2025 Pure Poker Tour Series #2 – Event #15: $340 Last Chance NLH

Sometimes, poker writes itself like the movies. It was exactly 3:33 AM when Mike Malm got the biggest stack in against Harvey Johnson’s overcards with pocket threes. It seemed like destiny was on his side, and five cards later, he was the owner his second PPT trophy.

The WSOP bracelet and ring winner picked up his first PPT trophy last Sept in the Little Bounty at Yellowhead. Tonight he earned more than twice as much as that win, and he got one of the spiffy new 2025 trophies to go with his vintage 2024 version.

The $10k score from tonight will fall well down his list of biggest cashes, but he’s always happy with a win, regardless of the payout.

It was a decent run for Harvey Johnson from 6th to the runner-up spot tonight. When I was taking pictures 6-handed, he was all-in for his life and one of the shorter stacks at the table.

But he doubled up a few times from there, and was playing the big stack by the time they got five-handed. He maintained the big stack all the way to heads-up against Mike Malm. Malm knocked out Cameron Stewart (4th) and Brian Wells (3rd) to get to heads-up pretty much even.

It didn’t take long after that when Malm won a flip with pocket threes against ace-ten for Johnson. This was Johnson’s third live cash according to Hendon Mob.

Mike Malm raised to 110k, then snapped it off when Brian Wells shoved a shorter stack. It was a race between sevens for Malm and king-queen for Wells, and the sevens held to send Wells home in 3rd.

Malm is now heads up with Harvey Johnson with the stacks pretty even to start.

Mike Malm shoved the small blind and Cameron Stewart called from the big. It was a coin flip between A♥5♣ for Malm and K♥10♣ for Stewart. There was a king in the window, but the board ran out to 4 hearts to give Malm the nut flush.

Brian Wells shoved the cutoff and Ed Zurawell called with less from the big blind. “Well, I may as well give my chips to Brian.” Zurawell had 9♣8♥ against Q♥J♠. The A♥A♠3♥A♣5♥ board meant the queen played and Zurawell was out in 5th place.

It was blind on blind between Harvey Johnson in the small and Mike Malm in the big. They limped to the 10♦9♥2♥ flop where Johnson fired 50k. Malm called to the J♦ turn and they both checked to the 6♣ river.

Johnson bet 50k and Malm snap-called with a single chip, showing nine-four for the win as Johnson mucked his hand. The two players have been having a bit of banter, with Johnson retorting, “So that’s what you play …”

Harvey Johnson is the chip leader at the moment with about 1.4 million of the 3.25 million in play. He just took a decent pot from Mike Malm, seated to his left.

Johnson raised the button to 50k, then called when Malm repopped the small blind to 230k. The monochrome flop was 7♠8♠5♠ and Malm checked, then folded when Johnson slid out a stack of whites for 200k.

They are down to 5 now after Gaetano Buda got his second cash in the series for 6th place tonight. He was runner-up earlier in the week in the Deepstack Hyper for his first cash.

The Last Chance game is on the bubble with 14 players left. The clock is paused with 17:07 remaining in Level 17 and they’ll play hand-for-hand until the next elimination.

I’m still across the casino watching the endgame of the Main Event, which is now down to three players left, Gordon Wong, Garry Sandhu, and current chip leader Varan Sidhu.

They are just four players off the money now in the Last Chance game with 17 left. I’m still over in the Pearl Room watching the four-handed Main Event.

I’m still watching the Main Event, which is four-handed now, but the side game is down to 20 players left, just seven eliminations off the 13 paid spots tonight. The prize breakdown is under the Payouts tab.

They are nearing the final three tables in the side event now, while the Main Event is still playing 5-handed. They are down to 29 left in the Last Chance, which is now just 16 players off the money. The average stack is just shy of 30 bigs.

The side game is down to the final four tables with 36 players left now. I’m still not watching this one, however, since the final five players are still battling it out for $58k in the Main Event.

The side game is now down to 42 players left, but I still don’t have eyes on it. The final game is playing out in the poker room, while I am still watching the final five Main Event runners battling it out for $58k.

The prizes are in and the field is confirmed at 130. That means 13 players will share in a bit more than $37k later tonight. There are 62 players left in the action, but it’s still going to be a while before I manage to get over there to watch this one as the Main Event final table is still running.

The numbers are still unofficial, but entries are now closed for the final event on this PPT. The Last Chance looks like it ended with 130 entries, which should mean 13 players sharing in a bit more than $37k later tonight.

I’ll confirm all the numbers later once I see the official prize pool.

The side game is well underway in the poker room now, but I haven’t had any time to watch it as Day 2 of the Main is still playing down. The side game is now in Level 6 with 87 entries for prizes of almost $25k and just over an hour left to get into this final buy-in for PPT #2.

I may make it over for the endgame of this one once the Main Event finishes.

The final chance to bag a PPT #2 trophy is on May 25 as Event #15 plays out alongside the final day of the Main Event. The final game starts at 2 PM, with entries open for 4.5 hours (start of Level 9, ~6:30 PM).

Players sit down with 25k in chips for 30-minute levels (20 minutes heads up), and they won’t end this one until a single player has all the chips. It’s unclear how much attention this game will get, as it may finish before the Main Event awards the big trophy. If it’s still running, I’ll finish my series out with this one, but I suspect it will be very deep by the time I get to it, if I get here at all.

