2025 Pure Poker Tour Series #4 – Event #14: $1,100 NLH Main Event

The final two players agreed to another deal that saw Cam Stewart up his take to $37k, with Pav Braich taking the trophy (his first Main Event trophy) and $38,626.

The money went in with Aaron Quon on the short stack with pocket deuces, and Pav Braich called from the big stack with queen-three. Braich flopped two queens and rivered a three to crush the deuces. Quon guaranteed himself $35k in the deal.

Pav Braich is the big leader right now with almost 5 million in front of him. Cam Stewart has about 2.8 million for second, while Aaron Quon has about 1.15 million.

I missed the action while I was getting final table pictures of the Last Chance event, but the Main Event is now down to 3 left after Jan Rofuli hit the rail for 4th place tonight. He was guaranteed $35k from the previous deal.

The final four players have been chatting deal for about 30 minutes now, and, while it’s gotten a bit contentious at times, they just agreed to a deal. As the short stack, Cam Stewart guaranteed himself $30k, while the other three are all guaranteed $35k. That leaves $10,646 in the pot, with $10k of that on the table to play for and the winner agreeing to give the other $646 to the cage for dealer tips.

Kris Steinbach started the day with the chip lead, and he was able to run that up to 5th place for $15,570. He just shoved 1 million on his button over an under-the-gun raise from Pav Braich. Braich snapped it off with aces against tens for Steinbach, and he couldn’t find any help.

Braich is now up to nearly 3 million.

Cam Stewart raised early to 120k, and Kris Steinbach called from the big blind. Steiner check-called for 110k on the J♠2♣8♥ flop, and they both checked the J♦ turn.

Steiner checked again on the 10♠ river, then tank-called when Stewart bet 280k. “Ace-high,” said Stewart, but Steiner showed 9♥8♦ for the flopped pair of eights.

Pav Braich raised the cutoff to 100k, and Aaron Quon called from the big blind. They both checked the J♣A♠6♥ flop, and Quon led for 75k on the 9♦ turn.

Braich called to the 7♠ where they both checked again. Quon showed nine-eight offsuit for the turned pair, and Braich mucked his hand.

Nathan Tang was the shortest stack on the table, and he just hit the rail in 6th place for the first five-figure score today. I missed the action while I was writing up the previous hand.

Aaron Quon raised the small blind to 100k, and Cam Stewart called from the big. Quon bet 120k on the 10♥A♣4♠ flop. Stewart called to the 8♠ turn where they bth checked.

Quon went back to betting on the 9♥ river, firing 220k. Stewart called, but mucked when Quon said “Two Pair” and showed nine-four.

Level 24 has just finished, and Jan Rufoli is still leading, though his lead isn’t quite as big as it was a while ago. He is still the only player with more than 2 million chips, though.

It was limped in the blinds between Colten Yamagishi and Pav Braich. Both players checked the 3♠Q♣4♦ flop, and Yamagishi led for 40k on the 3♥ turn.

Braich flatted to the 7♦ where he bet 300 after Yamagishi checked. That was enough to put Yamagishi all in, and while he tanked for a couple of minutes, he put in the call for his, mucking his hand when Braich showed 9♠3♦ for trips and the win.

It was a “must and a must”, as Alex Liu, who is on the rail right now, put it. In the final hand of Level 23, Jan Rufoli raised his button before Kris Steinbach shoved from the small blind.

Talal Shoush called with less from the big before Rufoli mucked his hand. It was a classic flip between the queens for Shoush and the ace-king for Steinbach, but the board of 7♣A♦A♥K♣J♥ was all Steiner, sending Shoush out in 8th place.

Jan Rufoli raised to 60k under the gun, and Kris Steinbach made it 200k to go from his left. It folded back to Rufoli, who slid out a stack of brown chips that easily covered Steiner’s remaining chips. He hit the tank for a few seconds, but ultimately folded his hand rather than put himself at risk.

Jan Rufoli has a big lead with more than 3 million right now. He most recently chipped up through Aaron Quon when Rufoli raised to 60k early, and Quon called from the cutoff. Rufoli fired 65k on the 9♣8♦K♥ flop. Quon called and they both checked the Q♦ turn.

Rufoli led for 115k on the 7♠ turn, and Quon called, but mucked when Rufoli showed Q♣J♦ for the turned pair.

The players are on a break following Level 22, and Level 23 will be starting in just over 5 minutes. Jan Rufoli is the leader now, but he’s only a couple of hundred thousand ahead of Aaron Quon, with Cam Stewart and Nathan Tang each playing just over a million.

