2025 Pure Poker Tour Series #2 – Event #6: $560 NLH Big Bounty

Michael St Pierre-Porter is no stranger to deep runs in poker tournaments — This marks his second win and he has 3 2nd places and a couple of 3rds in his short poker career. His first recorded cash was less than a year ago at the Aug 2024 WSOP-C in Calgary and he had 19 cashes in that time prior to tonight.

All that said, he remarked after the win tonight that this was his first outright win. His other win came after a chop, and several of his second places were also chopped prize pools, so he was happy to take one down outright.

It was a bit of a rollercoaster for him tonight as well. He wasn’t the big stack at any point in the final table until the latter stages of heads up, and had to battle from about a 2:1 deficit when heads up began. He was able to chip up to the lead, however, with strong aggression that forced runner-up Ed Sikorski to fold on later streets and send dead money to St Pierre-Porter’s stack.

In the final hand, he slow-played top-top, trapping Sikorski into a bluff shove on the river before he snapped it off. This looks to be his seventh biggest lifetime score.

Ed Sikorski started heads up as the chip leader, but MIchael St Pierre-Porter chipped away at him with relentless aggression. There weren’t many hands that went to showdown, as St Pierre-Porter was forcing Sikorski to fold partway down the streets on most hands.

In the final hand, St Pierre-Porter rased to 130k after a call from Sikorski. They both checked the Q♠K♦2♣ flop, and, after a check from St Pierre-Porter on the 7♥ turn, Sikorski fired 125k.

St Pierre-Porter called to the 10♣ where he checked again, then snap-called when Sikorski shoved for about 630k. Sikorski mucked his hand when St Pierre-Porter showed A♣Q♣ for top-top with St Pierre-Porter slow-playing the whole way and putting Sikorski in the bear trap.

It was a race between pocket sevens for Kim Pham and the ace-eight overs for Ed Sikorski. Sikorski flopped an ace and held to send Pham to the rail in 3rd place.

Sikorski now has the lead heads up over Michael St Pierre-Porter.

Michale St Pierre-Porter raised to 60k under the gun, and Ed Sikorski called from the small blind before Shane Chief shoved the big blind blind for 85k. St Pierre-Porter raised to 120k, and Sikorski called to set up a side pot. Sikorski check-folded the 9♦J♥8♥ flop after a bet of 100k and St Pierre-Porter showed queen-jack for top pair.

Chief looked at his cards for the first time to see a king-seven, and he couldn’t find the outs he needed.

Jimmy Lee was chip-leading for much of the early part of the final table tonight, but he just lost a race to Michael St Pierre-Porter to end his run in 5th place. He raised, the called off the shove from St Pierre-Porter with tens, needing to hold against the ace-queen overs.

There was an ace on the flop and a queen on th turn, while Lee couldn’t find any help.

Just before the break, Michael St Pierre-Porter sent a double to Kim Pham on his left after Pham got there with a dominated ace by hitting a four-card flush. He just got a few of those chips back in a blind on blind hand that was limped to a flop of 5♦7♥K♥. St Pierre-Porter led for 30k, then shoved 295k when Pham raised to 70k. Pham mucked to send some chips back to his right.

Paul Meyer was short with just 3 bigs and he got it in with king-nine. He was called by Michael St Pierre-Porter with jack-four, and St Pierre-Porter spiked a four on the river to take it down.

It was a three-way all in that saw Shane Chief collect a triple up with pocket queens against ace-queen for Tony Ma and ace-king for Michael St Pierre-Porter. The queens took the main pot for Chief, while the big slick for St Pierre-Porter took the side and sent Ma to the rail in 7th place.

Michael St Pierre-Porter raised to 35k from the cutoff and Kim Pham called from the small blind. Pham led for 35k on the A♥3♣K♣ flop and St Pierre-Porter called.

Pham fired 60k on the 7♠ turn, but St Pierre-Porter wasn’t having it, and shoved. Pham hit the tank and eventually folded, showing an ace.

Chris MacPherson was the short stack at break, and once Shane Chief doubled, he was clearly the shortest. He got his final 28k in after only seeing a king, and got three callers. Once the 9♠2♦K♠ flop was out and Lee fired 32k, he was heads up against MacPherson.

MacPherson was best for the moment with king-eight but Lee’s jack-nine had some outs. It turned out that the running straight with Q♦10♠ got it done for Lee, and he chipped up even more, sending MacPherson out in 8th place.

Shane Chief is one of the shorter stacks on the table, but that’s not an uncomfortable position for him. In fact, he recently won a big tournament in Calgary after coming to Day 2 with the shortest stack in the room.

Tony Ma shoved his button with queen-ten, and Chief put in his final 21k blind, calling for live cards as he revealed seven-six. Ma flopped a pair, but the flop was all spades and Chief had the 7♠. The 4th spade came on the turn, and Chief improved from fumes to a bit above empty with about 60k now.

Just before the break, George Gializis got his short stack in against the table captain Jimmy Lee. Lee was on ace-jack against queens, but Lee spiked an ace on the flop and another one on the turn for the win. Lee is the big leader — See below for the all the final 8 stacks.

