2026 Pure Poker Tour Series #1 – Event #11: $560 NLH

It was Sharma Time all night tonight, as DJ Sharma steamrolled the final table. Of the 8 eliminations at the FT, Sharma was responsible for 6. He held the chip lead throughout the final table, and while it wasn’t all smooth sailing, he played a more patient game than has been typical for Sharma.

Of course, he wouldn’t be Sharma if he wasn’t willing to play a wide range, and tonight was no different. As an example, he sent Todd Cochrane home in 3rd place when he cracked Cochrane’s ace-king of hearts with seven-five offsuit, after calling a 2.5x raise from the small blind and flopping a seven. Cochrane shoved his overs, but Sharma snapped it off.

That set up heads up against Matthew Ouellette, with Sharma in a big lead. Ouellette was looking at a mountain, with Sharma on more than 2 million of less than 3 million in play. It was a relatively short heads-up, lasting only a few hands before Ouellette shoved a short stack.

“I haven’t looked,” Sharma said, “But I call you blind.”

Ouellette chuckled. “I haven’t looked yet either.”

Oellette was actually ahead with ten-three over eight-seven of hearts, but Sharma flopped a flush draw, turned a pair of eights, then rivered the flush to seal the deal. This was Sharma’s 10th live win, and second PPT Trophy. He also picked up a WSOP-C Circuit ring in Montreal in mid-2025, and he’s been showing a lot of progress in recent times.

After the win, he posed with many of the players from this final table, as well as a few friends and his wife, Maddie. It’s safe to say he was pretty happy to get his second trophy in his favorite local casino.

Todd Chochrane raised the small blind to 100k, and DJ Sharma called from the big. Cochrane shoved the 7♥Q♣6♦ flop and Sharma snap-called.

Sharma hit the seven with seven-five, while Cochrane was on a suited big slick. 2♠Q♠ on the runut kept Sharma ahead, and he’s now heads up against Matthew Ouellette.

DJ Sharma is running hot tonight, but he’s not winning everything. Todd Chochrane has taken two pots off him recently. In the first one, Cochrane got there with a straight over Sharma’s top pair. In the next hand versus Cochrane, Sharma again found a pair of aces with ace-queen, but Cochrane found a club flush.

In between those two hands, Sharma found hearts to flush Matthew Ouellette out of a pot, so Sharma is 1 for 3 in recent hands, but he’s still sitting with the chip lead with close to 2 million, while Cochrane has about 600k to 300k for Ouellette.

I missed the action while I was out of the room, but they are three ways now after Van Le hit the rail for fourth place. DJ Sharma is still in the lead, battling Todd Cochrane and Matthew Ouellette.

I’ve been trying to catch up on the pictures now that they’ve been backloaded, so I missed the action on the Amir Khan bust, but I did see Van Le stacking his chips.

Khan just tracked me down to give me the hand. He raised preflop, and was called by Matthew Ouellette in the small blind and Van Le in the big. Khan was on ace-queen and hit his queen, but Van Le was on seven-eight and hit trip eights to take it down.

DJ Sharma sent another one to the rail when he flushed Ed Sorensen out of the game in 6th place.

Deven Lane got his money in with pocket sevens, but he ran into Steamroller Sharma with pocket jacks again. The jacks held to send Lane home in 7th place.

DJ Sharma is the wrecking ball tonight, as he’s knocked out all the players so far. He took down Shane Beckinsale with pocket jacks holding against an ace.

The backend issues are somewhat sorted. I still can’t upload pics myself, but I was able to get them uploaded through my technical support. Below is a look at the final nine players from $560 NLH.

Deven Lane opened to 40k from the hijack, and Todd Cochrane called from the button. DJ Sharma, who was on the big blind, said before he looked at his cards that he wasn’t going to let them see the flop for that much.

That story changed after he checked his hand, and he just called to the [invalid notations] river. Sharma tanked for quite a while, uncharacteristically quiet, before finally checking. Cochrane shoved, and Sharma mucked.

Cochrane showed ten-nine as he collected the pot, showing he rivered the straight.

