2026 Spring Super Stack – Event #13: $600 PLO

It was a pretty stacked money game in the $600 PLO tonight, and Julius Roque was atop the chips the whole way. The game started out very quickly, playing down to the final table just after 10 PM, less than three hours after registration closed.

There were still two more spots to decide before the money when they got to the final table, and just before midnight, the bubble burst with multiple ring and bracelet winner in PLO, Jerry Li, ended just outside the money. It took more than an hour for the first player to cash out, as Roque had a stranglehold on most of the chips, leaving the rest of the table in brutal ICM spots.

Mal Hagan was finally the one to get chipped down and out first, but he survived through 75 minutes of trading short stacks around the table. It took nearly another hour before the next player fell after Colten Yamagishi had his aces cracked by Kurtis Ruhl. In the run-up to Yamagishi’s exit, Ruhl doubled twice to stay alive from fumes, including one that he called verbally preflop.

That hand opened the floodgates, with Fraser Short, Sebastian Crema, and Joseph Leung going out in short order. That left the formerly shortest stack, Ruhl, heads up with the leader from the start, Roque.

Roque had a small lead to start HU off, but Ruhl quickly evened it up. It only took a few hands heads up to decide it. Roque raised to 90k from the button, and then called when Ruhl made it 280k.

The money went in on the 9♥4♦3♣ flop. Ruhl led with a pot bet of 570k, which was most of his stack. Roque hit the tank for several minutes as he asked to see the remainder of Ruhl’s stack. Roque had the lead, and could take it down with a correct call, but he’d be left with a very short stack if he was wrong.

He finally put in the raise to force Ruhl all in, and Ruhl called it off.

Ruhl flopped top pair, but Roque’s pair of queens was still good. The turn changed that, with Ruhl hitting two pair, but when the three paired on the river, Roque was left with all the chips.

Ruhl, who was fresh off his dominating HORSE win on Monday, added $8,613 to his series total, while Roque bagged $11,610 for the win, as well as the trophy mug, from the printing presses of Bill Thomson.

Roque was his customary humble self after the game. “I got lucky,” he said with a smile. And, of course, he’s right, but it was also his 16th live poker win and will push his lifetime earnings near $750k, so it’s safe to say that, along with the luck you always need to win a poker tournament, he has some skills at cards too.

Julius Roque and Kurtis Ruhl are basically dead even at the break following Level 22. They’ll be back to finish it out in about 10 minutes.

It’s heads up now after Joseph Leung got his short stack in with K♣8♣6♠5♠ against A♣A♦8♥6♦ for Julius Roque, and Q♦Q♠J♠7♥ for Kurtis Ruhl. Ruhl and Roque checked it down through 9♥8♠4♣9♠2♦, and his aces were good for the pot, sending Leung out in 3rd place.

Roque, who has led from the start of this final table, is heads up against Ruhl, who was the short stack for much of this table. He’s still the short stack, but it’s a lot closer now, with Roque on about 1.2 million to 1 million for Ruhl. Roque is looking for his first win this series, but Ruhl crushed the HORSE game the other day, so he’s looking for win #2.

The floodgates are open now after Sebastian Crema limped in under the gun, and Julius Roque and Kurtis Ruhl followed suit before Joseph Leung raised to 67k. That put Crema all in when he called, and both Roque and Ruhl called behind as well.

There was no side pot as the three active players checked down the[invalid notations] board, and the cards were revealed. Crema had nin-six-six-five, Leung had seven-sic-five-three, Ruhl had queen-queen-jack-deuce, while Roque ran out best with 9♣8♠3♣2♠ for two pair eights and threes, and the win.

I missed the action, but Fraser Short followed Colten Yamagishi to the rail for 5th place tonight. As he came up to collect his prize, his only comment was “Aces no good.”

The last few levels have seen short stack after short stack double, but the dam finally burst. Colten Yamagishi shoved the cutoff, and Kurtis Ruhl called it down with more.

Yamagishi looked good with A♣A♥9♥8♥ against 10♥9♦8♣6♦ for Ruhl, but Ruhl found the perfect runout on the board of K♣A♦7♥4♣5♣ to hit a straight and crack Yamagishi’s set of aces.

Kurtis Ruhl keeps finding ways to survive. He was on the big blind again, and shoved an ace-high flop for his remaining 42k. Julius Roque called it off from the button with kings, saying, “Ace is good.”

