2025 Pure Poker Tour Series #3 – Event #3: $670 NLH

The bags are in and Curtis Singleton will be the Day 1a leader with 430k. Weston Pring bagged second with 332k, largely on the back of a huge cooler against Day 1a bubble boy St Pierre-Porter.

Michael St Pierre-Porter just took a shot at ending the night, calling off a shove from Weston Pring with the covering stack. Unfortunately for St Pierre-Porter, and fortunately for Pring, St Pierre-Porter’s two pair with tens and nines was no good against Pring’s kings and tens. Pring looks to be nearing 300k now, while St Pierre-Porter is under 100k.

The next hand, St Pierre-Porter jammed over an open from Curtis Singleton for his remaining fumes. Singleton called it off for a rough coinflip between king-ten and ace-nine for St Pierre-Porter. Singleton spiked a ten and the bags were out. Stay tuned for a look at the remaining players and chisp shortly.

Event #3 has turned into the Never-Ending Bubble. Level 17 has just begun, with bubble play first kicking off about halfway through Level 15. That means they’ve been playing 11-handed for about an hour already, still looking to bust that final player for the bags.

Day 1a is down to 11 players left, on the break following Level 15. They are hand for hand now until the next elimination, after which the night will be over. Lynne Stephenson was the big stack with more than 300k, but she had a brutal run that saw Michael St Pierre-Porter straighten her out twice for doubles before Curtis Singleton sent her home after hitting a straight flush.

They are down to 13 left now, with Andy Truong as the most recent player to hit the rail. They still need to bust out three more players before they end today’s flight with 10 players left.

Curtis Singleton opened the middle to 8k before Weston Pring reraised the cutoff to 26k. It folded around to Singleton and, after a bit of tank time, he shoved a covering stack. It was Pring’s turn to tank for a bit before folding ace-jack of spades face up.

Meanwhile, on the same table, Lynne Stephenson looks like the first player to hit 300k, playing about 312k right now for the biggest stack remaining.

They are down to 14 players left now, with about 10 minutes remaining in Level 13. Nich Peterson was the most recent exit joining DJ Sharma, Cody Goulet, and Johnny Dalphond on the rail before the bags.

Just before the break, Travis Darroch lost a huge pot after doubling up Xuan Phan’s stack of 114k. He opened the small blind, Phan shoved the big, and Darroch tank-called it off with more. He was on pocket tens, but had to get there against pocket jacks for Phan, and the jacks held to send Phan to the chip lead and drop Darroch to 61.5k.

They are down to 18 players left in Day 1a. See below for a look who is still alive and how they are seated. I don’t have a good handle on the chips right now, but there’s a break coming in less than 30 minutes, and I’ll get full remaining counts then.

Michael St Pierre-Porter opened it up to 4,500 early and Lynne Stephenson called the cutoff, as did Johnny Dalphond in the big blind.

It checked to Stephenson on the J♣2♠9♥ flop, and she fired 10k. Dalphond mucked but St Pierre-Porter stuck around to the 3♥ turn, but that was as far as he got. He checked and faced a bet of 26.5k, choosing to muck his cards instead of continuing to the river.

The numbers for 1a are confirmed with 76 entries and $43,320 in prizes. That means that there will officially be 10 bags at the end of the night, and, with 21 left, they are just 11 eliminations away from the bags tonight.

Garry Sandhu opened to 4k from the middle before hijack Curtis Singleton made it 11.5k to go. DJ Sharma slid in the flat call from the small blind, and Snadhu also put in the rest to see a three-way flop of 9♦4♠2♠.

They all checked it to the 2♥ turn where Sharma led out for 8.5k. Both players called and the river was 5♣. Sharma and Sandhu checked it, but Singleton was having none of that and shoved a covering stack. Sharma took some time to much his cards, while Sandhu made the same move much faster.

DJ Sharma opened the action early with a bet of 3k. Andy Truong called from the cutoff, as did Weston Pring from the small blind.

