As 2024 winds down, the Alberta poker scene is heating up with the final series of the Pure Poker Tour (PPT) season. The trophy events kick off at Pure Casino Yellowhead on November 21 with the Seniors First event, followed by 11 days of action-packed poker, and highlighted by the $1,100 Main Event starting on November 29.
Check out live updates and reporting from the 2024 Pure Poker Tour Series #6 by Lyle Bateman. Chose an event of your choice down below:
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Yamagishi Gets the Fold; Brotherwood Out
Level: 15 (2500/5000/5000) Entries: 11/73 Prizes: $55,480 Colten Yamagishi just put his life on the line with a shove for 102.5 from the big blind after Mike Malm opened 17.5k. Malm had the bigger stack and was in the tank for a couple of minutes before he finally folded.
As I was writing this, Shane Brotherwood exited the game in 11th place, so they are now hand-for-hand with 10 players left.
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Final Table
Level: 16 (3000/6000/6000) Entries: 9/74 Prizes: $14,060 The side game is at the final table now, one off the money spots. I’m still following Day 1 of the 6-max so I don’t have eyes on the chips in this one but Amr Samy looks to have the biggest stack.
Seat Player 1 Tyler Rumpel 2 Tyler Panas 3 Daniel O’Leary 4 Sal Haji 5 Jeffery Clarke 6 Amr Samy 7 Steven Riendeau 8 Alex Twin 9 Jody Ashton -
Bolger Out, Brotherwood Short
Level: 14 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 11/73 Prizes: $55,480 Malcolm Bolger was the first player off the final two tables when he ran a dominated ace into Garry Sandhu. On the other table, Daniel Lefebvre chipped up in a hand against Shane Brotherwood.
I picked up the action on the 6♣K♣Q♦ flop where Brotherwood check-called for 17k from the big blind. The 2♠ turn brought another check-call from Brotherwood for 21.5k. Brotherwood led for 40k, enough to put Lefebvre all in, on the 9♠ river and Lefebvre snapped called. His ace-king was well ahead of Brotherwood’s queen-three.
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Final Two Tables
Level: 14 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 12/73 Prizes: $55,480 Ryan Smith was the most recent exit to bring them down to 12 players on the final two tables. The bags will come out when they hit 9.
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Down to 14 Left
Level: 14 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 14/74 Prizes: $14,060 They are 6 off the money in the side event now with 14 players left in the game.
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Down to 14
Level: 14 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 14/73 Prizes: $55,480 They are down to 15 in the 6-Max now, five off the end of the day. Eric Wasylenko, Jason Heang, Preston Stevenson, and Weston Pring are the players who hit the rail in Level 13.
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Brotherwood Leads Final 18
Level: 13 (1500/3000/3000) Entries: 18/73 Prizes: $55,480 Shane Brotherwood is leading the way right now with 282.5k. Level 13 has just begun and they are 8 eliminations away from the end of Day 1.
Player Chips Shane Brotherwood 282,500 Rhett Stensrud 216,500 Stephen Dauphinais 193,500 Ali Razzaq 190,000 Gary Sandhu 178,500 Mike Malm 164,500 Mike Kim 133,500 Daniel Lefebvre 124,000 Weston Pring 120,000 Mlcolm Bolger 84,000 Preston Stevenson 83,000 Eric Wasylenko 76,000 Colten Yamagishi 69,500 Graham Lupton 68,500 DJ Sharma 67,000 Michael Bernstein 56,000 Ryan Smith 49,000 Jason Heang 43,000 -
74 Entries for the Side
Level: 11 (1000/2000/2000) Entries: 28/74 Prizes: $14,060 The numbers are official at 74 entries for Event #9. That means 8 players will be sharing in $14,060 in prizes later tonight with the winner set to pocket $4,784.
Prizes for Event #9
Place Prize 1 $4,784 2 $3,233 3 $2,109 4 $1,406 5 $927 6 $674 7 $520 8 $407 -
Some Big Stacks
Level: 11 (1000/2000/2000) Entries: 19/73 Prizes: $55,480 They are now 10 players away from the end of the day with 19 remaining and it looks like Mike Kim and Mile Malm are leading the way right now. They are both playing around 200k while SHae Brotherwood and Daniel Lefebvre look to be on about 180k at the moment.
There are about 5 minutes to play in Level 11 with a break after Level 12. I’ll grab a full round of chip counts from the remaining players at the break.
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15 Minutes to Enter
Level: 9 (600/1200/1200) Entries: 40/72 Prizes: $13,680 I got the times wrong for late entry on this game as I had the blind length wrong. Level 9 has just finished and entries are closed in less than 15 minutes when they sit down to Level 10. The field is currently at 72 entries with 40 remaining for $13,680 in prizes.
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Entries Confirmed at 73
Level: 10 (1000/1500/1500) Entries: 24/73 Prizes: $55,480 The prizes are in and the numbers are confirmed with he official field at 73. That puts the prizes at $55,480 with 9 players getting a dip in the pool. None of those prizes will be awarded today — when they hit 9 players tonight they’ll bag up the chips and return to play it out tomorrow starting at 1 PM.
6-Max Payouts
Place Prize 1 $17,757 2 $11,650 3 $7,767 4 $5,548 5 $4,161 6 $2,995 7 $2,330 8 $1,830 9 $1,442 -
53 Entries to Start Level 7
Level: 7 (400/800/800) Entries: 41/53 Prizes: $10,070 Level 7 has just begun and the field is at 53 entries for just over $10k in prizes. Entries are still open for about two hours.
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73 (Unofficial) Entries After Dinner
Level: 10 (1000/1500/1500) Entries: 26/73 Prizes: $55,480 Entries are now closed with players in their seats for Level 10. The final number on the board was 73, but I’m still waiting on confirmation of that when the prizes are complete. It looks like either 9 or 10 players will get bags later tonight and they’ll be fighting for more than $55k in prizes on Tuesday.
