2025 WSOPC Calgary Oct – Event #8: $1,000 NLH

It took about 9 hours to play down from the 50 returning players to a winner tonight, but going from six left to the winner was lightning-fast. They played nine-handed for quite a while, then stalled again at six for a bit, with short stacks trying to jostle for ladders.

Once the dam burst with Michael Baldwin’s elimination in 6th place, the game was over within half an hour. Kyle Ho was riding a big stack through most of the day, and held the lead from 6-handed all the way down to the end.

In the final hand, both Ho and runner-up Trevor Otterson hit pairs, with Ho on ten-seven and hitting his ten, and Otterson on nine-eight and hitting his nine. Both players were suited, with Ho in spades and Otterson in diamonds. Ho turned two pair to take a bigger lead, and held for his third circuit ring.

Ho actually won this very event back in May of 2023, when he bested 224 entries for a win worth $45,635. He also picked up a ring last year in Montreal in another $1k event where he beat 236 players for $46,000. This win should push Ho’s lifetime earnings over $1.15 million.

Final Table Results from $1k

See the Payouts tab for a full look at the prizes.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Kyle Ho	$68,673
2	Trevor Otterson	$45,799
3	Richard Berenbaum	$31,199
4	Zizhu Zhao	$21,710
5	Matt Kwong	$15,438
6	Michael Baldwin	$11,225
7	John Scalise	$8,349
8	Michael Bernstein	$6,355
9	Christopher Floyd	$4,954
10	Antonio Ma	$3,957

They went from five left to heads up in just a few minutes at the start of Level 27. I’ve missed a lot of the action while trying to write up the posts, but Richard Berenbaum ended his day in 3rd place now.

That leaves Kyle Ho heads up with Trevor Otterson, with Ho in the lead.

Immediately after Matt Kwong was sent to the payout cage, Zizhu Zhao followed him out. I missed the action while writing the previous bust.

Matt Kwong has been short for a while, and he shoved for a second time. This time, he ended up in a race with king-jack overs against the pocket fives for Kyle Ho. The 8♥A♣A♦10♣3♥ runout didn’t improve Kwong, and he was out in 5th place.

Matt Kwong shoved 330k under the gun, and it folded around to Zizhu Zhao in the big blind. He looked at his cards and started chuckling to himself, presumably because he felt forced to call almost any two for just 3 bigs more.

He put in the call with the unsuited, but connected, six-five against ace-king for Kwong. They both hit the flop, but by the time the 3♠6♣A♣4♠J♥ board was complete, the ace for Kwong was still ahead for the double up.

Michael Baldwin raised the hijack to 160k, then shoved after Kyle Ho repopped the cutoff to 400k. Ho called, and it was a cooler with Ho on ace-king versus ace-queen for Baldwin.

The money was likely going in on the flop anyway, as the board ran out Q♣K♠3♠2♣A♠, with both players flopping their kicker and rivering two pair.

I missed the action on the last two busts as I was finishing my dinner, but John Scalise reported to me that he lost ace-king into ace-ten. There was a ten on the flop, Scalise turned his king, but the other player tripped up on the river with a third ten for the win.

They are down to 8 left on the final table now after Chris Floyd hit the rail for 9th. I missed the action while I was getting some dinner.

Trevor Otterson leads the final nine players by almost 200k, with Matt Kwong in second.

Michael “Berny” Bernstein raised to 100k under the gun, and John Scalise called from the button, as did Chris Floyd from the big blind. Floyd checked the J♣A♥4♣ flop before Berny fired 125k. That was enough to send both other hands to the muck.

Tony Ma was the first player off the final table tonight, taking 10th place for $3,957 before I managed to get the pictures done. Below are the final nine players in the Two-Day $1k.

They are down to 10 remaining in the Two-Day $1k, and now setting the final table.

Place	Player	Prize
11	Ning Wang	$3,957
12	Jay Glass	$3,241
13	Maher Al-Mouselly	$3,241
14	Scot Munro	$2,723

Zizhu Zhao opened early to 60k, and Richard Berenbaum called from the middle before John Scalise counted out a three-bet to 300k and slif it in.

“Too much,” said Zhao, folding. Berenbaum also mucked.

“I made it too big,” Scalise said, showing the ace of hearts.

They are down to 14 players, with Level 22 about to begin. Richard Berenbaum leads four players with more than a million at this point.

