2025 WSOPC Calgary – Event #1: $400 Big 30 Stack NLH

Antoine Saddleback picked up his second Circuit ring tonight. He picked up a PKO win last year for his first, and this one came with a novelty check showing the original payout. He and runner-up Jacob Parent cut a deal heads up to split the money down the middle and play for the ring.

It took about 25 minutes after the deal was struck to find the spot where it all went in. Parent shoved an ace from the button, and Saddleback called it off with jack-eight. There was an eight on the flop and that was all Saddleback needed to win the hand. He had about 1 million more than Parent at the time, so took down the game at the same time.

Final Results from Big 30 Stack

Place	Player	Prize
1	Antoine Saddleback	$28,680
2	Jacob Parent	$19,120
3	Tang Jooce	$13,423
4	Brendan Wolovick	$9,592
5	Christopher Fabris	$6,978
6	Clayton Littke	$5,170
7	Maher Al Mouselly	$3,903
8	Matt Hall	$3,002
9	Jason Fennell	$2,355
10	Toan(Duc) Dao	$1,884
11	Ryotaro Motonaga	$1,884
12	David Kumar	$1,538
13	Christopher Matthews	$1,538
14	Shane Brotherwood	$1,281
15	Scott Calvank	$1,281
16	Wilhelmus Vanderende	$1,281
17	Brian Dantas	$1,281
18	Jack Shaffer	$1,090
19	Kali Shuali	$1,090
20	James Reynolds	$1,090
21	Michael Sobil	$1,090
22	Graham Lupton	$1,090
23	Evan Thomas	$1,090
24	Sebastian Lamprea	$1,090
25	Kyle Kamachi	$1,090
26	John Foley	$1,090
27	Kevin Willerton	$948
28	Darryl Dantas	$948
29	Sam Gottiparthi	$948
30	Robert Stuve	$948
31	Harry Newton	$948
32	Tian Qiu	$948
33	Isabelo Bagsac	$948
34	Ryan Tedesco	$948
35	Allister Cabie	$948
36	Paul Sokoloff	$842
37	Matthew Ouellette	$842
38	Zhaowei Cheng	$842
39	Clint Clarkson	$842
40	Garrett Gilmurray	$842
41	Michael Jacobs	$842
42	Caleb Simmons	$842
43	Jordan Banfield	$842
44	Aaron Patton	$842
45	Romualdo Nicola	$802
46	Kim Pham	$802
47	Stephen Dauphinais	$802
48	Kyle Rosned	$802
49	Kenton Baker	$802
50	Allan Hobbins	$802
51	DNR	$802
52	Daniel O’Leary	$802
53	James Rushak	$802
54	Kyle Ivanich	$802
55	Yan Chouinard	$802
56	David Swirski	$802
57	Jesse Baker	$802
58	Weston Pring	$802
59	Reg Hampton	$802
60	Shariq Khan	$802
61	Devon Rissling	$802
62	Jeff Saunders	$802
63	Shawn Holland	$802
64	Christopher Charlton	$802
65	Parth Mansukh	$802
66	Douglas Alexis	$802
67	Karen Saunders	$802
68	David Johnson	$802
69	Seyed Seyednabian	$802

It was Jacob Parent’s biggest-ever score by more than 4x with the chop. He came very close to taking down the ring as well, but Antoine Saddleback’s aggression was too much for him in the end.

The final hand saw Parent in good with ace-six against jack-eight for Saddleback but there was an eight on the flop and that was enough for Saddleback to take it down and send Parent out in 2nd place.

The final two players have decided to chop the prizes and play it out for the ring. They’ll each make $23,900 for their efforts tonight, but only one of them will get the ring and entry to the Tournament of Champions.

Jacob Parent is still the big stack by about 9:4 but Antoine Saddleback stayed alive with a double when his jack-nine off got there against ace-queen for Prent. Saddleback flopped the jack while Parent missed the board.

When Jacob Parent made it to heads up with the short stack, he mentioned this was his biggest ever cash, but he’s looking to make it even bigger. He doubled his shorty a couple of times before he shoved ace-three and Saddleback called with jack-nine suited.

Parent flopped an ace and faded Saddleback’s straight outs for a double into the lead.

