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Check out live updates and reporting from the 2025 WSOP Circuit Calgary by Lyle Bateman. Chose an event of your choice down below:
The 2025 poker season in Canada kicks off with WSOP Circuit Calgary starting on Jan 8. There are 13 days of Circuit action planned for Cowtown and among the new additions this time around is a HORSE game for the first time in modern Alberta.
Follow the action here on the live reporting links with updates from all games on the schedule throughout the series. See below for a look at all the structures for the ring events and the live satellites.
| Level: | 31 (150000/250000/250000) |
| Entries: | 6/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
It’s been a pretty good start to 2025 for Michael Malm after a stellar 2024. Malm won the API Player of the Year last year by a mile, and it looks like he’s well on his way to another title this year. He binked a ring in the Two-Day $1k on Tuesday, and now has another final table to start the year.
| Level: | 31 (150000/250000/250000) |
| Entries: | 7/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to 7 left in the Monster Stack now with about 25 minutes to play in Level 31. Kuan-Yu Tsai was the most recent exit from the game, but I missed the action while I was out of the room for a second.
| Level: | 31 (150000/250000/250000) |
| Entries: | 8/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
I picked up the action on the flop reading 10♠7♣Q♥ and Curtis Singleton checked to Hongwei Liu who fired 1 million. Calvin Lake called before SIngleton’s cards hit the muck.
Both players checked the 4♥ turn and Liu slid out 900k on the A♣ river. Lake took a few seconds to think before pumping it up to 2.9 million. Liu called but mucked when Lake showed ace-ten of clubs for two pair and the win.
| Level: | 31 (150000/250000/250000) |
| Entries: | 8/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
Just before the dinner break, Michael Malm shoved the cutoff and was called by button Johnny Yu. Yu was at risk but had the best hand with ace-king over ace-queen. The runout was 10♠2♠A♥J♥Q♠ to send Yu to Broadway for the win. The hand put Yu over 5 million and dropped Malm to 475k. See the full stacks for the final 8 below
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 39 – 1 | Hongwei Liu | 8,000,000 |
| 39 – 2 | Tsai Kuan Yu | 2,375,000 |
| 39 – 3 | Calvin Lake | 17,500,000 |
| 39 – 4 | Michael Malm | 475,000 |
| 39 – 5 | Johnny Yu | 5,900,000 |
| 39 – 7 | Korey Dadgar | 5,200,000 |
| 39 – 8 | Kalyan Cheekuri | 16,975,000 |
| 39 – 9 | Curtis Singleton | 5,200,000 |
| Level: | 11 (1000/1500/1500) |
| Entries: | 117/314 |
| Prizes: | $475,710 |
The prize pool is now over $475k with 314 entries on the board and about 5 minutes to play in Level 11. Level 12 is the final level of entry for today’s flight with the desk open through the break following that level and will be closed when they sit down for Level 13.
The 2024 target number is 342 so it’s looking a little less likely they’ll hit that number before it closes, but 28 entries in the next hour isn’t out of the question.
| Level: | 30 (100000/200000/200000) |
| Entries: | 8/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to 8 left on the final table now after Evan Casey shoved the big blind over a cutoff open to 425k from Calvin Lake. Lake tanked for about 20 seconds then made the call with A♥8♥ over K♣Q♥. The board missed Casey completely and Lake rivered an ace just for good measure.
| Level: | 30 (100000/200000/200000) |
| Entries: | 9/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
Greg Taylor managed to run up his stack from the short stack to more than 7 million in the last couple of levels, but it all came to an end for him when they got to the final table. He shoved nines on a board with two overcards and start-of-day leader Kalyan Cheekuri heroed it off with king-queen for top pair. It was a massive pot that saw Cheekuri chip up to around 13 million and a big lead on the rest of the field now.
| Level: | 29 (100000/150000/150000) |
| Entries: | 10/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
It was blind on blind when Giulio Rosati shoved the small and Greg Taylor called from the big. Rosati was short after doubling up Honwei Liu recently while Taylor had chipped up considerably from his sort stack after the break and covered Rosati.
Taylor was on ace-five against queen-six and he turned the ace to seal the deal. I’ll grab some final table pictures and stacks shortly, but it’s worth noting that Taylor, who came out of the last break with just 645k is now on the final table with more than 7 million in front of him.
| Level: | 29 (100000/150000/150000) |
| Entries: | 11/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
Don McCall was the most recent exit from the final two tables in the Monster bringing them down to 11 and the final table bubble.
| Level: | 29 (100000/150000/150000) |
| Entries: | 12/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to 12 left now with Jeff Saunders and Terrill Coughlin hitting the cage for payouts recently. Coughlin ran into the aces of Johnny Yu and lost a big pot to leave him short, then busted shortly after.
| Level: | 29 (100000/150000/150000) |
| Entries: | 14/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
Terrill Coughlin raised to 400k from the cutoff before Johnny Yu, on the button, made it 1.2 million to go. It folded back to Coughlin and he shoved a covering stack, which Yu snap-called.
Yu had pocket aces against ace-queen and the 4♥6♦2♠6♣5♣ runout didn’t change anything.
| Level: | 29 (100000/150000/150000) |
| Entries: | 14/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to 14 left now in the Monster Stack with just under 30 minutes to play in Level 29. Marc- Andre Kudjick- Paquin from Quebec was the most recent player to cash out today.
| Level: | 28 (60000/120000/120000) |
| Entries: | 15/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
Hongwei Liu raised to 250k from the hijack and Curtis Singleton raised to 600k from the cutoff, and Giulio Rosati called from the small blind. Liu came back over-top with a shove for just under 2.7 million.
That pushed Singleton out of the hand, but Rosati asked for a count then put in the call. Liu had ace-king over queen-jack for Rosati, and the king came on the flop of K♣2♥3♠Q♥6♠. The had left Rosati under 2 million, while Liu is suddenly pushing 6 million.
Greg Taylor has also chipped up since the break. He was the short stack with 645k at the break, but he’s found some hands and is now sitting on about 4 million.
| Level: | 28 (60000/120000/120000) |
| Entries: | 15/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
Pete Fylyma just hit the rail for 16th place after a bit of a brutal end. He raised it up to 425k from early position, and Calvin Lake called from the hijack.
The flop was 10♥5♣3♥ and Fylyma fired 600k. Lake smooth-called to the 3♣ turn where he called 1.5 million. Fylyma shoved his remaining stack on the 2♣ river and Lake called it down with more. Fylyma had an overpair of jacks but Lake’s flopped set of tens and turned boat was way out in front.
| Level: | 28 (60000/120000/120000) |
| Entries: | 16/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
There are just 16 players left in the action in Day 2 of the Monster Stack now after Calir Ramsay (who was 3rd in the Black Chip and also cashed the Seniors) and Ray New hit the rail recently.
| Level: | 9 (1000/1500/1500) |
| Entries: | 180/299 |
| Prizes: | $452,985 |
The 1a field is just shy of 300 entries now for more than $450k in the kitty so far. Level 9 has about 25 minutes to play, and dinner is scheduled following this level. Once they finish dinner, three levels of poker are left before the entry desk shuts down for 1a.
| Level: | 28 (60000/120000/120000) |
| Entries: | 17/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to 17 remaining at the break following Level 27. Calvin Lake is the current leader with 6.12 million with Terrill Coughlin, start-of-day leader Kalyan Cheekuri, and Pete Fylyma all playing 5 million or more. Full stacks for the remaining 17 are below.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Calvin Lake | 6,120,000 |
| Terrill Coughlin | 5,655,000 |
| Kalyan Cheekuri | 5,500,000 |
| Pete Fylyma | 5,430,000 |
| Evan Casey | 4,465,000 |
| Hongwei Kiu | 4,365,000 |
| Tsai Kuan Yu | 4,315,000 |
| Michael Malm | 4,130,000 |
| Giulio Rosati | 4,080,000 |
| Curtis Singleton | 3,805,000 |
| Jeff Saunders | 3,560,000 |
| Korey Dadgar | 2,695,000 |
| Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin | 2,100,000 |
| Don McCall | 1480000 |
| Johnny Yu | 1,280,000 |
| Ray Nau | 1,015,000 |
| Gregory Taylor | 645,000 |
| Level: | 7 (500/1000/1000) |
| Entries: | 198/288 |
| Prizes: | $436,320 |
The Main Event opening flight is up to 288 entries now with Level 7 nearly complete. There are still five levels of poker in the entry period with the desk set to shut down at about 8:30 tonight.
| Level: | 27 (50000/100000/100000) |
| Entries: | 19/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are nearing the final two tables of play now with just under 20 minutes to play in Level 27. There is a break coming up after this level and I’ll have a look around for the big stacks while they are out of the room.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 20 |  Marco Di-Nardo | $2,602 |
| 21 | Michael Noor | $2,602 |
| 22 | Pav Braich | $2,602 |
| 23 | Thomas Sloan | $2,602 |
| 24 | Michael St. Pierre-Porter | $2,602 |
| 25 | Sam Raz | $2,602 |
| 26 | Graham Lupton | $2,602 |
| Level: | 26 (40000/80000/80000) |
| Entries: | 26/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to just 26 players left in Day 2 of the Monster Stack now. Full prizes are loaded under the payouts tab with the recent busts listed below.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | Craig Caldwell | $2,265 |
| 28 | Ghislaine Johnson | $2,265 |
| 29 | Haochen Zhou | $2,265 |
| 30 | George Jurovich | $2,265 |
| 31 | Karen Dodd | $2,265 |
| 32 | Ryan Permis | $2,265 |
| 33 | Raymond Cawaling | $2,265 |
| 34 | Joshua Frazer-James | $2,265 |
| 35 | Lisa Powell | $2,265 |
| Level: | 6 (400/800/800) |
| Entries: | 199/274 |
| Prizes: | $415,110 |
The prizes are now over $400k for the opening day of play in the WSOP-C Calgary Jan 2025 Main Event with 274 entries on the board. There are a bit more than 5 hours still left in the reg period for today’s flight, so it’s still looking good to beat the 2024 number of 342.
| Level: | 5 (300/600/600) |
| Entries: | 197/258 |
| Prizes: | $390,870 |
There are more than 250 entries for Day 1a now with Level 5 nearly complete. The 1a field is up to 258 wth 197 remaining in play right now. They are now less than 85 entries away from the 2024 1a total with the prizes pushing $400k already.
| Level: | 25 (30000/60000/60000) |
| Entries: | 35/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to the final four tables in the Monster Stack now with 35 players left alive. See below for the recent prizes and see the Payouts tab for a look at the full list.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | Dale Foyle | $2,016 |
| 37 | John Scalise | $2,016 |
| 38 | Faisel Al-Qutub | $2,016 |
| 39 | Ross Henderson | $2,016 |
| 40 | Laurence Louie | $2,016 |
| 41 | David Tran | $2,016 |
| 42 | Jim Zanidean | $2,016 |
| 43 | Zhi Yang | $2,016 |
| 44 | Rishilal Makkar | $2,016 |
| 45 | Jay Glass | $1,836 |
| 46 | Rauno Tahvonen | $1,836 |
| 47 | Brett Worton | $1,836 |
| 48 | Henry Oh | $1,836 |
| 49 | Zhiyu Chen | $1,836 |
| 50 | Lorne Voth | $1,836 |
| Level: | 5 (300/600/600) |
| Entries: | 207/244 |
| Prizes: | $369,660 |
The field is up to 244 entries in Level 5 with about 20 minutes left in the level. There are 207 players left in the game over in Sundance and more than 6 hours left for entries.