Chips on Break

Place	Player	Prize
15	Skyler York	$2,723
16	Linyang Song	$2,723

It was a five-bet shove for Richard Berenbaum after Zizhu Zhao raised the cutoff to 50k, Berenbaum three-bet to 210k, Zhao four-bet to 400k, and Berenbaum shoved 895k for the five-bet.

Berenbaum was on pocket kings against the ace-king of hearts for Zhao. It looked bad for Berenbaum with an ace in the window, but he also flopped a king on the K♠10♣A♣7♦10♥ runout. That puts Berenbaum up to nearly 2 million for what looks like the chip lead, while Zhao is down to about 800k. There’s a break coming in about 10 minutes, and I’ll grab counts for the remaining players then.

Place	Player	Prize
17	Dat Le	$2,723
18	Regan Duong	$2,349

Chris Floyd opened the middle to 50k, and Ning Wang called from the big blind. They both checked the 6♥7♠3♦ flop, and after a check from Wang on the [invalid notations] turn, Floyd fired 75k and took it down.

They are down to the final two tables now with Level 21 just underway. Zizhu Zhao has taken over the lead now with about 1.5 million, while Matt Kwong is also still playing more than 1 million.

Place	Player	Prizes
19	Ayed Shweihat	$2,349
20	Lap-Chi Duong	$2,349
21	Roman Gallivan	$2,349
22	Faramarz Ghorbani	$2,349
23	Eyal Pevzner	$2,349
24	Mark Aylward-Nally	$2,349
25	Andy Truong	$2,349

On one table, Trevor Otterson opened to 45k from the middle, and it folded to big stack Matt Kwong in the big blind. He put in a three-bet to 145k, and after about a minute in the tank, Otterson gave it up.

On the other table, Antonio Ma made it 40k from the middle, then faced a shove from Lap Chi Duong to his immediate left. Ma hit the tank for a few seconds before letting go of his hand, and Duong showed ace-queen to the table while he was collecting the pot. “I’d do that with nines, tens, too,” he said.

They are down to 25 players left shortly after the break. Matt Kwong is the big leader right now as the only player with more than a million chips, while start-of-day leader Ky;e Ho is second with 850k.

Final 25 Counts

Recent Busts

Place	Player	Prize
26	Jordan Banfield	$2,349
27	Behnam Esfahanizadeh	$2,081

They are down to 27 left on the break following Level 18. The two players who just got shoves through weren’t able to survive their next shoves and are part of the recent cashouts.

Place	Player	Prize
28	Jimmy Lehouiller	$2,081
29	Kyle Tougas	$2,081
30	Colten Yamagishi	$2,081

After an open to 27k from Trevor Otterson from the button, Jimmy Lehouiller shoved his big blind for 132k. Otterson had think, but elected to fold.

Meanwhile, on the next table over, Kyle Tougas open-shoved the middle and picked up the blinds and antes with no resistance..

The field is down to 30 left, about 2.5 Levels after the start of the day. Full prizes are posted under the Payouts tab, and below is the first look at today’s cashouts.

Place	Player	Prize
31	Trent Hopper	$2,081
32	Ran Yi	$2,081
33	Holly Lingel	$2,081
34	Deven Lane	$2,081
35	Jacob Hobday	$2,081
36	Pascal Gregoire	$1,982
37	Marlyn Peet	$1,982
38	Robert Limpert	$1,982
39	Edgar Zurawell	$1,982
40	Matthew Hall	$1,982
41	Garett Maybery	$1,982
42	Ryan Jensen	$1,982
43	Alemu Makonen	$1,982
44	Johnny Yu	$1,982
45	Robert Stuve	$1,982
46	Mark Mounsey	$1,982
47	Allan Alejandro	$1,982
48	Yi Sheng Cheng	$1,982
49	George Hamwi	$1,982
50	Cindy Kerslake	$1,982

I wasn’t able to watch any of the $1k today as I was busy in Chrome with Day 2 of the TORSE game, but the final tally for the game was 364 entries for prizes of $318,500. That meant 55 paid spots for this game, and they played into the money late on Day 1.

