2025 Pure Poker Tour Series #4 – Event #10: $560 NLH

Tony Ma had a rail tonight for heads-up, as his partner came down to watch him once he got two-ways with Cam Stewart. And she got quite a show, as Ma largely dictated the play through the endgame tonight.

Always ready with a smile and a joke, Ma’s friendly table image may mask his aggressive play style and sharp knowledge of the game, but rest assured, behind the jokes, he’s a man who understands the game he is playing.

He held the lead through most of heads up, getting there after a huge hand against Zeyu Huang, where his kings held up to leave the leader on fumes and send himself to a big lead. Stewart dealt the final blow to Huang to get them heads up, but he was at the disadvantage most of the way.

He did manage to chip up to the lead at one point, but Ma quickly got it back. Stewart was no easy target, however, showing a pretty solid understanding of the dynamics of heads-up poker himself. The pair battled for nearly two hours, almost as long as it had taken to get from 9 down to 2.

Stewart found ways to stay alive when he needed to, but Ma had him on his heels for most of the run, chipping him down after he doubled. There were only about 50 big blinds in play by the time the final hand ran, and both players were connected and suited.

Ma had the best of it with nine-eight of diamonds against nine-seven of clubs for Stewart. Ma had most of the chips, and Stewart shoved the short stack. Ma called it down and hit his eight, though he was ahead the whole way.

This was Ma’s 5th live win, and it will add about $8k USD to his live earnings, which should push him over the $400k mark, depending on the exchange rate.

It was quite the heads-up battle between Tony Ma and Cam Stewart tonight. Ma held the lead through much of the final table, but Stewart refused to go down lightly, finding several doubles when he needed them. By the time it came to an end, there were only about 50 big blinds in play between the two of them, and Ma had the majority.

The money went in preflop when Stewart found nine-seven of clubs, and Ma called him with nine-eight of diamonds. Ma hit his eight and held, but he was ahead the whole way. This was Stewart’s second final table this week after both he and Ma were at the 6-Max final table yesterday.

Cameron Stewart is finding ways to get there when he needs to. In this case, he was down to 245k and shoved after Tony Ma raised to 150k. Ma called, but had a dominated ace with ace-eight against ace-jack for Stewart. Stewart hit his jack to double to more than 500k now, while Ma has about 1.4 million.

Cam Stewart raised to 60k and Tony Ma called to the [invalid notations], while Ma flopped trip sevens with the ace of spades. The board bricked for Stewart, and he was left with about 200k.

He managed to double that back up shortly after with ace-ten of diamonds into king-jack off and held, but Ma still has the lead.

Cameron Stewart raised to 60k and Tony Ma called to see 8♣Q♠Q♣ on the flop. Ma check-called for 45k to the J♦ turn, where they both checked.

The river 8♠ brought another check from Ma before Stewart slid 110k into the middle. Ma called quickly, but mucked when Stewart showed king-eight for the rivered trips.

Cameron Stewart picked up another double just before the break when the money went in on the flop with Tony Ma on a pair of sixes, but Stewart drawing open-ended. He turned a flush draw, then rivered a bigger pair to double to 675k, while Ma still has the lead with 1.23 million.

Cameron Stewart shoved the button, and Tony Ma snapped it off. It was Q♥9♥ for Ma against A♠6♠. The board was 8♥2♦8♠3♣A♥, leaving Stewart’s ace in the lead.

Most of the damage happened in a huge hand against Tony Ma when Ma raised the button 30k, Zeyu Huang raised the small blind to 130k, Ma 4-bet to 250k, then called the shove from Huang with less.

Ma was on kings against ace-three for Huang, and Ma flopped a set of kings to take it down. The pot left Huang on fumes and gave Ma the lead. Huang then lost the rest of his stack to Cameron Stewart when his jack-ten off couldn’t get there against king-queen. Huang flopped a flush draw, but couldn’t compete while Stewart turned his king.

