2026 Pure Poker Tour Series #2 – Event #8: $340 NLH

Heads up wasn’t very long between Tyler Foran and George Mounsef, but it didn’t lack for action. Mounsef came into the final phase with the lead, but Foran fought back to take the lead for a bit.

Mounsef fought back into the lead again after a hand that started out pretty tame. Foran limped in, and Mounsef checked to Q♦J♦K♣. They both checked again to the Q♣ turm, where Mounsef fired 60k.

Foran called to see K♥ river, and Mounsef fired 80k. Foran called, but mucked when Mounsef showed king-six for the riverboat. That gave Mounsef the slight lead again, and it all kicked off the next hand.

Mounsef raised to 110k, then called it off when Foran shoved for 935k. It was a race between sevens for Foran and Q♥10♥ for Mounsef.

Foran was still ahead by the turn, but Mounsef was drawing big to both his overcards and hearts. He hit the heart on the river of 5♥6♥9♦9♣8♥ and it was all over.

The pair made a deal after the stacks evened out, agreeing that 1st place would take $7k, with second getting $6,270. Mounsef mentioned after the game that he doesn’t always play these lower buy-in games, but he makes his decision by flipping a couple of the Ryan Snides memorial chips he has. If they come up with two of Ryan’s faces, he plays. Today was a double-Snides, so perhaps he had a little help making it to the trophy.

Tyler Foran has a bit of a lead at the break, with about 1.4 million, to 1 million for George Mounsef.

George Mounsef raised to 90k, then called it off when Tyler Foran shoved for 410k. It was a race between Foran’s pocket sixes and 9♠7♠ for Mounsef, but Foran smashed the flop on the board of 5♥6♦5♣10♦2♦ to score a double and get close to even.

The game is heads up now, with Ron Lauzon taking 3rd place tonight. I missed the action while I was using the washroom, but he was the short stack in the final three.

Tyler Foran is now heads up with George Mounsef, but he has a mountain to climb, with Mounsef on about 1.8 million of the 2.4 million in play.

The game moved to the poker room, as they had to close down Pearl, and shortly after they restarted, Tyler Foran shoved over a raise from George Mounsef. Mounsef tank-called it off with the big stack, but was dominated with ace-four against ace-eight for Foran.

The board missed both hands, and Foran’s kicker played to give him the double up.

John Hubensky got his money in preflop from the button, and both Ron Lauzon and George Mounsef called from the blinds. The blinds checked the J♦J♥5♦ flop, and Lauzon check-folded the 6♠ turn.

Mounsef was on trip jacks, with Hubensky drawing dead to the 6♣ river.

George Mounsef just found a huge double-up into the lead. After he raised the button, he faced a covering shove from big blind Sandy Lam.

Mounsef hit the tank for more than a minute after getting the count to confirm her stack of more than 600k. He finally put in the call, and his pocket tens were in good shape against Lam’s 9♣8♣.

Lam flopped a club draw with backdoor straight outs, but Mounsef’s tens also improved to a set. By the time the A♠2♣10♣Q♥8♥ board was complete, Mounsef had the win and a big chip lead, as Lam was left with less than 50k behind, and she lost that a couple of hands later.

Eric Wasylenko shoved late, and Ron Lauzon called from the big blind. His ace-queen hit an ace on the flop, while Wasy’s jack-eight of hearts could only find an eight.

Stefan Maloney shoved under the gun and it folded around to Tyler Foran on the button. He reshoved more, forcing the blinds out.

Maloney was on 9♠8♣, and said after the hand that he only jammed to try and get quick folds so the blinds wouldn’t increase before he had to pay the big. Foran was in great shape with pocket jacks, but Maloney flopped open-ended.

Foran hit a jack on the turn for a set, but that gave Maloney his straight to the jack for the lead. The river was the case jack, however, giving Foran quads and sending Maloney out in 7th place.

After the nearly interminable heads-up in Event #7, I’ve missed some of the action in this one. The field is down to seven as they start Level 21. See below for a look at the cashing players so far, the final table faces, and the final seven stacks.

