2025 Pure Poker Tour Series #4 – Event #6: $560 NLH Big Bounty

Once the players got heads up, they decided that, after almost 14 hours of play, they’d chop the prizes and flip for the trophy. In the end, it would have been a flip for the trophy anyway, as the final hands were pocket threes for Ken Laneda, and king-ten for Thomas Woodburn, and even without the deal, it’s likely they would have been all in preflop.

Woodburn found a king on the flop, and Kaneda couldn’t find an extra trey to save his life, so he took second place tonight. Both players pocketed $6,335 after the deal, but only Woodburn can take home a trophy tonight. Both players also added $1,600 to their winnings with 8 bounties each.

Johnny Daphond was the shortest of the final three, and he shoved 110k with A♥7♠ and Thomas Woodburn, who was already in for a 40k big blind and a 40k ante, didn’t feel like he could fold anything.

He called with J♣4♥, but once the K♥5♥6♦4♣9♥ board was complete, Woodburn turned Dalphond out the door for 3rd place.

Preston Stevenson shoved the “Dead Man’s Hand” with a bit more than 300k. Ken Kaneda called him down with more and king-ten. Kaneda turned his ten and that was enough to send Stevenson out in 4th place.

Most of the damage happened in a hand where Mishel Nguyen limp-called a shove from Preston Stevenson. It was a flip between king-queen for Nguyen and pocket fives for Stevenson, with Nguyen barely covering his stack.

It looked good for Nguyen on th flop and turn of the 8♦Q♥3♠A♦5♣ board, but the river drowned her to leave her with just 55k. The rest went in the next hand, and her jack-eight couldn’t survive against the ace-jack of Johnny Dalphond.

Mishel Nguyen shoved under the gun, and Thomas Woodburn called it off from the big blind with heaps. It was a flip between pocket sevens for Nguyen and queen-ten off for Woodburn. The board missed both hands, leaving the sevens in front, and Nguyen doubled to more than 300k.

“Short stacks don’t want to die,” said Johnny Dalphond as Nguyen collected the pot.

After some time in the tank and counting his stack, Preston Stevenson shoved under the gun. Ken Kaneda snap-called with less to his left, and the rest of the table got out of the way.

Stevenson was on K♦Q♦, while Kaneda had a hand he said he’d been osing with all night, A♦K♠. He didn’t lose with it this time, however, after the board of 5♣8♣A♣10♠5♠ gave him a pair of aces and the double up. Stevenson is now the shorty.

Zeyu Huang was short after doubling up Thomas Woodburn a few hands ago, and when he woke up with pocket eights, he got it in. Unfortunately for him, Johnny Dalphond woke up with aces in the big blind. The 2♠7♦9♥3♦Q♠ missed both hands, leaving the aces in front and sending Huang to the cage for 6th place.

Thomas Woodburn just doubled to the lead through Zeyu Huang. Woodburn had pocket jacks against ace-king for Huang, and he found a set of jacks to chip to to the lead with around 700k now.

Sal Haji had been nursing a short stack for most of the final table, and he just shoved under the gun. Johnny Dalphond called from the big blind after the rest of the table mucked, and it was a coin flip between Haji’s pocket nines and Dalphond’s ace-jack.

Dalphond turned it on a board of 6♥8♣2♠J♠5♣ and Haji found no help.

Zeyu Huang opened the hijack to 16k and Mishel Nguyen called from the small blind. The flop was 4♣3♥2♣ and Nguyen check-called for 16k.

Both players checked the A♠ turn, and Nguyen led for 33k on the 8♠ river. Huang tanked for about 30 seconds before he tossed in the call. “You win,” said Nguyen, showing the [invalid notations] bluff while Huang tabled pocket kings. Two other players at the table said they folded a five, which would have wheeled over the hand.

The final table is now seven-handed after Razva Radu was the most recent casualty. There are now just under 5 minutes to play in Level 17, and the average stack when the level changes will be about 34 big blinds.

The Big Bounty field is down to 8 remainng after Shane Hall was the first player off the final table tonight.

They are at the final table now with 9 players left after Denis Mujcin hit the rail immediately after the break. Stay tuned for final table faces.

Varan Sidhu was the bubble tonight after a brutal cooler. Both he and Mishel Nguyen hit trip sevens, but Nguyen had the nut kicker. Sidhu tank-called her all in several minutes into the break to get the bad news and end his run in 11th place on the bubble tonight. See below for the full stacks of the players in the money.