Joe Herlein got his short stack in with an ace, and Tony Ma, who has been a wrecking ball in the endgame, called off with ten-nine. Ma spiked his nine on the turn to hold and send Herlein to the rail.

Ma then doubled against Zeyu “Skytrain” Huang to take a big chip lead with well over a million now.

Ali Razzaq got his chps in with king-queen, but ran into the ace-king for Tony Ma. Ma held to send Razzaq home in 5th place tonight.

Joe Herlien opened under the gun to 25k and Zeyu Huang called to see 7♥9♥5♦. He led for 33k on the flop, and Herlein called to the 5♠ turn. They both checked it to the J♠ river where Huang fired 80k. Herlein called, but mucked when Huang showed K♦J♥ for the rivered pair.

Deven Lane was short after the hand that sent Brian Wells to the rail, and he got the remainder of his stack in with ace-four, but couldn’t hold against a queen.

Skyler York was on fumes after the recent hand against Zeyu Huang, and while he managed to ladder up a spot, he went out on his big blind in 6th place for $1,335.

Brian Wells had about 6 bigs, and he shoved his button with seven-eight of clubs. Deven Lane reshoved the small blind with a covering stack, but big blind Cameron Stewart also got involved. Stewart had kings against fours for Lane, and the kings held for a triple for Stewart, while Wells hit the rail, scoring $1,045 for 8th place.

Zeyu Huang opened the middle to 16k, then called when Skyler York three-bet the button to 42k. Both players checked the 3♦5♠6♣ flop, and Huang fired 42k on the Q♠ turn.

York called to the K♣ river, then called a bet of 120k, only to muck his hand when Huang showed pocket sixes for the flopped set.

They are in the money now after Van Le bubbled today. He was left short after doubling up Cameron Stewart a few hands ago, and got it in in one of the first hands of the final table. Tony Ma and Zeyu Huang were playing a small side pot, which Ma took with two pair, along with the main pot as he sent Le home.

Van Le shoved the cutoff, and Cameron Stewart called from the button with less. Stewart had pocket sevens against ace-seven for Le, and the 8♥2♠3♣K♦10♥ board missed both hands to leave the sevens in front.

They are just hitting the final table now, and I’ll grab chip counts at the break in about 15 minutes. Zeyu Huang looks to be the leader with almost 500k, while Matthew Ouellette was the bubble to the final table.

They are now just two players off the money in Event #10, with 10 players remaining. Colten Yamagishi and Eric Wasylenko were the most recent exits from the game. There’s a break coming in about 20 minutes, and I’ll get full counts for the remaining players then.

Skyler York raised to 10k from the cutoff, and Joe Herlein called his big blind. He check-called for 6k on the Q♣A♥K♠ flop, and again for 19k on the 8♣ turn.

The 2♠ river brought another check from Herlein, who called when York bt enough to put him all in. York showed a strong ace with A♠J♦, but Herlein found the river two pair with his A♣2♥

Brian Wells opened to 11k under the gun, and it folded around to Eric Wasylenko in the big blind. He flatted to the 9♠Q♥K♦ flop, then check-shoved for 48k over the 15k bet from Wells.

Wells called it off with K♠10♠ for top pair, but Wasy was on the rockets. 6♣Q♦ on the runout left Wasylenko’s aces in front for the double up to a bit more than 100k. At the same table, Zeyu Huang is now playing around 300k.

They are down to 13 left in Event #10, with 20 minutes to play in Level 17. Shawn Taghavi just hit the rail to bring them to 13 in a hand where Daniel Lefebvre raised the hijack to 8k before Colten Yamagishi shoved the small blind for 77.5k. Shawn Taghavi called off with less, while Lefebvre gave up his initial raise to the pot.

Taghavi was pipped with ace-jack into ace-queen, and the board missed both hands to keep Yamagishi’s queen in the lead.

