2026 Pure Poker Tour Series #1 – Event #3: $670 NLH

Event #3 is over, and it ended in a three-way chop. The stacks weren’t that far apart once they got three-way, and the players started talking about how quickly variance could take over the game. They ran the ICM numbers and everyone was happy, so the deal was done.

Brad Bishop had the chip lead and took the win and $26k. David (Heechan) Kang was second and took $23,275, while Jeff Forester grabbed third place for $20k. The final table results are below, with the full prizes listed under the payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Brad Bishop	$26,006*
2	David Kang	$23,275*
3	Jeff Forester	$20,009*
4	Mehmet Siginc	$11,185
5	Curtis Singleton	$8,610
6	Cam Stewart	$6,820
7	Steve Azizi	$5,370
8	Pav Braich	$4,250
9	David Cox	$3,465

Mehmet Siginc shoved his button, but Brad Bishop reshoved the small blind with more. Jeff Forester open-mucked pocket fives to leave them heads up.

Siginc was on queen-ten, but he ran into ace-king for Bishop. An ace-king on the flop left Siginc drawing thin to a jack for a straight, but it never came, and the start-of-day leader had to settle for fourth place tonight, after sending his stack to the player who was right behind him to start the day.

Mehmet Siginc raised the small blind enough to put big blind Brad Bishop all in. Bishop called it off in good shape with king-ten over seven-three of hearts for Siginc.

It should have been pretty easy for Bishop, but when the flop came with two hearts, he was a bit sweaty. The runout was clean, however, and his king-high held for the double-up from 1.15 million.

Brad Bishop was the short stack at the break, but he just doubled from 650k. Big stack Heechang Kang raised to 160k from the button, then called it off when Bishop shoved.

Kang was dominated with ten-nine into king-ten, and the 2♠3♥J♦J♣7♦ board missed both hands to leave the king-high in front.

Heechan Kang has almost 3 million for the chip leader right now, with Mehmet Siginc on 2.34 million. See below for the final four stacks going into Level 27.

They are down to 4 after Curtis Singleton hit the rail tonight for 5th place. I missed the final action, but he was left short after Jeff Forester cracked his aces with jacks, but he managed to ladder up one spot after that for 5th place.

Cam Stewart looks to be continuing his momentum from last year, with another final table performance here on the PPT. He bowed out in 6th place tonight in action that I missed while I was out of the room.

Heechan Kang limped the small blind, then called when Mehmet Siginc made it 180k to go from the big blind. Kang fired 120k on the A♠6♣8♦ flop, and Siginc called to the 4♦ turn.

They both checked to the 3♠ river, where Kamg put out 160k. Siginc hit the tal for a bit before he mucked.

“Did you have something?” he asked.

“Of course,” replied Kang as he collected the pot.

Curtis Singleton raised the middle to 100k before Jeff Forester shoved the cutoff for 975k. Heechan Kang tanked for a bit on the button before he mucked. Both blinds mucked as well before Singleton snapped it off with the biggest stack and pocket aces.

Forester was in trouble with pocket jacks, but he found a jack on the flop, and Singleton couldn’t catch up. The hand put Forester close to 2 million, while Singleton is down to about 300k as Level 26 gets underway.

Steve Azizi was short after the crazy hand against Heechan Kang recently, and he shoved blind from early position. Mehmet Siginc and Curtis Singleton both called, then checked it down through a board of 3♦6♦6♥A♦9♣.

Azizi’s ten-five was no good against pocket eights for Siginc, and Singleton mucked to send Azizi home in 7th as the pot slid to Siginc.

Heechan Kang raised to 150k under the gun, and Steve Azizi called from his immediate left. Kang fired another 150k on the 8♦6♥3♥ flop, and Azizi shoved a covering stack.

Kang called it off, but was in rough shape when he saw Azizi flopped a set of eights. A queen of hearts on the turn flipped the script to send Kang to the lead, but Azizi had the eight of hearts for a flush draw. The 7♠ river was a brick for both, and the queens held.

Kang doubled off 640k, and left Azizi on about 200k.