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72 Entries to Start Dinner
Level: 9 (600/1200/1200) Entries: 25/72 Prizes: $54,720 The 6-Max is on the dinner break now and entries will close when they sit down for Level 10 in about 25 minutes. The field is currently at 72 entries for prizes just shy of $55k but it’s likely we’ll see a few more entries before the end of dinner. With the current numbers, it looks like 9 players will find a bag tonight, but that may still change.
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35 Entries in Level 3
Level: 3 (200/300/300) Entries: 33/35 Prizes: $6,650 There are still more than 3 hours left to enter the game with the field now at 35 entries. That puts the prizes at $6,650 with 33 players still at the felt looking for a piece. Given the low buy-in, I expect a lot of rebuys for this one so the numbers should grow quite a bit before 10:15.
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More than $50k in Prizes
Level: 8 (500/1000/1000) Entries: 33/68 Prizes: $51,680 The prizes are more than $50k now with 68 entries on the board. There are 33 players still alive at the felt with more than an hour left to enter the game.
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23 Entries in Level 1
Level: 1 (100/100/100) Entries: 23/23 Prizes: $4,370 The prize pool is closing in on $5k with Level 1 still underway. There are 23 entries on the board so far with Level 2 about to start in less than 5 minutes.
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$45k in Prizes
Level: 6 (300/600/600) Entries: 34/60 Prizes: $45,600 The field is up to 60 entries with 34 players at the felt. That puts the prizes at $45,600 with Ryan Comely, DJ Sharma, Taran Parmar, Jimmy Lee, Shane Brotherwood, Eric Wasylenko, Ed Zurawell, Colten Yamagishi, Graham Lupton, and Daniel Lefebvre among the recent entries I’ve spotted.
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More than $30k in Prizes
Level: 4 (200/400/400) Entries: 32/42 Prizes: $31,920 Level 4 is about half complete with 42 entries on the board now. That puts the prizes at nearly $32k and climbing, with entries open for about 4 hours and 20 minutes from the time of this post.
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Turbo on the Side for Monday Night
Event: Event #9: $230 NLH Turbo ($200 + $30) Date: Nov 25, 6 PM Blinds: 20 MInutes Starting Stack: 20k Late Entry: 9 Levels (~10:15 PM) Day 1 Ends: One-Day Event The side game on Monday is an NLH Turbo game that starts at 6 pm. There will be about four and a quarter hours of late entry with the desk shutting down at around 10:15 PM.
Players buy in for 20k in chips and will play 20-minute levels until a winner is decided. This is a one-day event, so they’ll hand out the trophy before play concludes late tonight.
As expected, this is the side game tonight so I won’t be watching it very closely until the 6-Max bags for the night. Once that happens, I’ll jump across to this one to finish it off.
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More than $20k in Prizes
Level: 3 (200/300/300) Entries: 22/27 Prizes: $20,520 The prize pool is over $20k now with 27 entries on the board. Among the new faces I’ve seen since my last update are Ali Khani, Preston Stevenson, Talal Shoush, Weston Pring, Ron Lauzon, Andy Truong, Alex Liu, Malcolm Bolger, and Michael “Berny” Bernstein.
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Up to 22
Level: 2 (100/200/200) Entries: 19/22 Prizes: $16,720 Level 2 has just under 15 minutes remaining with the field up to 22 entries and 19 still in play. The pushes the current prizes to almost $17k with just under 6 hours left to enter this game. Entries for the 6-Max are et to close around 8pm according to the structure, but it looks like it might be a few minutes later than that based on the time remaining on the clock. I was late to the game today so I was here for the start of play, but it looks like they got the cards in the air a bit later than 1 pm, so that means entries will still be open a bit later than 8 pm.
Right now, it looks like entries will close about 8:10, but don’t push that too far as I don’t have a firm handle on the exact moment they’ll close the desk.
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16 Entries in Level 1
Level: 1 (100/100/100) Entries: 16/16 Prizes: $12,100 It’s a bit of a slow start for the 6-Max today with 16 players in the field as Level 1 draws to a close. There is still plenty of time to enter this one with more than 6 hours of entry remaining.
There are quite a few familiar faces in the small crowd, however. Thomas Taylor is here for his first event, as is his wife and PPT ambassador Haven Taylor. Stephen Dauphinais, Steve Chung, Tyler Panas, Mal Hagan, Michael St. Pierre-Porter, Ali Razzaq, Skyler York, Brett Worton, and Mike Kim are also among the players in this one early.
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6-Max Set for Monday
Event: Event #8: $880 NLH 6-Max Day 1 ($400 + $40) Date: Nov 25, 1 pm Blinds: 40 Min Starting Stack: 30k Late Entry: 9 Levels (~8:00 PM) Day 1 Ends: 12.5% of the Field It’s time for the 6-Max game which is typically one of the more poplar games on the schedules here in Alberta. This is a two-day event that gets going at 1 pm on Monday and plays until 12.5% of the field remains. At that point, they’ll bag up all the chips and return in the money for Day 2 on Tuesday.
For their $880, players get 30k in chips to play 40-minute levels throughout the event. They’ll have 9 levels to enter the game, which should put the last buy-in at about 8 PM. There is no hard stop for Day 1 as they’ll play for as long as it takes to get down to 12.5%.
This should be my main focus for the early part of Monday at least, and I’ll be following it until the bag up at the end of the night.
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Chop it Up
Level: 22 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 1/79 Prizes: $30,020 
Francis Fan (L) & Colten Yamagishi (R), chopped E7 Event #7 is in the books after Francis Fan and Colten Yamagishi decided on a heads-up chop of the money. They were essentially even in chips after Fan sent Bash Ramahi to the cage in 3rd place but Fan took the official win while Yamagish was second.
Fan was among the leaders for most of the final table, but Yamagishi’s trip to the podium had a more circuitous path. He was the short stack at the table until he went on a tear, catching a double through 5th place finisher Alexander Richmond when Richmond’s overcards turned a bigger pair to Yamagishi’s pocket sevens but Yamagishi hit a straight on the river.