Ruhl indeed had an ace, and the rest of the board didn’t help Roque, sending another double back across to Ruhl. Roque still has a stranglehold on the chip counts with well over a million, but the short stacks just keep finding ways to survive.

Kurtis Ruhl was in the big blind, and before the hand was dealt, he turned to me and said, “Start writing the update. Im doubling this hand.”

The action folded around the table to Julius Roque on the button. He looked like he was about to put some money in, but Fraser Short, in the small blind, said he was planning to pot blind to pot Ruhl’s short stack all in. Roque folded and Short made good on his promise.

Ruhl called it off, and they had very similar hands. Short was on J♣9♥7♥2♥ against J♠9♦7♠3♣. The board ran out 3♥9♣8♦5♦6♠ and, initially, the table thought Short won it with nines and eights, until the dealer pointed out the nine-high straight for Ruhl, and he took down the double, as predicted before the hand.

The game is down to 6 left now after Mal Hagan took seventh place. He’d been nursing the short stack since well before the money, and was able to find one double, but it wouldn’t last.

He was ini with 9♦9♣8♥2♦, with Sebastian Crema and Colten Yamagishi calling preflop. On A♥5♠10♦ flop, Crema check-folded to a shove from Yamagishi, who revealed Q♦10♥10♠7♦ for the flopped set, and Hagan was drawing thin. The runout of 3♦7♥ was no help, and Hagan took the min-cash of $1,872.

In the first hand, Julius Roque raised the middle to 25k, then called when Sebastian Crema potted to 81k from the big blind. Crema shoved for 32k on the [invalid notations] against A♠10♦7♠4♥ for Roque. The aces held for Crema on the runout, and he got a double.

In the next hand, Mal Hagan shoved under the gun, and Julius Roque called. Both players were playing an ace; Hagan had ace-seven-six-three against ace-six-five-four. and after the board ran out K♦8♦A♥Q♦8♣, Hagan’s seven played for kicker and he took stacked up a double.

The PLO game is now in the money after Jerry Li bubbled the money spots. He sent his chips over to the ever-growing stack of chip leader Julius Roque.

They are on the money bubble in the PLO game, with 8 players left. Below is a look at how the final 8 players stack up.

They are still nine0handed on the final table of the PLO game, with Julius Roque still leading. He has close to 650k now, which is almost 1/3rd of the chips in play. He just took a big pot off Mal Hagan to chip up and leave Hagan on under 100k.

The final table is now being set with nine players remaining. They are still two players off the money spots, and I’ll grab pictures once they get to the money. Darrell Moore was the final table bubble, when his tens & sevens were capped by Julius Roque’s tens & nines, and that just added to Roque’s chip lead.

They are now 4 off the money on the break following Level 14. It seems likely that they’ll hit the bubble play sometime in Level 15 or early Level 16.

Julius Roque is still leading, but he’s down to about 430k. Sebastian Crema looks to be second with 360k, with Jerry Li and Fraser Short on around 300k.

The PLO game is down to 12 players left now, just five off the money. About 10 minutes remain in Level 14, with another break scheduled following this level.

It looks like Julius Roque is the chip leader now with more than 500k in front of him, but Fraser Short and Sebastian Crema are both playing stacks in the 400k range.

The PLO field is down to 15 remaining, with about 15 minutes to play in Level 13. That puts them 8 eliminations off the money.

The prizes are in, and the field of 73 is confirmed. That means 7 players will be sharing more than $37k ini prizes later tonight. There are 19 players left now, putting them 12 eliminations off the money spots. Fraser Short, Greg Genge, Jerry Li, Kirk Miller, Mal Hagan, Sebastian Crema, Julius Roque, Colten Yamagishi (who was runner-up in the 6-Max yesterday), Steohen Dauphinais (who won the 6-Nax yesterday), and Kurtis Ruhl (who won the HORSE a couple of days ago) are among the players still sittinig with chips.

Entries are closed for the PLO side game, with the final number on the board at 73 entries. That number is still unofficial, but if it holds, seven players will share in the $37,449 in prizes later tonight. I’ll confirm all the numbers when the prizes are posted.

The PLO game is into Level 10, the final level for entries. Entries remain open through the 15-minute break following this level, but will be closed when they sit down for Level 11 at about 7:45.