Tang Jooce and Antoine Saddleback were at it at this final table, trading the lead back and forth, but in the end it was Saddleback who got the best of it. After Jacob Parent folded the short stack on the button, Jooce shoved his small blind for a bit more than 2 million and Saddleback snapped it off.

“This is a gift,” Parent said as the money went in, but his tome changed a bit when he saw the hands. Saddleback was dominated with queen-ten against ace-queen for Jooce, but Parent let out a yell of joy when a ten came on the flop. Saddleback held to send Jooce to the rail and stack up more than 11 million chips.

Parent has since chipped up a bit, but Saddleback is still in the lead heads up.

Antoine Saddleback and Tang Jooce are trading the lead back and forth tonight wile Jacob Parent watches from the sidelines for the most part. The lead just switched again when Saddleback flopped a set of sixes against a flopped pair of kings with king-ten froor Jooce. Jooce found another king on the river, but that gave Saddleback the boat for the win.

Tang Jooce raised to 240k from the button and Antoine Saddleback called from the big blind. They both checked the 6♥A♣9♣ flop but Saddleback led for 300k on the Q♣ turn. Jooce raised it to 900k, then hit the tank hard when Saddleback shoved a covering stack.

After more than a minute in the tank, Jooce finally made the call and his A♥K♥ was way ahead of the A♠2♠ for Saddleback. The hand left Saddleback with about 4.9 million while Jooce chipped up to about 6.5 million for the lead.

They are down to three players left after Brendan Wolovkick couldn’t hold with pocket tens against ace-eight for Antoine Saddleback. Saddleback found an ace to take it down and send Wolovick out for the final four-digit payout with the remaining three players guaranteed at least $13,423.

Antoine Saddleback is the chip leader right now with about half the chips in play. He has 6.7 million in front of him while Tang Jooce is second with about 3.7 million. Brendan Wolovick and Jacob Parent are both playing about 1.5 million.

They are down to four left now after Chris Fabris hit the rail for 5th place tonight. I missed the action while I was out of the room for a minute.

Clayton Littke was one of the short stacks at the final table and he just ran into he queens of Jacob Parent. Littke had ace-jack, and Tag Jooce was in the hand with ace-jack as well. Parent’s queens held for a big chip up, sending Littke to the rail in 6th in the process.

Matt Al Mouselly lost most of his chips in a bad beat against Brendan Wolovick earlier this level but he made a solid effort to rebuild with a couple of doubles, but his run just came to an end in 7th place.

Matt Al Mouselly was nearly felted in a bad beat against Brendan Wolovick. Wolovick flopped trip aces with ace-four against Al Mouselly’s pocket queens, then turned a boat with a pair on the board.

That left Al Mouselly with around 30k behind, but he’s since doubled that a couple of times, first with king-nine over king-seven against Calyton Littke, then winning a race with a ce-eight against the pocket fours of Antoine Saddleback.

Final Seven Stacks

In the final hand of Level 25, Matt Hall was in good for a double against big stack Tang Jooce. Jooce’s ace-queen was dominated by the ace-king of Hall, but Jooce found a lady on the turn for the win.

I missed the action but Jason Fennell ended his Big 30 Stack run in 9th place for $2,355.

They are down to 9 players after short stack Duc Dao hit the rail while I was processing the final table photos. Below is a look at the final table stacks when the table began and I’ll get exact stacks at the break coming up in about 10 minutes.

They are setting up the final table now with 10 players remaining. The action will now move to the Chrome room to finish out the night. Below is a look at the cashing players since my last update with full prizes under the Payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
11	Ryotaro Motonaga	$1,884
12	David Kumar	$1,538
13	Christopher Matthews	$1,538

They are down to 13 left now with the $1,281 payout level complete after Shane Brotherwood took the final payout at that level. The next player out will get $1,538 and after three more eliminations, the final table of 10 players will be moving to the Chrome room to finish out the night.