It checked to Truong on the 6♥6♣K♥ flop and he fired 4,500. Pring made the call while Sharma got out of the way. The turn was 5♦ and Pring check-called for 9k. They both checked the 5♠ river, then both revelaed jack-ten for a chopped pot.

So far, there have been no new entries during the dinner break, leaving the field at 76 with just moments to go until cards are in the air for Level 10 and entries are closed. That means there will be 10 bags later tonight, and there are now 26 players returning from dinner, leaving them 16 players off the bags.

Curtis Singleton is still leading at dinner. See below for a full look at all the remaining players, seats, and chips.

The dinner break is moments away, and there are 76 entries on the board to start the break. They’ll be back in action for Level 10 in about 45 minutes, and entries will be closed once they sit down.

With 76 entries, it looks like 10 bags at the end of the night, but a couple more entries over dinner could push that to 11. They’ll need 5 more entries over the dinner break to get to 11 bags, so at this point, it’s an open question.

Level 9 has just begun, and this will be the final level of poker to enter today’s flight. Entries will remain open through the dinner break that follows this level, with the desk scheduled to shut down at about 8:15 PM when they sit down for Level 10.

With the current numbers it looks like there will be nine bags later tonight, but that could jump to 10 with more entries.

Level 8 is just beginning with 66 entries on the board. That puts the end of entries about 2 hours away now, and it looks like we’ll end with somewhere between 70 & 80 entries for Day 1a. The dinner break comes after Level 9, and entries are closed when they sit down for Level 10.

Lynne Stephenson looks to be the only player on a six-figure stack now as she’s sitting right around the 100k mark. Below is a look at a few of the other bigger stacks in the room.

Usually, when DJ Sharma is all in against another player, he generally needs to get there. In a recent hand, he actually thought he was getting there against Toller Conrad when he turned a boat, but Conrad pulled the reverse Sharma-time on him, getting there on the river for a bigger boat and sending Sharma to the rebuy desk.

Level 6 is nearly complete, and players will be out of the room for a break shortly. I’ll have a look around for some big stacks on the break and report back for the start of Level 7.

Akif Ghani opened the action under the gun, betting 1,400. Razvan Radu called two seats to his left, as did big blind Tony Comely.

After a check from Comely on the 4♦6♦7♣ flop, Ghani bet 2,200. That sent Radu’s cards to the much, but Cmely stuck around for a 7♠ turn. Both players checked it, and the board completed with 5♠.

Comely check-called 3,600 on the river, but mucked when Ghani rolled over 9♠8♠ for the rivered flush.

The field is now 2 entries away from $35k in prizes, and Johnny Dalphond just took a decent pot. Karin Schulenburg opened the action early to 1,600, and Dalphond called from the middle. Dj Sharma also called the big blind.

Sharma checked to Schulenburg on the all king flop of K♥K♠K♦. “How big is your pair, Johnny?” she asked, firing 3k.

“Bigger than that,” Dlaphond replied with a smile as he popped it up to 7k. Sharma mucked his hand, but Schulenburg called to the Q♠ turn. She checked, then mucked when Dalphond fired 10k. Dalphond showed pocket fours, and Schulenburg said she folded a big ace.

The field is now up to 59 entries with 15 minutes to play in Level 5. That puts the prizes at more than $33k and climbing with just under 4 hours left to enter the game tonight. Among the new entries in the room is local McDonald’s magnate DJ Sharma. So far, we haven’t heard any “Sharma Time” shouts, but he did warn the table when he sat down that it may happen shortly. Johnny Dalphond is also at that table, and Kyle Dery was also among the recent buy-ins.

The field is now up to 53 entries for prizes of $30,210. There are about 30 minutes to play in Level 5 with another 15-minute break scheduled after Level 6, and the dinner break and end of entries set for the end of Level 9 (entries remain open through the dinner break, which should start at about 7:30 PM tonight).

Ryan Cairns made it 1,000 to go from the cutoff, and both Ruslan Baldzhy and Michael St Pierre-Porter called from the blinds. The 8♦2♠5♠ flop was checked around, before St Pierre-Porter bet 1,700 after a check from Baldzhy on the 7♣ turn.