They are now hand-for-hand to the money in the Big Bounty game, and it looks like Mishel Nguyen is the leader with about 500k in front of her. There’s a break coming shortly and I’ll gran a full round of counts for the remaining players.

The prizes are in and the field is confirmed at 94. That means there is $25,850 in the prize pool, to be divded between the top ten finishers, and $18,800 worth of bounties in the game today.

The game just broke down to the final two tables at 18 remaining, so they are 8 off the money spots now.

Entries are closed on the Big Bounty side event, and the final number on the board was 94. The field has just broken down to the final three tables with 27 left, but I’m still waiting on the prizes to confirm all the numbers. If they hold, then 10 players should be sharing in $25,850 in prizes, with an additional $18,800 in bounties handed out throughout the game.

Once the prizes are posted, I’ll confirm all the numbers. Event #3 is still four-handed, so I won’t be watching this one very closely for a while yet.

Level 4 has just begun in the Bounty side game, and the field is at 68 entries. There are still more than 3 hours left to enter this one, so I expect the final field number to be around 100 entries. Right now, the combined prizes are just over $32k, with $18,700 of that in the prize pool and $13,600 worth of bounties.

The action in the side game is underway with the first level of play complete. The field hit 40 entries just as Level 2 began with the entry of Allison Bullock. That puts $19k into the combined pool so far, with $11k of that in the prizes for later in the night, and $8k worth of bounties.

Event #6: $560 NLH Big Bounty ($300 + $200 + $60)

The main attraction on Sunday will be the money round of Event #3, which kicks off at 1 PM, but for players not in that game, or who bust out early from Day 2, the Big Bounty will be waiting. Entries are open for 8 levels, or until about 6:45 PM, and $200 of the $560 buy-in goes to the flat bounty.

The game plays 30-minute blinds with a 25k starting stack, and they’ll play down to a winner in this one. With 30-minute blinds, it seems likely this will go longer than 12 hours, so strap in for a late night. I won’t be covering this one very closely at the start, but I should be around for the endgame.

Last time around, it was Georgios Gializis who took down the trophy on this one, his first win on the Tour. He took the trophy over DJ Sharma, with Sharma in his second heads-up match in as many days. The game drew 124 entries last time, for combined prizes of almost $60k.

Once the players got heads up, they decided that, after almost 14 hours of play, they’d chop the prizes and flip for the trophy. In the end, it would have been a flip for the trophy anyway, as the final hands were pocket threes for Ken Laneda, and king-ten for Thomas Woodburn, and even without the deal, it’s likely they would have been all in preflop.

Woodburn found a king on the flop, and Kaneda couldn’t find an extra trey to save his life, so he took second place tonight. Both players pocketed $6,335 after the deal, but only Woodburn can take home a trophy tonight. Both players also added $1,600 to their winnings with 8 bounties each.

Johnny Daphond was the shortest of the final three, and he shoved 110k with A♥7♠ and Thomas Woodburn, who was already in for a 40k big blind and a 40k ante, didn’t feel like he could fold anything.

He called with J♣4♥, but once the K♥5♥6♦4♣9♥ board was complete, Woodburn turned Dalphond out the door for 3rd place.

Preston Stevenson shoved the “Dead Man’s Hand” with a bit more than 300k. Ken Kaneda called him down with more and king-ten. Kaneda turned his ten and that was enough to send Stevenson out in 4th place.

Most of the damage happened in a hand where Mishel Nguyen limp-called a shove from Preston Stevenson. It was a flip between king-queen for Nguyen and pocket fives for Stevenson, with Nguyen barely covering his stack.

It looked good for Nguyen on th flop and turn of the 8♦Q♥3♠A♦5♣ board, but the river drowned her to leave her with just 55k. The rest went in the next hand, and her jack-eight couldn’t survive against the ace-jack of Johnny Dalphond.

Mishel Nguyen shoved under the gun, and Thomas Woodburn called it off from the big blind with heaps. It was a flip between pocket sevens for Nguyen and queen-ten off for Woodburn. The board missed both hands, leaving the sevens in front, and Nguyen doubled to more than 300k.

“Short stacks don’t want to die,” said Johnny Dalphond as Nguyen collected the pot.

After some time in the tank and counting his stack, Preston Stevenson shoved under the gun. Ken Kaneda snap-called with less to his left, and the rest of the table got out of the way.