Steve Azizi and Mehmet Siginc are finding some interesting blind on blind hands tonight. In the most recent confrontation, Azizi limped the small, and Siginc checked the big.

“Pay attention, Lyle,” Cam Stewart said. “Something crazy is about to happen.”

The flop was 2♣K♣6♥ and Azizi bet 60k. The table commented that it was the perfect flop for Siginc’s six-deuce from the previous confrontation, but Siginc mucked his hand before Azizi showed pocket aces to the table.

Pav Braich shoved for 190k under the gun, and Jeff Forester called from the big blind. Braich was on Q♠10♠ ahainst A♠J♦ for Forester.

Forester found an ace to take a bigger lead on the flop, but Braich flopped a spade draw. He ultimately bricked it when the board ran K♠5♠A♣2♦2♣, and Forester sent him to the rail with a dlopped pair of aces.

Poker often comes down to the run of the cards, but sometimes, something happens that almost makes the cards irrelevant. That was the case when Steve Azizi and Mehmet Siginc ended up chopping a hand blind v blind.

Azizi limped to 40k from the small blind, then called when Siginc made it 140k from the big. Azizi check-called for 140k on the nine-nine-ten, two-club flop. Another ten came on the turn, which also brought in a second flush draw.

Azizi checked again, and Siginc fired 270k. Azizi said he thought about shoving, but instead flatted, and they both checked the 8♣ river, which brought in the club flush. The table was in disbelief when they finally saw the hands — Azizi was on a counterfeit pair of sevens, while Siginc was playing six-deuce, and they chopped up a pot after some crazy action.

They are down to 8 now after David Cox picked up his second cash of the series. He previously won Event #4, the PLO Deepstack Hyper.

Cam Stewart raised the middle to 60k, and it folded to Steve Azizi in the big blind, who called to see 2♦2♠10♥ on the flop. He led for 130k, forcing Stewart to fold.

“Don’t raise my big blind again,” he said with a smile, showing six-deuce to the table as he took the pot.

Steve Azizi limped from the middle before Brad Bishop limped from the button, and Jeff Forrester and David Cox came along from the blinds. All four players checked the 4♦5♦K♥ flop, but after two checks on the Q♦ tur, Azizi bet 65k and took it down.

The final table is now set after Brad Bishop sent Lap Chi Duong home in 10th place. Bishop limped the small blind, and Duong checked his option to see 4♣2♦J♠ on the flop.

Bishop check-shoved over a 50k bet from Duong, and he called it off with top pair holding jack-seven. Bishop smashed the flop for two pair with four-deuce, however, and held on the 6♦9♦ run out.

Stay tuned for the final table faces.

After Brad Bishop limped from the small blind, Lap Chi Duong, who is vlogging his tournament today at LapChiPoker on Instagram, turned the camera around to face him, and chugged the remaining half of his beer.

As he swallowed the final swig, he announced, “All in”.

“Who does that,” asked Steve Azizi with a smile, while Bishop quietly mucked his hand to the short-stack, theatrical shove from Duong.

Steve Azizi was first in from the cutoff with a limp. Chip Leader Brad Bishop followed from the button, and Lap Chi Duopng completed from the small blind before Pav Braich decided he wasn’t going to a flop four ways and shoved for 440k.

That was plenty to watch Azizi, Bishop, and Duong fold in order to send him the pot. Duong is pretty short now.

Day 2 is down to 10 players left, on the bubble to the final table now. Level 22 started about 5 minutes ago, so they are about 75 minutes from the next break, with the average stack at about 35 big blinds.

Place	Player	Prize
11	Graham Douglas	$2,285
12	Imran Murani	$2,285
13	Michael St. Pierre-Porter	$1,990
14	Edward Sorensen	$1,990

Curtis Singleton opened the button to 45k, and both Steve Azizi and Brad Bishop called from the blinds. They all checked through the 3♦J♥K♠7♣ flop and turn, but Azizi fired 100k on the 6♣ river. Bishop mucked, but Singleton called, only to see his king-nine drop to the twp pair for Azizi with king-jack.