2024 Day 1a saw 342 entries, so the field this year is already less than 100 entries away from the break that number, so it’s looking good for another event to go past last year’s numbers.
| Level: | 25 (30000/60000/60000) |
| Entries: | 43/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
The Monster field is getting tamed with the field down to 5 tables now and 43 left alive. Full prizes are under the payouts tab (including 56th place now) with recent payouts below.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 42 | Rishi Makkar | $2,016 |
| 43 | Jay Glass | $2,016 |
| 44 | Rauno Tahvonen | $2,016 |
| 45 | Brett Worton | $1,836 |
| 46 | Henry Oh | $1,836 |
| 47 | Zhiyu Chen | $1,836 |
| 48 | Lorne Voth | $1,836 |
| 56 | Shawn Lange | $1,748 |
| Level: | 24 (25000/50000/50000) |
| Entries: | 50/1,536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to 50 left in the Monster Stack now with about 25 minutes to play in Level 24 and the first break of the day to follow this level. See below for the recent cashers with the full list under the Payouts tab (with the caveat that we haven’t see 56th place yet).
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | Maciej Baumgart | $1,836 |
| 52 | Christian Wallmuth | $1,836 |
| 53 | Uldis Sokolovskis | $1,836 |
| 54 | Aaron Quon | $1,748 |
| 55 | Ronald Simon | $1,748 |
| 56 | | $1,748 |
| 57 | Robbie Brar | $1,748 |
| 58 | Eric Davis | $1,748 |
| 59 | Alexander Byliccki | $1,748 |
| 60 | Sam Gottiparthi | $1,748 |
| 61 | Aaron Froese | $1,748 |
| 62 | Hassan Issa | $1,748 |
| 63 | David Van-Der-Torre | $1,748 |
| 64 | Jeffrey Cormier | $1,748 |
| 65 | Malcolm Bolger | $1,748 |
| 66 | Jason Hayashi | $1,748 |
| 67 | David Swirski | $1,748 |
| 68 | Jinrong Zhang | $1,748 |
| Level: | 3 (200/400/400) |
| Entries: | 197/197 |
| Prizes: | $298,455 |
The Main Event players are just about head out for their first break of Day 1a as the end of Level 3 approaches. There are just shy of 200 entries on the board as the clock ticks down with the 2024 target set at 342 entries. At this point, it’s looking very good to smash that number, but time will tell. Entries remain open until the end of Level 12, which should be about 8:30 PM tonight, with two more starting flights to run before Day 2 is set.
| Level: | 22 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 68/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
They are down to 68 left, but the calls of “Payout” are coming pretty fast so far today. I am actually a couple of busts behind the times with the bottom list, but here’s a first look at cashing players today.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 69 | Allan Mckinnon | $1,748 |
| 70 | Michael Cartwright | $1,748 |
| 71 | Antoine Saddleback | $1,748 |
| 72 | Duff Charette | $1,748 |
| 73 | Kelly Dalke | $1,748 |
| 74 | Zoran Pribilovic | $1,748 |
| 75 | Jayvee Lumahan | $1,748 |
| 76 | Yvan Gravel | $1,748 |
| 77 | Glenn Slater | $1,748 |
| 78 | Sevon Zargarian | $1,748 |
| Level: | 21 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 75/1536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
The action is underway for Day 2 of the Monster Stack. 78 players returned to the action today, but several have already hit the rail in early action. I’ll get the prizes updated in the backend shortly, but one early bust today was Glenn Slater. He bagged u on Day 1a with 155k so he was a bit short to start, but it’s a bit of a miracle he was here at all considering he was down to a single 5k chip on Day 1a before running it back up again. He ended his run early on Day 2, but $1,748 was a better payout than he’d have gotten on Day 1.
| Event 10: | $400 Monster Stack ($330 + $70) |
| Date: | Day 2: Jan 16, Noon |
| Blinds: | 30/45 |
| Entries: | 78/1,536 |
| Prizes: | $506,880 |
Day 2 of the Monster Stack is set with 78 players returning from the Monster-sized field of 1,536. That’s a new record for the Monster Stack in total and both flights also set individual records for size. With 947 entries on 1b, that may well be the biggest single-day field in market history.
In the end, the prizes capped out at more than $505k, but I don’t have eyes on the final payouts for Day 2. As they weren’t sure how many players would be left at the end of 1b, they waited to make up the final payouts. They’ll be posted on the board when players arrive in the morning, but my guess is that first place will be somewhere in the range of $80k+.
Kalyan Cheekuri was the 1a chip leader and they’ll carry that lead through to Day 2 with 2.45 million. 1b leader (and PKO Ring winner) Brett Worton will start the day second in chips and Curtis Singleton, Maciej Boumgart, and Calvin Lake round out the top 5 counts for Day 2.
Day 2 action kicks off at noon in the Chrome room, and this will be my main focus for Thursday. Play will begin in Level 22 with 5:02 remaining, so the action gets underway with blinds at 15k/30k/30k but will jump to 20k/40k/40k fairly quickly.
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 40 – 8 | Aaron Froese | 730,000 |
| 34 – 9 | Aaron Quon | 525,000 |
| 36 – 6 | Alex Bylicki | 1,095,000 |
| 38 – 5 | Allan McKinnon | 105,000 |
| 41 – 3 | Antoine Saddleback | 125,000 |
| 34 – 2 | Brett Worton | 2,000,000 |
| 34 – 8 | Calvin Lake | 1,645,000 |
| 33 – 8 | Chris Walmuth | 545,000 |
| 35 – 4 | Clair Ramsay | 530,000 |
| 39 – 3 | Craig Caldwell | 920,000 |
| 33 – 4 | Curtis Singleton | 1,735,000 |
| 34 – 6 | Dale Foyle | 1,075,000 |
| 41 – 7 | David Swirski | 485,000 |
| 41 – 5 | David Tran | 490,000 |
| 39 – 5 | David Vandertorre | 800,000 |
| 36 – 2 | Don McCall | 470000 |
| 40 – 7 | Duff Charette | 340,000 |
| 33 – 9 | Eric Davis | 1,150,000 |
| 35 – 2 | Evan Casey | 790,000 |
| 35 – 8 | Faisal Al Qutub | 1,385,000 |
| 32 – 8 | George Junovich | 1,360,000 |
| 38 – 3 | Ghislaine Johnson | 690,000 |
| 41 – 2 | Giulio Rosati | 1,310,000 |
| 38 – 4 | Glenn Slater | 155,000 |
| 32 – 3 | Graham Luptomn | 835,000 |
| 36 – 4 | Gregory Taylor | 935000 |
| 41 – 6 | Haochen Zhou | 310,000 |
| 35 – 3 | Hassan Issa | 580,000 |
| 39 – 8 | Henry Oh | 425,000 |
| 32 – 2 | Hongwei Kiu | 570,000 |
| 40 – 5 | Jason Hayashi | 1,080,000 |
| 40 – 6 | Jay Glass | 395,000 |
| 39 – 1 | Jayvee Lumahan | 305000 |
| 36 – 8 | Jeff Cormier | 1,160,000 |
| 32 – 1 | Jeff Saunders | 1,625,000 |
| 32 – 7 | Jim Zanidean | 1,100,000 |
| 34 – 1 | Jinyang Zhang | 780,000 |
| 36 – 9 | John Scalise | 1,455,000 |
| 39 – 4 | Johnny Yu | 385,000 |
| 35 – 7 | Joshua Frazer-Vamer | 860,000 |
| 38 – 6 | Kalyan Cheekuri | 2,450,000 |
| 36 – 7 | Karen Dodd | 660,000 |
| 41 – 4 | Kelly Dalke | 250,000 |
| 40 – 9 | Korey Dadgar | 365,000 |
| 38 – 9 | Laurence Louie | 970,000 |
| 41 – 1 | Lisa Powell | 520,000 |
| 38 – 1 | Lorne Voth | 485,000 |
| 33 – 2 | Maciej Boumgart | 1,660,000 |
| 40 – 4 | Malcolm Bolger | 805,000 |
| 33 – 5 | Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin | 235,000 |
| 33 – 7 | Marco Di Nardo | 1,280,000 |
| 40 – 1 | Michael Malm | 925,000 |
| 41 – 8 | Michael Noor | 675,000 |
| 35 – 6 | Mike Cartwright | 670,000 |
| 32 – 4 | Mike St. Pierre-Porter | 395,000 |
| 33 – 6 | Pav Braich | 930,000 |
| 36 – 5 | Pete Fylyma | 1,480,000 |
| 34 – 5 | Rauwo Tahvonen | 575,000 |
| 38 – 3 | Ray Nau | 395,000 |
| 39 – 5 | Raymond Cawaling | 970,000 |
| 38 – 7 | Raymond Trieu | 365000 |
| 38 – 2 | Rishi Makkar | 1,640,000 |
| 40 – 3 | Robbie Brar | 680,000 |
| 33 – 1 | Ronald “RJ” Simon | 875,000 |
| 34 – 3 | Ross Henderson | 380,000 |
| 36 – 3 | Ryan Permis | 930,000 |
| 39 – 6 | Sam Gottiparthi | 705,000 |
| 32 – 5 | Sam Raz | 685,000 |
| 32 – 9 | Sevon Zargarian | 285,000 |
| 39 – 2 | Shawn Lange | 335,000 |
| 33 – 3 | Terrill Coughlin | 802,000 |
| 39 – 9 | Thomas Sloan | 1,225,000 |
| 34 – 4 | Tsai Kuan Yu | 144,000 |
| 32 – 2 | Uldis Sokolovskis | 490,000 |
| 36 – 1 | Yvan Gravel | 565,000 |
| 34 – 7 | Zhigang Yang | 350000 |
| 35 – 1 | Zhiyu Chen | 195,000 |
| 35 – 5 | Zoran Pribilovic | Graham Lupton |
I think I made a typo in the 1a chips as there are two players in Seat 2 on Table 32. I verified one of the seat assignments as correct off the 1b slips, but I don’t have 1a slips anymore to check that one, so I suspect that Hongwei Kiu is listed in the wrong seat. My apologies.