I missed the action while writing the previous hand, but after almost 2 hours of nine-handed play, they are finally down to 8 after Arnold Groot sent his chips to DJ Sharma for 9th place.

Todd Cochrane raised the cutoff to 60k, and DJ Sharma called from the small blind. They checked the J♥10♦6♥ flop, but Sharma led for 50k on 10♠ turn.

Cochrane called, and they both checked the 5♥ river. “Ace high,” said Cochrane, showing ace-nine of spades. Sharma said he had king-high after he mucked.

In the first hand, as related by DJ Sharma, he opened early to 40k. Val Le called from the cutoff, and Todd Cochrane called from the small blind. On the jack-six-six flop, Cochrane and Le got it in, pushing Sharma out, and it was a pipped spot. Le had queen=jack against jack-ten for Cochrane, and Le hit an unnecessary queen on the river.

Shortly after, Le was in a hand with Amir Khan. With the flop reading 5♦A♦3♠ Khan, who was in the big blind, check-called for 30k. He check-called again for 30k on the A♥ turn, and again for 100k on the 9♥ river.

Le showed ace-jack of clubs for trip aces, and Khan mucked, showing just the ace of spades and mucking his other card face down.

DJ Sharma opened under the gun to 36k, and only Todd Cochrane called from the small blind. They checked it through the flop and turn until Cochrane fired 50k on the river of 4♥3♠9♦8♠7♣.

“Do you actually have something?” Sharma asked. “Did hit something?”

“I started with something.”

Sharma folded ace-queen face up, and Cochrane went to muck his hand. “Show one,” Sharma said.

“I’ll show both,” Cochrane replied, showing pocket eights for the flopped set. The table agreed he definitely had something.

Sebastian Crema was the first player out in the money in the $560 NLH, ending his day in 10th place. Below is a look at how the final nine are seated at the final table, but I’m having some technical issues trying to upload photos tonight so, for now at least, I’m unable to post the final table faces. I’ll try to backload pics once the tech issues are resolved.

Arnold Groot opened to 20k from the button before Todd Cochrane repopped the big blind to 60k. Groot called to the J♠7♦10♥ flop.

Cochrane shoved the flop for 91k, sending Groot into the tank for a bit.

“What’s your name?” Groot asked.

“Todd.”

“What’s your last name?”

“Cochrane. Is that relevant to the call?” The table had a bit of a laugh while Groot considered his option before finally mucking his hand after a couple of minutes.

They are in the money now in the main game, after Michael “Berny” Bernstein busted on the bubble in a cooler. He was all-in with ace-king but ran into kings for Amir Khan. The kings held, and Khan had him slightly outstacked.

They played three hands on the bubble, and all players are now guaranteed at least $1,175.

DJ Sharma is still leading with the players on a break now. When they return in a couple of minutes, action will be hand-for-hand with 11 remaining and 10 paid.

Sharma has almost 700k right now, with Arnold Groot in second.

The main game has just broken down to two tables, with 18 players left. That puts them 10 off the money spots. The next break is less than an hour away, following Level 16, and I’ll get a full round of chip counts then. The average stack right now is just over 30 big blinds.

Alemu Makonen raised to 6k from the middle, and Van Le topped up his big blind with a call. They checked it down through the flop and turn, with Le firing 10k on the river of 8♦9♦5♣6♠9♥. Makonen called, but mucked when Le showed nine-eight of spades for the riverboat.

Thomas Taylor opened to 6k from the hijack before Chad Winnick shoved a short stack from the button. Edward Sorensen reshoved bigger from the big blind, and Taylor backed away.

It was a classic race between ace-jack for Winnick and pocket tens for Sorensen, and the tens held by hitting a set on the river of 2♣Q♦8♥6♠10♣.

It looks like DJ Sharma is the big leader right now with 301k in front of him. I didn’t see any other stacks that were more than 200k, with Curtis Moore apparently in second with 170k. Lap Chi Duong and Thomas Taylor are also sitting with more than 100k right now.