Both players called to the A♠ river, and it checked around. Cairns showed [Ah6h[/pcn] for the rivered pair and took down the hand when his opponents mucked.

The field is now up to 50 entries for today’s flight, putting $28,500 into the prize pool so far.

Level 4 is now underway with about 30 minutes left to play and the field is up to 44 for just over $25k in prizes. Among the new entries that I spotted during the break were Colten Yamagishi, Vince Lam, and Eric Wasylenko.

The players are still on the break following Level 3, with about 5 minutes left until they are back at the felt for Level 4. I had a look around the room on break and it looks like Curtis Singleton, who has retired his rubber ducky card protector in favour of a small black phallus, is the leader with about 60k in front of him.

Other big stacks in the room on the first break include Xuan Phan (37k), Andy Truong (40k), and Ed Zurawell (43k).

There are just over 10 minutes to play until the first break of the day, and Xuan Phan just stacked up a bit. The action opened early with Daniel O’Leary raising to 700 before Phan reraised the cutoff to 2,000. Garry Sandhu called from the small blind before O’Leary backed away.

Both players checked the 2♦Q♥3♠ flop, and Sandhu check-called for 2k on the 8♥ turn. After another check from Sandhu on the 4♥ river, Phan fired 4k into the pot. Sandhu called pretty quickly, but mucked his cards when he saw the two red aces in front of Phan.

The prizes are now over $20k with 36 entries on the board for Day 1a. There are about 30 minutes to play in the level before the first break of the day, but there are still six more levels of poker, plus the dinner break, to enter the game. Entries will shut down after the dinner break following Level 9, which should be at about 8:15 PM this evening.

Michael St Pierre-Porter opened the action to 600 under the gun, and Francis Fan called the cutoff before it folded to Ruslan Bladzhy in the big blind. He quickly tossed out a stack of 3,700 for a big reraise, and the other two players mucked their hands.

Fan is a newcomer to that table since my last update on names, and elsewhere in the room, Lynne Stephenson has also just found a seat for today’s flight.

There are about 20 minutes to play in Level 2 and the field is now up to 30 entries with 29 still at the felt. Among the recent entries were Ryan Cairns and Ed Zurawell. They’ll take the first break of the day at the end of level 3 in just under an hour, but there are still more than 6 hours left to enter today’s flight.

Toller Conrad opened to 600 under the gun, and Nicholas Peterson called from the button, as did Curtis Singleton and Belinda Roberts from the blinds.

The flop went clubbing with K♣6♣7♣ and action checked to Peterson, who fired 700, enough to get three folds and a small pot.

Level 1 has about 5 minutes to play with the field now up to 23 entries for prizes of $13,110. Players at the tables now are Nick Peterson, Curtis Singleton, Belinda Roberts, Toller Conrad, Fred Werezak, Karin Schulenburg, Dallas Larson, Akif Ghani, Michael Wyporowich, Tad Black, Brett Doty, Dabiel Luczyk, Hongwei Liu, Ruslan Baldzhiev, Holly Lingel, Ivan Magulak, Jeff Foretser, Rob Limpert, Xuan Phan, Razvan, Radu, and Gilles Plouffe.

Level 1 is now underway in the opening multi-game of PPT #3. The game kicked off with 14 players in their seats for prizes just shy of $8k. Among the players in the game so far are Curtis Singleton, Rob Limpert, Michael St Pierre-Porter, and Fred Werezak.

The bags are in and Curtis Singleton will be the Day 1a leader with 430k. Weston Pring bagged second with 332k, largely on the back of a huge cooler against Day 1a bubble boy St Pierre-Porter.

Michael St Pierre-Porter just took a shot at ending the night, calling off a shove from Weston Pring with the covering stack. Unfortunately for St Pierre-Porter, and fortunately for Pring, St Pierre-Porter’s two pair with tens and nines was no good against Pring’s kings and tens. Pring looks to be nearing 300k now, while St Pierre-Porter is under 100k.