They are down to 14 left now with one more payout of $1,281 to come before it jumps to $1,538. The two cashers since my last update are below with full prizes under the payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
15	Scott Calvank	$1,281
16	Wilhelmus Vanderende	$1,281
17	Brian Dantas	$1,281

They are at the final two tables now with 17 players left. The $1,090 payout level is complete and the next elimination is set to pocket $1,281. Full prizes are under the Payouts tab, but cashers since my last update are below.

Place	Player	Prize
18	Jack Shaffer	$1,090
19	Kali Shuali	$1,090
20	James Reynolds	$1,090
21	Michael Sobil	$1,090

They are down to 21 players left now with five payouts in the $1,090 level recorded. Four more players are set to pocket that amount before it jumps to $1,281 at 17th place. Below is a look at cashing players since my last post with complete prizes under the Payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
22	Graham Lupton	$1,090
23	Evan Thomas	$1,090
24	Sebastian Lamprea	$1,090
25	Kyle Kamachi	$1,090
26	John Foley	$1,090

They are down to the final three tables now and the $948 payout level is complete. All prizes are loaded under the Payouts tab with the cashing players since my last update below.

Place	Player	Prize
27	Kevin Willerton	$948
28	Darryl Dantas	$948
29	Sam Gottiparthi	$948
30	Robert Stuve	$948
31	Harry Newton	$948
32	Tian Qiu	$948

They are down to 32 left now with about 15 minutes to play in Level 21. That completes the $842 payout level and starts the $948 level. Below is a look at cashers since my last update with the full prize list under Payouts.

Place
33	Isabelo Bagsac	$948
34	Ryan Tedesco	$948
35	Allister Cabie	$948
36	Paul Sokoloff	$842
37	Matthew Ouellette	$842

They are down to 37 players left at the break following Level 20 and they remaining players will be back in action for Level 21 with blinds at 15k/25k/25k in about 10 minutes. Below is a look at the two cashers since my last update with full prizes under the Payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
38	Zhaowei Cheng	$842
39	Clint Clarkson	$842

The break following Level 20 is just moments away with the field down to 39 remaining. That completes the $802 payouts and puts them in the $842 range with the jump to $948 coming at 35th place. Full prizes are under the Payouts tab, but the updated payouts since my last update are below.

Place	Player	Prize
40	Garrett Gilmurray	$842
41	Michael Jacobs	$842
42	Caleb Simmons	$842
43	Jordan Banfield	$842
44	Aaron Patton	$842
45	Romualdo Nicola	$802
46	Kim Pham	$802

It looks like Tang Jooce is the chip leader right now with more than 1.1 million in front of him. That looks to be about double the next biggest stack I saw in front of Antoine Saddleback with about 550k. Evan Thomas and Brendan Wolovivk are both playing about 500k while Kali Shuali is at 427k by her count.

Meanwhile the field is down to 46 remaining with the full prizes listed under the Payouts tab and cashers since my last update are below.

Place	Player	Prize
47	Stephen Dauphinais	$802
48	Kyle Rosned	$802
49	Kenton Baker	$802
50	Allan Hobbins	$802
51	DNR	$802
52	Daniel O’Leary	$802
53	James Rushak	$802
54	Kyle Ivanich	$802

The action is moving quickly as they are down to the final 6 tables with 54 players left now. Payouts are still $802 until 44th place when they jump to $842. Full prizes are under the Payouts tab, but the cashing players since my last update are below.

Place	Player	Prize
55	Yan Chouinard	$802
56	David Swirski	$802
57	Jesse Baker	$802
58	Weston Pring	$802
59	Reg Hampton	$802
60	Shariq Khan	$802
61	Devon Rissling	$802

They are down to 61 players left in the Big 30 Stack now with Level 19 just underway. The prizes are all loaded under the payouts tab, but the payouts so far are below.

Place	Player	Prize
62	Jeff Saunders	$802
63	Shawn Holland	$802
64	Christopher Charlton	$802
65	Parth Mansukh	$802
66	Douglas Alexis	$802
67	Karen Saunders	$802
68	David Johnson	$802
69	Seyed Seyednabian	$802

They are now in the money in the Big 30 Stack with 69 players left in the game.

They are on the bubble right now with 70 players left in the game. The clock will be paused shortly for hand-for-hand play, assuming there isn’t another elimination before current hands finish.