Michael St. Pierre-Porter limped the small blind, then called when Mehmet Siginc made it 50k from the big. They both checked the 7♠K♣2♥ flop, but St. Pierre-Porter bet 70k on the 8♣ turn.

Siginc called, and on the 4♣ river, St. Pierre-Porter check-called for 100k, but his king-three was no good against the pocket aces for Siginc.

Brad Bishop, who bagged the biggest on Day 1a, is now the Day 2 chip leader with just shy of 1 million. See below for a look at all the stacks for the final 14 players.

The Day 2 field is now 5 off the final table, with 14 players left. Shane Brotherwood and Trevor Patrick were the most recent exits to bring it to 14.

Place	Player	Prize
15	Shane Brotherwood	$1,990
16	Trevor Patrick	$1,730
17	Jo Teliani	$1,730

Pav Braich has moved to Table 17 to take over the seat of Jo Teliani, who ended her day in 17th place. He shoved a few hands after he arrived at the table, getting it through to take the blinds and antes.

In the next hand, Cam Stewart raised the cutoff to 30k, and Curtis Singleton defended his big blind with a call. Singleton check-folded the 7♣10♠9♣ flop after Stewart bet 45k. Stewart was on a tear at the end of 2025, final tabling a bunch of times in the final two series, with multiple heads-up finishes, but he’s still looking for his first trophy. It looks like he hasn’t lost any momentum to start 2026, as he’s deep in for another cash so far, and now just 7 eliminations away from another final table.

Heechan Kang opened early to 25k on the final hand of Level 19. Mehmet Siginc called from the hijack, as did Jeff Forester from the big blind.

The flop was 7♠J♠5♦, and Forester checked to Kang, who fired 50k. Siginc got out of the way, but Firester stuck around for the A♦ turn.

Forester check-called again, this time for 125k. On the 3♥ river, Forester checked again, but then mucked when Kang fired a sized-down 90k river bet.

Steve Azizi opened under the gun to 35k, but realized he’d stepped in it after Jo Teliani shoved the hijack, and Graham Douglas reshoved a bit smaller from the small blind. He got out of the way to leave Teliani’s ace-king of clubs up against pocket aces for Douglas.

The aces held, and Azizi joked after the hand that he was “4th” in that three-way, mucking queen jack. He would have flopped a jack on [invalid notations] but his flopped jacks were never good. Teliani is a bit short now after counting out the double for Graham when she couldn’t find the cards she needed.

Edward Sorenson opened from the cutoff to 30k before Lap Chi Duong shoved the button for 155k. Sorensen called it off for the most classic of flips — ace-king for Duong into queens for Sorensen.

Duong spiked a king on the flop, but he was still worried about the queen coming through the river on a board of 3♥5♣K♣8♠4♣. Duong is vlogging his game today on his Instagram page.

They are down to the final two tables now after Nathan Tang hit the rail for 19th place. DJ Sharma followed him to the rail immediately after they got to the final two tables to put the game at 17 left.

There are about 30 minutes to play in Level 19, with about 70 minutes remaining until the next break.

Place	Player	Prize
18	Dj Sharma	$1,730
19	Nathan Tang	$1,365

Cam Stewart opened under the gun to 20k, and Nathan Tang called from the cutoff, as did Brad Bishop from the big blind. They all checked the 6♥J♠Q♦ flop, but when Bishop led for 20k on the 10♦ turn, Stewart and Tang folded to send the pot to Bishop.

Michael St. Pierre-Porter opened the button to 20k, then snapped it off when Jeff Forester shoved the big blind with a covering stack. It was a classic race between ace-king for St. Pierre-Porter against pocket nines for Forester. Forester remained good on the flop, but St. Pierre-Porter turned the ace on J♠2♣10♦A♦4♣ to get the double to a bit more than 200k, while Forester is still playing almost 700k.

Meanwhile, on other tables, Holly Berry & Alemu Makonen hit the rail to bring the game to 19 left.