The next hand, St Pierre-Porter jammed over an open from Curtis Singleton for his remaining fumes. Singleton called it off for a rough coinflip between king-ten and ace-nine for St Pierre-Porter. Singleton spiked a ten and the bags were out. Stay tuned for a look at the remaining players and chisp shortly.

Event #3 has turned into the Never-Ending Bubble. Level 17 has just begun, with bubble play first kicking off about halfway through Level 15. That means they’ve been playing 11-handed for about an hour already, still looking to bust that final player for the bags.

Day 1a is down to 11 players left, on the break following Level 15. They are hand for hand now until the next elimination, after which the night will be over. Lynne Stephenson was the big stack with more than 300k, but she had a brutal run that saw Michael St Pierre-Porter straighten her out twice for doubles before Curtis Singleton sent her home after hitting a straight flush.

They are down to 13 left now, with Andy Truong as the most recent player to hit the rail. They still need to bust out three more players before they end today’s flight with 10 players left.

Curtis Singleton opened the middle to 8k before Weston Pring reraised the cutoff to 26k. It folded around to Singleton and, after a bit of tank time, he shoved a covering stack. It was Pring’s turn to tank for a bit before folding ace-jack of spades face up.

Meanwhile, on the same table, Lynne Stephenson looks like the first player to hit 300k, playing about 312k right now for the biggest stack remaining.

They are down to 14 players left now, with about 10 minutes remaining in Level 13. Nich Peterson was the most recent exit joining DJ Sharma, Cody Goulet, and Johnny Dalphond on the rail before the bags.

Just before the break, Travis Darroch lost a huge pot after doubling up Xuan Phan’s stack of 114k. He opened the small blind, Phan shoved the big, and Darroch tank-called it off with more. He was on pocket tens, but had to get there against pocket jacks for Phan, and the jacks held to send Phan to the chip lead and drop Darroch to 61.5k.

They are down to 18 players left in Day 1a. See below for a look who is still alive and how they are seated. I don’t have a good handle on the chips right now, but there’s a break coming in less than 30 minutes, and I’ll get full remaining counts then.

Michael St Pierre-Porter opened it up to 4,500 early and Lynne Stephenson called the cutoff, as did Johnny Dalphond in the big blind.

It checked to Stephenson on the J♣2♠9♥ flop, and she fired 10k. Dalphond mucked but St Pierre-Porter stuck around to the 3♥ turn, but that was as far as he got. He checked and faced a bet of 26.5k, choosing to muck his cards instead of continuing to the river.

The numbers for 1a are confirmed with 76 entries and $43,320 in prizes. That means that there will officially be 10 bags at the end of the night, and, with 21 left, they are just 11 eliminations away from the bags tonight.

Garry Sandhu opened to 4k from the middle before hijack Curtis Singleton made it 11.5k to go. DJ Sharma slid in the flat call from the small blind, and Snadhu also put in the rest to see a three-way flop of 9♦4♠2♠.

They all checked it to the 2♥ turn where Sharma led out for 8.5k. Both players called and the river was 5♣. Sharma and Sandhu checked it, but Singleton was having none of that and shoved a covering stack. Sharma took some time to much his cards, while Sandhu made the same move much faster.

DJ Sharma opened the action early with a bet of 3k. Andy Truong called from the cutoff, as did Weston Pring from the small blind.

It checked to Truong on the 6♥6♣K♥ flop and he fired 4,500. Pring made the call while Sharma got out of the way. The turn was 5♦ and Pring check-called for 9k. They both checked the 5♠ river, then both revelaed jack-ten for a chopped pot.

So far, there have been no new entries during the dinner break, leaving the field at 76 with just moments to go until cards are in the air for Level 10 and entries are closed. That means there will be 10 bags later tonight, and there are now 26 players returning from dinner, leaving them 16 players off the bags.

Curtis Singleton is still leading at dinner. See below for a full look at all the remaining players, seats, and chips.