| T-S | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 32 – 1 | Jeff Saunders | 1,625,000 |
| 32 – 2 | Hongwei Kiu | 570,000 |
| 32 – 2 | Uldis Sokolovskis | 490,000 |
| 32 – 3 | Graham Luptomn | 835,000 |
| 32 – 4 | Mike St. Pierre-Porter | 395,000 |
| 32 – 5 | Sam Raz | 685,000 |
| 32 – 7 | Jim Zanidean | 1,100,000 |
| 32 – 8 | George Junovich | 1,360,000 |
| 32 – 9 | Sevon Zargarian | 285,000 |
| 33 – 1 | Ronald “RJ” Simon | 875,000 |
| 33 – 2 | Maciej Boumgart | 1,660,000 |
| 33 – 3 | Terrill Coughlin | 802,000 |
| 33 – 4 | Curtis Singleton | 1,735,000 |
| 33 – 5 | Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin | 235,000 |
| 33 – 6 | Pav Braich | 930,000 |
| 33 – 7 | Marco Di Nardo | 1,280,000 |
| 33 – 8 | Chris Walmuth | 545,000 |
| 33 – 9 | Eric Davis | 1,150,000 |
| 34 – 1 | Jinyang Zhang | 780,000 |
| 34 – 2 | Brett Worton | 2,000,000 |
| 34 – 3 | Ross Henderson | 380,000 |
| 34 – 4 | Tsai Kuan Yu | 144,000 |
| 34 – 5 | Rauwo Tahvonen | 575,000 |
| 34 – 6 | Dale Foyle | 1,075,000 |
| 34 – 7 | Zhigang Yang | 350000 |
| 34 – 8 | Calvin Lake | 1,645,000 |
| 34 – 9 | Aaron Quon | 525,000 |
| 35 – 1 | Zhiyu Chen | 195,000 |
| 35 – 2 | Evan Casey | 790,000 |
| 35 – 3 | Hassan Issa | 580,000 |
| 35 – 4 | Clair Ramsay | 530,000 |
| 35 – 5 | Zoran Pribilovic | 250,000 |
| 35 – 6 | Mike Cartwright | 670,000 |
| 35 – 7 | Joshua Frazer-Vamer | 860,000 |
| 35 – 8 | Faisal Al Qutub | 1,385,000 |
| 36 – 1 | Yvan Gravel | 565,000 |
| 36 – 2 | Don McCall | 470000 |
| 36 – 3 | Ryan Permis | 930,000 |
| 36 – 4 | Gregory Taylor | 935000 |
| 36 – 5 | Pete Fylyma | 1,480,000 |
| 36 – 6 | Alex Bylicki | 1,095,000 |
| 36 – 7 | Karen Dodd | 660,000 |
| 36 – 8 | Jeff Cormier | 1,160,000 |
| 36 – 9 | John Scalise | 1,455,000 |
| 38 – 1 | Lorne Voth | 485,000 |
| 38 – 2 | Rishi Makkar | 1,640,000 |
| 38 – 3 | Ray Nau | 395,000 |
| 38 – 4 | Glenn Slater | 155,000 |
| 38 – 5 | Allan McKinnon | 105,000 |
| 38 – 6 | Kalyan Cheekuri | 2,450,000 |
| 38 – 7 | Raymond Trieu | 365000 |
| 38 – 8 | Ghislaine Johnson | 690,000 |
| 38 – 9 | Laurence Louie | 970,000 |
| 39 – 1 | Jayvee Lumahan | 305000 |
| 39 – 2 | Shawn Lange | 335,000 |
| 39 – 3 | Craig Caldwell | 920,000 |
| 39 – 4 | Johnny Yu | 385,000 |
| 39 – 5 | David Vandertorre | 800,000 |
| 39 – 5 | Raymond Cawaling | 970,000 |
| 39 – 6 | Sam Gottiparthi | 705,000 |
| 39 – 8 | Henry Oh | 425,000 |
| 39 – 9 | Thomas Sloan | 1,225,000 |
| 40 – 1 | Michael Malm | 925,000 |
| 40 – 3 | Robbie Brar | 680,000 |
| 40 – 4 | Malcolm Bolger | 805,000 |
| 40 – 5 | Jason Hayashi | 1,080,000 |
| 40 – 6 | Jay Glass | 395,000 |
| 40 – 7 | Duff Charette | 340,000 |
| 40 – 8 | Aaron Froese | 730,000 |
| 40 – 9 | Korey Dadgar | 365,000 |
| 41 – 1 | Lisa Powell | 520,000 |
| 41 – 2 | Giulio Rosati | 1,310,000 |
| 41 – 3 | Antoine Saddleback | 125,000 |
| 41 – 4 | Kelly Dalke | 250,000 |
| 41 – 5 | David Tran | 490,000 |
| 41 – 6 | Haochen Zhou | 310,000 |
| 41 – 7 | David Swirski | 485,000 |
| 41 – 8 | Michael Noor | 675,000 |
| Level: | 23 (20000/40000/40000) |
| Entries: | 48/947 (78/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
Day 1b is complete with 48 players putting chips into a bag. Brett Worton, who won the PKO ring earlier in the series, bagged the biggest 1b stack with 2 million even. Curtis Singleton, Rishi Makkar, Pete Fylyma, and John Scalise round out the top five from the second flight.
They join a total of 11 players with 1 million or more from Day 1b. The 48 baggers from 1b will join 30 players who advanced from 1a for 78 players on Day 2, all in the money.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Brett Worton | 2,000,000 |
| Curtis Singleton | 1,735,000 |
| Rishi Makkar | 1,640,000 |
| Pete Fylyma | 1,480,000 |
| John Scalise | 1,455,000 |
| George Junovich | 1,360,000 |
| Thomas Sloan | 1,225,000 |
| Jeff Cormier | 1,160,000 |
| Eric Davis | 1,150,000 |
| Jim Zanidean | 1,100,000 |
| Alex Bylicki | 1,095,000 |
| Raymond Cawaling | 970,000 |
| Laurence Louie | 970,000 |
| Gregory Taylor | 935000 |
| Ryan Permis | 930,000 |
| Pav Braich | 930,000 |
| Michael Malm | 925,000 |
| Ronald “RJ” Simon | 875,000 |
| Joshua Frazer-Vamer | 860,000 |
| Graham Lupton | 835,000 |
| Evan Casey | 790,000 |
| Jinyang Zhang | 780,000 |
| Aaron Froese | 730,000 |
| Sam Gottiparthi | 705,000 |
| Robbie Brar | 680,000 |
| Michael Noor | 675,000 |
| Karen Dodd | 660,000 |
| Ghislaine Johnson | 590,000 |
| Hassan Issa | 580,000 |
| Yvan Gravel | 565,000 |
| Clair Ramsay | 530,000 |
| Aaron Quon | 525,000 |
| David Tran | 490,000 |
| Uldis Sokolovskis | 490,000 |
| Lorne Voth | 485,000 |
| David Swirski | 485,000 |
| Don McCall | 470000 |
| Mike St. Pierre-Porter | 395,000 |
| Ross Henderson | 380,000 |
| Korey Dadgar | 365,000 |
| Raymond Trieu | 365000 |
| Duff Charette | 340,000 |
| Haochen Zhou | 310,000 |
| Jayvee Lumahan | 305000 |
| Kelly Dalke | 250,000 |
| Zoran Pribilovic | 250,000 |
| Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin | 235,000 |
| Tsai Kuan Yu | 144,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 49 | Tommy Nguyen | $1,194 |
| 50 | Giuseppe Galluzzo | $1,194 |
| 51 | Brian Nutt | $1,194 |
| 52 | Alexander Allison | $1,194 |
| 53 | Alan Schmelzel | $1,194 |
| 54 | Ty Duong | $1,071 |
| 55 | Shawn Silva | $1,071 |
| 56 | Varghese Kanjoothara | $1,071 |
| 57 | Maria Somers | $1,071 |
| 58 | Skyler York | $1,071 |
| 59 | Anderson Frank-Graham | $1,071 |
| 60 | Leanne Brown | $1,071 |
| 61 | Shane Rawlins | $1,071 |
| 62 | Ryan Parungao | $1,071 |
| 63 | David Burnard | $979 |
| 64 | Colten Yamagishi | $979 |
| 65 | Kwong Au | $979 |
| 66 | Sandra Wong | $979 |
| 67 | Luteng Li | $979 |
| 68 | Mehdi Saeed | $979 |
| 69 | Steven Barber | $979 |
| 70 | Dnr | $979 |
| 71 | Simon Lau | $979 |
| 72 | Frank Gallie | $913 |
| 73 | Sam Insole | $913 |
| 74 | Thomas Mcinnis | $913 |
| 75 | Timothy Jaggard | $913 |
| 76 | Daryl Salisbury | $913 |
| 77 | Carlos Gerones-Sanchez | $913 |
| 78 | Shoaib Syed | $913 |
| 79 | Martin Sayle | $913 |
| 80 | Takuma Bergeon | $913 |
| 81 | Douglas Cornelson | $867 |
| 82 | David Page | $867 |
| 83 | Julius Roque | $867 |
| 84 | Kevin Huang | $867 |
| 85 | Nicholas Andreas | $867 |
| 86 | Thomas Bona | $867 |
| 87 | Sheldon Viney | $867 |
| 88 | Jeff Charlebois | $867 |
| 89 | Ronnie Shaffer | $867 |
| 90 | Ruoxiao Shi | $840 |
| 91 | Ryan Johel | $840 |
| 92 | Robbie Roscoe | $840 |
| 93 | Kevin Javier | $840 |
| 94 | Tyrone Raddi | $840 |
| 95 | Zengyong Lin | $840 |
| 96 | Sky Marvin | $840 |
| 97 | Jacob Paterson | $840 |
| 98 | Kyle Levicki | $840 |
| 99 | Nancy Asselin | $800 |
| 100 | Dawn Jasin | $800 |
| 101 | Cole Harmon | $800 |
| 102 | Darren Kennedy | $800 |
| 103 | Illia Hulenko | $800 |
| 104 | Ryan Callahan | $800 |
| 105 | Zilong Zhao | $800 |
| 106 | Matthew Kwong | $800 |
| 107 | Xiao Ma | $800 |
| 108 | Taran Parmar | $800 |
| 109 | Bradley Harvey | $800 |
| 110 | Bryan Robitaille-Fequet | $800 |
| 111 | Marc-Andre Yelle | $800 |
| 112 | Lap Duong | $800 |
| 113 | Sean Godley | $800 |
| 114 | Morgan Mclellan | $800 |
| 115 | Essam Saadeddine | $800 |
| 116 | Thomas Taylor | $800 |
| 117 | Hoang Quach | $800 |
| 118 | Chun Kwan | $800 |
| 119 | Saeed Ganji | $800 |
| 120 | Joseph Jasin | $800 |
| 121 |  Kazuya Ogino | $800 |
| 122 | Karim Chatur | $800 |
| 123 | Dongwoo Ko | $800 |
| 124 | Rene Majeau | $800 |
| 125 | Devon Boutilier | $800 |
| 126 | Ian Webb | $800 |
| 127 | Allan Alejandro | $800 |
| 128 | Zachary Nicholls | $800 |
| 129 | Kayla Rojek | $800 |
| 130 | Ragnar Parn | $800 |
| 131 | Vasco Morgado | $800 |
| 132 | Brandon Wammes | $800 |
| 133 | Sebastian Fallu | $800 |
| 134 | Brandon Vallet | $800 |
| 135 | Christopher Bush | $800 |
| 136 | Tyler Dankowich | $800 |
| 137 | Alex Casillas Jariod | $800 |
| 138 | Mark Inglis | $800 |
| 139 | Paul Sokoloff | $800 |
| 140 | Hong Li | $800 |
| 141 | Trevor Ostergard | $800 |
| 142 | Deven Lane | $800 |
| 143 | Ian Modder | $800 |
| Event 12: | $1,700 Main Event ($1,515 + $185) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Jan 16, 11 AM Day 1b: Jan 17, 11 AM Day 1c: Jan 18, 11 AM Day 2: Jan 19, 11 AM Day 3: Jan 20, 11 AM |
| Blinds: | 40/60 Minutes |
| Starting Stack: | 40k |
| Late Entry: | 12 Levels (~8:30 PM) |
| Day 1 Ends: | 17 Levels (~12:10 AM) |
It’s time for the Main Event. Day 1a action gets going at 11 AM on Jan 16 with two more starting flights on Jan 18 and Jan 19. Players sit down with 40k in chips to play 40-minute levels on Day 1.