Place	Player	Prize
20	Alemu Makonen	$1,365
21	Holly Berry	$1,365

The J♦3♠4♣ flop was already out, and DJ Sharma was facing a bet of 30k from Edward Sorensen. Sharma made the call to the 7♥ turn, where Sorensen fired 50k.

Sharma pumped it up to 205k with a shove, and after a couple of minutes in the tank, Sorensen mucked his hand to send the pot to Sharma.

Level 18 is just underway, and I made it around to all the stacks during the break. Mehmet Siginc is the only player over 1 million chips right now, playing 1.15 million. Curtis Singleton is the next biggest, with 740k. See below for a full look at seats, players, and stacks.

DJ Sharma is in action today. First, Curtis Singleton doubled through him when his king-queen couldn’t crack a set of sixes for Singleton, then he scored a double when he got there on the river for trip nines against Lap Chi Duong’s flopped pair of jacks. See the action below, as recorded by LapChiPoker on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVW5M5Akoai/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The action is moving quickly so far in Event #3, with 11 players eliminated so far in the first hour and a half of play. About 20 minutes remain in Level 17 before the first break of the day, and I’ll grab full chips on the break.

Place	Player	Prize
22	James Hopkins	$1,365
23	Brett Worton	$1,365

They are down to 23 remaining now, as Level 17 gets underway. They’ll head out for the first break of Day 2 following this level, and I’ll grab a full look at the chips when they are away from the tables.

Place	Player	Prize
24	John Mccarthur	$1,365
25	Ali Razzaq	$1,365
26	Todd “The Rock”	$1,365
27	Murray Duval	$1,365

The Day 2 field is down to 26 left now after Murray Duval was the first to exit the final three tables. After working some math on the payouts for today, it looks like a certainty that whoever wins this event will take the current lead in the Player of the Series race.

There are 216 points up top for first, with Francis Fan currently leading the way with 122 points. In fact, it looks like the top three in PoS will come from today’s field, as second place will get 180, and third should get 144.

They are down to 27 players left now, on the final three tables. There are now just over 5 minutes to play in Level 15.

Place	Player	Prize
28	Justin Pennell	$1,110
29	Razvan Radu	$1,110
30	Sheraz Nasir	$1,110

Day 2 of Event #3 is now underway. Action started with just over 30 minutes to play in Level 15, and they’ll keep playing today until one player has all the chips.

Two quick eliminations to open the day have brought the field to 30 remaining now. As always, I’ll post recent busrts with each post, while the full list of all payouts for today’s game will be under the Payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
31	Benny Sarnelli	$1,110
32	Hamish Tong	$1,110

Event #3: $670 NLH Day 2 ($600 + $70)

Day 2 of Event #3 is now set, with 32 players returning from a starting field of 255 across both flights. When all the bags were collected, Mehmet Siginc’s Day 1b bag was the biggest by 150k, bagging 653k compared to the 1a leader, Brad Bishop, with 503k.

They are the only two players with more than half a million to start the day, but David Cox (1b), Lap Chi Duong (1a), and Jeff Forester (1b) round out the top five. They are all basically playing 400k or more, though Forester is technically just below that threshold at 398k. The “sixth member” of the top five is Jo Teliani with 373.5k, and she’ll be returning for Day 2 fresh off her win in the Second Chance NLH on Saturday night.

The Day 2 action starts at 1 PM, and blinds continue to play at 40 minutes. They’ll kick off the action in Level 15 with blinds at 2.5k/5k/5k, and play down to a winner before they end for the day. Full stacks and seat assignments are below.

Top Ten Stacks for Day 2

Day 2 Players, Sorted by Name

Day 2 Players, Sorted by Table & Seat (T-S)

Event #3 is over, and it ended in a three-way chop. The stacks weren’t that far apart once they got three-way, and the players started talking about how quickly variance could take over the game. They ran the ICM numbers and everyone was happy, so the deal was done.