Stevenson was on K♦Q♦, while Kaneda had a hand he said he’d been osing with all night, A♦K♠. He didn’t lose with it this time, however, after the board of 5♣8♣A♣10♠5♠ gave him a pair of aces and the double up. Stevenson is now the shorty.

Zeyu Huang was short after doubling up Thomas Woodburn a few hands ago, and when he woke up with pocket eights, he got it in. Unfortunately for him, Johnny Dalphond woke up with aces in the big blind. The 2♠7♦9♥3♦Q♠ missed both hands, leaving the aces in front and sending Huang to the cage for 6th place.

Thomas Woodburn just doubled to the lead through Zeyu Huang. Woodburn had pocket jacks against ace-king for Huang, and he found a set of jacks to chip to to the lead with around 700k now.

Sal Haji had been nursing a short stack for most of the final table, and he just shoved under the gun. Johnny Dalphond called from the big blind after the rest of the table mucked, and it was a coin flip between Haji’s pocket nines and Dalphond’s ace-jack.

Dalphond turned it on a board of 6♥8♣2♠J♠5♣ and Haji found no help.

Zeyu Huang opened the hijack to 16k and Mishel Nguyen called from the small blind. The flop was 4♣3♥2♣ and Nguyen check-called for 16k.

Both players checked the A♠ turn, and Nguyen led for 33k on the 8♠ river. Huang tanked for about 30 seconds before he tossed in the call. “You win,” said Nguyen, showing the [invalid notations] bluff while Huang tabled pocket kings. Two other players at the table said they folded a five, which would have wheeled over the hand.

The final table is now seven-handed after Razva Radu was the most recent casualty. There are now just under 5 minutes to play in Level 17, and the average stack when the level changes will be about 34 big blinds.

The Big Bounty field is down to 8 remainng after Shane Hall was the first player off the final table tonight.

They are at the final table now with 9 players left after Denis Mujcin hit the rail immediately after the break. Stay tuned for final table faces.

Varan Sidhu was the bubble tonight after a brutal cooler. Both he and Mishel Nguyen hit trip sevens, but Nguyen had the nut kicker. Sidhu tank-called her all in several minutes into the break to get the bad news and end his run in 11th place on the bubble tonight. See below for the full stacks of the players in the money.

They are now hand-for-hand to the money in the Big Bounty game, and it looks like Mishel Nguyen is the leader with about 500k in front of her. There’s a break coming shortly and I’ll gran a full round of counts for the remaining players.

The prizes are in and the field is confirmed at 94. That means there is $25,850 in the prize pool, to be divded between the top ten finishers, and $18,800 worth of bounties in the game today.

The game just broke down to the final two tables at 18 remaining, so they are 8 off the money spots now.

Entries are closed on the Big Bounty side event, and the final number on the board was 94. The field has just broken down to the final three tables with 27 left, but I’m still waiting on the prizes to confirm all the numbers. If they hold, then 10 players should be sharing in $25,850 in prizes, with an additional $18,800 in bounties handed out throughout the game.

Once the prizes are posted, I’ll confirm all the numbers. Event #3 is still four-handed, so I won’t be watching this one very closely for a while yet.

Level 4 has just begun in the Bounty side game, and the field is at 68 entries. There are still more than 3 hours left to enter this one, so I expect the final field number to be around 100 entries. Right now, the combined prizes are just over $32k, with $18,700 of that in the prize pool and $13,600 worth of bounties.

The action in the side game is underway with the first level of play complete. The field hit 40 entries just as Level 2 began with the entry of Allison Bullock. That puts $19k into the combined pool so far, with $11k of that in the prizes for later in the night, and $8k worth of bounties.

Event #6: $560 NLH Big Bounty ($300 + $200 + $60)

The main attraction on Sunday will be the money round of Event #3, which kicks off at 1 PM, but for players not in that game, or who bust out early from Day 2, the Big Bounty will be waiting. Entries are open for 8 levels, or until about 6:45 PM, and $200 of the $560 buy-in goes to the flat bounty.

The game plays 30-minute blinds with a 25k starting stack, and they’ll play down to a winner in this one. With 30-minute blinds, it seems likely this will go longer than 12 hours, so strap in for a late night. I won’t be covering this one very closely at the start, but I should be around for the endgame.

Last time around, it was Georgios Gializis who took down the trophy on this one, his first win on the Tour. He took the trophy over DJ Sharma, with Sharma in his second heads-up match in as many days. The game drew 124 entries last time, for combined prizes of almost $60k.