The prizes are now over $30k for the PLO game, with 62 entries on the board. There is just under an hour left to buy into this game tonight, and the final field still looks like it will end around 70 entries.

The PLO game has just shy of two hours left to enter, and the field is now at 56 entries. There are still two levels of entry after the break that follows this level, with the desk scheduled to shut down at ~7:45 PM. At this point, it’s looking like this field will top out around 70 entries.

Just over two hours remain in entries for the PLO game, with the field now at 53 entries. That puts the prizes over $27k and climbing. A final field of more than 60 entries looks like a lock for this one.

The prizes for the PLO game are now over $25k, with 50 entries now on the board. About 2.5 hours remain in entries for this one, so I still expect to see ~20 more entries before it closes.

The PLO field is closing in on 50 entries now, with the prizes just shy of $25k. Level 5 is nearly complete, and there are about 3 hours left to enter the game.

The PLO players are just about to head out for their first break of the day with the conclusion of Level 4. The field is now at 43 entries for prizes of a bit more than $22k, with about 3.5 hours left to jump into the game.

The prizes are over $15k, with the action in Level 3 for the $600 PLO game. There are still more than 4 hours left to register for this game, so I’d expect to see a final field of 60 or 70 for this one by the time the desk closes.

Event #13: $600 PLO ($540 + $60)

The side game on Wednesday is the $600 PLO. Players get 30k in chips for their $600 to play 30-minute levels throughout the day.

Entries are open for 10 levels of poker, with three breaks. That should put the final chance to enter at about 7:45 PM. After that, the game plays down to a winner before the end of the night.

Players registering for this one should expect a late night. Level 22 isn’t expected to end until after 2 AM, and it seems likely that this game will play later than Level 22, so expect to be playing until 3 or 4 AM at least before the final hands are dealt.

There were no $600 PLO games during last year’s Super Stack games, so there is nothing to compare this game to directly; however, both series featured a $800 PLO Megastack. In the Spring series, Aidan Klingbeil took down the prize over 66 entries for $45,144 in prizes, while in the Summer, Homan Mohammadi took down the win over 47 entries for $32,148 in prizes.

It was a pretty stacked money game in the $600 PLO tonight, and Julius Roque was atop the chips the whole way. The game started out very quickly, playing down to the final table just after 10 PM, less than three hours after registration closed.

There were still two more spots to decide before the money when they got to the final table, and just before midnight, the bubble burst with multiple ring and bracelet winner in PLO, Jerry Li, ended just outside the money. It took more than an hour for the first player to cash out, as Roque had a stranglehold on most of the chips, leaving the rest of the table in brutal ICM spots.

Mal Hagan was finally the one to get chipped down and out first, but he survived through 75 minutes of trading short stacks around the table. It took nearly another hour before the next player fell after Colten Yamagishi had his aces cracked by Kurtis Ruhl. In the run-up to Yamagishi’s exit, Ruhl doubled twice to stay alive from fumes, including one that he called verbally preflop.

That hand opened the floodgates, with Fraser Short, Sebastian Crema, and Joseph Leung going out in short order. That left the formerly shortest stack, Ruhl, heads up with the leader from the start, Roque.

Roque had a small lead to start HU off, but Ruhl quickly evened it up. It only took a few hands heads up to decide it. Roque raised to 90k from the button, and then called when Ruhl made it 280k.

The money went in on the 9♥4♦3♣ flop. Ruhl led with a pot bet of 570k, which was most of his stack. Roque hit the tank for several minutes as he asked to see the remainder of Ruhl’s stack. Roque had the lead, and could take it down with a correct call, but he’d be left with a very short stack if he was wrong.

He finally put in the raise to force Ruhl all in, and Ruhl called it off.

Ruhl flopped top pair, but Roque’s pair of queens was still good. The turn changed that, with Ruhl hitting two pair, but when the three paired on the river, Roque was left with all the chips.

Ruhl, who was fresh off his dominating HORSE win on Monday, added $8,613 to his series total, while Roque bagged $11,610 for the win, as well as the trophy mug, from the printing presses of Bill Thomson.

Roque was his customary humble self after the game. “I got lucky,” he said with a smile. And, of course, he’s right, but it was also his 16th live poker win and will push his lifetime earnings near $750k, so it’s safe to say that, along with the luck you always need to win a poker tournament, he has some skills at cards too.