The dinner break is moments away, and there are 76 entries on the board to start the break. They’ll be back in action for Level 10 in about 45 minutes, and entries will be closed once they sit down.

With 76 entries, it looks like 10 bags at the end of the night, but a couple more entries over dinner could push that to 11. They’ll need 5 more entries over the dinner break to get to 11 bags, so at this point, it’s an open question.

Level 9 has just begun, and this will be the final level of poker to enter today’s flight. Entries will remain open through the dinner break that follows this level, with the desk scheduled to shut down at about 8:15 PM when they sit down for Level 10.

With the current numbers it looks like there will be nine bags later tonight, but that could jump to 10 with more entries.

Level 8 is just beginning with 66 entries on the board. That puts the end of entries about 2 hours away now, and it looks like we’ll end with somewhere between 70 & 80 entries for Day 1a. The dinner break comes after Level 9, and entries are closed when they sit down for Level 10.

Lynne Stephenson looks to be the only player on a six-figure stack now as she’s sitting right around the 100k mark. Below is a look at a few of the other bigger stacks in the room.

Usually, when DJ Sharma is all in against another player, he generally needs to get there. In a recent hand, he actually thought he was getting there against Toller Conrad when he turned a boat, but Conrad pulled the reverse Sharma-time on him, getting there on the river for a bigger boat and sending Sharma to the rebuy desk.

Level 6 is nearly complete, and players will be out of the room for a break shortly. I’ll have a look around for some big stacks on the break and report back for the start of Level 7.

Akif Ghani opened the action under the gun, betting 1,400. Razvan Radu called two seats to his left, as did big blind Tony Comely.

After a check from Comely on the 4♦6♦7♣ flop, Ghani bet 2,200. That sent Radu’s cards to the much, but Cmely stuck around for a 7♠ turn. Both players checked it, and the board completed with 5♠.

Comely check-called 3,600 on the river, but mucked when Ghani rolled over 9♠8♠ for the rivered flush.

The field is now 2 entries away from $35k in prizes, and Johnny Dalphond just took a decent pot. Karin Schulenburg opened the action early to 1,600, and Dalphond called from the middle. Dj Sharma also called the big blind.

Sharma checked to Schulenburg on the all king flop of K♥K♠K♦. “How big is your pair, Johnny?” she asked, firing 3k.

“Bigger than that,” Dlaphond replied with a smile as he popped it up to 7k. Sharma mucked his hand, but Schulenburg called to the Q♠ turn. She checked, then mucked when Dalphond fired 10k. Dalphond showed pocket fours, and Schulenburg said she folded a big ace.

The field is now up to 59 entries with 15 minutes to play in Level 5. That puts the prizes at more than $33k and climbing with just under 4 hours left to enter the game tonight. Among the new entries in the room is local McDonald’s magnate DJ Sharma. So far, we haven’t heard any “Sharma Time” shouts, but he did warn the table when he sat down that it may happen shortly. Johnny Dalphond is also at that table, and Kyle Dery was also among the recent buy-ins.

The field is now up to 53 entries for prizes of $30,210. There are about 30 minutes to play in Level 5 with another 15-minute break scheduled after Level 6, and the dinner break and end of entries set for the end of Level 9 (entries remain open through the dinner break, which should start at about 7:30 PM tonight).

Ryan Cairns made it 1,000 to go from the cutoff, and both Ruslan Baldzhy and Michael St Pierre-Porter called from the blinds. The 8♦2♠5♠ flop was checked around, before St Pierre-Porter bet 1,700 after a check from Baldzhy on the 7♣ turn.

Both players called to the A♠ river, and it checked around. Cairns showed [Ah6h[/pcn] for the rivered pair and took down the hand when his opponents mucked.

The field is now up to 50 entries for today’s flight, putting $28,500 into the prize pool so far.

Level 4 is now underway with about 30 minutes left to play and the field is up to 44 for just over $25k in prizes. Among the new entries that I spotted during the break were Colten Yamagishi, Vince Lam, and Eric Wasylenko.