That started a run up the counts for Yamagishi that saw him in a big lead when they were three-handed. Fan then sent Ramahi out to even things up, and the players agreed to the deal. It’s worth adding that Yamagishi jumped into this one after a brutal beat in Event #4 sent him out in ninth place with kings into aces.
Final Results from Event #7
Place Player Prize 1 
Francis Fan$8,557 2 Colten Yamagishi$8,557 3 Bash Ramahi$4,503 4 Nadav Bitton$3,002 5 Alexander Richmond$1,981 6 Vinayak Makkar$1,440 7 Kirk Nilson$1,110 8 Jerry Tria$870 -
Bash Ramahi Out in 3rd Place for $4,503
Level: 22 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 2/79 Prizes: $30,020 
Bash Ramahi Francis Fan limped in from the button, and Colten Yamagish called from the small blind before Bash Ramahi shoved the big blind. Fan snapped it off before Yamagishi folded, and Fan’s trap was sprung. He had aces against Ramahi’s queen-jack. Ramahi hit a jack on the flop but that was all the help he got.
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Yamagishi Nearing 1 Million
Level: 22 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 3/79 Prizes: $30,020 Colten Yamagishi is the chip leader with about 970k in front of him while Bash Ramahi and Francis Fan are both at around 500k.
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Nadav Bitton Out in 4th Place for
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 3/79 Prizes: $30,020 
Nadav Bittom There are three left now after Nadav Bitton ended his day in 4th place. I missed the action writing the previous hand up.
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Alexander Richmond Out in 5th Place for $1,981
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 4/79 Prizes: $30,020 
Alexander Richmond Colten Yamagishi is on a run. He just sent Alexander Richmond to the rail in 5th place with pocket sizes into pocket aces. Yamagishi spiked a 6 on the river for a big chip lead now.
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Vinayak Makkar Out in 6th Place for $1,440
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 5/79 Prizes: $30,020 
Vinayak Makkar I missed the action, but Colten Yamagishi just sent Vinayak Makkar to the rail in 6th place and in the process he’s chipped up to the lead with about 700k in front of him.
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Yamagishi Straightens Out for Double
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 6/79 Prizes: $30,020 Colten Yamagishi raised the cutoff to 185k, leaving just 5k behind. Alexander Richmond shoved a bigger stack from the button and it folded back to Yamagishi who put in the extra 5k.
Yamagishi was on pocket sevens with Richmond playing the king-queen overs. When the 6♦9♣8♥K♣5♣ board was complete, Yamagishi had the nine-high straight for the double to over 400k while Richmond is down to about 200k.
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Break Chips
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 6/79 Prizes: $30,020 Francis Fan is leading the way at the break following Level 20.
Seat Player Chips 2 Bash Ramahi 310,000 3 Francis Fan 575,000 4 Vinayak Makkar 260,000 5 Nadav Bitton 305,000 7 Colten Yamagishi 70,000 8 Alexander Richmond 335,000 -
Richmond Calls it Down
Level: 20 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 6/79 Prizes: $30,020 Nadav Bitton opened the button to 35k and Alexander Richmond called from the big blind. Richmond check-called on the 4♣A♠J♦ flop and they both checked the Q♥ turn. Richmond checked again on the 8♣ river, then hit the tank for a minute or two when Bitton fired 55k. Richmond finally called and Bitton immediately mucked while Richmond showed pocket kings.
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Bitton Makes the Call
Level: 20 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 6/79 Prizes: $30,020 Bash Ramahi raised the cutoff to 30k and Nadav Bitton defended his big blind. He checked in the dark before the J♥Q♥Q♦ flopped, and Ramahi checked behind him. Bitton fired 15k on the 7♦ turn and Ramahi called.
The river 6♣ brought a check from Bitton but Ramahi fired 70k. “Why so much?” Bitton asked when he was in the tank. He finally called and his seven-eight was good against king-nine bluff from Ramahi.
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Makkar Gets a Double
Level: 20 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 6/79 Prizes: $30,020 Vinayak Makkar shoved all in for 99k early and it folded around to Bash Ramahi in the big blind. He called for a race between his A♥9♠ against the pocket fives for Makkar. The 4♦2♦3♦J♥8♦ board missed Ramahi’s overcards to send the double to Makkar.
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Kirk Nilson Out in 7th Place for $1,110
Level: 19 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 6/79 Prizes: $30,020 
Kirk Nilson They are down to 6 left now after Kirk Nilson headed to the cage for 7th place money tonight.
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Money Shots
Level: 19 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 7/79 Prizes: $30,020 Vinayak Makkar Nadav Bittom Kirk Nilson 
Jerry Tria 
Francis Fan 
Colten Yamagishi Bash Ramahi Alexander Richmond -
Jerry Tria Out in 8th Place for $870
Level: 19 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 7/160 Prizes: $30,020 Jerry Tria They are down to 8 remaining after Jerry Tria was the first player out in the money tonight.
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Brian Wells Bubbles Final Table
Level: 18 (5000/10000/10000) Entries: 9/79 Prizes: $30,020 They are breaking down to the final table now after Biran Wells ended his run in 10th. He lost a big hand to Michael St. Pierre-Porter with ace-six into ace-seven when St. Pierre-Porter found a seven on the flop. That left him short and he was out the next hand.
They are still one away from the money.
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10 Players Left
Level: 18 (5000/10000/10000) Entries: 10/79 Prizes: $30,020 They are down to 10 players left in the side game tonight with the action in Level 18. There are 8 paid spots tonight, but they went hand-for-hand at 10 players, just before the final table. I don’t have a good handle on the chips at the moment but below is a look at the remaining players.
Table 7 Table 10 Colten Yamagishi Brian Wells Nadav Bitton Jerry Tria Alexander Richmond Bash Ramahi Vinayak Makkar Michael St. Pierre-Porter Francis Fan Kirk Nilson -
Wasy Wins Another One
Eric Wasylenko Event #4 is now over after about 10 hours of Day 2 play. Eric Wasylenko added another trophy to his growing collection from the PPT with yet another side event win.