Julius Roque and Kurtis Ruhl are basically dead even at the break following Level 22. They’ll be back to finish it out in about 10 minutes.

It’s heads up now after Joseph Leung got his short stack in with K♣8♣6♠5♠ against A♣A♦8♥6♦ for Julius Roque, and Q♦Q♠J♠7♥ for Kurtis Ruhl. Ruhl and Roque checked it down through 9♥8♠4♣9♠2♦, and his aces were good for the pot, sending Leung out in 3rd place.

Roque, who has led from the start of this final table, is heads up against Ruhl, who was the short stack for much of this table. He’s still the short stack, but it’s a lot closer now, with Roque on about 1.2 million to 1 million for Ruhl. Roque is looking for his first win this series, but Ruhl crushed the HORSE game the other day, so he’s looking for win #2.

The floodgates are open now after Sebastian Crema limped in under the gun, and Julius Roque and Kurtis Ruhl followed suit before Joseph Leung raised to 67k. That put Crema all in when he called, and both Roque and Ruhl called behind as well.

There was no side pot as the three active players checked down the[invalid notations] board, and the cards were revealed. Crema had nin-six-six-five, Leung had seven-sic-five-three, Ruhl had queen-queen-jack-deuce, while Roque ran out best with 9♣8♠3♣2♠ for two pair eights and threes, and the win.

I missed the action, but Fraser Short followed Colten Yamagishi to the rail for 5th place tonight. As he came up to collect his prize, his only comment was “Aces no good.”

The last few levels have seen short stack after short stack double, but the dam finally burst. Colten Yamagishi shoved the cutoff, and Kurtis Ruhl called it down with more.

Yamagishi looked good with A♣A♥9♥8♥ against 10♥9♦8♣6♦ for Ruhl, but Ruhl found the perfect runout on the board of K♣A♦7♥4♣5♣ to hit a straight and crack Yamagishi’s set of aces.

Kurtis Ruhl keeps finding ways to survive. He was on the big blind again, and shoved an ace-high flop for his remaining 42k. Julius Roque called it off from the button with kings, saying, “Ace is good.”

Ruhl indeed had an ace, and the rest of the board didn’t help Roque, sending another double back across to Ruhl. Roque still has a stranglehold on the chip counts with well over a million, but the short stacks just keep finding ways to survive.

Kurtis Ruhl was in the big blind, and before the hand was dealt, he turned to me and said, “Start writing the update. Im doubling this hand.”

The action folded around the table to Julius Roque on the button. He looked like he was about to put some money in, but Fraser Short, in the small blind, said he was planning to pot blind to pot Ruhl’s short stack all in. Roque folded and Short made good on his promise.

Ruhl called it off, and they had very similar hands. Short was on J♣9♥7♥2♥ against J♠9♦7♠3♣. The board ran out 3♥9♣8♦5♦6♠ and, initially, the table thought Short won it with nines and eights, until the dealer pointed out the nine-high straight for Ruhl, and he took down the double, as predicted before the hand.

The game is down to 6 left now after Mal Hagan took seventh place. He’d been nursing the short stack since well before the money, and was able to find one double, but it wouldn’t last.

He was ini with 9♦9♣8♥2♦, with Sebastian Crema and Colten Yamagishi calling preflop. On A♥5♠10♦ flop, Crema check-folded to a shove from Yamagishi, who revealed Q♦10♥10♠7♦ for the flopped set, and Hagan was drawing thin. The runout of 3♦7♥ was no help, and Hagan took the min-cash of $1,872.

In the first hand, Julius Roque raised the middle to 25k, then called when Sebastian Crema potted to 81k from the big blind. Crema shoved for 32k on the [invalid notations] against A♠10♦7♠4♥ for Roque. The aces held for Crema on the runout, and he got a double.

In the next hand, Mal Hagan shoved under the gun, and Julius Roque called. Both players were playing an ace; Hagan had ace-seven-six-three against ace-six-five-four. and after the board ran out K♦8♦A♥Q♦8♣, Hagan’s seven played for kicker and he took stacked up a double.

The PLO game is now in the money after Jerry Li bubbled the money spots. He sent his chips over to the ever-growing stack of chip leader Julius Roque.

