Chinese native & Toronto resident Kezheng Peng, who won just over $50k for second, with Winnipeg’s Dylan Ellis in 3rd. It was Lee’s fourth ring and gave him more than $575k (USD) in lifetime earnings, and he’s at well over $600k now after coming second on opening day at the 2026 January series in the NLH/PLO Mix.