They are setting the final table now after Chris Lahey hit the rail on the final table bubble. He took $685 for 10th place tonight — stay tuned for pictures coming shortly.

The Big Bounty is now in the money after a double knockout during hand-for-hand meant the min-cash spot was chopped. Shawn Silva and Curtis Glyngsdal busted in the same hand on different tables, and scored $310 each for chopping 11th place.

Ten players now remain with everyone in the money. The final ten players are Paul Meyer, Michael St Pierre-Porter, Jimmy Lee, Chris MacPherson, George Gializis, Tony Ma, Kim Pham, Shane Chief, Chris Lahey, and Edward Sikorski.

The side game is down to the final four tables now with 36 players left alive. I’m still focusing most of my attention on the final table of Event #3, but I’ll move to this one once the E3 trophy is awarded.

Entries are now closed for the Big Bounty game with the final field at 102 entries. That puts the total prizes at $48,450, with $20,400 of that in bounties and the rest in the prize pool.

That also means 11 players will be sharing in those prizes later tonight, with the winner set to pocket $7,960.The full prizes are under the payouts tab.

The side game field is now up to 83 entries, with 60 players still at the felt. There are still about 1 hour and 45 minutes left before entries close, so a final field of 100+ is still in the cards.

Level 2 is just getting started and the field for the Big Bounty is already over 50 entries. Witht the current pace, a final field of more than 100 seems like a lock, but time will tell if the pace holds up. Preston Stevenson, Ryan Comely, David Pham, Parth Patel, and Paul “Squirell Attack” Meyer are among the players I spotted on my last trip through the bounty tables.

The Big Bounty side game today has started off with a decent start. There are 34 players in their seats to start the game, which bodes well for a final field of 100+.

Among the players I’ve spotted in the game are Bruce Drake, Jeffrey Clarke, Bill Thomson, Allison Bullock, Tony Comely, Rob Lothian, and Rob Limpert. I won’t be watching this one very closely until later tonight after Event #3 awards their trophy.

The main game on Sunday is the final day of Event #3, which starts at 1 PM. An hour later, the side game gets underway with Big Bounties on offer. There is $200 on every player’s head during this game with the prize portion of the buy in at $300.

The action gets going at 2 PM on Sunday and they’ll play it down to a winner. Before then, players will have 8 levels to enter or rebuy in the game putting the final chance to enter at about 6:45 PM.

This game likely won’t get any coverage until the end as I’ll be watching the final day of Event #3 as my main priority on Sunday. However, as always, I’ll move to this one once the main game is complete.

Michael St Pierre-Porter is no stranger to deep runs in poker tournaments — This marks his second win and he has 3 2nd places and a couple of 3rds in his short poker career. His first recorded cash was less than a year ago at the Aug 2024 WSOP-C in Calgary and he had 19 cashes in that time prior to tonight.

All that said, he remarked after the win tonight that this was his first outright win. His other win came after a chop, and several of his second places were also chopped prize pools, so he was happy to take one down outright.

It was a bit of a rollercoaster for him tonight as well. He wasn’t the big stack at any point in the final table until the latter stages of heads up, and had to battle from about a 2:1 deficit when heads up began. He was able to chip up to the lead, however, with strong aggression that forced runner-up Ed Sikorski to fold on later streets and send dead money to St Pierre-Porter’s stack.

In the final hand, he slow-played top-top, trapping Sikorski into a bluff shove on the river before he snapped it off. This looks to be his seventh biggest lifetime score.

Ed Sikorski started heads up as the chip leader, but MIchael St Pierre-Porter chipped away at him with relentless aggression. There weren’t many hands that went to showdown, as St Pierre-Porter was forcing Sikorski to fold partway down the streets on most hands.

In the final hand, St Pierre-Porter rased to 130k after a call from Sikorski. They both checked the Q♠K♦2♣ flop, and, after a check from St Pierre-Porter on the 7♥ turn, Sikorski fired 125k.

St Pierre-Porter called to the 10♣ where he checked again, then snap-called when Sikorski shoved for about 630k. Sikorski mucked his hand when St Pierre-Porter showed A♣Q♣ for top-top with St Pierre-Porter slow-playing the whole way and putting Sikorski in the bear trap.

It was a race between pocket sevens for Kim Pham and the ace-eight overs for Ed Sikorski. Sikorski flopped an ace and held to send Pham to the rail in 3rd place.

Sikorski now has the lead heads up over Michael St Pierre-Porter.

Michale St Pierre-Porter raised to 60k under the gun, and Ed Sikorski called from the small blind before Shane Chief shoved the big blind blind for 85k. St Pierre-Porter raised to 120k, and Sikorski called to set up a side pot. Sikorski check-folded the 9♦J♥8♥ flop after a bet of 100k and St Pierre-Porter showed queen-jack for top pair.

Chief looked at his cards for the first time to see a king-seven, and he couldn’t find the outs he needed.