About 5 minutes remain in Level 12, with another break scheduled following this level. I’ll have a quick look at the stacks on the break to find some big ones.

The prizes are in, and the field is confirmed at 99 entries, for prizes of just over $47k. The winner later tonight is set to pocket $13,645, assuming no deals, with 10 players sharing in the prizes.

Entries are now closed for Event #11, and the final unofficial total is 99 entries. If that holds on prize pool confirmation, it should mean 10 players sharing in prizes worth $47,025. I’ll confirm all the numbers once the prizes are posted, which should be shortly.

15 minutes remain in Level 8, and this is the final level of entry. The 30-minute dinner break follows this level, with entries set to close at the end of dinner. That puts them about 45 minutes from the final chance to enter.

The prizes are now nearing $45k, with 91 entries on the board. It’s still looking like a good bet for a field of 100 or more, and if they hit triple digits, that will put the prizes at $47,500.

The prizes are just shy of $40k now with 84 entries on the board. 20 minutes remain in Level 7, with another full level of entries to follow this one.

The desk is open through the dinner break following Level 8, but will be closed when they sit down for Level 9 at about 5:45 PM. With the current numbers and pace, it looks like the final field will be around 100 entries today.

The first break is complete in Event #11, with the field at 67 entries. That puts the prizes over $30k and climbing, with just shy of 2.5 hours left to enter today’s game.

DJ Sharma, Steve Cheung, Ryan Smith, Praba Siva, Cliff Green, Cam Stewart, Stephen Dauphinais, Thomas Taylor, Haven Taylor, Michael Flanagan, Lap Chi Duong, and Matthew Ouellette are among the players at the felt for Level 5.

Event #11: $560 NLH ($500 + $60)

Wednesday’s main game is the $560 NLH. Played as straight no-limit hold’em, the game kicks off at 1 PM with players getting 30k to start.

Blinds are 30 minutes long all day, and players have 8 levels to enter or rebuy. That should put the last entry at about 5:45 when they return from dinner.

I’ll likely be late to the game for this one, though my final time will depend on how late Tuesday runs.

It was Sharma Time all night tonight, as DJ Sharma steamrolled the final table. Of the 8 eliminations at the FT, Sharma was responsible for 6. He held the chip lead throughout the final table, and while it wasn’t all smooth sailing, he played a more patient game than has been typical for Sharma.

Of course, he wouldn’t be Sharma if he wasn’t willing to play a wide range, and tonight was no different. As an example, he sent Todd Cochrane home in 3rd place when he cracked Cochrane’s ace-king of hearts with seven-five offsuit, after calling a 2.5x raise from the small blind and flopping a seven. Cochrane shoved his overs, but Sharma snapped it off.

That set up heads up against Matthew Ouellette, with Sharma in a big lead. Ouellette was looking at a mountain, with Sharma on more than 2 million of less than 3 million in play. It was a relatively short heads-up, lasting only a few hands before Ouellette shoved a short stack.

“I haven’t looked,” Sharma said, “But I call you blind.”

Ouellette chuckled. “I haven’t looked yet either.”

Oellette was actually ahead with ten-three over eight-seven of hearts, but Sharma flopped a flush draw, turned a pair of eights, then rivered the flush to seal the deal. This was Sharma’s 10th live win, and second PPT Trophy. He also picked up a WSOP-C Circuit ring in Montreal in mid-2025, and he’s been showing a lot of progress in recent times.

After the win, he posed with many of the players from this final table, as well as a few friends and his wife, Maddie. It’s safe to say he was pretty happy to get his second trophy in his favorite local casino.

Todd Chochrane raised the small blind to 100k, and DJ Sharma called from the big. Cochrane shoved the 7♥Q♣6♦ flop and Sharma snap-called.

Sharma hit the seven with seven-five, while Cochrane was on a suited big slick. 2♠Q♠ on the runut kept Sharma ahead, and he’s now heads up against Matthew Ouellette.