Players can enter for 12 levels during Day 1, meaning the entry desk should close around 8:30 PM. After that, they’ll play 5 more levels on Day 1 (at most) but they’ll bag early if they hit 10% of the field before then. Note that’s a change from most events in the series where bags come out at 5%.
I likely won’t be watching Day 1a or 1b very closely as there are Day 2s running on both of those days, but I should be there for the duration of 1c (with a likely late start).
| Level: | 22 (15000/30000/30000) |
| Entries: | 60/947 (90/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
They are down to 60 players left in 1b with just over 20 minutes to play in Level 22. The bags will come out early if they lose 12 more players before the end of Level 24, which looks pretty likely.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 61 | Shane Rawlins | $1,071 |
| 62 | Ryan Parungao | $1,071 |
| 63 | David Burnard | $979 |
| 64 | Colten Yamagishi | $979 |
| 65 | Kwong Au | $979 |
| 66 | Sandra Wong | $979 |
| 67 | Luteng Li | $979 |
| 68 | Mehdi Saeed | $979 |
| 69 | Steven Barber | $979 |
| 70 | Dnr | $979 |
| Level: | 21 (15000/25000/25000) |
| Entries: | 70/947 (100/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
The players are returning from the final break of the night with 70 players left in the game. That puts them 22 off the bags coming out early, but either way, they are no more than 2 hours away from the end of the night at the end of Level 24. Prizes since my last update are below.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 71 | Simon Lau | $979 |
| 72 | Frank Gallie | $913 |
| 73 | Sam Insole | $913 |
| 74 | Thomas Mcinnis | $913 |
| 75 | Timothy Jaggard | $913 |
| 76 | Daryl Salisbury | $913 |
| 77 | Carlos Gerones-Sanchez | $913 |
| Level: | 20 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 77/947 (107/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
There are about 5 minutes left to play in Level 20 and the 1b field is now down to 77, less than 30 off the early end to the night. There’s a break in play coming at the end of this level, and when they return there are four levels of poker left on the schedule, but they won’t play them all if the field gets to 48 first.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 78 | Shoaib Syed | $913 |
| 79 | Martin Sayle | $913 |
| 80 | Takuma Bergeon | $913 |
| 81 | Douglas Cornelson | $867 |
| 82 | David Page | $867 |
| 83 | Julius Roque | $867 |
| 84 | Kevin Huang | $867 |
| 85 | Nicholas Andreas | $867 |
| 86 | Thomas Bona | $867 |
| 87 | Sheldon Viney | $867 |
| 88 | Jeff Charlebois | $867 |
| 89 | Ronnie Shaffer | $867 |
| 90 | Ruoxiao Shi | $840 |
| 91 | Ryan Johel | $840 |
| 92 | Robbie Roscoe | $840 |
| 93 | Kevin Javier | $840 |
| 94 | Tyrone Raddi | $840 |
| 95 | Zengyong Lin | $840 |
| 96 | Sky Marvin | $840 |
| 97 | Jacob Paterson | $840 |
| 98 | Kyle Levicki | $840 |
| 99 | Nancy Asselin | $800 |
| 100 | Dawn Jasin | $800 |
| 101 | Cole Harmon | $800 |
| 102 | Darren Kennedy | $800 |
| 103 | Illia Hulenko | $800 |
| 104 | Ryan Callahan | $800 |
| 105 | Zilong Zhao | $800 |
| 106 | Matthew Kwong | $800 |
| 107 | Xiao Ma | $800 |
| 108 | Taran Parmar | $800 |
| 109 | Bradley Harvey | $800 |
| 110 | Bryan Robitaille-Fequet | $800 |
| 111 | Marc-Andre Yelle | $800 |
| 112 | Lap Duong | $800 |
| 113 | Sean Godley | $800 |
| 114 | Morgan Mclellan | $800 |
| 115 | Essam Saadeddine | $800 |
| 116 | Thomas Taylor | $800 |
| 117 | Hoang Quach | $800 |
| 118 | Chun Kwan | $800 |
| 119 | Saeed Ganji | $800 |
| 120 | Joseph Jasin | $800 |
| 121 | Dongwoo Ko | $800 |
| 122 | Karim Chatur | $800 |
| 123 | Kazuya Ogino | $800 |
| 124 | Rene Majeau | $800 |
| 125 | Devon Boutilier | $800 |
| 126 | Ian Webb | $800 |
| 127 | Allan Alejandro | $800 |
| 128 | Zachary Nicholls | $800 |
| Level: | 18 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 128/947 (158/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
The action is hot & heavy at the payout desk right now with 15 prizes already recorded and a line several players deep waiting for authorization. Below is a look at the first batch of 1b prizes with more to come shortly.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 129 | Kayla Rojek | $800 |
| 130 | Ragnar Parn | $800 |
| 131 | Vasco Morgado | $800 |
| 132 | Brandon Wammes | $800 |
| 133 | Sebastian Fallu | $800 |
| 134 | Brandon Vallet | $800 |
| 135 | Christopher Bush | $800 |
| 136 | Tyler Dankowich | $800 |
| 137 | Alex Casillas Jariod | $800 |
| 138 | Mark Inglis | $800 |
| 139 | Paul Sokoloff | $800 |
| 140 | Hong Li | $800 |
| 141 | Trevor Ostergard | $800 |
| 142 | Deven Lane | $800 |
| 143 | Ian Modder | $800 |
| Level: | 18 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 140/947 (170/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
They are in the money after only a couple of hands with the clock paused. Calls of “Payout” are coming fast now, so I expect to have a few prizes to update shortly.
| Level: | 18 (6000/12000/12000) |
| Entries: | 144/947 (174/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
Day 1b is now on the money bubble with Level 18 just underway. The clock will be paused when all hands are complete and assuming they haven’t lost one in the final hand, they’ll go hand-for-hand until the next elimination.
| Level: | 17 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 154/947 (184/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
With the money bubble approaching, Sam Gottiparthi and Skylar York are both stacking chips. They are both sitting on more than 650k and York relayed that he got most of those chips on a crazy hand where he jammed ace-high on the river and was called with king-high on a straight-y, rainbow board. The chips are certainly flying here at WSOP-C Calgary!
| Level: | 17 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 160/947 (190/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
There are 160 players left alive coming back from the break for Level 17 action. They’ll be back at the felt in a couple of minutes, and the hand-for-hand portion of the day will likely start sometime in Level 17.
| Level: | 16 (4000/8000/8000) |
| Entries: | 180/947 (210/1536) |
| Prizes: | $312,510 ($506,880) |
The prizes are in and the field for 1b is confirmed at 947 entries. That puts both flights and the total as a new record field for the Monster here in Calgary.
At least 48 players will advance to Day 2 from today’s flight with the money starting at 143rd place. That puts them less than 40 off the money spots, so it looks like bubble play will start sometime in Level 17 after the upcoming break.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1-48 | DAY 2 |
| 49-53 | $1,194 |
| 54-62 | $1,071 |
| 63-71 | $979 |
| 72-80 | $913 |
| 81-89 | $867 |
| 90-98 | $840 |
| 99-143 | $800 |
| Level: | 13 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 387/945 (417/1534) |
| Prizes: | $311,850 ($506,220) |
The Monster Stack prize pool ended over $500k with a new record field of 1,534. The numbers are still awaiting confirmation when the 1b prizes are posted, but even if there are some adjustments, it still looks like an easy record with $500k+ in prizes.
As the numbers stand, 142 players will get some of today’s prizes with at least 47 advancing to Day 2. Stay tuned for the full prizes and confirmation of the record numbers.
| Level: | 12 (1500/3000/3000) |
| Entries: | 363/911 (393/1500) |
| Prizes: | $300,630 ($495,000) |
The Day 1b field is now up to 911 entries with the players on their dinner break. There are just over 30 minutes left until they are back in action and entries are closed, but the combined field just hit 1,500 total entries. That puts the total prizes at $495,000 and they only need another 16 entries to cap $500k.
| Level: | 11 (1500/2500/2500) |
| Entries: | 378/855 (408/1444) |
| Prizes: | $282,150 ($476,520) |
The combined prizes are now over $475k and approaching $500k with 855 entries on the board for 1b. That makes this event a double win over 2024 with both flights beating the numbers from last year.
The combined field is now 84 entries over the 2024 total with more than an hour left in the entries here on Day 1b. They need 927 entries today to cap $500k in total prizes, and that is looking more and more likely as the end of registration approaches.
| Level: | 10 (1000/2000/2000) |
| Entries: | 415/800 (445/1389) |
| Prizes: | $264,000 ($458,370) |
The Monster Stack field is now officially bigger than it’s ever been here in Calgary with 1,389 entries combined across both flights. That’s 9 entries above last year’s record of 1,380 with about 90 minutes still left in the entry period.
The current combined prizes are closing in on $460k. $500k seems a bit out of reach at this point as they’d need more than 120 entries before the close, but $475k total prizes seems well within sight.
| Level: | 9 (1000/1500/1500) |
| Entries: | 436/760 (466/1349) |
| Prizes: | $250,800 ($445,170) |
The combined prizes are now approaching $450k with 760 entries on the board for Day 1b and 1,349 in total. That puts this year’s field just 31 entries off of last year’s total field of 1,380, so it looks like an easy win to beat that number, given that I saw about 20 players in line at the buy-in desk when I came into the room last.