The board was out showing 3♦9♥10♥A♠J♣, and Aaron Quon checked from the big blind. Kris Steinbach tanked for a minute or so before he put out a bet of 105k, leaving himself ~460k behind.

Quon check-shoved a covering stack, and Steiner shot up from his chair, swearing. “I knew you were going to do that,” he said. “Why didn’t I just f***ing check?” He told the table he was going to need “about 10 minutes for this one” and Nathan Tang and Jan Rufoli used the time to take a bathroom break, after Steiner assured them they had time.

Steiner was in the tank for around 5 minutes and had his chips stacked as if on the verge of calling, but ultimately, he let his hand go. He then grabbed a double in the next hand, but I missed the action.

I got to the table to see the aftermath of a hand with Pav Braich all in with ace-jack against ace-queen for Cam Stewart, who covered him by a large margin. Braich flopped a jack and held to get a double to stay alive.

It was a bit of a cooler that Resul Dauti to the rail. The money went in on the turn of a ten-high board, with Dauti on ten-six against ten-seven. The ten-seven flopped a seven, then turned two pair, and Dauti was left drawing dead.

Talal Shoush opened the button to 60k, and Aaron Quon called from the big blind. The flop was 4♠7♦K♠ and Quon led out for 40k. Shoush hit the tank for a bit before reraising to 140k, and after a few seconds, Quon mucked his hand.

Cam Stewart has the chip lead at the moment with around 1.5 million in front of him. This is Stewart’s 3rd final table of the series, including a second place in Event #10. I’ll grab a full round of chip counts at the next break in around 45 minutes.

They are down to the final table now after Ed Zurawell ran into a blind-on-blind cooler, kings into aces. That leaves nine players left in the game; stay tuned for the final table faces coming shortly.

Colten Yamagishi raised the cutoff to 40k, and both Kris Steinbach and Pav Braich called from the blinds. The flop was 7♣2♣A♦ and it checked around to the J♦ turn.

Steiner led from the small blind for 70k, and only Braich called. Steiner fired 110k on the 8♣ river, and after some tank-time, Braich let go of his hand.

“I was calling any bet there if the club didn’t come,” Braich said while he mucked. Steinbach flashed black cards that looked to contain at least one club, but I didn’t see the full hand.

Talal Shoush shoved the middle, and Ambrose Ng called off from the big blind, with Shoush covering Ng by about 10k. Ng was in good shape preflop with black jacks into K♦J♦, but when the board of Q♦2♦9♥A♦6♠ was complete, Shoush was sparkling with diamonds and a near double-up, while Ng was off to the cage for the final payout at $4,135.

Pav Braich just grabbed a double and left Jared Kempf on fumes. It was mostly a race, though Kempf had the suit covered with [invalid notations] against K♣Q♣.

The suits didn’t matter, however, as Braich turned Broadway after flopping open-ended. That hand left Kempf with just a few red chips behind, and he was out of the game on the next hand. This was Kempf’s first poker tournament, however, so he’s had a pretty good run to open his Hendon Mob page.

The field is down to 12 left in the Main Event now, and the $3,595 payout level is complete. The next elimination jumps to $4,135.

Place	Player	Prize
13	Dennis Cleaver	$3,595
14	Matthew Ouellette	$3,595
15	Teo Sanchez	$3,595

Aaron Quon is the leader now, one of four players with more than a million chips. Below is a look at all the remaining stacks, as well as the current seat assignments.

There was all in action on both tables, as Jared Kempf & Nathan Tang got into a huge pot on Table 4, while Jan Rufoli was getting a short stack double through Cam Stewart on Table 1.

Rufoli raised preflop to 181k, leaving just 1k behind. He waited until the action on Table 4 completed before putting his final 1k in on the [invalid notations] runout.

Meanwhile, on Table 4, Tang and Kempf were playing the pot of the day so far. Tang ended up with more than 1.5 million and the chip lead after his jacks held over ace-nine for Kempf, while Kempf, who had been flying high with the lead for much of the day, is down to fumes with about 100k in front of him after the hand.

Nathan Tang raised to 30k from the button, then faced a raise to 100k from the small blind Colten Yamagishi. Big blind Aaron Quon got out of the way quickly, but it took Tang a little longer to make the same decision.

While I was watching that action, Teo Sanchez ended his day in 15th place. There are two more payouts at $3,595 before it jumps to $4,135 at 12th place.

Hassan Issa just hit the rail in 16th place for the last payout at $3,125. He shoved ace-three of hearts, but was called by Nathan Tang with ace-king. Tang ended up with trip kings on a board of 5♥9♦J♥K♦K♠ and Issa was out. The average stack right now is about 42 big blinds, so they are still pretty deep.