They are just 3 players away from the money now with 72 players left in the game. There are just over 5 minutes to play in Level 17 and they’ll be going hand-for-hand after two more eliminations so it looks pretty likely they’ll be in the money sometime in Level 18.

They are just 13 players away from the money now with 82 players left in the game. Level 17 is just beginning with the average stack at about 17 big blinds right now, so it seems pretty likely we’ll be on the bubble before the end of this level or shortly into Level 18.

The field is down to less than 100 players left just 30 players off the money now with 99 players remaining. There are about 20 minutes to play in Level 16, and it looks likely the bubble will happen before the next break.

The remaining 108 players are about 5 minutes away from the dinner break now. They’ll be away from the felt for about 45 minutes and return for Level 16 less than 40 off the money.

There are just over 5 minutes remaining in Level 14 with the field down to 117 entries, That puts them less than 50 off the money spots at 69.

There are just over 10 minutes left in Level 13 and the field is down to 144 entries after a recent table break. That puts the average stack right now at about 24 bigs with 75 eliminations to go until the money spots.

I’ve just had a wander around the room to find a few of the bigger stacks and it looks like Kim Pham and Jake Zannet are the joint leaders right now with about 210k each in front of them. Clayton Littke has around 200k right now while Kali Shuali has about 170k, and Sebastian Lampreau and Fred Robert are playing about 130k right now.

The prizes are also in with 455 confirmed and 69 places paid from a prize pool of $150,150. I’ll post the full prizes shortly under the Payouts tab, but the top 10 spots are below.

Top Ten Payouts for Big 30 Stack

The field is down to 189 remaining with about 5 minutes to play in Level 11. I’ve just had another wander around the room and among the players I spotted were Trevor Simpson, Antoine Saddleback, Michael Khan, Andy Truong, Daniel O’Leary, and Patricia Kananda who was 3rd in the opening event of the Fall Super Stack last November.

Entries for the opening event of the 2025 WSOP-C Calgary January series are now closed with a final unofficial total of 455 entries. That number is still yet to be confirmed, but if it holds, it will mean this year’s game beat Jan 2024 by 1 entry.

There should be 68 or 69 places paid at the end of the night, and those places will be sharing in $150,150 in prizes. I’ll confirm all the numbers once the prize pool is posted shortly.

They are just 2 entries away from the 2024 total with the final break for entries now underway. There are just 10 minutes left in the break and entries will be closed when they sit down for Level 11. The prizes are now just shy of $150k, and it looks certain that they’ll break that number as well as the 2024 total by a few entries.

There are just over 10 minutes to play in Level 10 with the final break of registration coming up at the end of this level. The field now is at 439 entries, just 15 shy of last year’s total. Entries will close following the up coming break, so there are less than 30 minutes left to get into the opening event of the series.

After a wander around the room, a few of the other faces I spotted in the action included Graham Lupton, Doug Lee, Yousef Hmama, Terry Langdon, John Foley, Phillip Louie, Stephen Dauphinais, and Reg Hampton.

Level 10 has just begun and the field is at 431, just 23 entries away from the 2024 total of 454. That puts the current prizes at more than $140k with about 40 minutes left to enter the game.

Praba Siva and Sean O’Reilly are among the recent players I spotted entering the fray.

Level 9 has about 20 minutes to play with the field now at 419. That means there is a bit more than an hour left to enter this opening event and the field is just 35 entries away from the 2024 numbers.

They’ll play one more level of poker following this one before the next break, with entries set to close following the break at the end of Level 10. Prizes now are nearing $140k.

There are about 15 minutes remaining in Level 8 now with the field up to 406 entries. That puts the prizes at almost $135k and puts this year’s field less than 50 away from last year’s total.

The field is up to almost 390 entries and still growing with about 2 hours left to enter the game. That puts them just 60 entries away from the 2024 numbers with almost $130k in prizes so far.

Poker philanthropist Sunny Lubana is among the players in the game today. He donates 10% of all his poker winnings to a family-run charity that provides educational support to underprivileged children in his homeland of India. Joining him in the mix today are Chris Klementis, who was at the final table of the Main in August, as well as Montreal’s Ian Monahoyios, Vancouver’s Mal Hagan, Ontario’s Tang Jooce, and YouTuber and influencer Greg “Greg Goes All In” Liow.