Brad Bishop had the chip lead and took the win and $26k. David (Heechan) Kang was second and took $23,275, while Jeff Forester grabbed third place for $20k. The final table results are below, with the full prizes listed under the payouts tab.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Brad Bishop	$26,006*
2	David Kang	$23,275*
3	Jeff Forester	$20,009*
4	Mehmet Siginc	$11,185
5	Curtis Singleton	$8,610
6	Cam Stewart	$6,820
7	Steve Azizi	$5,370
8	Pav Braich	$4,250
9	David Cox	$3,465

Mehmet Siginc shoved his button, but Brad Bishop reshoved the small blind with more. Jeff Forester open-mucked pocket fives to leave them heads up.

Siginc was on queen-ten, but he ran into ace-king for Bishop. An ace-king on the flop left Siginc drawing thin to a jack for a straight, but it never came, and the start-of-day leader had to settle for fourth place tonight, after sending his stack to the player who was right behind him to start the day.

Mehmet Siginc raised the small blind enough to put big blind Brad Bishop all in. Bishop called it off in good shape with king-ten over seven-three of hearts for Siginc.

It should have been pretty easy for Bishop, but when the flop came with two hearts, he was a bit sweaty. The runout was clean, however, and his king-high held for the double-up from 1.15 million.

Brad Bishop was the short stack at the break, but he just doubled from 650k. Big stack Heechang Kang raised to 160k from the button, then called it off when Bishop shoved.

Kang was dominated with ten-nine into king-ten, and the 2♠3♥J♦J♣7♦ board missed both hands to leave the king-high in front.

Heechan Kang has almost 3 million for the chip leader right now, with Mehmet Siginc on 2.34 million. See below for the final four stacks going into Level 27.

They are down to 4 after Curtis Singleton hit the rail tonight for 5th place. I missed the final action, but he was left short after Jeff Forester cracked his aces with jacks, but he managed to ladder up one spot after that for 5th place.

Cam Stewart looks to be continuing his momentum from last year, with another final table performance here on the PPT. He bowed out in 6th place tonight in action that I missed while I was out of the room.

Heechan Kang limped the small blind, then called when Mehmet Siginc made it 180k to go from the big blind. Kang fired 120k on the A♠6♣8♦ flop, and Siginc called to the 4♦ turn.

They both checked to the 3♠ river, where Kamg put out 160k. Siginc hit the tal for a bit before he mucked.

“Did you have something?” he asked.

“Of course,” replied Kang as he collected the pot.

Curtis Singleton raised the middle to 100k before Jeff Forester shoved the cutoff for 975k. Heechan Kang tanked for a bit on the button before he mucked. Both blinds mucked as well before Singleton snapped it off with the biggest stack and pocket aces.

Forester was in trouble with pocket jacks, but he found a jack on the flop, and Singleton couldn’t catch up. The hand put Forester close to 2 million, while Singleton is down to about 300k as Level 26 gets underway.

Steve Azizi was short after the crazy hand against Heechan Kang recently, and he shoved blind from early position. Mehmet Siginc and Curtis Singleton both called, then checked it down through a board of 3♦6♦6♥A♦9♣.

Azizi’s ten-five was no good against pocket eights for Siginc, and Singleton mucked to send Azizi home in 7th as the pot slid to Siginc.

Heechan Kang raised to 150k under the gun, and Steve Azizi called from his immediate left. Kang fired another 150k on the 8♦6♥3♥ flop, and Azizi shoved a covering stack.

Kang called it off, but was in rough shape when he saw Azizi flopped a set of eights. A queen of hearts on the turn flipped the script to send Kang to the lead, but Azizi had the eight of hearts for a flush draw. The 7♠ river was a brick for both, and the queens held.

Kang doubled off 640k, and left Azizi on about 200k.

Steve Azizi and Mehmet Siginc are finding some interesting blind on blind hands tonight. In the most recent confrontation, Azizi limped the small, and Siginc checked the big.

“Pay attention, Lyle,” Cam Stewart said. “Something crazy is about to happen.”

The flop was 2♣K♣6♥ and Azizi bet 60k. The table commented that it was the perfect flop for Siginc’s six-deuce from the previous confrontation, but Siginc mucked his hand before Azizi showed pocket aces to the table.