Today’s field is still about 90 entries off of the 1b field in 2024, but even that number looks to be in jeopardy with about 2 hours still left in entries. It’s looking like a true Monster!
| Level: | 8 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 463/692 (493/1281) |
| Prizes: | $228,360 ($422,730) |
The Monster Stack field is now nearing 1,300 in total with close to 700 on the board for Day 1b. Day 1a was ~50 entries bigger than it was last year, and with 4 full levels of poker left in entries, it seems likely 1b with meet or beat the 2024 numbers of 850, but even if today falls a bit short, there’s a 50-entry buffer zone thanks to 1a for the total to still cap last year.
Players will be off for a break in less than 10 minutes.
| Level: | 7 (500/1000/1000) |
| Entries: | 461/634 (491/1223) |
| Prizes: | $209,220 ($403,590) |
Day 1b of the Monster is growing and is now about 150 entries away from the 2024 numbers with more than 3 hours left to enter today’s flight. Last year there were 1,380 total, after 850 on Day 1b and the total field this year is already around 1,230.
Entries are open for more than 5 levels with the desk shutting at the start of Level 13, so it seems like a lock for this one to beat 2024.
It was Ring #3 for Nicholas Lee tonight in the $1k Turbo. It was a roller coaster ride heads up as he and runner-up Mark Aylward-Nally swapped the lead several times. Lee finally emerged victorious with less than 40 big blinds in play when his red jacks held against the flopped second pair for Aylward-Nally with queen-nine on a flop of A♦9♠7♣.
It all went in on the flop when Aylward-Nally check-shoved his second pair and Lee worked out that his jacks were still best and called. The runout was bricks and Lee had his third ring in hand.
This was Lee’s 6th live win and second since November when he bagged the Harvest Poker Classic $1k event. Lee seems to like the January series here at Deerfoot Inn & Casino — in Jan 2023 he won Event #4 for his first ring, then took down the Flip & Go in Jan 2024 for ring #2. Now, Jan 2025 has brought ring #3 in the $1k Turbo, so I’d be willing to lay some heavy odds that he’ll be back for Jan 2026.
| Level: | 30 (100000/200000/200000) |
| Entries: | 1/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
It was a roller coaster ride heads up tonight with the chip lead changing several times on short stack doubles. By the final level of play, there were less than 40 big blinds on the table, but it still took some effort for Nicholas Lee to get Mark Aylward-Nally’s share.
It finally happened late in Level 30 when Lee raised to 400k and Aylward-Nally called to see a flop of A♦9♠7♣. Aylward-Nally check-shoved over a 250k bet from Lee and Lee called.
Neither player hit the ace, but Aylward-Nally was on second pair with queen-nine. Lee had that beat with red pocket jacks and the 5♦4♠ runout were bricks. Lee had the advantage at that point and Aylward-Nally had to settle one short of the ring.
| Level: | 29 (100000/150000/150000) |
| Entries: | 2/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
The lead is moving back and forth on the final table and Mark Aylward-Nally is now the leader. He just got a double to 5 million after he raised preflop to 300k and Nicholas Lee called.
Aylward-Nally fired 175k on the K♣2♦J♥ flop and Lee called to the A♣ turn. Lee check-called a bet of 620k to see 3♠ river. Aylward Nally shoved for almost 2 million and got the call, but Lee mucked when Aylward-Nally showed ace-ten for the turned pair of aces.
| Event 10: | $400 Monster Stack ($330 + $70) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Jan 14, 11 AM Day 1b: Jan 15, 11 AM Day 2: Jan 16, Noon |
| Blinds: | 30/45 Minutes |
| Starting Stack: | 40k |
| Late Entry: | 12 Levels (~6:15 PM) |
| Day 1 Ends: | Level 24 or 5% of the field |
Day 1b of the Monster Stack is set to run on Wednesday, and Day 1a was a monster. They had 589 entries for the opening flight, which blew the 2024 Day 1a number out by more than 10%. That bodes well for a big Day 1b – 2024 saw 850 entries for 1b and if the 10% holds, that would put 1b around 940 entries.
The prize pool is almost $200k already after Day 1a, so total prizes of more than $400k seems very doable. The action will get underway at 11 am on Wednesday with 40k to start. Blinds are 30 minutes long on Day 1, and late entries are open for 12 levels, or until about 6:15 PM.
The hard stop on Day 1 play is 24 levels, but Day 1a bagged 5% of the field in Level 22, and 1b will also bag early if they hit 5%. I will likely be a bit late to the floor on Wednesday, but I’ll be watching 1b until the bag.
| Level: | 28 (60000/120000/120000) |
| Entries: | 2/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
Mark Aylward-Nally started heads up with the lead, but Nicholas Lee hit two pair to grab a big double into the lead. He looks to be close to 5 million with Aylward-Nally on about 2.4 million.
The Monster Stack Day 1a is complete with 30 players advancing. The bags came out with 5:02 remaining in Level 22 when they hit 5% of the field.
Kalyan Cheekuri bagged the big stack as the only player with more than 2 million while 8 players bagged in the 1 million range. Full stacks from Day 1a are below, as well as the Day 1a payouts.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | James Mccrimmon | $1,134 |
| 32 | Duane Van Keulen | $1,134 |
| 33 | Carolyn Grad | $1,134 |
| 34 | Deliang Liu | $1,134 |
| 35 | Adam Balis | $1,134 |
| 36 | Shane Beckinsale | $1,005 |
| 37 | Rami Hammoud | $1,005 |
| 38 | Shawn Beaupre | $1,005 |
| 39 | Timothy Jaggard | $1,005 |
| 40 | Adam Cader | $1,005 |
| 41 | Kwong Au | $1,005 |
| 42 | James Chalcroft | $1,005 |
| 43 | Aleksei Ponomarev | $1,005 |
| 44 | Charlene Boustead | $1,005 |
| 45 | Fat Wong | $910 |
| 46 | Garry Chen | $910 |
| 47 |  Carlos Marquez-Baglietto | $910 |
| 48 | Jordan Banfield | $910 |
| 49 | Louis Collette | $910 |
| 50 | Korey Dadgar | $910 |
| 51 | Ross Ellas | $910 |
| 52 | Alexander Paddon | $910 |
| 53 | Kelly Lange | $910 |
| 54 | Oleksandr Lobur | $843 |
| 55 | Anthony Comand | $843 |
| 56 | Colin Burton | $843 |
| 57 | Frederick Parsons | $843 |
| 58 | Julius Roque | $843 |
| 59 | Derek Dufour | $843 |
| 60 | Joseph Charlebois | $843 |
| 61 | Claire Leclerc | $843 |
| 62 | Ka Long Leung | $843 |
| 63 | Thomas Bona | $803 |
| 64 | Ksenia Shuali | $803 |
| 65 | Tammie Howe | $803 |
| 66 | Michael Lloyd | $803 |
| 67 | Cody Cloutier | $803 |
| 68 | Jeremie Bilodeau | $803 |
| 69 | Evan Casey | $803 |
| 70 | Zilong Zhao | $803 |
| 71 | David Gin | $803 |
| 72 | Scott Gallant | $803 |
| 73 | Joshua Mitchell | $803 |
| 74 | Trevor Otterson | $803 |
| 75 | Albert Hahn | $803 |
| 76 | Anderson Frank-Graham | $803 |
| 77 | Bradley Ellis | $803 |
| 78 | Hoachen Zhou | $803 |
| 79 | Richarson Mane | $803 |
| 80 | Attila Draskoczy | $803 |
| 81 | Christopher Watson | $803 |
| 82 | Bradley Wilson | $803 |
| 83 | Ronald Kelly | $803 |
| 84 | David Kumar | $803 |
| 85 | Kennedy Zulu | $803 |
| 86 | Christopher Floyd | $803 |
| 87 | Jack Shaffer | $803 |
| 88 | Nancy Asselin | $803 |
| 89 | Zachary Verpaalen | $803 |
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Kalyan Cheekuri | 2,450,000 |
| Maciej Boumgart | 1,660,000 |
| Calvin Lake | 1,645,000 |
| Jeff Saunders | 1,625,000 |
| Faisal Al Qutub | 1,385,000 |
| Giulio Rosati | 1,310,000 |
| Marco Di Nardo | 1,280,000 |
| Jason Hayashi | 1,080,000 |
| Dale Foyle | 1,075,000 |
| Craig Caldwell | 920,000 |
| Malcolm Bolger | 805,000 |
| Terrill Coughlin | 802,000 |
| David Vandertorre | 800,000 |
| Sam Raz | 685,000 |
| Mike Cartwright | 670,000 |
| Rauwo Tahvonen | 575,000 |
| Hongwei Kiu | 570,000 |
| Chris Walmuth | 545,000 |
| Lisa Powell | 520,000 |
| Henry Oh | 425,000 |
| Ray Nau | 395,000 |
| Jay Glass | 395,000 |
| Johnny Yu | 385,000 |
| Zhigang Yang | 350000 |
| Shawn Lange | 335,000 |
| Sevon Zargarian | 285,000 |
| Zhiyu Chen | 195,000 |
| Glenn Slater | 155,000 |
| Antoine Saddleback | 125,000 |
| Allan McKinnon | 105,000 |
| Level: | 28 (60000/120000/120000) |
| Entries: | 2/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
In the previous level, Mark Aylward-Nally opened to 200k then called when Jacob Hobday shoved the small blind. Aylward-Nally had kings against ace-queen and while Hobday hit a queen, it wasn’t enough.
| Level: | 27 (50000/100000/100000) |
| Entries: | 3/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
Garett Maybery was short and shoved 450k over an under-the-gun open from Nicholas Lee to 150k Lee called for a race between his pocket fives and king-jack for Maybery. The fives held on a queen-high board.
It’s pretty even between the final three right now. Nicholas Lee looks to be leading with 2.7 million while Mark Aylward-Nally disclose behind with 2.65 million and Jacob Hobday is sitting on about 2 million.
| Level: | 26 (40000/80000/80000) |
| Entries: | 4/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
In the previous level of play Mark Aylward-Nally raised to 125k and Nicholas Lee called from the big blind. The flop was 5♥3♦7♠ and Lee fired 100k. Aylward-Nally called to the 7♥ turn.
Lee check-raised from 150k to 360k and Aylward-Nally called. With the pot at 1.1 million, Lee shoved 600k on the 8♥ river and forced the fold.
| Level: | 25 (30000/60000/60000) |
| Entries: | 4/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
Alex Alliston was down to about 4 big blinds and shoved. Garret Maybery reshoved with more, and Mark Aylward-McNally called with the biggest stack. Aylward-McNally was on pocket eights, Maybery had tens, while Alliston was on seven-eight. The tens held on a K♦6♣J♠3♠A♦ board for a double plus to send Alliston out in 5th place.