He was third in chips when the final table started but the shorter the table got, the bigger Wasy’s stack got. He started his run by sending Mo Alamelhuda home in 5th place with the bigger pair, then found a pair of queens to send Shane Kozniuk to the rail in 3rd. That gave him a huge lead over runner-up Shane Brotherwood, and it didn’t take long to finish it out.
In the final hand, Brotherwood got his short stack in good with king-ten against six-four but Wasy spiked a four on the flop and held for the win.
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Shane Brotherwood Out in 2nd Place for $15,600
Level: 25 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 1/160 Prizes: $91,200 
Shane Brotherwood Shane Brotherwood had a tough job ahead of him when he got heads up against Eric Wasylenko. Not only did Wasy have the chip lead but he’s also a heads-up specialist from his online days. In the final confrontation, Brotherwood shoved king-ten, and Wasy was pretty much priced in to call with any two.
He called it off with six-four then proceeded to hit the flop when it ran out 8♣9♣4♦7♠A♠ and it was all over.
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Shane Kozniuk Out in 3rd Place for $10,140
Level: 25 (25000/50000/50000 Entries: 2/160 Prizes: $91,200 
Shane Kozniuk Eric Wasylenko raised his button to 100k then snapped it off when Shan Kozniuk shoved the small blind. Wasy’s queens were well ahead of the A♦4♦ for Kozniuk. The board ran clean for the queens, and Kozniuk was out in 3rd place.
Wasy is now heads up against Shane Brotherwood with a big chip lead.
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Wasy Leads on Break
Level: 25 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 3/160 Prizes: $91,200 Eric Wasylenko leads the way at the break between Levels 24 & 25.
Seat Player Chips 1 Shane Kozniuk 1,345,000 2 Shane Brotherwood 660,000 9 Eric Wasylenko 2,000,000 -
Mike Malm Out in 4th Place for $7,800
Level: 24 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 3/160 Prizes: $91,200 
Mike Malm They are down to three left after Mike Malm ended his run in 4th place. He took the final payout of less than $10k.
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Mo Alamelhuda Out in 5th Place for $6,010
Level: 24 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 4/160 Prizes: $91,200 
Mo Alamelhuda Mo Alamelhuda was left short after doubling up Mike Malm a few hands previously and he got the rest in blind-on-blind against Eric Wasylenko. He was in trouble with pocket threes against pocket eights and the board wasn’t able to help him get ahead.
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Malm Doubles
Level: 23 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 5/160 Prizes: $91,200 Mike Malm called the small blind, then snapped it off when Mo Alamelhuda shoved his big with more. Malm had jacks over eights for Alamelhuda, and the board didn’t change anything. That puts Malm up to around 800k and drops Alamelhuda down to about 330k.
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Wasy Wins One, Loses One
Level: 23 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 5/160 Prizes: $91,200 In the first hand, Eric Wasylenko raised under the gun to 60k and got a call from Shane Kozniuk in the cutoff as well as Mo Alamelhuda in the big blind. They all checked the [invalid notations] turn Wasy fired 70k and took it down.
In the very next hand, Alamelhuda limped the small blind, then jammed over Wasy’s big blind raise to 100k. “Such pretty cards,” Wasy said with a smile as he mucked his hand.
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Jayvee Lumahan Out in 6th Place for $4,760
Level: 23 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 5/160 Prizes: $91,200 
Jayvee Lumahan Eric Wasylenko raised under the gun to 60k, then called off a shove from big blind Jayvee Lumahan for 205k. It was a race between Wasy’s eights and ace-queen for Lumahan and the board of 4♣2♣4♠J♣7♠ didn’t improve Lumahan.
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79 Confirmed Entries for E7
Level: 11 (1000/2000/2000) Entries: 27/79 Prizes: $30,020 Entries are now closed for Event #7 with 79 entries in the field. That means 8 players will get a piece of just over $30k in prizes later tonight.
Event #7 Payouts
Place Prize 1 $10,210 2 $6,904 3 $4,503 4 $3,002 5 $1,981 6 $1,440 7 $1,110 8 $870 -
Skyler York Out in 7th Place for $3,740
Level: 22 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 6/160 Prizes: $91,200 
Skyler York They are down to 6 players left now in Event #4 with Skyler York ending his day in 7th place. I missed the action while I was having my dinner.
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Brotherwood, Alamelhuda Stacking Big
Level: 22 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 7/160 Prizes: $91,200 Shane Brotherwood is leading at the break, but Mo Alamelhuda is right on his heels.
S Player Chips 1 Shane Kozniuk 610,000 2 Shane Brotherwood 887,000 3 Skyler York 585,000 4 Mike Malm 250,000 5 Mo Alamelhuda 865,000 7 Jayvee Lumahan 300,000 9 Eric Wasylenko 500,000 -
Lumahan Shoves the Turn
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 7/160 Prizes: $91,200 Shane Brotherwood opened to 45k from the hijack and Mo Alamelhuda called from the small blind, as did Jayvee Lumahan from the big. They all checked the 10♠4♠Q♠ flop but when Alamenhuda checked the 10♦ turn Lumahan shoved for about 200k, enough to push out the other two hands.
They are about 5 minutes from the next break and I’ll grab another round of chips counts then.
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Kyle Hartree Out in 8th Place for
Level: 20 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 7/160 Prizes: $91,200 
Kyle Hartree Shane Brotherwood raised early to 35k before Kyle Hartree shoved 100k from the small blind. Brotherwood called to the race between his sevens and the ace-queen for Hartree. Brotherwood flopped a seven on the 7♣5♥10♦J♣9♠ runout and Hartree was out in 8th place tonight.
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Colten Yamagishi Out in 9th Place for $2,420
Level: 19 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 8/160 Prizes: $91,200 
Colten Yamagishi It was a massive cooler that sent Colten Yamagishi to the rail in 9th place today. Mo Alamelhuda opened from the middle to 25k and Yamagishi called from the hijack.
Alamelhuda bet 22k on the 10♠5♦9♦ flop and Yamagishi called. They both checked the 3♠ turn, and Alamelhuda checked the [invalid notations] river. Yamagishi through for a bit then slid out a bet of 81k. Alamelhuda came over the top with a check-shove to put Yamagishi at risk.
