2026 Pure Poker Tour Series #4 – Event #7: $780 NLH

Nu Teliani came into heads up as the short stack, with Shawn Taghavi playing about 2/3rds of the chips in play. As they started heads up, she asked “What are my chances,” and I reminded her that she still had chips, so still had a chance.

She took it to heart, grabbing a couple of doubles to take the lead, then found pocket queens against a suited ace for Taghavi. Teliani flopped a set, but Taghavi was four to Broadway. His Broadway draw bricked on the K♥Q♥10♦3♠2♥ runout, however, sending the pot and the win to Teliani.

Nu Teliani limp-called after Shawn Taghavi raised to 45k. Taghavi fired 40k on the 2♠3♥5♥flop, and Teliani shoved her 285k remaining.

Taghavi had king-three for the flopped pair, but Teliani was on a heart draw with Q♥10♥. The turn bricked, but the river flushed Teliani when it ran out 4♠J♥.

Event #7 is now heads up after Nu Teliani sent both Dennis Zekios & Weston Pring home tonight. I missed the action for Zekios while moving to the poker room, but Pring got his money in with a suited queen-eight, but couldn’t beat the king-ten for Teliani.

Shawn Taghavi is leading heads up, but Teliani just scored a double to stay alive with ace-eight against king-jack. She rivered the ace, but didn’t need it. Taghavi still has the lead.

Shawn Taghavi made it 3k to go from the button, and Weston Pring called from the small blind. Pring check-called for 30k on the 6♥6♣A♣ flop, and they both checked the [invalid notations] turn, Taghavi asked what he had behind, then shoved the big stack. Pring tanked for several minutes before finally calling with pocket deuces, which were ahead of a nine-four bluff from Taghavi. Taghavi still has the big stack by a mile – stay tuned for chip counts for the final four coming shortly.

I missed the final action for Rob Limpert’s 5th place finish tonight while I was writing the previous post, but his chips went to the big stack of Shawn Taghavi, and he’s now playing around 2/3rds of the chips in play.

Shawn Taghavi raised to 30k under the gun, and Nu Teliani shoved 132k from the big blind. Taghavi called after a short tank, for a fair fight between his Q♣10♠ and Teliani’s A♣3♥.

Teliani flopped her ace, and that was all she needed on 2♣A♦K♥10♣K♠.

Nu Teliani raised under the gun to 25k, then called when Dennis Zekios shoved 51k from the bit blind. Zekios was dominating with ace-four over eight-four of diamonds for Teliani. They both hit the four on 5♥3♣4♣Q♦2♦ but Zekios’ kicker played for the double. He now has more than 100k, but is still the short stack, while Shawn Taghavi looks to be running away with it, playing about half the chips right now.

Rob Limpert limped the small blind, then called when Weston Pring raised the big to 42k. Limpert check-called for 50k on the 10♣2♥7♣ flop, and they both checked the 6♠ turn.

Limpert led out for 70k on the 10♥ river, and Pring mucked after a short tank.

It was a cooler that ended the night for Jonathon Zacks. He woke up with pocket fives on the short stack and got it in, but ran into pocket sixes for Shawn Taghavi.

Taghavi’s sizes held on a board that missed both hands, and Zacks was out for the min-cash of $1,275.

Rob Limpert raised the middle to 20k, and Brad Young called from the big blind. They both checked the 6♣Q♥Q♣ flop, and Young led for 20k on the Q♦ turn.

Limpert called to the K♥ river, and after a check from Young, he bet 50k. Young tanked for a minute or so before sliding out the call, but mucked when Limpert showed K♠8♠ for the riverboat.

Shawn Taghavi opened to 16k early, and it folded around to Dennis Zekios in the small blind. He shoved for 97k, and after some time in the tank, Taghavi called it off with A♣7♣. He was dominated by the A♠K♥ for Zekios, and the A♥3♦6♣9♦Q♠ didn’t change anything.

Nicholas Peterson, who is fresh off his PKO win last night, raised to 12k from the middle. Nu Teliani called from the small blind, but Shawn Taghavi reraised to 36k.

Peterson asked to see Taghavi’s stack, then four-bet to 92k. Taghavi shoved, and Peterson called off with a bit more. It was a cooler with Taghavi on kings against queens for Peterson. The kings held on 3♣J♥10♠J♦5♣ and Peterson was left with about 50k behind. That went in on the next hand, and he bubbled the money spots, with all remaining players now guaranteed at least $1,275 for the min-cash.

Event #7 is down to 10 left, on the final table bubble now. Cam Stewart and Eric Wasylenko have busted the game to get them down to 10, and they’ll set the final table after the next elimination.

The Event #7 field is down to 12 players remaining, 5 off the money. It looks like PKO winner Nicholas Peterson is leading the way right now with close to 300k in play. Eric Wasylenko and Nu Teliani look to be a bit behind that stack, but also playing more than 200k. Tony Ma, Brad Young, Cam Stewart Shawn Taghavi, Rob Limpert, Dennis Zekios, Jonathan Zacks, Weston Pring, & Karin Schulenburg round out the rest of the remaining field now.

The prizes are in, and the field is confirmed at 64 entries for $42,560 in prizes. Seven players will get a share of that later tonight, with the winner pocketing more than $15k, and the min-cash set at $1,275.

Entries are now closed for Event #7, with 64 entries as the final number on the board. That’s still an unofficial number, but if it holds, it should mean 6 players getting a share of $42,560 in prizes later tonight.

The dinner break has just begun, so there are just under 30 minutes to enter today’s main game. The field as they went to dinner was 61 entries for a bit more than $40k in prizes, and I expect a few more entries over the dinner break for a final field around 65 entries.

About 30 minutes remain in Level 9, the final level of poker with entries open. The players will head out for a dinner break following this level, and entries are closed when they sit down for Level 10. The prizes are currently 1 entry shy of $40k.

Just over two hours remain until the end of entries, and the field is now at 53 entries. That puts the prizes over $35k, and I expect to see another 10-20 entries at least before it closes. Tony Ma, Cam Stewart, Kris Steinbach, Alan Zhu, Jo Teliani, and Event #3 winner Ryan Comely are among the players in action at the moment.

About 15 minutes remain until the second break following Level 6, with the field now at 46 entries. That puts the prizes at more than $30k, with 28 players still competing for a piece of it.

Entries remain open for 3 more levels after the break, with the desk set to shut down about 7 PM.

About 20 minutes remain in Level 5, and the prizes are closing in on $25k. The field is now at 36 entries, with 24 players still sitting with chips. Entries remain open for about 3.5 hours.

About 30 minutes remain in Level 4, and the field is now at 25 entries. Ali Razzaq was the most recent buy-in, with Weston Pring, Shawn Taghavi, Michael St. Pierre-Porter, Jarret Gray, Rob Limpert, and Colten Yamagishi among the other players in action today.

Level 3 has just begun in the $780 NLH game, with the field at 17 entries, with 14 players still alive. That puts the early prizes over $11k and climbing.

Entries remain open for more than 5 hours, with the desk set to close at 7 PM.

Event #7: $780 NLH ($700 + $80)

Monday’s main game is the $780 NLH. Action starts at noon, and players get 30k to start, and will play 40-minute levels throughout the game (20 minutes heads up).

Entries are open for 9 levels, with the desk closing at around 7 PM. After that, they’ll play to a winner.

In previous series, this game has typically been the 6-Max, so there aren’t any past results to report for this one.