Sometimes, poker writes itself like the movies. It was exactly 3:33 AM when Mike Malm got the biggest stack in against Harvey Johnson’s overcards with pocket threes. It seemed like destiny was on his side, and five cards later, he was the owner his second PPT trophy.

The WSOP bracelet and ring winner picked up his first PPT trophy last Sept in the Little Bounty at Yellowhead. Tonight he earned more than twice as much as that win, and he got one of the spiffy new 2025 trophies to go with his vintage 2024 version.

The $10k score from tonight will fall well down his list of biggest cashes, but he’s always happy with a win, regardless of the payout.

It was a decent run for Harvey Johnson from 6th to the runner-up spot tonight. When I was taking pictures 6-handed, he was all-in for his life and one of the shorter stacks at the table.

But he doubled up a few times from there, and was playing the big stack by the time they got five-handed. He maintained the big stack all the way to heads-up against Mike Malm. Malm knocked out Cameron Stewart (4th) and Brian Wells (3rd) to get to heads-up pretty much even.

It didn’t take long after that when Malm won a flip with pocket threes against ace-ten for Johnson. This was Johnson’s third live cash according to Hendon Mob.

Mike Malm raised to 110k, then snapped it off when Brian Wells shoved a shorter stack. It was a race between sevens for Malm and king-queen for Wells, and the sevens held to send Wells home in 3rd.

Malm is now heads up with Harvey Johnson with the stacks pretty even to start.

Mike Malm shoved the small blind and Cameron Stewart called from the big. It was a coin flip between A♥5♣ for Malm and K♥10♣ for Stewart. There was a king in the window, but the board ran out to 4 hearts to give Malm the nut flush.

Brian Wells shoved the cutoff and Ed Zurawell called with less from the big blind. “Well, I may as well give my chips to Brian.” Zurawell had 9♣8♥ against Q♥J♠. The A♥A♠3♥A♣5♥ board meant the queen played and Zurawell was out in 5th place.

It was blind on blind between Harvey Johnson in the small and Mike Malm in the big. They limped to the 10♦9♥2♥ flop where Johnson fired 50k. Malm called to the J♦ turn and they both checked to the 6♣ river.

Johnson bet 50k and Malm snap-called with a single chip, showing nine-four for the win as Johnson mucked his hand. The two players have been having a bit of banter, with Johnson retorting, “So that’s what you play …”

Harvey Johnson is the chip leader at the moment with about 1.4 million of the 3.25 million in play. He just took a decent pot from Mike Malm, seated to his left.

Johnson raised the button to 50k, then called when Malm repopped the small blind to 230k. The monochrome flop was 7♠8♠5♠ and Malm checked, then folded when Johnson slid out a stack of whites for 200k.

They are down to 5 now after Gaetano Buda got his second cash in the series for 6th place tonight. He was runner-up earlier in the week in the Deepstack Hyper for his first cash.

The Last Chance game is on the bubble with 14 players left. The clock is paused with 17:07 remaining in Level 17 and they’ll play hand-for-hand until the next elimination.

I’m still across the casino watching the endgame of the Main Event, which is now down to three players left, Gordon Wong, Garry Sandhu, and current chip leader Varan Sidhu.

They are just four players off the money now in the Last Chance game with 17 left. I’m still over in the Pearl Room watching the four-handed Main Event.

I’m still watching the Main Event, which is four-handed now, but the side game is down to 20 players left, just seven eliminations off the 13 paid spots tonight. The prize breakdown is under the Payouts tab.

They are nearing the final three tables in the side event now, while the Main Event is still playing 5-handed. They are down to 29 left in the Last Chance, which is now just 16 players off the money. The average stack is just shy of 30 bigs.

The side game is down to the final four tables with 36 players left now. I’m still not watching this one, however, since the final five players are still battling it out for $58k in the Main Event.

The side game is now down to 42 players left, but I still don’t have eyes on it. The final game is playing out in the poker room, while I am still watching the final five Main Event runners battling it out for $58k.

The prizes are in and the field is confirmed at 130. That means 13 players will share in a bit more than $37k later tonight. There are 62 players left in the action, but it’s still going to be a while before I manage to get over there to watch this one as the Main Event final table is still running.

The numbers are still unofficial, but entries are now closed for the final event on this PPT. The Last Chance looks like it ended with 130 entries, which should mean 13 players sharing in a bit more than $37k later tonight.

I’ll confirm all the numbers later once I see the official prize pool.

The side game is well underway in the poker room now, but I haven’t had any time to watch it as Day 2 of the Main is still playing down. The side game is now in Level 6 with 87 entries for prizes of almost $25k and just over an hour left to get into this final buy-in for PPT #2.

I may make it over for the endgame of this one once the Main Event finishes.

The final chance to bag a PPT #2 trophy is on May 25 as Event #15 plays out alongside the final day of the Main Event. The final game starts at 2 PM, with entries open for 4.5 hours (start of Level 9, ~6:30 PM).

Players sit down with 25k in chips for 30-minute levels (20 minutes heads up), and they won’t end this one until a single player has all the chips. It’s unclear how much attention this game will get, as it may finish before the Main Event awards the big trophy. If it’s still running, I’ll finish my series out with this one, but I suspect it will be very deep by the time I get to it, if I get here at all.