See below for the full $3,125 payout level, and full prizes are listed under the Payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
16	Hassan Issa	$3,125
17	Leo (Dechang) Zhang	$3,125
18	Aman Dhaliwal	$3,125

It was blind on blind between Teo Sanchez and Resul Dauti. Sanchez opened the small with a limo, and Dauti checked his option in the big. They both checked the 3♣9♠8♣ flop, and Sanchez led for 15k on the 10♥ turn.

When the river came 6♣, Sanchez shoved for 222k, and after about 2 minutes in the tank, Dauti mucked his hand to send the pot to Sanchez. Meanwhile, on the other table, Aman Dhaliwal hit the rail in 18th place in a hand whose action I missed.

Play has slowed considerably since they got to the final two tables. Aaron Quon just picked up a decent pot through the chip leader, Jared Kempf.

Kempf raised to 25k under the gun, then called when Quon repopped it from the middle to 82k. Kempf fired 100k on the 3♦2♣4♦ flop. Quon called, and the same action of bet 100 from Kempf, call from Quon, happened on both the turn and river 2♥J♠.

Kempf misread his hand, saying he had a pair of fours, but when he flipped his cards over, he had ace-three of hearts for a pair of threes. Either way, he was behind the pocket kings for Quon and gave up some of his big stack.

The Day 2 field for the Main Event is down to 18 players left on the final two tables. Jared Kempf still looks to be in the lead, and it looks like he’s chipped up to more than 1.5 million. Kyle Bonazzo got his second cash of the game in 20th place (his second stack min-cashed before the day began), while Josh Wallace was the bubble to the final 18.

All remaining players are now guaranteed at least $3,125.

Place	Player	Prize
19	Josh Wallace	$2,600
20	Kyle Bonazzo	$2,600

The field is down to 20 remaining now with about 45 minutes to play in Level 19. Full prizes are under the Payouts tab, with the most recent bustouts below.

Place	Player	Prize
21	Fran Fisher	$2,600
22	Hugh Armstrong	$2,600
23	Paul Brar	$2,600
24	Ning Ma	$2,600

Level 19 is about to begin, with about 2 minutes left in the first break of Day 2. Jared Kempf is the leader right now with 1.255 million, while Kris Steinbach is the only other player with more than a million.

The field is down to 24 players remaining now, with about 45 minutes to play in Level 18. So far, the action is moving pretty quickly on Day 2, and I haven’t had a lot of chance to watch much as I’ve just been trying to keep up with the busts.

Place	Player	Prize
25	Murray Hicks	$2,600
26	Christopher Symesko	$2,600
27	Shawn Taghavi	$2,600

They’ve gone through an entire table of players within the first level of play today. The field is now down to 27 with Level 18 just underway, and this is the first 60-minute level of the day.

Place	Player	Prize
28	Zerui Xu	$2,080
29	Alan Zhu	$2,080

The numbers are dropping fast in Day 2 of the Main early. Level 18 is just underway, and field is down to 29 remaining.

Place	Player	Prize
30	Valerie Ross	$2,080
31	Aaron Syrenne	$2,080
32	Julius Roque	$2,080

The action has been brisk early on Day 2, with the field already down to 32 left.

Place	Player	Prize
33	Eric Purdy	$2,080
34	Nicholas Milkovich	$2,080
35	Deven Lane	$2,080
36	Sephen Dauphinais	$2,080
37	Kyle Bonazzo	$1,810

Event #14: $1,100 NLH Main Event Day 2

Day 2 of the Main Event is set with 36 players returning. In theory, there should be 37 players returning, and there are 37 bags, but two of the bags belong to Kyle Bonazzo, and he can only play one of them on Day 2.

He bagged a mid-stack of 271k on 1b, after bagging one of the shortest 1a stacks, but he’s looking way up at the leader, Kris Steinbach, with more than 800k. Steinbach bagged those on 1a, and the best 1b leader, Cam Stewart, could do was 755k for second. Pav Braich (1a), Jared Kemof (1b), and Aaron Quon (1b) round out the top five counts.

Day 2 action kicks off at noon on Sunday, and they’ll play to a winner. The game will start with just under 30 minutes to play in Level 17, and once Level 18 kicks off, the levels will be 60 minutes long.

Top Ten Stacks

Day 2 Players by Name

Day 2 Players by Seat

The final two players agreed to another deal that saw Cam Stewart up his take to $37k, with Pav Braich taking the trophy (his first Main Event trophy) and $38,626.

The money went in with Aaron Quon on the short stack with pocket deuces, and Pav Braich called from the big stack with queen-three. Braich flopped two queens and rivered a three to crush the deuces. Quon guaranteed himself $35k in the deal.