They are on the money bubble in the PLO game, with 8 players left. Below is a look at how the final 8 players stack up.

They are still nine0handed on the final table of the PLO game, with Julius Roque still leading. He has close to 650k now, which is almost 1/3rd of the chips in play. He just took a big pot off Mal Hagan to chip up and leave Hagan on under 100k.

The final table is now being set with nine players remaining. They are still two players off the money spots, and I’ll grab pictures once they get to the money. Darrell Moore was the final table bubble, when his tens & sevens were capped by Julius Roque’s tens & nines, and that just added to Roque’s chip lead.

They are now 4 off the money on the break following Level 14. It seems likely that they’ll hit the bubble play sometime in Level 15 or early Level 16.

Julius Roque is still leading, but he’s down to about 430k. Sebastian Crema looks to be second with 360k, with Jerry Li and Fraser Short on around 300k.

The PLO game is down to 12 players left now, just five off the money. About 10 minutes remain in Level 14, with another break scheduled following this level.

It looks like Julius Roque is the chip leader now with more than 500k in front of him, but Fraser Short and Sebastian Crema are both playing stacks in the 400k range.

The PLO field is down to 15 remaining, with about 15 minutes to play in Level 13. That puts them 8 eliminations off the money.

The prizes are in, and the field of 73 is confirmed. That means 7 players will be sharing more than $37k ini prizes later tonight. There are 19 players left now, putting them 12 eliminations off the money spots. Fraser Short, Greg Genge, Jerry Li, Kirk Miller, Mal Hagan, Sebastian Crema, Julius Roque, Colten Yamagishi (who was runner-up in the 6-Max yesterday), Steohen Dauphinais (who won the 6-Nax yesterday), and Kurtis Ruhl (who won the HORSE a couple of days ago) are among the players still sittinig with chips.

Entries are closed for the PLO side game, with the final number on the board at 73 entries. That number is still unofficial, but if it holds, seven players will share in the $37,449 in prizes later tonight. I’ll confirm all the numbers when the prizes are posted.

The PLO game is into Level 10, the final level for entries. Entries remain open through the 15-minute break following this level, but will be closed when they sit down for Level 11 at about 7:45.

The prizes are now over $30k for the PLO game, with 62 entries on the board. There is just under an hour left to buy into this game tonight, and the final field still looks like it will end around 70 entries.

The PLO game has just shy of two hours left to enter, and the field is now at 56 entries. There are still two levels of entry after the break that follows this level, with the desk scheduled to shut down at ~7:45 PM. At this point, it’s looking like this field will top out around 70 entries.

Just over two hours remain in entries for the PLO game, with the field now at 53 entries. That puts the prizes over $27k and climbing. A final field of more than 60 entries looks like a lock for this one.

The prizes for the PLO game are now over $25k, with 50 entries now on the board. About 2.5 hours remain in entries for this one, so I still expect to see ~20 more entries before it closes.

The PLO field is closing in on 50 entries now, with the prizes just shy of $25k. Level 5 is nearly complete, and there are about 3 hours left to enter the game.

The PLO players are just about to head out for their first break of the day with the conclusion of Level 4. The field is now at 43 entries for prizes of a bit more than $22k, with about 3.5 hours left to jump into the game.

The prizes are over $15k, with the action in Level 3 for the $600 PLO game. There are still more than 4 hours left to register for this game, so I’d expect to see a final field of 60 or 70 for this one by the time the desk closes.

Event #13: $600 PLO ($540 + $60)

The side game on Wednesday is the $600 PLO. Players get 30k in chips for their $600 to play 30-minute levels throughout the day.

Entries are open for 10 levels of poker, with three breaks. That should put the final chance to enter at about 7:45 PM. After that, the game plays down to a winner before the end of the night.

Players registering for this one should expect a late night. Level 22 isn’t expected to end until after 2 AM, and it seems likely that this game will play later than Level 22, so expect to be playing until 3 or 4 AM at least before the final hands are dealt.

There were no $600 PLO games during last year’s Super Stack games, so there is nothing to compare this game to directly; however, both series featured a $800 PLO Megastack. In the Spring series, Aidan Klingbeil took down the prize over 66 entries for $45,144 in prizes, while in the Summer, Homan Mohammadi took down the win over 47 entries for $32,148 in prizes.