On his way out, Alliston asked to shout out his Mom Catherine, so Hi Mom! Your boy did good!
Thanks to Deven Lane for the hand reporting on this one.
| Level: | 25 (30000/60000/30000) |
| Entries: | 5/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
They are down to 5 players left now in the Turbo $1k. The prizes are finally updated under the Payouts tab, though 31st place is missing. I also want to thank my helpers tonight, Alex and Deven Lane who got some great coverage of the bubble and final table while I was working on other events. Check out the Deerfoot Inn & Casino Facebook page for some videos from the guys as well.
| Level: | 24 (25000/50000/50000) |
| Entries: | 9/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
Colten Yamagishi was the first to hit the rail from the final table tonight. Below is a look at the chip stacks from the last break, thanks to junior reporter Deven Lane.
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Kyle Ho | 240,000 |
| Alex Alliston | 730,000 |
| Jacob Hobday | 945,000 |
| Nicholas Lee | 635,000 |
| Wade | 245,000 |
| Jodie Dunfield | 465,000 |
| Garret Maybery | 1,085,000 |
| Mark Alyward-McNally | 2,510,000 |
| Richard Z | 530,000 |
| Level: | 20 (10000/20000/20000) |
| Entries: | 17/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
Jeff Cormier doubles
It folded to Cormier in the CO and he jammed for 210k and got called by the BB
Cormier was at risk with 77 vs 55
the board ran clean and 77 held for the double up bringing Cormier to 450k
Tommy Nguyen calls cards to stay alive
Marky nally raises to 40k and Tommy N jammed for 350k and Mark quickly called
Nally had AKo vs the 99 of Tommy
Flop AKQ
Turn J
Ten! Tommy yells out and the river indeed is a T for the chop
Back to back chop?
Andy T jams for 130k from MP and got snapped off by Cormier
Andy was at risk with 9Tcc vs JJ
AKQ flop had the players joking for another chop but 9 K runout ended Andy T’s tournament run
16 left 4 way flop
Jake H raised from the HJ and got calls from
Jeff Cormier CO
Yamgishi BU
Kyle Ho BB
Flop was A73 rainbow and Jake H c bets and Cormier raises and folds to Jake’s Shove
Cormier takes down the squeezed pot
Tommy Nguyen raises and got calls from Jeff Cormier Colten Yamgishi and it folds to Mark Nally in the Sb
M.N squeezes pre and only Cormier calls
Flop came A93r and Nally check folds to the shove of cormier
Nally 4 bet shove gets through
Nally raises to 60k on the CO and Nick Lee makes it 185k from the SB and folded when Nally shoved for effectively 750k on the 15k/25k/25k Level
Kyle ho doubles
Ho shoves for 120k from early position and Nguyen shoves for 270k from the BU and both blinds folded
Ho had 44 vs KQo of Nguyen
Board ran out j4232 and ho held for double both players live on
Ho vs Cormier
it folded to Cormier on the button and he made it 60k to go and Kyle makes it 205k from the Sb leaving 50k behind Cormier had ho covered and calls
Flop came 6s5h4s and Ho jammed his last 50k and Cormier calls
Ho had A5o vs the KQo of cormier
board ran out AdQh giving Ho the double
David Ko exits
It folded to David Ko in the SB and he jammed for 220k effective and Nick Lee in the BB calls
it was 78o of Ko vs 22 of Nick
board ran out 923k8
22 spikes another set on last few tables to send ppl home as players mention 22 is hot hot hot
Short stack play
It folded to the Sb and Nguyen Limps the 25k with 115k starting the hand, Jake H checks his option
Board ran out was A77Ak and both players chopped with T5o and 83o
12 left!
Nally raises to 60k and Nguyen puts in his last 100k from the Bb and was in good shape vs 66 vs J6o of Nally
flop came QT9 and nally nods and when the K came on the turn we saw Nguyen leave in 13th.
11 Left
Jeff Cormier defended the Bb vs the raise of Mark Nally and flop came KQx
Cormier check calls the flop and check calls the all in on the brick turn with QJ vs KJ of Nally.
board ran out dry KQxxx and Cormier exits in 12th .
Nally is now playing around 1.7m and the current tournament chip leader
| Level: | 19 (10000/15000/15000) |
| Entries: | 22/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
The field is down to 22 now, but I’m still watching the final table of the Two-Day game. Al is out on the floor grabbing some hands and he’ll update some more below, but the payouts won’t be updated in the backend until later tonight.
Sam raises 40% of his stack and calls it off effectively for 155k vs the jam of David Ko
It was QTdd for sam vs AQo for David
The board ran out
K9433 AQ held sending the pot to David Ko
BPA! Big Pot Action
Chun Kit raises to 30k and Jake H next to act makes it 85k and Chun calls
Flop came AcTcAd and Chun check raises to 60k from a c bet of 20k from Jake
Jake Calls and the turn is 2c completing the flush
chun check calls a bet of 50k from jake and they both see a river
the river was the 3c putting four clubs on the board and chun checks
Jake H after some thoughts jams effectively for 270k putting Chun at risk and Chun folds
Jake is now playing around 700k
It folds to Aidan K in the CO who jams for 80k and Nicholas Lee calls the SB and BB folds
It was ATo for Nicholas LEe and A8o for Aidan
Board ran out T877J sending the pot to Nick
Yamgishi knocks another one out
it folded to the SB who jams for 120k and Yamgishi calls it off with Q8hh up against 69cc
board runs out A4A47 and Q8 held sending the pot to Yamgishi
It folds to the button and Roman G jams for 40k with Q5dd and Richard Z calls in the BB with K8dd
Board game 4d2d9sAd4s
both players makes a flush and Roman busts in 20th
| Level: | 18 (10000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 36/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,125 |
They are in the money now in the Turbo game and I’ll update the payouts shortly. In the meantime, Al is back with some more bubble coverage.
Bubble Chip leaders
Nicholas Lee 650k
Colten Yamigishi 450k
D.Q 390k
Mark Nally 550k
Garret Mayberry 290k
Bubble time!
It folded to Colten Yamigishi’s button and he jammed effectively 150k
BB calls for 150k with A9o
Button had J8o
Q3982 had the BB doubling up
Bubble time!
It folded to the button and Aidan K jammed 70k and took it down showing KQo
Tommy Nguyen takes it down from the BB vs table chip leader Nick Lee
N.L raised to 20k in the CO and BB Tommy Nguyen defends.
Flop came As7h3h and nick lee folded his 15k bet to a check jam of 45k
Clock called during hand for hand!
Colten Yamigishi opens to 30k from +1 and the BB (Bernie) shoves for 80k and Yamigishi tank calls it off
it was TT(bb) vs 22(+1)
The board read Ah2hQcAd
and the Td showed up on the river to save Bernie from bubbling the tournament
Bubble bursts!
The BB was forced all in and it folded to the SB that completed the action
BB had J5o vs the SB K7o
SB flopped a 7 and held to bust the bubble.
Kyle Ho doubles up
It folded to Peter Pan on the button and he raised to 20k and Kyle Ho calls in the BB
Flop came
K96r and peter pan bet calls off QTo from the check raise of kyle K4o for roughly 80k
the board ran out 33 and K4 held for the double up
| Level: | 17 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 40/247 |
| Prizes: | Total Prizes: $216,123 |
3 Away from the money
The action folded to the small blind and Peter Pan raised to 30k and snapped it off when the BB jammed for 190k
Peter Pan was in the lead with AA vs 33
The board ran out 24689 Aces held
3 Away from the money
MP opens and the BB defends, the flop came
J75s , BB check-raised a bet of 25k and both players got all the chips in effectively 203k
it was a cooler flop with the BB holding 77 vs KJss
then turn brought the 6s for some hope but the river bricked out with Jh for the BB to double up
2 Away from the money
David Ko limps UTG as well as 2 others plus the blinds , 5 way to a flop of
Ad4c5d
David Ko bets 10k and only MP calls
Turn brought the Qh and David Ko check folded to a bet of 35k
2 Away from the Money
Colten Yamigishi holding the most amount of chips on his table opens to 20k and the BB defends
Flop came 8d2c4s and the BB leads 15k and folded when table chip leader made it 55k
Taking us down to the direct bubble was a cooler between Nicholas Lee and Shane Brotherwood
Shane opens to 20k from the HJ and Nick 3bets to 55k which got a call from shane
Flop came Qs2h9c and shane lead shoved his last 80k and got snapped
It was JJ for Shane and top set of QQ for Nick
gg
Thank You to Alex for picking up the reporting on this – stay tuned for another update once the bubble bursts.
| Level: | 17 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 39/247 |
| Prizes: | $216,123 |
The Turbo game is on the money bubble now with 39 players left. The field topped out at 247 entries for a prize pool of more than $215k. Alex Liu, winner of Aug 2024 Main here at WSOP-C Calgary, is wandering the floor on the bubble with a notepad as a volunteer reporter tonight, so look for a big update from him coming soon.
| Place | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | $48,513 |
| 2 | $32,320 |
| 3 | $22,055 |
| 4 | $15,426 |
| 5 | $11,065 |
| 6 | $8,146 |
| 7 | $6,158 |
| 8 | $4,785 |
| 9 | $3,823 |
| 10-11 | $3,145 |
| 12-13 | $2,665 |
| 14-17 | $2,328 |
| 18-26 | $2,100 |
| 27-38 | $2,000 |
| Level: | 17 (5000/10000/10000) |
| Entries: | 96/589 |
| Prizes: | $194,370 |
The Monster players are on the break following Level 16 now with 96 players left in the game and the prizes are in for Day 1a. There will be a total of 89 players paid from 1a, so they should be on the bubble shortly after they return from the break, and at least 30 players will advance to Day 2. They’ll bag up early if they get to 30 before the end of Level 24 or they’ll bag whoever is left after 24 levels.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1-30 | Day 2 |
| 31-35 | $1,134 |
| 36-44 | $1,005 |
| 45-53 | $910 |
| 54-62 | $843 |
| 63-89 | $803 |
| Level: | 14 (2500/5000/5000) |
| Entries: | 153/589 |
| Prizes: | $194,370 |
Entries for Day 1a of the Monster Stack are now closed with 589 entries on the board. That’s more than 10% ahead of the 1a numbers from 2024, so it bodes well for the total field size. It will all hinge on the Day 1b totals tomorrow — in 2024m Day 1b got 820 entries, so it will be a tough one to beat.