Pav Braich is the big leader right now with almost 5 million in front of him. Cam Stewart has about 2.8 million for second, while Aaron Quon has about 1.15 million.

I missed the action while I was getting final table pictures of the Last Chance event, but the Main Event is now down to 3 left after Jan Rofuli hit the rail for 4th place tonight. He was guaranteed $35k from the previous deal.

The final four players have been chatting deal for about 30 minutes now, and, while it’s gotten a bit contentious at times, they just agreed to a deal. As the short stack, Cam Stewart guaranteed himself $30k, while the other three are all guaranteed $35k. That leaves $10,646 in the pot, with $10k of that on the table to play for and the winner agreeing to give the other $646 to the cage for dealer tips.

Kris Steinbach started the day with the chip lead, and he was able to run that up to 5th place for $15,570. He just shoved 1 million on his button over an under-the-gun raise from Pav Braich. Braich snapped it off with aces against tens for Steinbach, and he couldn’t find any help.

Braich is now up to nearly 3 million.

Cam Stewart raised early to 120k, and Kris Steinbach called from the big blind. Steiner check-called for 110k on the J♠2♣8♥ flop, and they both checked the J♦ turn.

Steiner checked again on the 10♠ river, then tank-called when Stewart bet 280k. “Ace-high,” said Stewart, but Steiner showed 9♥8♦ for the flopped pair of eights.

Pav Braich raised the cutoff to 100k, and Aaron Quon called from the big blind. They both checked the J♣A♠6♥ flop, and Quon led for 75k on the 9♦ turn.

Braich called to the 7♠ where they both checked again. Quon showed nine-eight offsuit for the turned pair, and Braich mucked his hand.

Nathan Tang was the shortest stack on the table, and he just hit the rail in 6th place for the first five-figure score today. I missed the action while I was writing up the previous hand.

Aaron Quon raised the small blind to 100k, and Cam Stewart called from the big. Quon bet 120k on the 10♥A♣4♠ flop. Stewart called to the 8♠ turn where they bth checked.

Quon went back to betting on the 9♥ river, firing 220k. Stewart called, but mucked when Quon said “Two Pair” and showed nine-four.

Level 24 has just finished, and Jan Rufoli is still leading, though his lead isn’t quite as big as it was a while ago. He is still the only player with more than 2 million chips, though.

It was limped in the blinds between Colten Yamagishi and Pav Braich. Both players checked the 3♠Q♣4♦ flop, and Yamagishi led for 40k on the 3♥ turn.

Braich flatted to the 7♦ where he bet 300 after Yamagishi checked. That was enough to put Yamagishi all in, and while he tanked for a couple of minutes, he put in the call for his, mucking his hand when Braich showed 9♠3♦ for trips and the win.

It was a “must and a must”, as Alex Liu, who is on the rail right now, put it. In the final hand of Level 23, Jan Rufoli raised his button before Kris Steinbach shoved from the small blind.

Talal Shoush called with less from the big before Rufoli mucked his hand. It was a classic flip between the queens for Shoush and the ace-king for Steinbach, but the board of 7♣A♦A♥K♣J♥ was all Steiner, sending Shoush out in 8th place.

Jan Rufoli raised to 60k under the gun, and Kris Steinbach made it 200k to go from his left. It folded back to Rufoli, who slid out a stack of brown chips that easily covered Steiner’s remaining chips. He hit the tank for a few seconds, but ultimately folded his hand rather than put himself at risk.

Jan Rufoli has a big lead with more than 3 million right now. He most recently chipped up through Aaron Quon when Rufoli raised to 60k early, and Quon called from the cutoff. Rufoli fired 65k on the 9♣8♦K♥ flop. Quon called and they both checked the Q♦ turn.

Rufoli led for 115k on the 7♠ turn, and Quon called, but mucked when Rufoli showed Q♣J♦ for the turned pair.

The players are on a break following Level 22, and Level 23 will be starting in just over 5 minutes. Jan Rufoli is the leader now, but he’s only a couple of hundred thousand ahead of Aaron Quon, with Cam Stewart and Nathan Tang each playing just over a million.

The board was out showing 3♦9♥10♥A♠J♣, and Aaron Quon checked from the big blind. Kris Steinbach tanked for a minute or so before he put out a bet of 105k, leaving himself ~460k behind.

Quon check-shoved a covering stack, and Steiner shot up from his chair, swearing. “I knew you were going to do that,” he said. “Why didn’t I just f***ing check?” He told the table he was going to need “about 10 minutes for this one” and Nathan Tang and Jan Rufoli used the time to take a bathroom break, after Steiner assured them they had time.