Yamagishi tanked for quite a while before he announced “Call” but his pocket kings were no good against the pocket aces of Alamelhuda.
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Kozniuk, Yamagishi Chip Up
Level: 19 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 9/160 Prizes: $91,200 Inthe first hand, Shane Kozniuk opened to 25k and got calls from Mike Malm and Mo Alamelhuda in the blinds. It checked around to Kozniuk on the 7♦3♣A♠ flop and he fired 30k to take it down.
In the next hand, Skyler York raised the cutoff to 25k and Colten Yamagishi called from the big blind. Yamagishi check-called 16k on the flop and they both checked the turn on the board of 3♣J♣K♣10♦.
Both players checked the 8♣ river and Yamagishi showed K♥Q♠ for the win.
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61 Entries
Level: 7 (400/800/800) Entries: 39/61 Prizes: $23,180 I’m not able to watch this one very closely for the time being as Event #4 is still playing out their final table but the field for Event #7 is up to 61 entries for prizes of more than $23k. Level 7 has just begun and there are about 2 hours left to enter this game.
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Current Chips
Level: 19 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 9/160 Prizes: $91,200 Level 19 has just begun with the final table still full. Mo Alamelhuda leads the way with 751k but Skyler York isn’t far behind with 727k while Eric Wasylenko is playing 567k with Shane Brotherwood also in the 500k club.
T-S Player Chips 3 – 1 Shane Kozniuk 367,000 3 – 2 Shane Brotherwood 513,000 3 – 3 Skyler York 727,000 3 – 4 Mike Malm 485,000 3 – 5 Mo Alamelhuda 751,000 3 – 6 Colten Yamagishi 100,000 3 – 7 Jayvee Lumahan 260,000 3 – 8 Kyle Hartree 211,000 3 – 9 Eric Wasylenko 567,000 -
Final Table Faces
Level: 17 (4000/8000/8000) Entries: 9/160 Prizes: $91,200 Skyler York Shane Kozniuk Shane Brotherwood Mo Alamelhuda Mike Malm Kyle Hartree Jayvee Lumahan 
Eric Wasylenko Colten Yamagishi -
Cui’s Kings Cracked; Final Table Time
Level: 17 (4000/8000/8000) Entries: 9/160 Prizes: $91,200 The final table is now set and they are moving to the feature table on the stage. Xinrui Cui was the bubble to the final table after his kings saw a brutal flop against Eric Wasylenko.
Money was all in before the flop when Wasy raised the cutoff, then shoved over the reraise from Cui on the button. Cui snapped it off and was in good shape with kings over ace-jack for Wasy. The flop had other ideas, however, as the board ran out [invalid notations] to send Vui home in 10th place.
Stay tuned for pictures of the final nine.
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Final Table Bubble
Level: 17 (4000/8000/8000) Entries: 10/160 Prizes: $91,200 They are down to 1 left now after the 11th-place exit of Shawn Taghavi. The next elimination will put them at the final table and they are currently playing five and five on two tables.
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11 Left in Event #4
Level: 17 (4000/8000/8000) Entries: 11/160 Prizes: $91,200 There are 11 players left in Event #4 now after Garrett Chin busted out in 13th place followed shortly after by Mal Hagan in 12th place. There are just over 30 minutes to play in Level 17.
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34 Entries to Start Level 3
Level: 3 (200/300/300) Entries: 32/34 Prizes: $12,920 The side event field is now up to 34 entries with 32 still in play. Ryan Comely and Gerald Chung are among the new entries I’ve seen recently.
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Alamelhuda Forces the Fold
Level: 16 (3000/6000/6000) Entries: 13/160 Prizes: $91,200 Kyle Hartree opened under the gun to 12l and Mo Alamelhuda called from the small blind. They both checked the 4♦5♠9♠ flop but Alamelhuda fired 17k on the J♦ turn.
Hartree called to the 7♥ river then hit the tank when Alamelhuda bet 42k. He eventually found a fold showing a jack as he folded, and Alamelhuda said “I had it” as he stacked up the pot. Alamelhuda is up over 500k now while Hartree looks to be playing about 250k.
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Up to 27 Entries
Level: 2 (100/200/200) Entries: 26/27 Prizes: $10,260 The side game today is up to 27 entries now with 26 players at the felt. There are about 15 minutes to play in Level 2.
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22 Entries in Level 1
Level: 1 (100/100/100) Entries: 21/22 Prizes: $8,360 The side game is now underway with 22 entries and 21 players still in the action. Level 1 has about 5 minutes left to play with entries open for more than 4 hours yet. Jerry Tria, JOhnny Dalphond, Cindy Grabia, Justin Pennell, Michael St. Pierre-Porter, Ali Razzaq, Nadav Bitton, Steve Chung, Kirk Nilson, Pac Braich, and Benny Sarnelli are among the players in this one so far today.
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Lee Out at the Break for 13 Left
Level: 16 (3000/6000/6000) Entries: 13/160 Prizes: $91,200 They are down to 13 after Jimmy Lee hit the rail in the final hand before the break. He was all in with ace-jack against the queens of Kyle Hartree. Shane Brothewrwood commented that he was calling with his ace-jack if Hartree hadn’t already called, revealing the two of Lee’s outs were dead.
Hartree hit his queen on the flop for a set and the win while Lee took 14th place tonight. See below for the final 13 counts picked up during the break with Brotherwood currently in the lead.
T-S Player Chips 2 – 2 Kyle Hartree 304,000 2 – 3 Jayvee Lumahan 230,000 2 – 4 Shane Kozniuk 290,000 2 – 5 Shawn Taghavi 258,000 2 – 7 Mo Alamelhuda 438,000 2 – 9 Shane Brotherwood 518,000 3 – 1 Eric Wasylenko 383,000 3 – 2 Xinrui Cui 162,000 3 – 3 Skyler York 328,000 3 – 4 Mike Malm 453,000 3 – 5 Mal Hagan 150,000 3 – 7 Colten Yamagishi 305,000 3 – 9 Garrett Chin 78,000 -
Down to 14
Level: 15 (2500/5000/5000) Entries: 14/160 Prizes: $91,200 They are down to 14 now after Steve Chung, who started today in second chips position, hit the rail in 16th followed by John Calliou in 15th place.