The 589 number is still unofficial pending the Day 1a payouts being posted, but if it holds, 89 players will get a piece of the Day 1a money with 30 of those moving forward into Day 2.
| Level: | 7 (500/1000/1000) |
| Entries: | 178/178 |
| Prizes: | $155,750 |
There are about 5 minutes to play in Level 7 and the field is at 178. Last January, this game got 212 entries so this year’s field is still a bit shy of 2024, but with close to two hours left to enter the game, it looks like a reasonable bet to come close or beat that number.
| Level: | 13 (2000/4000/4000) |
| Entries: | 189/587 |
| Prizes: | $193,710 |
The dinner break is nearly over in the opening flight of the Monster Stack with 587 entries on the board. That number may still increase a bit before they get underway in Level 13, and I’ll update the final number later, but the field is already 10% above the 2024 total for Day 1a of the Monster.
There are 12 more levels on the schedule, but they’ll end it early if the field gets down to 5% which, at this point, looks like it will be at 27 players (with a total of 80 getting paid).
| Level: | 11 (1500/2500/2500) |
| Entries: | 272/556 |
| Prizes: | $183,480 |
Day 1a of the Monster Stack has gone past 550 entries on Day 1a. That already beats the Day 1a number from Jan 2024, which had a total field size of 530 entries so while week 1 of the 2025 series was a little smaller than last year, week 2 is looking to make up that deficit and then some.
| Level: | 2 (200/300/300) |
| Entries: | 103/103 |
| Prizes: | $90,125 |
There are about 5 minutes to play in Level 2 of the Turbo with the field now over 100 entries. They take their first break of the day following Level 6 and entries will close at the start of Level 12.
| Level: | 1 (100/200/200) |
| Entries: | 56/56 |
| Prizes: | $49,000 |
There are 56 players in the Turbo $1k in Level 1 with about 5 minutes to play in the opening level. As expected there are quite a few familiar faces in the crowd including Stephen Dauphinais, Andy Truong, Sunny Lubana, Tyler Panas, Ryan Smith, Ryan Cairns, and Mike Leah.
Fatima Nanji is also among the players in action today playing her first event of the series. She’s been around all week though, and players who need help with Canadian taxes and/or rebates from taxed US scores should hit up her Yaletown Accounting desk in the hallway outside the Sundance room. She’ll be there all week during business hours and she understands the unique tax situation that faces poker players, so she’s an excellent resource to help get you sorted out with the CRA.
| Event 11: | $1,000 Turbo $1k ($875 + $125) |
| Date: | Jan 14, 4 PM |
| Blinds: | 20 Minutes |
| Starting Stack: | 30k |
| Late Entry: | 11 Levels (~8:10 |
| Day 1 Ends: | One-Day Event |
The Turbo $1k is on the side tonight with the action getting underway at 4 PM in the Chrome Room alongside the dwindling field in the Two-Day $1k. They sit down with 30k in chips for 20-minute levels until the ring is decided.
There are 11 levels of late entry, which should put the final chance to enter at about 8:10 PM Tuesday night. I won’t be watching this one very closely to start as the Two-Day will still be playing down to it’s ring, but once they finish that one I’ll move over to cover the Turbo.
| Level: | 8 (600/1200/1200) |
| Entries: | 315/470 |
| Prizes: | $155,100 |
The opening flight to the Monster stack is underway with action in Level 8 and almost 500 entries already. The current prizes are $155,100 with more than 3 hours left to enter the game.
I won’t likely be doing much more than reporting numbers on this one today as I’ll have my brain pointed at the $1k events today.
| Event 10: | $400 Monster Stack ($330 + $70) |
| Date: | Day 1a: Jan 14, 11 AM Day 1b: Jan 15, 11 AM Day 2: Jan 16, Noon |
| Blinds: | 30/45 Minutes |
| Starting Stack: | 40k |
| Late Entry: | 12 Levels (~6:15 PM) |
| Day 1 Ends: | Level 24 or 5% of the field |
The Monster is coming over the hill with the opening flight to the Monster Stack going on Tuesday at 11 AM. Players start with 40k in chips and play 30-minute levels on Day 1.
There are 12 levels to enter the game, putting the final chance to buy in at about 6:15 pm. Day 1 bags up after 24 levels, or at 5% of the starting field, whichever comes first. Players finishing from 15% through 5% will get a Day 1 payout. If Day 1 goes the distance the bags will come out around 12:45 AM.
I won’t be spending too much time on this one for Day 1a as I’ll be watching Day 2 of the $1k and the Turbo $1k, but I should have more focus on Day 1b.
| Level: | 16 (2000/3000/3000) |
| Entries: | 72/485 |
| Prizes: | $424,375 |
Day 1 of the $1k is complete and there are 72 players still alive with chips. There were 73 paid spots tonight, with Douglas Berry from Vanderhoof, BC, as the min-cash spot at the end of Day 1.
The remaining 72 players will return to the action at 2 pm on Tuesday to play down to a winner. I’ll load the full prize list into the backend shortly, but in the meantime, here is the short list of payouts below.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $84,962 |
| 2 | $56,641 |
| 3 | $38,684 |
| 4 | $26,970 |
| 5 | $19,202 |
| 6 | $13,968 |
| 7 | $10,386 |
| 8 | $7,898 |
| 9 | $6,145 |
| 10-11 | $4,895 |
| 12-13 | $3,994 |
| 14-17 | $3,340 |
| 18-26 | $2,865 |
| 27-35 | $2,522 |
| 36-44 | $2,279 |
| 45-53 | $2,117 |
| 54-73 | $2,017 |
| Level: | 6 (400/800/800) |
| Entries: | 262/374 |
| Prizes: | $327,250 |
The $1k is into Level 6 now with the field just shy of 375 entries. That puts more than $325k into the prize pool so far with more than 3 hours left to enter the game today.
They’ll take the second break of the day following this level of play, then return for the final three levels of entry. There is a 45-minute dinner break following Level 9, and entries close when they sit down for Level 10. I haven’t had a chance to lool through the other room yet so I’m not totally sure who is over there, but I did see Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin heading into the room with a seat tag.
| Event 8: | $1000 Two-Day $1k ($875 + $125) |
| Date: | Day 1: Jan 13, 11 AM |
| Blinds: | 40 Minutes |
| Starting Stack: | 30k |
| Late Entry: | 9 Levels (~6:15 PM) |
| Day 1 Ends: | 15 Levels (~10:30 PM) |
Day 1 of the Two-Day $1k is set to roll on Monday as the early start, though I won’t be watching the opening day very closely. I plan to make this my focus on Tuesday when they are in Day 2, but Monday’s focus will be on the final day of the HORSE.
Players sit down with 30k in chips for 40-minute levels. Registration is open for 9 levels plus breaks, which should put the last chance to enter at about 6:15 PM. Once entries close, they’ll play another 6 levels before the bag for the night with the remaining players returning on Tuesday’s Day 2.
After 12 levels of play, the HORSE game bagged for the night with 34 players remaining from a starting field of 113 entries. There are 17 paid spots on Day 2 and the prizes will be updated shortly in the Payouts tab.
KKPoker rep Chris Alcindor will be returning with the big stack. He is one of three players with more than 200k to start Day 2 with Fraser Short and Zachary Nicholls just behind him.
Stay tuned for the Day 2 opening post with all the chip counts and seat assignments for Day 2, but be sure to click the Day 2 tab to find the details.
I thought I’d have a chance to catch the endgame of the Seniors tonight, but the final table of the 4-Flight ran a bit longer than expected, so it was still underway when the Seniors finished their day. As a result, I don’t really have a lot of detail on the action for the Seniors.
Cal Johnson was the winner tonight, defeating Carlos Alaniz in the heads-up phase. Gord Chester, Ranko Zec, and Trevor Simpson rounded out the top five winners tonight. Simpson actually bagged his second cash of the day after min-cashing Day of the 4-Flight.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cal Johnson | $33,615 |
| 2 | Carlos Alaniz | $22,410 |
| 3 | Gord Chester | $15,679 |
| 4 | Ranko Zec | $11,171 |
| 5 | Trevor Simpson | $8,108 |
| 6 | Keith Gould | $5,996 |
| 7 | Jeff “Doc” Mulder | $4,521 |
| 8 | Ricky Donovan | $3,476 |
| 9 | Weijie Zhang | $2,726 |
| 10 | Cynthia Caspers | $2,182 |
| 11 | Manfred Gunther | $2,182 |
| 12 | Wallace Aebli | $1,784 |
| 13 | Zhun (Sing) Chen | $1,784 |
| 14 | Kirpal Deol | $1,489 |
| 15 | James Chalcroft | $1,489 |
| 16 | Jason Kelly | $1,489 |
| 17 | April Facey | $1,489 |
| 18 | Teresa Dotto | $1,270 |
| 19 | James Rushak | $1,270 |
| 20 | Carolyn Grad | $1,270 |
| 21 | Jullie Poirier | $1,270 |
| 22 | Melvin Podaima | $1,270 |
| 23 | Frederick Parsons | $1,270 |
| 24 | Korey Crerar | $1,270 |
| 25 | Edward Guergis | $1,270 |
| 26 | James Cruickshank | $1,270 |
| 27 | Christian Wallmuth | $1,108 |
| 28 | Laurie Merriam | $1,108 |
| 29 | Barry Knight | $1,108 |
| 30 | John Nielsen | $1,108 |
| 31 | Jeffrey Forester | $1,108 |
| 32 | Darryl Jenner | $1,108 |
| 33 | Donald Morgan | $1,108 |
| 34 | Peter Barzilay | $1,108 |
| 35 | Joe Chapple | $1,108 |
| 36 | Emmanuel Misonne | $989 |
| 37 | Joseph Sylvain | $989 |
| 38 | Reginald Hampton | $989 |
| 39 | Jeffrey Gies | $989 |
| 40 | Ronald Bourne | $989 |
| 41 | William Parrottino | $989 |
| 42 | Michael Mckinnon | $989 |
| 43 | Andrew Bowers | $989 |
| 44 | Clair Ramsay | $989 |
| 45 | Kip Howard | $903 |
| 46 | Brady O’Hara | $903 |
| 47 | Matthew Mundell | $903 |
| 48 | Arif Bhaloo | $903 |
| 49 | Bruce Takeda | $903 |
| 50 | Terry Chow | $903 |
| 51 | Don Fujita | $903 |
| 52 | Sean Pevlin | $903 |
| 53 | David Labchuk | $903 |
| 54 | Karen Dodd | $844 |
| 55 | Michael Letal | $844 |
| 56 | James Mccrimmon | $844 |
| 57 | Paul Sokoloff | $844 |
| 58 | Lorne Voth | $844 |
| 59 | Laura Mccollom | $844 |
| 60 | Thomas Mansell | $844 |
| 61 | Gary Tripps | $844 |
| 62 | Frederick Werezak | $844 |
| 63 | Darrell Moore | $804 |
| 64 | John Foley | $804 |
| 65 | Earl Martin | $804 |
| 66 | Gerald Nelner | $804 |
| 67 | Gerald Edwards | $804 |
| 68 | Richard Bracchi | $804 |
| 69 | Jennifer Leubkert | $804 |
| 70 | Max Fernandez | $804 |
| 71 | Behnam Esfahanizadeh | $804 |
| 72 | Don Kehler | $804 |
| 73 | Martin Sayle | $804 |
| 74 | Richard Housch | $804 |
| 75 | Richard Mclaren | $804 |
| 76 | Pierre St. Martin | $804 |
| 77 | David Page | $804 |
| 78 | Duane Van Keulen | $804 |
| 79 | Garry Chan | $804 |
| 80 | Garth Frizzell | $804 |
| 81 | William Harrison | $804 |
| 82 | Kevin Baraluk | $804 |
| 83 | Mohammad Feizi | $804 |
| 84 | Thomas Dratwa | $804 |
| 85 | Frederick Perron | $804 |
Tyler Panas picked up his first circuit ring tonight after taking down the 4-Flight. He survived a bit of a rollercoaster final table that saw the chip lead move around a lot.