The prizes are in and the field for the $560 NLH is confirmed at 76. That means 8 players will share in $36,100 in prizes later tonight, with the winner set to pocket more than $12k.

Prizes for Event #10

Entries are now closed on the main game, with the final tally on the board at 76. I’m still waiting for confirmation when the prizes are poted, but if the numbers hold, there should be 8 players sharing in $36,100 in prizes later tonight.

Big Stacks from Dinner

There are about 5 minutes remaining in Level 8, with the dinner break scheduled following this level. Entries will be closed when they return from dinner for Level 9, which should be about 50 minutes away.

There are 74 entries right now for prizes of more than $35k, but I expect to see a few more added to the tally before the end of entries.

Level 7 has just begun, and there is about 1 hour and 45 minutes remaining to get into today’s main game. The current field to start Level 7 is 64 entries for prizes of more than $30k.

Among the players I’ve spotted in the action today are Rob Lothian, Shawn Taghavi, Dale “Soupy” Campbell, Alan Zhu, Ed Zurawell, Bernice McLennan, Eric Wasylenko, Brian Wells, Tony Comely, Julius Roque, Alex Liu, Mike Aloneissi, Michelle Valencia, Ali Razzaq, Ryan Comely, and Skyler York.

Theplayers are about 20 minutes away from the first break of the day with about 20 minutes to play in Level 4. The field is at 37 entries for $17,575 in prizes so far, with about 3 and a quarter hours left to get into the game.

2025 PPT #4 Event #10: NLH ($500 + $60)

The main game on Wednesday is the $560 NLH. The action kicks off at 1 PM, and players can enter or rebuy until about 5 PM at the start of Level 9.

The start stack is 25k for 30-minute blinds throughout the night, and they’ll award the trophy before the end of the night. I expect to be late to the floor for this one, but I should be on task well before the dinner break and the end of entries.

In July, over at Pure Casino Edmonton, Josh Myers took this game down for his first PPT Trophy. The game drew just over 100 entries for prizes of $47,875.

Tony Ma had a rail tonight for heads-up, as his partner came down to watch him once he got two-ways with Cam Stewart. And she got quite a show, as Ma largely dictated the play through the endgame tonight.

Always ready with a smile and a joke, Ma’s friendly table image may mask his aggressive play style and sharp knowledge of the game, but rest assured, behind the jokes, he’s a man who understands the game he is playing.

He held the lead through most of heads up, getting there after a huge hand against Zeyu Huang, where his kings held up to leave the leader on fumes and send himself to a big lead. Stewart dealt the final blow to Huang to get them heads up, but he was at the disadvantage most of the way.

He did manage to chip up to the lead at one point, but Ma quickly got it back. Stewart was no easy target, however, showing a pretty solid understanding of the dynamics of heads-up poker himself. The pair battled for nearly two hours, almost as long as it had taken to get from 9 down to 2.

Stewart found ways to stay alive when he needed to, but Ma had him on his heels for most of the run, chipping him down after he doubled. There were only about 50 big blinds in play by the time the final hand ran, and both players were connected and suited.

Ma had the best of it with nine-eight of diamonds against nine-seven of clubs for Stewart. Ma had most of the chips, and Stewart shoved the short stack. Ma called it down and hit his eight, though he was ahead the whole way.

This was Ma’s 5th live win, and it will add about $8k USD to his live earnings, which should push him over the $400k mark, depending on the exchange rate.

It was quite the heads-up battle between Tony Ma and Cam Stewart tonight. Ma held the lead through much of the final table, but Stewart refused to go down lightly, finding several doubles when he needed them. By the time it came to an end, there were only about 50 big blinds in play between the two of them, and Ma had the majority.

The money went in preflop when Stewart found nine-seven of clubs, and Ma called him with nine-eight of diamonds. Ma hit his eight and held, but he was ahead the whole way. This was Stewart’s second final table this week after both he and Ma were at the 6-Max final table yesterday.