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Down to 16
Level: 15 (2500/5000/5000) Entries: 16/160 Prizes: $91,200 They are down to 16 now after Matthew Ouellette ended his day in 18th place and Landon Crowter took 17th place. Level 15 has just begun with a break following this level and I’ll grab full chip counts for the remaining players at the break.
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Chung Pressures River
Level: 14 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 18/160 Prizes: $91,200 Shawn Taghavi opened the middle to 8k and got three callers — Mo Alamelhuda from the hijack, Steve Chung from the cutoff, and Jimmy Lee from the small blind. The flop was 4♠K♣5♠ and Taghavi checked, Alamelhuda fired 10k, Chung called and Lee and Taghavi mucked their hands.
Both remaining players checked the 10♠ turn but Alamelhuda fired 25k on the A♠ river. Chung came over the top to 50k, and after about a minute in the tank, Alamelhuda mucked his hand. “Show once,” he said, and Chung obliged, showing A♥4♥ for two pair as he raked in the pot.
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Cui Turns Two-Outer
Level: 13 (1500/3000/3000) Entries: 18/160 Prizes: $91,200 Shane Kozniuk (who was identified last night with the last name Sparklingeyes as was in the system) opened under the gun to 7.5k, then four-bet to 207.5k after Xinrui Cui raised it to 20k from the middle. That was enough to force Cui all in with a call, which he made for a jacks into aces showdown.
Cui found the help he needed on the turn of the 9♥8♦4♣J♠K♠ board to double up to about 300k while Kozniuk is now down to about 200k.
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Brotherwood Takes One
Level: 13 (1500/3000/3000) Entries: 18/160 Prizes: $91,200 I picked up the action on the flop of J♥2♣3♥ with Brotherwood check-raising from 8.5k to 17k, then called when Jimmy Lee reraised again to 37k. They both checked it through the 4♣7♦ turn and river and Brotherwood’s J♠8♥ was good for the pot.
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Two Tables Remain
Level: 13 (500/3000/3000) Entries: 18/160 Prizes: $91,200 They are down to two tables with 18 players left now after David Johnson took 19th place tonight.
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Short Stack Can’t Run it Up
Level: 13 (1500/3000/3000) Entries: 19/160 Prizes: $91,200 They are down to 19 now in Event #4 after Deven Lane couldn’t find a spin up. He came in with fumes of 12k so he was always needing some quick help today but the small bag on Day 1a guaranteed him a min-cash of $1,110.
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Day 2 is Off & Running
Level: 12 (1500/2500/2500) Entries: 20/160 Prizes: $91,200 Day 2 action is now underway with 20 players returning. Everyone is in the money now with the min-cash set at $1,110.
With the very early end to Day 1b, the action today picked up in Level 12 with blinds of 1.5k/2.5k/2.5k.
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Sunday Side
Event: Event #7: $450 NLH ($200 + $30) Date: Nov 24, 3 PM Blinds: 25 Minutes Starting Stack: 25k Late Entry: 10 Levels (7:40 PM) Day 1 Ends: One-Day Event The main game on Sunday is Day 2 of Event #4, but there’s another game on the side, Event #7: $450 NLH ($200 + $30). Cards go in the air at 3 PM with entries open for a bit more than 4.5 hours so there should be plenty of time for E4 players to use their cashouts to jump into this one.
Players buy in for $450 and get 25k in chips. Levels will be 25 minutes long with entries closing at the start of Level 11. It’s a one-day event so they’ll hand out a trophy before they close down for the night.
This is the second game on Sunday, so I won’t be watching it very closely in the early levels but I expect E4 to end relatively early, so I should be on this one well before it ends.
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Heidt/Richardson Take Down Team Game
George Broumas (L), Leo Brouwer (R) – runners up in Team MIx 
Cody Richardson (L), Mitch Heidt (R) – Winners of Team Mix It was a smaller field for the Mixed Team game tonight, but they ended up with 19 entries for prizes of $7,220. That left two paid spots in the official prizes, but the final three teams decided to cut a deal that earned Gerald Chung and Ali Razzaq $1,000 for 3rd place.
Heads up took a bit more than a level to complete. The team of Mitch Heidt and Cody Richardson had the lead going into heads up and they held it throughout the final phase. The night ended during PLO with Richardson playing against George Broumas (who was playing tonight with Leo Brouwer).
Results from Team MIx
Place Player Prize 1 Mitch Heidt/Cody Richardson$3,977 2 Leo Brouwer/George Broumas$2,243 3 Gerald Chung/Ali Razzaq$1,000 -
Heads Up in Team Game
Level: 16 (3000/6000/6000) Entries: 2/19 Prizes: $7,220 They are heads up in the Team game now with the team of Mitch Heidt and Cody Richardson leading Leo Brouwer and George Broumas. The final three players made a deal to pay 3rd place $1,000 which went to Alli Razzaq and Gerald Chung.