The players are still on the break following Level 3, with about 5 minutes left until they are back at the felt for Level 4. I had a look around the room on break and it looks like Curtis Singleton, who has retired his rubber ducky card protector in favour of a small black phallus, is the leader with about 60k in front of him.

Other big stacks in the room on the first break include Xuan Phan (37k), Andy Truong (40k), and Ed Zurawell (43k).

There are just over 10 minutes to play until the first break of the day, and Xuan Phan just stacked up a bit. The action opened early with Daniel O’Leary raising to 700 before Phan reraised the cutoff to 2,000. Garry Sandhu called from the small blind before O’Leary backed away.

Both players checked the 2♦Q♥3♠ flop, and Sandhu check-called for 2k on the 8♥ turn. After another check from Sandhu on the 4♥ river, Phan fired 4k into the pot. Sandhu called pretty quickly, but mucked his cards when he saw the two red aces in front of Phan.

The prizes are now over $20k with 36 entries on the board for Day 1a. There are about 30 minutes to play in the level before the first break of the day, but there are still six more levels of poker, plus the dinner break, to enter the game. Entries will shut down after the dinner break following Level 9, which should be at about 8:15 PM this evening.

Michael St Pierre-Porter opened the action to 600 under the gun, and Francis Fan called the cutoff before it folded to Ruslan Bladzhy in the big blind. He quickly tossed out a stack of 3,700 for a big reraise, and the other two players mucked their hands.

Fan is a newcomer to that table since my last update on names, and elsewhere in the room, Lynne Stephenson has also just found a seat for today’s flight.

There are about 20 minutes to play in Level 2 and the field is now up to 30 entries with 29 still at the felt. Among the recent entries were Ryan Cairns and Ed Zurawell. They’ll take the first break of the day at the end of level 3 in just under an hour, but there are still more than 6 hours left to enter today’s flight.

Toller Conrad opened to 600 under the gun, and Nicholas Peterson called from the button, as did Curtis Singleton and Belinda Roberts from the blinds.

The flop went clubbing with K♣6♣7♣ and action checked to Peterson, who fired 700, enough to get three folds and a small pot.

Level 1 has about 5 minutes to play with the field now up to 23 entries for prizes of $13,110. Players at the tables now are Nick Peterson, Curtis Singleton, Belinda Roberts, Toller Conrad, Fred Werezak, Karin Schulenburg, Dallas Larson, Akif Ghani, Michael Wyporowich, Tad Black, Brett Doty, Dabiel Luczyk, Hongwei Liu, Ruslan Baldzhiev, Holly Lingel, Ivan Magulak, Jeff Foretser, Rob Limpert, Xuan Phan, Razvan, Radu, and Gilles Plouffe.

Level 1 is now underway in the opening multi-game of PPT #3. The game kicked off with 14 players in their seats for prizes just shy of $8k. Among the players in the game so far are Curtis Singleton, Rob Limpert, Michael St Pierre-Porter, and Fred Werezak.

2025 Pure Poker Tour Series #3 – Event #3: $670 NLH Day 1A ($600 + $70)

The first multi-day event of the series is set to kick off on Friday at 1 PM. Day 1 of Event #3 starts with 25k in chips with 40-minute blind levels throughout the game.

Players will be able to enter late or rebuy for 9 levels of play, which should put the end of buy-ins on Day 1 at about 8:15 PM. After that, they’ll play down to 12.5% of the starting field before the bags come out. 12.5% will move forward from each starting flight, and all players who make Day 2 are guaranteed money.

This is a best stack forward event, meaning players can bag both flights and play their biggest stack on Day 2 while taking a min-cash for the small stack, but players must bag at least one stack to get a payout. No payouts will be awarded on either Day 1, so if multiple players bust on the Day 1 bubble such that fewer than 12.5% go through, those busted players won’t receive payouts, and the Day 2 field will be a bit lighter than normal.

My time at the felt is complete for this series after a bubble-cash for nearly my buy-in back in the Seniors on opening day, so I’ll be back behind the keyboard for coverage on this game.