Cameron Stewart is finding ways to get there when he needs to. In this case, he was down to 245k and shoved after Tony Ma raised to 150k. Ma called, but had a dominated ace with ace-eight against ace-jack for Stewart. Stewart hit his jack to double to more than 500k now, while Ma has about 1.4 million.

Cam Stewart raised to 60k and Tony Ma called to the [invalid notations], while Ma flopped trip sevens with the ace of spades. The board bricked for Stewart, and he was left with about 200k.

He managed to double that back up shortly after with ace-ten of diamonds into king-jack off and held, but Ma still has the lead.

Cameron Stewart raised to 60k and Tony Ma called to see 8♣Q♠Q♣ on the flop. Ma check-called for 45k to the J♦ turn, where they both checked.

The river 8♠ brought another check from Ma before Stewart slid 110k into the middle. Ma called quickly, but mucked when Stewart showed king-eight for the rivered trips.

Cameron Stewart picked up another double just before the break when the money went in on the flop with Tony Ma on a pair of sixes, but Stewart drawing open-ended. He turned a flush draw, then rivered a bigger pair to double to 675k, while Ma still has the lead with 1.23 million.

Cameron Stewart shoved the button, and Tony Ma snapped it off. It was Q♥9♥ for Ma against A♠6♠. The board was 8♥2♦8♠3♣A♥, leaving Stewart’s ace in the lead.

Most of the damage happened in a huge hand against Tony Ma when Ma raised the button 30k, Zeyu Huang raised the small blind to 130k, Ma 4-bet to 250k, then called the shove from Huang with less.

Ma was on kings against ace-three for Huang, and Ma flopped a set of kings to take it down. The pot left Huang on fumes and gave Ma the lead. Huang then lost the rest of his stack to Cameron Stewart when his jack-ten off couldn’t get there against king-queen. Huang flopped a flush draw, but couldn’t compete while Stewart turned his king.

Joe Herlein got his short stack in with an ace, and Tony Ma, who has been a wrecking ball in the endgame, called off with ten-nine. Ma spiked his nine on the turn to hold and send Herlein to the rail.

Ma then doubled against Zeyu “Skytrain” Huang to take a big chip lead with well over a million now.

Ali Razzaq got his chps in with king-queen, but ran into the ace-king for Tony Ma. Ma held to send Razzaq home in 5th place tonight.

Joe Herlien opened under the gun to 25k and Zeyu Huang called to see 7♥9♥5♦. He led for 33k on the flop, and Herlein called to the 5♠ turn. They both checked it to the J♠ river where Huang fired 80k. Herlein called, but mucked when Huang showed K♦J♥ for the rivered pair.

Deven Lane was short after the hand that sent Brian Wells to the rail, and he got the remainder of his stack in with ace-four, but couldn’t hold against a queen.

Skyler York was on fumes after the recent hand against Zeyu Huang, and while he managed to ladder up a spot, he went out on his big blind in 6th place for $1,335.

Brian Wells had about 6 bigs, and he shoved his button with seven-eight of clubs. Deven Lane reshoved the small blind with a covering stack, but big blind Cameron Stewart also got involved. Stewart had kings against fours for Lane, and the kings held for a triple for Stewart, while Wells hit the rail, scoring $1,045 for 8th place.

Zeyu Huang opened the middle to 16k, then called when Skyler York three-bet the button to 42k. Both players checked the 3♦5♠6♣ flop, and Huang fired 42k on the Q♠ turn.

York called to the K♣ river, then called a bet of 120k, only to muck his hand when Huang showed pocket sixes for the flopped set.

They are in the money now after Van Le bubbled today. He was left short after doubling up Cameron Stewart a few hands ago, and got it in in one of the first hands of the final table. Tony Ma and Zeyu Huang were playing a small side pot, which Ma took with two pair, along with the main pot as he sent Le home.