Five players collected cash before they bagged up at the end of Level 15, leaving 50 players coming back for Day 2 on Tuesday. Kyle Ho bagged the big stack at the end of Day 1 with just under 600k, while Skyler York was a ways back with 423k. Zizhu Zhao, John Scalise, and Jordan Banfield rounded out the top five chip counts, all with more than 400k. Regen Duong, in 6th, is the only other player with 400k or more.

The Day 2 action gets going at 2 PM on Tuesday, and they’ll play down to a winner before the end of the night. Blinds will remain at 40 minutes long throughout the game.

Day 1 Payouts

Place	Player	Prize
51	Praba Siva	$1,982
52	Tyler Panas	$1,982
53	Cliff Green	$1,982
54	Jorge Pacheco	$1,982
55	Mehmet Siginc	$1,982

Day 2 Chips, Sorted by Seat

The $1k game is nearing the end of entries on Day 1, with players now on their dinner break. There are about 25 minutes to enter with the field now at 356 entries for prizes of more than $310k.

They’ll play until the end of Level 15 tonight, with remaining players bagging then to return for money play on Day 2 (it seems unlikely they’ll hit the money today, but it’s not impossible). I won’t be watching this one today, as my focus will be on the TORSE Day 2, followed by the evening PKO game, but I’ll have Day 2 of this one as my main focus for Tuesday.

Event #8: $1,000 NLH ($875 + $125)

The early game on Monday is the opening salvos of the $1k game. This is generally a very popular event, and I expect more big numbers on Monday for this one.

The action kicks off at 11 AM, and players start their day with 30k in chips. Levels play for 40 minutes, and there are 9 levels of late entry. Including breaks, that should mean the desk closes for this one at about 6:15 PM.

This is a 2-day event with a hard stop after 15 levels. That will come about 4.5 hours after the dinner break ends, with the bags coming at about 10:45 PM.

Mike Malm won this one in January for his first Circuit ring and almost $85k. He took down the top prize on the heels of his 2024 Alberta Poker Index Player of the Year win over 485 entries in a game that hit $424,375 in prizes.

I won’t likely be watching this one very closely until Day 2. My Monday focus will be on Day 2 of the TORSE, and moving to the PKO game when that one finishes. I’ll update the numbers and final chip counts for Day 1, and focus on Day 2 of this one for Tuesday, but don’t expect much coverage of Day 1 of this game.

The $1k game is nearing the end of entries on Day 1, with players now on their dinner break. There are about 25 minutes to enter with the field now at 356 entries for prizes of more than $310k.

They’ll play until the end of Level 15 tonight, with remaining players bagging then to return for money play on Day 2 (it seems unlikely they’ll hit the money today, but it’s not impossible). I won’t be watching this one today, as my focus will be on the TORSE Day 2, followed by the evening PKO game, but I’ll have Day 2 of this one as my main focus for Tuesday.

Event #8: $1,000 NLH ($875 + $125)

The early game on Monday is the opening salvos of the $1k game. This is generally a very popular event, and I expect more big numbers on Monday for this one.

The action kicks off at 11 AM, and players start their day with 30k in chips. Levels play for 40 minutes, and there are 9 levels of late entry. Including breaks, that should mean the desk closes for this one at about 6:15 PM.

This is a 2-day event with a hard stop after 15 levels. That will come about 4.5 hours after the dinner break ends, with the bags coming at about 10:45 PM.

Mike Malm won this one in January for his first Circuit ring and almost $85k. He took down the top prize on the heels of his 2024 Alberta Poker Index Player of the Year win over 485 entries in a game that hit $424,375 in prizes.

I won’t likely be watching this one very closely until Day 2. My Monday focus will be on Day 2 of the TORSE, and moving to the PKO game when that one finishes. I’ll update the numbers and final chip counts for Day 1, and focus on Day 2 of this one for Tuesday, but don’t expect much coverage of Day 1 of this game.

It took about 9 hours to play down from the 50 returning players to a winner tonight, but going from six left to the winner was lightning-fast. They played nine-handed for quite a while, then stalled again at six for a bit, with short stacks trying to jostle for ladders.

Once the dam burst with Michael Baldwin’s elimination in 6th place, the game was over within half an hour. Kyle Ho was riding a big stack through most of the day, and held the lead from 6-handed all the way down to the end.

In the final hand, both Ho and runner-up Trevor Otterson hit pairs, with Ho on ten-seven and hitting his ten, and Otterson on nine-eight and hitting his nine. Both players were suited, with Ho in spades and Otterson in diamonds. Ho turned two pair to take a bigger lead, and held for his third circuit ring.