DJ Sharma is running hot tonight, but he’s not winning everything. Todd Chochrane has taken two pots off him recently. In the first one, Cochrane got there with a straight over Sharma’s top pair. In the next hand versus Cochrane, Sharma again found a pair of aces with ace-queen, but Cochrane found a club flush.

In between those two hands, Sharma found hearts to flush Matthew Ouellette out of a pot, so Sharma is 1 for 3 in recent hands, but he’s still sitting with the chip lead with close to 2 million, while Cochrane has about 600k to 300k for Ouellette.

I missed the action while I was out of the room, but they are three ways now after Van Le hit the rail for fourth place. DJ Sharma is still in the lead, battling Todd Cochrane and Matthew Ouellette.

I’ve been trying to catch up on the pictures now that they’ve been backloaded, so I missed the action on the Amir Khan bust, but I did see Van Le stacking his chips.

Khan just tracked me down to give me the hand. He raised preflop, and was called by Matthew Ouellette in the small blind and Van Le in the big. Khan was on ace-queen and hit his queen, but Van Le was on seven-eight and hit trip eights to take it down.

DJ Sharma sent another one to the rail when he flushed Ed Sorensen out of the game in 6th place.

Deven Lane got his money in with pocket sevens, but he ran into Steamroller Sharma with pocket jacks again. The jacks held to send Lane home in 7th place.

DJ Sharma is the wrecking ball tonight, as he’s knocked out all the players so far. He took down Shane Beckinsale with pocket jacks holding against an ace.

The backend issues are somewhat sorted. I still can’t upload pics myself, but I was able to get them uploaded through my technical support. Below is a look at the final nine players from $560 NLH.

Deven Lane opened to 40k from the hijack, and Todd Cochrane called from the button. DJ Sharma, who was on the big blind, said before he looked at his cards that he wasn’t going to let them see the flop for that much.

That story changed after he checked his hand, and he just called to the [invalid notations] river. Sharma tanked for quite a while, uncharacteristically quiet, before finally checking. Cochrane shoved, and Sharma mucked.

Cochrane showed ten-nine as he collected the pot, showing he rivered the straight.

I missed the action while writing the previous hand, but after almost 2 hours of nine-handed play, they are finally down to 8 after Arnold Groot sent his chips to DJ Sharma for 9th place.

Todd Cochrane raised the cutoff to 60k, and DJ Sharma called from the small blind. They checked the J♥10♦6♥ flop, but Sharma led for 50k on 10♠ turn.

Cochrane called, and they both checked the 5♥ river. “Ace high,” said Cochrane, showing ace-nine of spades. Sharma said he had king-high after he mucked.

In the first hand, as related by DJ Sharma, he opened early to 40k. Val Le called from the cutoff, and Todd Cochrane called from the small blind. On the jack-six-six flop, Cochrane and Le got it in, pushing Sharma out, and it was a pipped spot. Le had queen=jack against jack-ten for Cochrane, and Le hit an unnecessary queen on the river.

Shortly after, Le was in a hand with Amir Khan. With the flop reading 5♦A♦3♠ Khan, who was in the big blind, check-called for 30k. He check-called again for 30k on the A♥ turn, and again for 100k on the 9♥ river.

Le showed ace-jack of clubs for trip aces, and Khan mucked, showing just the ace of spades and mucking his other card face down.

DJ Sharma opened under the gun to 36k, and only Todd Cochrane called from the small blind. They checked it through the flop and turn until Cochrane fired 50k on the river of 4♥3♠9♦8♠7♣.

“Do you actually have something?” Sharma asked. “Did hit something?”

“I started with something.”

Sharma folded ace-queen face up, and Cochrane went to muck his hand. “Show one,” Sharma said.

“I’ll show both,” Cochrane replied, showing pocket eights for the flopped set. The table agreed he definitely had something.

Sebastian Crema was the first player out in the money in the $560 NLH, ending his day in 10th place. Below is a look at how the final nine are seated at the final table, but I’m having some technical issues trying to upload photos tonight so, for now at least, I’m unable to post the final table faces. I’ll try to backload pics once the tech issues are resolved.