Van Le shoved the cutoff, and Cameron Stewart called from the button with less. Stewart had pocket sevens against ace-seven for Le, and the 8♥2♠3♣K♦10♥ board missed both hands to leave the sevens in front.

They are just hitting the final table now, and I’ll grab chip counts at the break in about 15 minutes. Zeyu Huang looks to be the leader with almost 500k, while Matthew Ouellette was the bubble to the final table.

They are now just two players off the money in Event #10, with 10 players remaining. Colten Yamagishi and Eric Wasylenko were the most recent exits from the game. There’s a break coming in about 20 minutes, and I’ll get full counts for the remaining players then.

Skyler York raised to 10k from the cutoff, and Joe Herlein called his big blind. He check-called for 6k on the Q♣A♥K♠ flop, and again for 19k on the 8♣ turn.

The 2♠ river brought another check from Herlein, who called when York bt enough to put him all in. York showed a strong ace with A♠J♦, but Herlein found the river two pair with his A♣2♥

Brian Wells opened to 11k under the gun, and it folded around to Eric Wasylenko in the big blind. He flatted to the 9♠Q♥K♦ flop, then check-shoved for 48k over the 15k bet from Wells.

Wells called it off with K♠10♠ for top pair, but Wasy was on the rockets. 6♣Q♦ on the runout left Wasylenko’s aces in front for the double up to a bit more than 100k. At the same table, Zeyu Huang is now playing around 300k.

They are down to 13 left in Event #10, with 20 minutes to play in Level 17. Shawn Taghavi just hit the rail to bring them to 13 in a hand where Daniel Lefebvre raised the hijack to 8k before Colten Yamagishi shoved the small blind for 77.5k. Shawn Taghavi called off with less, while Lefebvre gave up his initial raise to the pot.

Taghavi was pipped with ace-jack into ace-queen, and the board missed both hands to keep Yamagishi’s queen in the lead.

The prizes are in and the field for the $560 NLH is confirmed at 76. That means 8 players will share in $36,100 in prizes later tonight, with the winner set to pocket more than $12k.

Prizes for Event #10

Entries are now closed on the main game, with the final tally on the board at 76. I’m still waiting for confirmation when the prizes are poted, but if the numbers hold, there should be 8 players sharing in $36,100 in prizes later tonight.

Big Stacks from Dinner

There are about 5 minutes remaining in Level 8, with the dinner break scheduled following this level. Entries will be closed when they return from dinner for Level 9, which should be about 50 minutes away.

There are 74 entries right now for prizes of more than $35k, but I expect to see a few more added to the tally before the end of entries.

Level 7 has just begun, and there is about 1 hour and 45 minutes remaining to get into today’s main game. The current field to start Level 7 is 64 entries for prizes of more than $30k.

Among the players I’ve spotted in the action today are Rob Lothian, Shawn Taghavi, Dale “Soupy” Campbell, Alan Zhu, Ed Zurawell, Bernice McLennan, Eric Wasylenko, Brian Wells, Tony Comely, Julius Roque, Alex Liu, Mike Aloneissi, Michelle Valencia, Ali Razzaq, Ryan Comely, and Skyler York.

Theplayers are about 20 minutes away from the first break of the day with about 20 minutes to play in Level 4. The field is at 37 entries for $17,575 in prizes so far, with about 3 and a quarter hours left to get into the game.

2025 PPT #4 Event #10: NLH ($500 + $60)

The main game on Wednesday is the $560 NLH. The action kicks off at 1 PM, and players can enter or rebuy until about 5 PM at the start of Level 9.

The start stack is 25k for 30-minute blinds throughout the night, and they’ll award the trophy before the end of the night. I expect to be late to the floor for this one, but I should be on task well before the dinner break and the end of entries.

In July, over at Pure Casino Edmonton, Josh Myers took this game down for his first PPT Trophy. The game drew just over 100 entries for prizes of $47,875.