The Big 30 Stack players are on their first break of the day with the end of Level 5. There are 345 entries on the board at the break, which is just 109 entries away from the event total in 2024. That puts the prizes at close to $115k already.

There are still 5 levels of poker left to get into this opening game, so it seems pretty likely that it will cap last year’s numbers pretty easily. Among the other players I spotted recently getting into the game was the Alberta Poker Index winner for 2024 Mike Malm. He crushed the API race last year with about 40% more points than the runner-up Weston Pring. Other faces I’ve spotted include David Johnson, Ty Adams, and Kali Shuali.

Level 5 has just begun and this will be the final level of play before the first break of the day. The field is up to 315 entries to start the level for prizes of nearly $105k already.

Entries are still open for a bit more than 3 hours today, so the field of 454 from Jan 2024 in this event is definitely in jeopardy here today. Among the recent faces I spotted in the field are Shane Brotherwood, PokerNews reporter Adam Lamers, Malcolm Bolger, Pete Fylyma, and Edmonton McDonald’s mogul DJ “Big Mac” Sharma.

There are more than 300 entries in the field now with about 15 minutes to play in Level 4. That puts the prizes so far just shy of $100k with about 3 hours left to enter the game.

Evan Thomas and Jeff Saunders are among the representatives from Canada’s left coast, while Nick Peterson, Deven Lane, Jon Jacquard, Garry Chan, Weston Pring, and Johnny Dalphond are among the other players fighting for the first Calgary ring of 2025.

There are about 8 minutes to play in Level 2 with the field up to 250 entries now. That puts the prizes at $82.5k and climbing. A few of the other players I’ve noticed in the field today so far are the Main Event winner from Aug, Alex Liu, as well as last January’s Big 30 Stack champ David Ko. Ryan Smith, Ben Locker, Tyler Thomas, Kim Pham, and Don Fujita are among the other players I’ve spotted today.

There are still about 10 minutes to play in Level 1 and the field has already capped 200 entries with 206 on the board right now. That puts the prizes just shy of $68k and climbing.

With the current pace, it looks possible that we’ll see a 500+ field for today’s event, but that remains to be seen. There are already a lot of familiar faces in seats around the Sundance room including Scott Calvank, who was at the final table of this one in May. Joining him in the action today are Travis Kruger, Matthew Ouelette, Dallas Larson, Fred Werezak, Jordan Banfield, Ron Lauzon, and multiple ring winner Paul Sokoloff.

Cards are now in the air for the opening event of WSOP-C Calgary Jan with 149 entries to start the day for prizes of just shy of $50k. There are still more than 4 hours to enter the game, so I expect these numbers to get quite big before it all shuts down at the start of Level 11.

Among the players I spotted in action today are the August champion David Labchuk. He picked up his third ring, and first in an open event, with the win in this one this past Aug. Joining him in the ring hunt today are Jeff Charlebois, Curtis Singleton, and Clayton Littke. I’ll add more names to the list as the day goes on as that doesn’t even scratch the surface.

The action in the Big 30 Stack is still about 10 minutes away, but the field is already over 100 entries to start the day. There are about 8 minutes left on the countdown to cards in the air for the 2025 Circuit season in Calgary.

There were 113 entries on the board with the numbers still climbing and activity at the entry desk outside the Sundance room, so the prizes are already approaching $40k before any hands have even been played.

Canada’s 2025 poker season gets underway with the Big 30 Stack at WSOP-C Calgary Jan 2025. The traditional opening event of the series kicks off at 11 AM on Wednesday and players will have 10 levels of action to get into the game.

That should put the final chance to get a seat for the opening event at about 3:50 PM on Wed. After that, they’ll play down to a winner sometime Wed evening or early Thur morning. In August, David Labchuk picked up his third ring with the win in this one, while last January the crown went to Burnaby’s David Ko as he kicked off an amazing year that saw him grab a WPT Championship as well. May’s winner was Lee Clark.

This event will be my main focus for the opening day, and I’ll be on this one until the first ring is awarded. Shuffle up and deal!