Pav Braich shoved for 190k under the gun, and Jeff Forester called from the big blind. Braich was on Q♠10♠ ahainst A♠J♦ for Forester.

Forester found an ace to take a bigger lead on the flop, but Braich flopped a spade draw. He ultimately bricked it when the board ran K♠5♠A♣2♦2♣, and Forester sent him to the rail with a dlopped pair of aces.

Poker often comes down to the run of the cards, but sometimes, something happens that almost makes the cards irrelevant. That was the case when Steve Azizi and Mehmet Siginc ended up chopping a hand blind v blind.

Azizi limped to 40k from the small blind, then called when Siginc made it 140k from the big. Azizi check-called for 140k on the nine-nine-ten, two-club flop. Another ten came on the turn, which also brought in a second flush draw.

Azizi checked again, and Siginc fired 270k. Azizi said he thought about shoving, but instead flatted, and they both checked the 8♣ river, which brought in the club flush. The table was in disbelief when they finally saw the hands — Azizi was on a counterfeit pair of sevens, while Siginc was playing six-deuce, and they chopped up a pot after some crazy action.

They are down to 8 now after David Cox picked up his second cash of the series. He previously won Event #4, the PLO Deepstack Hyper.

Cam Stewart raised the middle to 60k, and it folded to Steve Azizi in the big blind, who called to see 2♦2♠10♥ on the flop. He led for 130k, forcing Stewart to fold.

“Don’t raise my big blind again,” he said with a smile, showing six-deuce to the table as he took the pot.

Steve Azizi limped from the middle before Brad Bishop limped from the button, and Jeff Forrester and David Cox came along from the blinds. All four players checked the 4♦5♦K♥ flop, but after two checks on the Q♦ tur, Azizi bet 65k and took it down.

The final table is now set after Brad Bishop sent Lap Chi Duong home in 10th place. Bishop limped the small blind, and Duong checked his option to see 4♣2♦J♠ on the flop.

Bishop check-shoved over a 50k bet from Duong, and he called it off with top pair holding jack-seven. Bishop smashed the flop for two pair with four-deuce, however, and held on the 6♦9♦ run out.

Stay tuned for the final table faces.

After Brad Bishop limped from the small blind, Lap Chi Duong, who is vlogging his tournament today at LapChiPoker on Instagram, turned the camera around to face him, and chugged the remaining half of his beer.

As he swallowed the final swig, he announced, “All in”.

“Who does that,” asked Steve Azizi with a smile, while Bishop quietly mucked his hand to the short-stack, theatrical shove from Duong.

Steve Azizi was first in from the cutoff with a limp. Chip Leader Brad Bishop followed from the button, and Lap Chi Duopng completed from the small blind before Pav Braich decided he wasn’t going to a flop four ways and shoved for 440k.

That was plenty to watch Azizi, Bishop, and Duong fold in order to send him the pot. Duong is pretty short now.

Day 2 is down to 10 players left, on the bubble to the final table now. Level 22 started about 5 minutes ago, so they are about 75 minutes from the next break, with the average stack at about 35 big blinds.

Place	Player	Prize
11	Graham Douglas	$2,285
12	Imran Murani	$2,285
13	Michael St. Pierre-Porter	$1,990
14	Edward Sorensen	$1,990

Curtis Singleton opened the button to 45k, and both Steve Azizi and Brad Bishop called from the blinds. They all checked through the 3♦J♥K♠7♣ flop and turn, but Azizi fired 100k on the 6♣ river. Bishop mucked, but Singleton called, only to see his king-nine drop to the twp pair for Azizi with king-jack.

Michael St. Pierre-Porter limped the small blind, then called when Mehmet Siginc made it 50k from the big. They both checked the 7♠K♣2♥ flop, but St. Pierre-Porter bet 70k on the 8♣ turn.

Siginc called, and on the 4♣ river, St. Pierre-Porter check-called for 100k, but his king-three was no good against the pocket aces for Siginc.

Brad Bishop, who bagged the biggest on Day 1a, is now the Day 2 chip leader with just shy of 1 million. See below for a look at all the stacks for the final 14 players.