Ho actually won this very event back in May of 2023, when he bested 224 entries for a win worth $45,635. He also picked up a ring last year in Montreal in another $1k event where he beat 236 players for $46,000. This win should push Ho’s lifetime earnings over $1.15 million.

Final Table Results from $1k

See the Payouts tab for a full look at the prizes.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Kyle Ho	$68,673
2	Trevor Otterson	$45,799
3	Richard Berenbaum	$31,199
4	Zizhu Zhao	$21,710
5	Matt Kwong	$15,438
6	Michael Baldwin	$11,225
7	John Scalise	$8,349
8	Michael Bernstein	$6,355
9	Christopher Floyd	$4,954
10	Antonio Ma	$3,957

They went from five left to heads up in just a few minutes at the start of Level 27. I’ve missed a lot of the action while trying to write up the posts, but Richard Berenbaum ended his day in 3rd place now.

That leaves Kyle Ho heads up with Trevor Otterson, with Ho in the lead.

Immediately after Matt Kwong was sent to the payout cage, Zizhu Zhao followed him out. I missed the action while writing the previous bust.

Matt Kwong has been short for a while, and he shoved for a second time. This time, he ended up in a race with king-jack overs against the pocket fives for Kyle Ho. The 8♥A♣A♦10♣3♥ runout didn’t improve Kwong, and he was out in 5th place.

Matt Kwong shoved 330k under the gun, and it folded around to Zizhu Zhao in the big blind. He looked at his cards and started chuckling to himself, presumably because he felt forced to call almost any two for just 3 bigs more.

He put in the call with the unsuited, but connected, six-five against ace-king for Kwong. They both hit the flop, but by the time the 3♠6♣A♣4♠J♥ board was complete, the ace for Kwong was still ahead for the double up.

Michael Baldwin raised the hijack to 160k, then shoved after Kyle Ho repopped the cutoff to 400k. Ho called, and it was a cooler with Ho on ace-king versus ace-queen for Baldwin.

The money was likely going in on the flop anyway, as the board ran out Q♣K♠3♠2♣A♠, with both players flopping their kicker and rivering two pair.

I missed the action on the last two busts as I was finishing my dinner, but John Scalise reported to me that he lost ace-king into ace-ten. There was a ten on the flop, Scalise turned his king, but the other player tripped up on the river with a third ten for the win.

They are down to 8 left on the final table now after Chris Floyd hit the rail for 9th. I missed the action while I was getting some dinner.

Trevor Otterson leads the final nine players by almost 200k, with Matt Kwong in second.

Michael “Berny” Bernstein raised to 100k under the gun, and John Scalise called from the button, as did Chris Floyd from the big blind. Floyd checked the J♣A♥4♣ flop before Berny fired 125k. That was enough to send both other hands to the muck.

Tony Ma was the first player off the final table tonight, taking 10th place for $3,957 before I managed to get the pictures done. Below are the final nine players in the Two-Day $1k.

They are down to 10 remaining in the Two-Day $1k, and now setting the final table.

Place	Player	Prize
11	Ning Wang	$3,957
12	Jay Glass	$3,241
13	Maher Al-Mouselly	$3,241
14	Scot Munro	$2,723

Zizhu Zhao opened early to 60k, and Richard Berenbaum called from the middle before John Scalise counted out a three-bet to 300k and slif it in.

“Too much,” said Zhao, folding. Berenbaum also mucked.

“I made it too big,” Scalise said, showing the ace of hearts.

They are down to 14 players, with Level 22 about to begin. Richard Berenbaum leads four players with more than a million at this point.

Chips on Break

Place	Player	Prize
15	Skyler York	$2,723
16	Linyang Song	$2,723

It was a five-bet shove for Richard Berenbaum after Zizhu Zhao raised the cutoff to 50k, Berenbaum three-bet to 210k, Zhao four-bet to 400k, and Berenbaum shoved 895k for the five-bet.

Berenbaum was on pocket kings against the ace-king of hearts for Zhao. It looked bad for Berenbaum with an ace in the window, but he also flopped a king on the K♠10♣A♣7♦10♥ runout. That puts Berenbaum up to nearly 2 million for what looks like the chip lead, while Zhao is down to about 800k. There’s a break coming in about 10 minutes, and I’ll grab counts for the remaining players then.