Steiner was in the tank for around 5 minutes and had his chips stacked as if on the verge of calling, but ultimately, he let his hand go. He then grabbed a double in the next hand, but I missed the action.

I got to the table to see the aftermath of a hand with Pav Braich all in with ace-jack against ace-queen for Cam Stewart, who covered him by a large margin. Braich flopped a jack and held to get a double to stay alive.

It was a bit of a cooler that Resul Dauti to the rail. The money went in on the turn of a ten-high board, with Dauti on ten-six against ten-seven. The ten-seven flopped a seven, then turned two pair, and Dauti was left drawing dead.

Talal Shoush opened the button to 60k, and Aaron Quon called from the big blind. The flop was 4♠7♦K♠ and Quon led out for 40k. Shoush hit the tank for a bit before reraising to 140k, and after a few seconds, Quon mucked his hand.

Cam Stewart has the chip lead at the moment with around 1.5 million in front of him. This is Stewart’s 3rd final table of the series, including a second place in Event #10. I’ll grab a full round of chip counts at the next break in around 45 minutes.

They are down to the final table now after Ed Zurawell ran into a blind-on-blind cooler, kings into aces. That leaves nine players left in the game; stay tuned for the final table faces coming shortly.

Colten Yamagishi raised the cutoff to 40k, and both Kris Steinbach and Pav Braich called from the blinds. The flop was 7♣2♣A♦ and it checked around to the J♦ turn.

Steiner led from the small blind for 70k, and only Braich called. Steiner fired 110k on the 8♣ river, and after some tank-time, Braich let go of his hand.

“I was calling any bet there if the club didn’t come,” Braich said while he mucked. Steinbach flashed black cards that looked to contain at least one club, but I didn’t see the full hand.

Talal Shoush shoved the middle, and Ambrose Ng called off from the big blind, with Shoush covering Ng by about 10k. Ng was in good shape preflop with black jacks into K♦J♦, but when the board of Q♦2♦9♥A♦6♠ was complete, Shoush was sparkling with diamonds and a near double-up, while Ng was off to the cage for the final payout at $4,135.

Pav Braich just grabbed a double and left Jared Kempf on fumes. It was mostly a race, though Kempf had the suit covered with [invalid notations] against K♣Q♣.

The suits didn’t matter, however, as Braich turned Broadway after flopping open-ended. That hand left Kempf with just a few red chips behind, and he was out of the game on the next hand. This was Kempf’s first poker tournament, however, so he’s had a pretty good run to open his Hendon Mob page.

The field is down to 12 left in the Main Event now, and the $3,595 payout level is complete. The next elimination jumps to $4,135.

Place	Player	Prize
13	Dennis Cleaver	$3,595
14	Matthew Ouellette	$3,595
15	Teo Sanchez	$3,595

Aaron Quon is the leader now, one of four players with more than a million chips. Below is a look at all the remaining stacks, as well as the current seat assignments.

There was all in action on both tables, as Jared Kempf & Nathan Tang got into a huge pot on Table 4, while Jan Rufoli was getting a short stack double through Cam Stewart on Table 1.

Rufoli raised preflop to 181k, leaving just 1k behind. He waited until the action on Table 4 completed before putting his final 1k in on the [invalid notations] runout.

Meanwhile, on Table 4, Tang and Kempf were playing the pot of the day so far. Tang ended up with more than 1.5 million and the chip lead after his jacks held over ace-nine for Kempf, while Kempf, who had been flying high with the lead for much of the day, is down to fumes with about 100k in front of him after the hand.

Nathan Tang raised to 30k from the button, then faced a raise to 100k from the small blind Colten Yamagishi. Big blind Aaron Quon got out of the way quickly, but it took Tang a little longer to make the same decision.

While I was watching that action, Teo Sanchez ended his day in 15th place. There are two more payouts at $3,595 before it jumps to $4,135 at 12th place.

Hassan Issa just hit the rail in 16th place for the last payout at $3,125. He shoved ace-three of hearts, but was called by Nathan Tang with ace-king. Tang ended up with trip kings on a board of 5♥9♦J♥K♦K♠ and Issa was out. The average stack right now is about 42 big blinds, so they are still pretty deep.

See below for the full $3,125 payout level, and full prizes are listed under the Payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
16	Hassan Issa	$3,125
17	Leo (Dechang) Zhang	$3,125
18	Aman Dhaliwal	$3,125

It was blind on blind between Teo Sanchez and Resul Dauti. Sanchez opened the small with a limo, and Dauti checked his option in the big. They both checked the 3♣9♠8♣ flop, and Sanchez led for 15k on the 10♥ turn.