Team Payouts after Deal
Place Prize 1 $3,977 2 $2,243 3 $1,000 -
Day 2 Seats
Day 2 Seats by Name
T-S Player Chips 3 – 7 Colten Yamagishi 192,000 3 – 4 David Johnson 84,500 1 – 6 Deven Lane 12,000 3 – 1 Eric Wasylenko 367,500 3 – 9 Garrett Chin 78,000 1 – 4 Jayvee Lumahan 250,000 1 – 8 Jimmy Lee 164,000 2 – 6 John Calliou 232,500 2 – 2 Kyle Hartree 112,000 1 – 2 Landon Crowter 163,000 1 – 9 Mal Hagan 121,000 2 – 4 Matthew Ouellette 52,500 1 – 3 Mike Malm 397,500 2 – 7 Mo Alalelhuda 251,000 2 – 9 Shane Brotherwood 189,000 3 – 8 Shane Kozniuk 365,000 2 – 5 Shawn Taghavi 175,000 1 – 1 Skyler York 301,000 2 – 8 Steve Chung 385,500 3 – 2 Xinrui Cui 132,500 Day 2 Seats by Table
T-S Player Chips 1 – 1 Skyler York 301,000 1 – 2 Landon Crowter 163,000 1 – 3 Mike Malm 397,500 1 – 4 Jayvee Lumahan 250,000 1 – 6 Deven Lane 12,000 1 – 8 Jimmy Lee 164,000 1 – 9 Mal Hagan 121,000 2 – 2 Kyle Hartree 112,000 2 – 4 Matthew Ouellette 52,500 2 – 5 Shawn Taghavi 175,000 2 – 6 John Calliou 232,500 2 – 7 Mo Alalelhuda 251,000 2 – 8 Steve Chung 385,500 2 – 9 Shane Brotherwood 189,000 3 – 1 Eric Wasylenko 367,500 3 – 2 Xinrui Cui 132,500 3 – 4 David Johnson 84,500 3 – 7 Colten Yamagishi 192,000 3 – 8 Shane Kozniuk 365,000 3 – 9 Garrett Chin 78,000 -
MIke Malm Leads the Way to Day 2
Event: Event #4: $670 NLH Day 2 ($600 + $70) Dates: Nov 22 – 24 Day 1a: Nov 22, 1 PM (66 entries, $37,620 in prizes, 8 qualifiers) Day 1b: Nov 23, 1 PM Day 2 Nov 24, 1 PM Blinds: 40 Minutes Entries 20/160 Prizes: $91,200 1st Place: $22,620 The Day 2 field is now set with 20 players returning from a starting field of 160. Mike Malm, who is having a great year and is leading the API PoY race, bagged the overall lead with just under 400k from Day 1b. Day 1a leader Steve Chung will be second to start the day with double Main Event champion Eric Wasylenko in 3rd.
Day 2 action kicks off at 1 pm on Sunday and they’ll play down to a winner. As 1b ended well before 1a, the Day 2 action will start in Level 12 with 12 minutes remaining where 1b ended tonight. Blinds will remain and 40 minutes for Day 2 play.
I should be focused on this game until it ends.
Day 2 Prizes
Place Prize 1 $22,620 2 $15,600 3 $10,140 4 $7,800 5 $6,010 6 $4,760 7 $3,740 8 $2,960 9 $2,420 10 $1,950 11 $1,590 12 $1,590 13 $1,390 14 $1,390 15 $1,390 16 $1,210 17 $1,210 18 $1,210 19 $1,110 20 $1,110 
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Malm Bags the 1b Lead
Level: 12 (1500/2500/2500) Entries: 12/94 (20/160) Prizes: $53,580 ($91,200) Mike Malm had the biggest stack at the end of play on Day 1b with almost 400k in his bag with Shane Sparklineyes in second bagging 365k. Full stacks are below & stay tuned for the Day 2 seats and prizes shortly.
Player Chips Mike Malm 397,500 Shane Sparklingeyes 365,000 Mo Alalelhuda 251,000 Jayvee Lumahan 250,000 John Calliou 232,500 Shane Brotherwood 189,000 Landon Crowter 163,000 Xinrui Cui 132,500 Mal Hagan 121,000 Kyle Hartree 112,000 David Johnson 84,500 Garrett Chin 78,000 -
Day 1b is Complete
Level: 12 (1500/2500/2500) Entries: 12/94 (20/160) Prizes: $53,580 ($91,200) Day 1b ended quite a bit earlier than Day 1a with 12 minutes left to play in Level 12. The final 12 players are now bagging their chips … stay tuned for the final chip counts, Day 2 prizes, and Day 2 seat assignments.
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Six off the Bags
Level: 11 (1000/2000/2000) Entries: 18/24 (26/160) Prizes: $53,580 ($91,200) They are down to 18 with about 10 minutes to play in Level 11 now. It looks like Shane Sparklingeyes is the chip leader right now with more than 300k in front of him. They’ve just broken down to the final two tables so it looks like a reasonable bet that tonight may finish before 1a.
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Entries Closed with 160 (Official)
Level: 10 (1000/1500/1500) Entries: 31/94 (39/160) Prizes: $53,580 ($91,200) Entries for Event #4 are now closed with 94 recorded for Day 1b for a combined total of 160 across both days. I’m still waiting to see the final prizes, but the numbers are confirmed and Day 1b will play down to 12 players later tonight before the bags come out. That will mean 20 players will return tomorrow for Day 2 in the money.
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Dinner Time
Level: 9 (600/1200/1200) Entries: 29/91 (37/157) Prizes: $51,870 ($89,490) The 1b players are now on their dinner break with entries set to close in about 40 minutes. The combined prizes are just shy of $90k right now and should push over that number with one more entry tonight.
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Up to 9 Teams
Level: 3 (200/300/300) Entries: 9/9 Prizes: $3,420 They are up to 9 teams in the team game with no rebuys so far and Level 3 just getting underway. Entries are still open for about 2.5 hours.
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More than 150 Entries
Level: 8 (500/1000/1000) Entries: 35/85 (43/151) Prizes: $48,450 ($86,070) The combined prizes are over $86k now with 151 entries on the board so far. There are just under 90 minutes left to get into this game with Weston Pring, and Michael “Berny” Bernstein among the newer faces I’ve seen in the action tonight.
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7 Teams to Start
Level: 1 (100/100/100) Entries: 7/7 Prizes: $2,660 The Mix Team game is underway with 7 entries in the game in the opening Level. Entries are still open for about 3 hours, but the weather may prevent a large field tonight.
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2 Hours of Entry Left for Event #4
Level: 8 (500/1000/1000) Entries: 37/79 (45/145) Prizes: $45,030 ($82,650) Jerry Tria is among the new entries in his first event for a few years as he’s been away from the tables for personal reasons. There are 2 hours left to get into this game before entries close at the start of Level 10 and the combined prizes are up to more than $82k.