Arnold Groot opened to 20k from the button before Todd Cochrane repopped the big blind to 60k. Groot called to the J♠7♦10♥ flop.

Cochrane shoved the flop for 91k, sending Groot into the tank for a bit.

“What’s your name?” Groot asked.

“Todd.”

“What’s your last name?”

“Cochrane. Is that relevant to the call?” The table had a bit of a laugh while Groot considered his option before finally mucking his hand after a couple of minutes.

They are in the money now in the main game, after Michael “Berny” Bernstein busted on the bubble in a cooler. He was all-in with ace-king but ran into kings for Amir Khan. The kings held, and Khan had him slightly outstacked.

They played three hands on the bubble, and all players are now guaranteed at least $1,175.

DJ Sharma is still leading with the players on a break now. When they return in a couple of minutes, action will be hand-for-hand with 11 remaining and 10 paid.

Sharma has almost 700k right now, with Arnold Groot in second.

The main game has just broken down to two tables, with 18 players left. That puts them 10 off the money spots. The next break is less than an hour away, following Level 16, and I’ll get a full round of chip counts then. The average stack right now is just over 30 big blinds.

Alemu Makonen raised to 6k from the middle, and Van Le topped up his big blind with a call. They checked it down through the flop and turn, with Le firing 10k on the river of 8♦9♦5♣6♠9♥. Makonen called, but mucked when Le showed nine-eight of spades for the riverboat.

Thomas Taylor opened to 6k from the hijack before Chad Winnick shoved a short stack from the button. Edward Sorensen reshoved bigger from the big blind, and Taylor backed away.

It was a classic race between ace-jack for Winnick and pocket tens for Sorensen, and the tens held by hitting a set on the river of 2♣Q♦8♥6♠10♣.

It looks like DJ Sharma is the big leader right now with 301k in front of him. I didn’t see any other stacks that were more than 200k, with Curtis Moore apparently in second with 170k. Lap Chi Duong and Thomas Taylor are also sitting with more than 100k right now.

About 5 minutes remain in Level 12, with another break scheduled following this level. I’ll have a quick look at the stacks on the break to find some big ones.

The prizes are in, and the field is confirmed at 99 entries, for prizes of just over $47k. The winner later tonight is set to pocket $13,645, assuming no deals, with 10 players sharing in the prizes.

Entries are now closed for Event #11, and the final unofficial total is 99 entries. If that holds on prize pool confirmation, it should mean 10 players sharing in prizes worth $47,025. I’ll confirm all the numbers once the prizes are posted, which should be shortly.

15 minutes remain in Level 8, and this is the final level of entry. The 30-minute dinner break follows this level, with entries set to close at the end of dinner. That puts them about 45 minutes from the final chance to enter.

The prizes are now nearing $45k, with 91 entries on the board. It’s still looking like a good bet for a field of 100 or more, and if they hit triple digits, that will put the prizes at $47,500.

The prizes are just shy of $40k now with 84 entries on the board. 20 minutes remain in Level 7, with another full level of entries to follow this one.

The desk is open through the dinner break following Level 8, but will be closed when they sit down for Level 9 at about 5:45 PM. With the current numbers and pace, it looks like the final field will be around 100 entries today.

The first break is complete in Event #11, with the field at 67 entries. That puts the prizes over $30k and climbing, with just shy of 2.5 hours left to enter today’s game.

DJ Sharma, Steve Cheung, Ryan Smith, Praba Siva, Cliff Green, Cam Stewart, Stephen Dauphinais, Thomas Taylor, Haven Taylor, Michael Flanagan, Lap Chi Duong, and Matthew Ouellette are among the players at the felt for Level 5.

Event #11: $560 NLH ($500 + $60)

Wednesday’s main game is the $560 NLH. Played as straight no-limit hold’em, the game kicks off at 1 PM with players getting 30k to start.

Blinds are 30 minutes long all day, and players have 8 levels to enter or rebuy. That should put the last entry at about 5:45 when they return from dinner.

I’ll likely be late to the game for this one, though my final time will depend on how late Tuesday runs.