Place	Player	Prize
17	Dat Le	$2,723
18	Regan Duong	$2,349

Chris Floyd opened the middle to 50k, and Ning Wang called from the big blind. They both checked the 6♥7♠3♦ flop, and after a check from Wang on the [invalid notations] turn, Floyd fired 75k and took it down.

They are down to the final two tables now with Level 21 just underway. Zizhu Zhao has taken over the lead now with about 1.5 million, while Matt Kwong is also still playing more than 1 million.

Place	Player	Prizes
19	Ayed Shweihat	$2,349
20	Lap-Chi Duong	$2,349
21	Roman Gallivan	$2,349
22	Faramarz Ghorbani	$2,349
23	Eyal Pevzner	$2,349
24	Mark Aylward-Nally	$2,349
25	Andy Truong	$2,349

On one table, Trevor Otterson opened to 45k from the middle, and it folded to big stack Matt Kwong in the big blind. He put in a three-bet to 145k, and after about a minute in the tank, Otterson gave it up.

On the other table, Antonio Ma made it 40k from the middle, then faced a shove from Lap Chi Duong to his immediate left. Ma hit the tank for a few seconds before letting go of his hand, and Duong showed ace-queen to the table while he was collecting the pot. “I’d do that with nines, tens, too,” he said.

They are down to 25 players left shortly after the break. Matt Kwong is the big leader right now as the only player with more than a million chips, while start-of-day leader Ky;e Ho is second with 850k.

Final 25 Counts

Recent Busts

Place	Player	Prize
26	Jordan Banfield	$2,349
27	Behnam Esfahanizadeh	$2,081

They are down to 27 left on the break following Level 18. The two players who just got shoves through weren’t able to survive their next shoves and are part of the recent cashouts.

Place	Player	Prize
28	Jimmy Lehouiller	$2,081
29	Kyle Tougas	$2,081
30	Colten Yamagishi	$2,081

After an open to 27k from Trevor Otterson from the button, Jimmy Lehouiller shoved his big blind for 132k. Otterson had think, but elected to fold.

Meanwhile, on the next table over, Kyle Tougas open-shoved the middle and picked up the blinds and antes with no resistance..

The field is down to 30 left, about 2.5 Levels after the start of the day. Full prizes are posted under the Payouts tab, and below is the first look at today’s cashouts.

Place	Player	Prize
31	Trent Hopper	$2,081
32	Ran Yi	$2,081
33	Holly Lingel	$2,081
34	Deven Lane	$2,081
35	Jacob Hobday	$2,081
36	Pascal Gregoire	$1,982
37	Marlyn Peet	$1,982
38	Robert Limpert	$1,982
39	Edgar Zurawell	$1,982
40	Matthew Hall	$1,982
41	Garett Maybery	$1,982
42	Ryan Jensen	$1,982
43	Alemu Makonen	$1,982
44	Johnny Yu	$1,982
45	Robert Stuve	$1,982
46	Mark Mounsey	$1,982
47	Allan Alejandro	$1,982
48	Yi Sheng Cheng	$1,982
49	George Hamwi	$1,982
50	Cindy Kerslake	$1,982

I wasn’t able to watch any of the $1k today as I was busy in Chrome with Day 2 of the TORSE game, but the final tally for the game was 364 entries for prizes of $318,500. That meant 55 paid spots for this game, and they played into the money late on Day 1.

Five players collected cash before they bagged up at the end of Level 15, leaving 50 players coming back for Day 2 on Tuesday. Kyle Ho bagged the big stack at the end of Day 1 with just under 600k, while Skyler York was a ways back with 423k. Zizhu Zhao, John Scalise, and Jordan Banfield rounded out the top five chip counts, all with more than 400k. Regen Duong, in 6th, is the only other player with 400k or more.

The Day 2 action gets going at 2 PM on Tuesday, and they’ll play down to a winner before the end of the night. Blinds will remain at 40 minutes long throughout the game.

Day 1 Payouts

Place	Player	Prize
51	Praba Siva	$1,982
52	Tyler Panas	$1,982
53	Cliff Green	$1,982
54	Jorge Pacheco	$1,982
55	Mehmet Siginc	$1,982

Day 2 Chips, Sorted by Seat