Jimmy Lee was chip-leading for much of the early part of the final table tonight, but he just lost a race to Michael St Pierre-Porter to end his run in 5th place. He raised, the called off the shove from St Pierre-Porter with tens, needing to hold against the ace-queen overs.

There was an ace on the flop and a queen on th turn, while Lee couldn’t find any help.

Just before the break, Michael St Pierre-Porter sent a double to Kim Pham on his left after Pham got there with a dominated ace by hitting a four-card flush. He just got a few of those chips back in a blind on blind hand that was limped to a flop of 5♦7♥K♥. St Pierre-Porter led for 30k, then shoved 295k when Pham raised to 70k. Pham mucked to send some chips back to his right.

Paul Meyer was short with just 3 bigs and he got it in with king-nine. He was called by Michael St Pierre-Porter with jack-four, and St Pierre-Porter spiked a four on the river to take it down.

It was a three-way all in that saw Shane Chief collect a triple up with pocket queens against ace-queen for Tony Ma and ace-king for Michael St Pierre-Porter. The queens took the main pot for Chief, while the big slick for St Pierre-Porter took the side and sent Ma to the rail in 7th place.

Michael St Pierre-Porter raised to 35k from the cutoff and Kim Pham called from the small blind. Pham led for 35k on the A♥3♣K♣ flop and St Pierre-Porter called.

Pham fired 60k on the 7♠ turn, but St Pierre-Porter wasn’t having it, and shoved. Pham hit the tank and eventually folded, showing an ace.

Chris MacPherson was the short stack at break, and once Shane Chief doubled, he was clearly the shortest. He got his final 28k in after only seeing a king, and got three callers. Once the 9♠2♦K♠ flop was out and Lee fired 32k, he was heads up against MacPherson.

MacPherson was best for the moment with king-eight but Lee’s jack-nine had some outs. It turned out that the running straight with Q♦10♠ got it done for Lee, and he chipped up even more, sending MacPherson out in 8th place.

Shane Chief is one of the shorter stacks on the table, but that’s not an uncomfortable position for him. In fact, he recently won a big tournament in Calgary after coming to Day 2 with the shortest stack in the room.

Tony Ma shoved his button with queen-ten, and Chief put in his final 21k blind, calling for live cards as he revealed seven-six. Ma flopped a pair, but the flop was all spades and Chief had the 7♠. The 4th spade came on the turn, and Chief improved from fumes to a bit above empty with about 60k now.

Just before the break, George Gializis got his short stack in against the table captain Jimmy Lee. Lee was on ace-jack against queens, but Lee spiked an ace on the flop and another one on the turn for the win. Lee is the big leader — See below for the all the final 8 stacks.

They are setting the final table now after Chris Lahey hit the rail on the final table bubble. He took $685 for 10th place tonight — stay tuned for pictures coming shortly.

The Big Bounty is now in the money after a double knockout during hand-for-hand meant the min-cash spot was chopped. Shawn Silva and Curtis Glyngsdal busted in the same hand on different tables, and scored $310 each for chopping 11th place.

Ten players now remain with everyone in the money. The final ten players are Paul Meyer, Michael St Pierre-Porter, Jimmy Lee, Chris MacPherson, George Gializis, Tony Ma, Kim Pham, Shane Chief, Chris Lahey, and Edward Sikorski.

The side game is down to the final four tables now with 36 players left alive. I’m still focusing most of my attention on the final table of Event #3, but I’ll move to this one once the E3 trophy is awarded.

Entries are now closed for the Big Bounty game with the final field at 102 entries. That puts the total prizes at $48,450, with $20,400 of that in bounties and the rest in the prize pool.

That also means 11 players will be sharing in those prizes later tonight, with the winner set to pocket $7,960.The full prizes are under the payouts tab.

The side game field is now up to 83 entries, with 60 players still at the felt. There are still about 1 hour and 45 minutes left before entries close, so a final field of 100+ is still in the cards.

Level 2 is just getting started and the field for the Big Bounty is already over 50 entries. Witht the current pace, a final field of more than 100 seems like a lock, but time will tell if the pace holds up. Preston Stevenson, Ryan Comely, David Pham, Parth Patel, and Paul “Squirell Attack” Meyer are among the players I spotted on my last trip through the bounty tables.

The Big Bounty side game today has started off with a decent start. There are 34 players in their seats to start the game, which bodes well for a final field of 100+.

Among the players I’ve spotted in the game are Bruce Drake, Jeffrey Clarke, Bill Thomson, Allison Bullock, Tony Comely, Rob Lothian, and Rob Limpert. I won’t be watching this one very closely until later tonight after Event #3 awards their trophy.

The main game on Sunday is the final day of Event #3, which starts at 1 PM. An hour later, the side game gets underway with Big Bounties on offer. There is $200 on every player’s head during this game with the prize portion of the buy in at $300.

The action gets going at 2 PM on Sunday and they’ll play it down to a winner. Before then, players will have 8 levels to enter or rebuy in the game putting the final chance to enter at about 6:45 PM.

This game likely won’t get any coverage until the end as I’ll be watching the final day of Event #3 as my main priority on Sunday. However, as always, I’ll move to this one once the main game is complete.