Place	Player	Prize
8	Resul Dauti	$1,030
9	Weston Pring	$840
10	Colten Yamagishi	$675

The prizes are in, and the field is confirmed at 95 entries. 10 players will get a share of just over $27k later tonight, with $7,855 up top for the win.

The final number on the board for the side game tonight was 95 entries. I’m still waiting for the prizes to confirm the numbers, but if it holds, then 10 players will be sharing in just over $27k at the end of the night tonight.

The prizes are just shy of $25k with about 15 minutes to play in Level 9. This is the final level for entries, and the registration desk closes when they sit down for Level 10 at about 9:30 PM.

Level 6 has just begun, and the field is now at 76 entries. That pushes the prizes close to $22k, with about 1.5 hours left to enter the side game tonight. Given the current numbers, it seems likely this could be the first single-day field over 100 entries for this series.

The side game prizes are now over $15k with 54 entries on the board. Level 3 is nearly complete, with around 2.5 hours left in entry for this game.

Level 2 has just under 15 minutes to play, and the field is up to 36 entries, with 34 still in action. That pushes the prizes over $10k already, and given the early pace, it looks like this will be a decent field with a prize pool of $20k or more.

The side game is now underway with 15 entries on the board in Level 1. Entries are open for more than 3 hours in this one, and I’m expecting a field of 70+ at least.

Event #8: $340 NLH ($300 + $40)

The side game on Monday evening is a regular NLH game. The action starts at 6 PM, and players can enter or rebuy as late as 9:30 PM, with the entry desk closing at the start of Level 10.

Players get 25k in chips for their $340, and blinds are 20 minutes long throughout the day, dropping to 15 minutes for heads-up play. This is a one-day event, so they’ll award the trophy before it ends.

The closest analog to this game from the first PPT this year was the 3rd Chance NLH. Michael St. Pierre-Porter took down the game over 69 entries ($19,665 in prizes) after a double knockout at the end.

Heads up wasn’t very long between Tyler Foran and George Mounsef, but it didn’t lack for action. Mounsef came into the final phase with the lead, but Foran fought back to take the lead for a bit.

Mounsef fought back into the lead again after a hand that started out pretty tame. Foran limped in, and Mounsef checked to Q♦J♦K♣. They both checked again to the Q♣ turm, where Mounsef fired 60k.

Foran called to see K♥ river, and Mounsef fired 80k. Foran called, but mucked when Mounsef showed king-six for the riverboat. That gave Mounsef the slight lead again, and it all kicked off the next hand.

Mounsef raised to 110k, then called it off when Foran shoved for 935k. It was a race between sevens for Foran and Q♥10♥ for Mounsef.

Foran was still ahead by the turn, but Mounsef was drawing big to both his overcards and hearts. He hit the heart on the river of 5♥6♥9♦9♣8♥ and it was all over.

The pair made a deal after the stacks evened out, agreeing that 1st place would take $7k, with second getting $6,270. Mounsef mentioned after the game that he doesn’t always play these lower buy-in games, but he makes his decision by flipping a couple of the Ryan Snides memorial chips he has. If they come up with two of Ryan’s faces, he plays. Today was a double-Snides, so perhaps he had a little help making it to the trophy.

Tyler Foran has a bit of a lead at the break, with about 1.4 million, to 1 million for George Mounsef.

George Mounsef raised to 90k, then called it off when Tyler Foran shoved for 410k. It was a race between Foran’s pocket sixes and 9♠7♠ for Mounsef, but Foran smashed the flop on the board of 5♥6♦5♣10♦2♦ to score a double and get close to even.

The game is heads up now, with Ron Lauzon taking 3rd place tonight. I missed the action while I was using the washroom, but he was the short stack in the final three.

Tyler Foran is now heads up with George Mounsef, but he has a mountain to climb, with Mounsef on about 1.8 million of the 2.4 million in play.