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Nearing 70 Entries
Level: 6 (300/600/600) Entries: 38/68 (46/134) Prizes: $38,760 ($76,380) Day 1b has just capped Day 1a with more than 3 hours left to enter this flight. The combined field is up to 134 entries now, so 150 entries seems well within reach. If that happens, the combined prizes will be in the range of $85k or higher.
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$65k in Prizes
Level: 4 (200/400/400) Entries: 41/49 (50/116) Prizes: $28,500($66,120) Deven Lane is among the new entries for today’s flight. He bagged a stack in yesterday’s 1a flight, but it was barely fumes as he only put 12k into his bag at the end of the night. He’s back in action today to try to find a bigger bag for tomorrow — if he succeeds, then his 1a stack will be awarded a min-cash and taken out of play while he plays his 1b stack for bigger money.
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Nearing 50 Entries on First Break
Level: 4 (200/400/400) Entries: 39/46(47/112) Prizes: $26,220 ($63,840) They are up to 46 entries on the first break of 1b now for a combined total of 112 so far. That puts the total prizes at $63,840 with about 5 hours left to enter. Zhi Jiang, Jolnar Teliani, Amanda Belanger, and Michael St. Pierre-Porter are among the new faces I’ve seen recently.
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More than $60k
Level: 3 (200/300/300) Entries: 34/40 (42/106) Prizes: $22,800 ($60,420) The combined prizes are over $60 now with 40 entries in play for Day 1b so far. There are about 20 minutes remaining in Level 3 with the first break of the day scheduled following this level.
Ron Lauzon, Dylan Webb, Alex Polkovsky, Jayvee Lumahan, Jay Tran, Nadav Bitton, Ali Razzaq, Shane Brotherwood, Mal Hagan, Justin Pennell, and Mike Malm are among the players in action today. Malm, Pennell, Hagan, Brotherwood, and Razzaq are all at the same table today, so that’s a pretty tough spot to be in early action.
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Steve Chung Leads Day 1a Stacks
Event: Event #4: $670 NLH Day 1A ($600 + $70) Dates: Nov 22 – 24 Day 1a: Nov 22, 1 PM (66 entries, $37,620 in prizes, 8 qualifiers) Day 1b: Nov 23, 1 PM Day 2 Nov 24, 1 PM Blinds: 40 Minutes Starting Stack: 25k Late Entry: 9 Levels (~8:00 PM) Day 1 Ends: 12.5% of the Field The second flight for Event #4 is set for Saturday at 1 pm and Steve Chung is the 1a stack to beat. He bagged 385.5k at the end of 1a with two-time Main Event champ Eric Wasylenko and Skyler York also rocking 300k+ in their bags. A total of 8 players made it through the day.
Day 1b plays as a redo of 1a with 25k to start, 40-minute blinds, and 9 levels to enter the game (~8:00 pm). As with 1a, they’ll play down to 12.5% of the starting field before they bag. Day 2 will begin at the earliest Day 1 finish, so right now the latest Day 2 will start is 25:31 remaining in Level 15.
I will likely be late to the floor for this one, but I should be there before the first break, and I’ll be focused on this one until they bag.
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Branden Tremblay Wins PLO Turbo for $5,458
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 1/99 Prizes: $18,810 
Branden Tremblay, winner of the PLO Turbo The PLO Turbo is all over with Branden Tremblay emerging as the leader. The final table was mostly a battle between Tremblay and 3rd place finisher Malcolm Bolger. Between them, they had most of the chips in play with runner-up Bruce Drake playing a shorter stack and mostly staying out of the way of the action.
Tremblay sent Bolger to the rail in third with a massive flush-over-flush cooler to build a huge lead, and it only took him a couple of hands to find a spot against Drake to take it down. He flopped two pair to Drake’s pair and straight wrap and the two pair held for the win.
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Bruce Drake Out in 2nd Place for $3,762
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 1/99 Prizes: $18,810 
Bruce Drake Heads up was quick with just a couple of hands played after Malcolm Bolger busted in 3rd place. Branden Tremblay had most of the chips at that point, with Bruce Drake quite short, and the money went in on a flop of 8♥7♠6♦.
Drake was on a pair and a straight draw with Tremblay on two pair. Tremblay held for the win to take it all down.
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Malcolm Bolger Out in 3rd Place for $2,445
Level: 21 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 2/99 Prizes: $18,810 
Malcolm Bolger They are heads up now after a huge flush over flush spot. The money went in on the turn of a board showing [invalid notations] with Branden Tremblay betting 100k, Malcolm Bolger potting to 440k, Tremblay shoving, and Bolger calling it off. Tremblay flopped the king-high hearts over the queen-high hearts for Bolger, and the river was meaningless.
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Justin Pennell Out iin 4th Place for $1,881
Level: 20 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 3/99 Prizes: $18,810 
Justin Pennell I missed the action but in the hand following the exit of Holly Orleski, Justin Pennell hit the rail for fourth place.
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Holly Orleski Out in 5th Place for $1,448
Level: 20 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 4/99 Prizes: $18,810 The action was on the turn when I got to the table with Holly Orleski already all in from previous action and Justin Pennell facing a bet from Malcolm Bolger with the board showing 6♦7♣3♥8♣. Pennell had a bit less than a pot bet behind and he was in the tank.
“Book says fold,” he muttered at one point. “Book is fucked.” The table laughed but he ultimately went with the book. Bolger was on the nut straight with Orleski already dead with her A♦Q♠Q♥J♠. Pennell said he folded clubs which would have hit on the 9♣ river.
Orleski asked that her picture not be taken.
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Nathan Masih Out in 6th Place for $1,147
Level: 19 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 5/99 Prizes: $18,810 
Nathan Masih Nathan Masih shoved the small blind and Branden Tremblay called from the big with a covering stack. it was J♥9♣8♦6♦ for Masih against A♦J♦4♠3♦. Tremblay hit his four and nothing else connected so Masih was done in 6th tonight.