Panas was actually short for much of the final table but he jumped into the lead in part thanks to a huge hold in a race against Evan Casey. Panas had Casey covered and sent him to the rail in third when his nines held over the ace-queen.
That gave Panas a big lead going into heads up, and it didn’t take long for them to find a cooler to get it all in. In the final hand, runner-up Eyal Pevzner raised to 600k, then called off Panas’ shove with queen-jack, only to run into ace-king. The big slick held on a board that saw both players hit the flop.
Panas had an excellent 2024 with 14 cashes including one win as well as runner-up in a PPT Main Event. He put $130k in winnings onto his Hendon Mob page in 2024, and it looks like his 2025 is off to a roaring start as well.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyler Panas | $70,054 |
| 2 | Eyal Pevzner | $46,703 |
| 3 | Evan Casey | $32,885 |
| 4 | Colin Burton | $23,554 |
| 5 | Caleb Simmons | $17,165 |
| 6 | Shane Kozniuk | $12,732 |
| 7 | Josh Myers | $9,614 |
| 8 | Steven Desjarlais | $7,394 |
| 9 | Matthew Hall | $5,794 |
| 10 |  Pieter Kobben | $4,626 |
| 11 | Kali Shuali | $4,626 |
| 12 | Mason St Martin | $3,766 |
| 13 | Rami Hammoud | $3,766 |
| 14 | Mohsen Shafizadeh | $3,127 |
| 15 | David Katzov | $3,127 |
| 16 | Cory Hauser | $3,127 |
| 17 | Senthuren Indrasithu | $3,127 |
| 18 | Anderson Frank-Graham | $2,650 |
| 19 | Deven Lane | $2,650 |
| 20 | Bash Ramahi | $2,650 |
| 21 | Trevor Otterson | $2,650 |
| 22 | Ryan(Zoran) Kaniski | $2,650 |
| 23 | Dylan Boyer | $2,650 |
| 24 | Bobby Lauderville | $2,650 |
| 25 | Jeffery Clarke | $2,650 |
| 26 | Kyle Chang | $2,650 |
| 27 | Varanpreet Sidhu | $2,291 |
| 28 | Simon Juno | $2,291 |
| 29 | Ryan Smith | $2,291 |
| 30 | Kyle Rognes | $2,291 |
| 31 | Alison Senycz | $2,291 |
| 32 | Harry Newton | $2,291 |
| 33 | Lorne(Ed) Gaetz | $2,291 |
| 34 | Jorden Arbuthnott | $2,291 |
| 35 | Jeffry Grigg | $2,291 |
| 36 | Coltyn Gaetz | $2,023 |
| 37 | Alexander Allison | $2,023 |
| 38 | Devon Morgan | $2,023 |
| 39 | Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin | $2,023 |
| 40 | Aris Forbes | $2,023 |
| 41 | Lanze Chevillard | $2,023 |
| 42 | Jason Chan | $2,023 |
| 43 | William Duncan | $2,023 |
| 44 | Steven Barber | $2,023 |
| 45 | Allan Alejandro | $1,826 |
| 46 | Sean O’Reilly | $1,826 |
| 47 | Louis Flewin | $1,826 |
| 48 | Michael Rozak | $1,826 |
| 49 | Christopher Fagan | $1,826 |
| 50 | Bruce Demish | $1,826 |
| 51 | Daniel Luczyk | $1,826 |
| 52 | Sam Gottiparthi | $1,826 |
| 53 | George Mounsef | $1,826 |
| 54 | Lance Andre | $1,739 |
| 55 | Jeremy Harper | $1,739 |
| 56 | Christopher Clisby | $1,739 |
| 57 | Craig Caldwell | $1,739 |
| 58 | Shane Rawlins | $1,739 |
| 59 | Alex Langlais | $1,739 |
| 60 | Kristopher Taylor | $1,739 |
| 61 | Hoang Quach | $1,739 |
| 62 | Marcio Kondo | $1,739 |
| 63 | Justin Pennell | $1,739 |
| 64 | John Nielsen | $1,739 |
| 65 | Peter Darlington | $1,739 |
| 66 | Kwong Au | $1,739 |
| 67 | John Boland | $1,739 |
| 68 | Easton Walker | $1,739 |
| 69 | Stephen Dauphanais | $1,739 |
| 70 | Larry Quon | $1,739 |
| 71 | Edward Cook | $1,739 |
| 72 | Julius Roque | $1,739 |
| 73 | Colten Yamagishi | $1,739 |
| 74 | Nohad Teliani | $1,739 |
| 75 | Joel Kogan | $1,739 |
| 76 | Nate Rajakumar | $1,739 |
| 77 | Shane Brotherwood | $1,739 |
| 78 | Chao Wang | $1,739 |
| 79 | Triston Buchanan | $1,739 |
| 80 | Claire Leclerc | $1,739 |
| 81 | Trevor Simpson | $1,739 |
| Level: | 32 (150000/300000/300000) |
| Entries: | 1/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
The game wasn’t heads up for very long tonight as they found a bit of a cooler early on. Tyler Panas got to the final phase with the chip lead, and he never surrendered it. After a couple of hands with no showdown, Eyal Pevzner raised to 600k, then called off when Panas shoved.
Pevzner was on queen-jack, but Panas was premium with ace-king. Both players hit the flop on the board of A♣Q♥4♣5♠3♥ but Panas hit it hardest and held.
| Level: | 32 (150000/300000/300000) |
| Entries: | 2/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
They are down to two left now in the 4-Flight after Ryal Pevzner raised to 600k, Evan Casey shoved, and Tyler Panas reshoved. That pushed Pevzner out of the hand, and it was a race between pocket nines for Panas and ace-queen for Casey. The nines held on a dry board for the overcards and Casey was out in 3rd place.
| Level: | 32 (150000/300000/300000) |
| Entries: | 4/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
Colin Burton grabbed a double through Eyal Pezner when his threes held against ace-king, but that didn’t last long for him. The next hand he shoved pocket fours but ran into jacks and couldn’t find any help to hit the rail in 4th place.
| Level: | 31 (150000/250000/250000) |
| Entries: | 4/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
There are four players left in the 4-Flight now after Caleb Simmons hit the rail in 5th place. I missed the action while I was cleaning up some of the HORSE end-of-day action.
| Level: | 31 (150000/250000/250000) |
| Entries: | 5/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
Eyal Pevzner shoved under the gun and it folded around to Tyler Panas in the big blind. He tanked for a bit before calling the 2.5 million shove.
Eyal Pevzner: Pocket Threes
Tyler Panas: A♠7♠
Pavzner was hoping to get it through and sweated the 6♠4♥2♠4♦K♠ but was able to hold for the win.
| Level: | 30 (100000/200000/200000) |
| Entries: | 6/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
Colin Burton called from the small blind, then called again when Caleb Simmons raised the big blind to 600k. The flop came 3♣6♠K♣ and Burton check-raised from 325k to 1.1 million.
Simmons called to the 8♦ turn where they both checked through to the J♣ river. Burton fired 2 million and Simmons hit the tank for about a minute before finally calling.
Burton showed A♣9♠ against K♠J♠ for Simmons. “When I saw the ace of clubs I thought you had it,” Simmons said after realizing his two pair was ahead.
| Level: | 30 (100000/200000/200000) |
| Entries: | 5/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
Tyler Panas opened to 500k from the button, and Evan Casey defended his big blind. They both checked the 10♥9♣A♠ flop and Casey led for 475k on the 7♣ turn.
Panas called to the 3♥ and after a check from Casey fired 750k into the middle. Casey tanked for a bit before calling, but he mucked his hand when Panas showed A♥Q♥ for the win.
| Level: | 21 (40000/80000/80000) |
| Entries: | 7/564 |
| Prizes: | $186,120 |
I’m still watching the end of the 4-Flight game so I haven’t caught any of the action on this one yet, but they are down to 7 left now after Cynthia Kaspers, Weijie Zhang, and Rick Donovan were the first three off the final table, in that order.
| Level: | 30 (100000/200000/200000) |
| Entries: | 5/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
Shane (Roy) Kozniuk flopped a pair with his ace-eight, but he ran into pocket aces for Colin Burton. The aces held through the turn and river and Kozniuk was out in 6th place.
| Level: | 30 (100000/200000/200000) |
| Entries: | 6/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Eyal Pevzner | 7,100,000 |
| Evan Casey | 5,600,000 |
| Colin Burton | 5,575,000 |
| Tyler Panas | 4,700,000 |
| Caleb Simmons | 4,375,000 |
| Roy(Shane) Kozniuk | 3,700,000 |
| Level: | 29 (100000/150000/150000) |
| Entries: | 6/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
I’ve been a bit bust getting the Seniors final table sorted out so I missed some action on the 4-Flight final table. Steve Dejarlais and Josh Myers have exited the game in 8th and 7th places respectively.
I am very much behind the times with the payouts in this event at the moment as they are down to the final table. I grabbed some pictures of the final 10, but I’m still watching the final table of Event #4 so I won’t be watching the seniors very closely for a while.
| Level: | 29 (100000/150000/150000) |
| Entries: | 8/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
They are down to 8 left in the 4-Flight now after Matt Hall took 9th place, though I missed the action while I was working on pictures.
| Level: | 28 (60000/120000/120000) |
| Entries: | 9/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
Pieter Kobben came into Day 2 with the chip lead and he made it as far as the final table, but he was the first one off once they got ten-handed. In the big confrontation, he doubled up Josh Myers when he shoved into Myers aces’ with eights and couldn’t get there.
That left him short and the rest went in the following hand with king-ten for Kobben against ace-six suited for Tyler Panas. Panas turned an ace for insurance and sent the start-of-day leader to the rail in 10th place.
| Level: | 28 (60000/120000/120000) |
| Entries: | 10/1565 |
| Prizes: | $516,450 |
They are just setting the final table now after Kali Shuali was the FT bubble in 11th place tonight. I’ll grab some pictures for the final 10 shortly.