The game moved to the poker room, as they had to close down Pearl, and shortly after they restarted, Tyler Foran shoved over a raise from George Mounsef. Mounsef tank-called it off with the big stack, but was dominated with ace-four against ace-eight for Foran.

The board missed both hands, and Foran’s kicker played to give him the double up.

John Hubensky got his money in preflop from the button, and both Ron Lauzon and George Mounsef called from the blinds. The blinds checked the J♦J♥5♦ flop, and Lauzon check-folded the 6♠ turn.

Mounsef was on trip jacks, with Hubensky drawing dead to the 6♣ river.

George Mounsef just found a huge double-up into the lead. After he raised the button, he faced a covering shove from big blind Sandy Lam.

Mounsef hit the tank for more than a minute after getting the count to confirm her stack of more than 600k. He finally put in the call, and his pocket tens were in good shape against Lam’s 9♣8♣.

Lam flopped a club draw with backdoor straight outs, but Mounsef’s tens also improved to a set. By the time the A♠2♣10♣Q♥8♥ board was complete, Mounsef had the win and a big chip lead, as Lam was left with less than 50k behind, and she lost that a couple of hands later.

Eric Wasylenko shoved late, and Ron Lauzon called from the big blind. His ace-queen hit an ace on the flop, while Wasy’s jack-eight of hearts could only find an eight.

Stefan Maloney shoved under the gun and it folded around to Tyler Foran on the button. He reshoved more, forcing the blinds out.

Maloney was on 9♠8♣, and said after the hand that he only jammed to try and get quick folds so the blinds wouldn’t increase before he had to pay the big. Foran was in great shape with pocket jacks, but Maloney flopped open-ended.

Foran hit a jack on the turn for a set, but that gave Maloney his straight to the jack for the lead. The river was the case jack, however, giving Foran quads and sending Maloney out in 7th place.

After the nearly interminable heads-up in Event #7, I’ve missed some of the action in this one. The field is down to seven as they start Level 21. See below for a look at the cashing players so far, the final table faces, and the final seven stacks.

Place	Player	Prize
8	Resul Dauti	$1,030
9	Weston Pring	$840
10	Colten Yamagishi	$675

The prizes are in, and the field is confirmed at 95 entries. 10 players will get a share of just over $27k later tonight, with $7,855 up top for the win.

The final number on the board for the side game tonight was 95 entries. I’m still waiting for the prizes to confirm the numbers, but if it holds, then 10 players will be sharing in just over $27k at the end of the night tonight.

The prizes are just shy of $25k with about 15 minutes to play in Level 9. This is the final level for entries, and the registration desk closes when they sit down for Level 10 at about 9:30 PM.

Level 6 has just begun, and the field is now at 76 entries. That pushes the prizes close to $22k, with about 1.5 hours left to enter the side game tonight. Given the current numbers, it seems likely this could be the first single-day field over 100 entries for this series.

The side game prizes are now over $15k with 54 entries on the board. Level 3 is nearly complete, with around 2.5 hours left in entry for this game.

Level 2 has just under 15 minutes to play, and the field is up to 36 entries, with 34 still in action. That pushes the prizes over $10k already, and given the early pace, it looks like this will be a decent field with a prize pool of $20k or more.

The side game is now underway with 15 entries on the board in Level 1. Entries are open for more than 3 hours in this one, and I’m expecting a field of 70+ at least.

Event #8: $340 NLH ($300 + $40)

The side game on Monday evening is a regular NLH game. The action starts at 6 PM, and players can enter or rebuy as late as 9:30 PM, with the entry desk closing at the start of Level 10.

Players get 25k in chips for their $340, and blinds are 20 minutes long throughout the day, dropping to 15 minutes for heads-up play. This is a one-day event, so they’ll award the trophy before it ends.

The closest analog to this game from the first PPT this year was the 3rd Chance NLH. Michael St. Pierre-Porter took down the game over 69 entries ($19,665 in prizes) after a double knockout at the end.