LIVE Reporting: Pure Poker Tour Series #6

John Donnelly already has a couple of trophies from the PPT, but he was still pretty happy to take down the Seniors event. Donnelly won the Main Event last July then followed that up a few weeks later with a win in the Seniors event in the following series.

Tonight he added a second Seniors title to his resume with a little rungood, some well-timed aggression, and disciplined folds when he needed to get out of the way. The final hand was a bit of rungood as he got there with a dominated ace, but he was in a position to win because of a previous double that saw his best ace hold.

He was a big stack early on tonight but relatively short by the time they got to the final table. He played a cagey game, mostly staying out of the way of the big stacks of Worton and Ghorbani. That let him stay alive until the end and take down the win.

Brett Worton has won this event a couple of years ago in 2022, and he’s bagged a couple of second places and other cashes in Seniors games around Alberta. He came close to a second win tonight as the table captain for most of the final table, but he’ll have to settle for another second place after John Donnelly had a huge heads-up to take down the title.

Worton was the big stack for the whole final table until they got two ways. He started heads up with a big lead, but Donnelly doubled early. “Now we have a game,” Worton said when it was about 1.2m to 900k.

He might have wished that wasn’t quite so prophetic as the game was indeed on. Donnelly came back a few minutes later with a big double to the lead when his ace-queen held over ace-ten for Worton. That left Worton on about 400k, less than 10 bigs.

He managed to come back a bit and was up to around 800k when the final hand came down. It was all in before the flop with Worton on ace-seven over ace-five with a good shot at a double or at least a chopped pot.

The poker gods had other ideas, however, as Donnelly found his five on the river for the win.

John Donnelly raised to 100k, then snapped it off when Brett Worton called. It was a heads-up cooler with Donnelly on an unsuited ace-queen versus the suited ace-ten for Worton. Both players missed the board and Donnelly held for a double on 880k, which gives him the lead and leaves Worton on about 400k.

Richard “Richochet” Housch was down to 15k when there were still 6 players left in the game but he laddered up pretty nicely to third tonight with some rungood and well-timed action. In his final hand, he shoved the small blind with an ace but ran into a bigger one for Brett Worton in the big.

They are down to three left and Brett Worton has all the chips after he sent Rob Lothian to the rail. Worton shoved the small blind with the big stack and Lothian called from the big with the small. Lothian was ahead with an ace versus a kind, but Worton his flush cards to take it down.

They are down to 4 left after Faramarz Ghorbani shoved his small blind with king-queen and Brett Worton called from the big with jacks. Worton hit a jack on the flop and held for the win.

The average stack is now a bit less than 20 bigs.

Ed Zurawell was forced all in from the big blind, and small blind Brett Worton called. Zurawell had fives against ten-four, but Worton spiked a ten on the flop and held to bring the table down to five.

They are around 15 big blinds deep on average right now, and Worton has most of the chips, so most of the table is pretty short stacked right now.

Richard Housch is still alive and now over 200k. Rett Worton raised under the gun to 50k, then called when Housch shoved his stack of 75k. Housh had ace-jack against king-jack and he flopped an ace for the win.

Richard Housch was down to just 15k afrter he lost a big confrontation with John Donnelly. The chips went in with Housch on king-ten against king-jack for Donnelly and the jack played for the win. Housch has since chipped back up to about 100k, in part after getting a double through Donnelly with ace-ten over ace-three.

Richard Housch raised the small blind to 40k and Faramarz Ghorbani called from the big. It all kicked off on the 8♣6♣5♥ flop. Housch shoved and Ghorbani snap-called.

Ghorbani had 9♣5♣ for bottom pair and the straight flush draw against two pair for Housc with 8♥6♥. In an unlikely runout, the 9♠7♠ put a straight on the board for a chop.

Here is a look at the final six stacks in play with Brett Worton leading the way.

They are down to 6 left now in the Seniors game after Malcolm Bolger hit the rail for 7th place. I missed the action as I was watching the endgame of the Turbo, which just finished.

George Broumas was 9th tonight while Brian Wells was 8th to bring the Seniors game down to 7 remaining.

Brett Worton raised early to 27k and Malcolm Bolger called from the cutoff. They checked it through the 2♦2♣9♦10♠9♣ until it got to Bolger on the river. He fired 45k and Worton snapped it off.

Bolger swore and mucked his hand as Worton showed ace-ten.

They are in the money now after Naleen Narayan’s pocket fours lost to the aces of Ed Zurawell. Zurawell had the covering stack, and the Seniors are now in the money.

They are on the bubble now after Tony Nguyen lost his short stack to get them to 11 left. The clock is paused and they are taking two minutes off manually for every hand played until the next elimination puts them in the money.

Richard Housch raised to 17k from the cutoff and Naleen Narayan and Rob Lothian called from the blinds. The flop came K♦10♣9♣ and the blinds check-folded to a 20k bet from Housch.

They are on the bubble to the bubble with 12 players left now. Russ Sluchinski was the most recent player to head to the exit tonight.

George Broumas is leading the way with 320k now but John Donnelly and Brian Wells are also both playing more than 300k. See below for the current chips.

They are down to 13 left in the Seniors game now with Level 16 drawing to a close. I’ll get a full chip count at the break following this level but Igor Gorelik and Fran Fisher recently busted to get the game to 13.

George Broumas folded a pair of nines a few hands earlier to a big blind shove from Russ Sluchincki. Bromas covered Sluchinski but the stack would have cut into his chips pretty sharply if he called and lost. Malcolm Bolger is seated to his right, and they got into a discussion with Bolger saying the nines was a clear call while Broumas was insistent that it was too many chips.

The discussion was still underway when Broumas raised under the gun and it folded around to Bolger’s big blind. He joked “So if I go all in, you’ll fold?” Broumas laughed and said no, and Bolger flatted to the 4♠6♦A♦ flop. They checked it through the 2♠ turn and Bolger fired 20k on the K♣ river.

Broumas called and showed pocket eights, taking the hand down when Bolger mucked. Dave Pietrzyko joked that he was expecting Broumas to show pocket nines. Paul Meyer was the most recent exit to bring the game to 15, 5 off the money and four away from hand-for-hand bubble play at 11.

Ed Zurawell raised the cutoff to 10k and it folded around to Rob Lothian in the big blind. Lothian counted out a reraise to 60k and tossed it in.

“60? Why are you going to to 60 from 10?” Zurawell asked.

“Low sugar,” answered Lothian with a smile. “Just wanted to see if you had something big,” he added as he collected the pot.

Here is a look at my eyeballed stacks with 16 players remaining.

They are just 6 off the money now with 16 players left in the game and Level 15 just underway. Dana Shore and Mike X were the two busts since they got to the final two tables.

They are down to the final two tables now with 18 players left in the action. John Donnelly still looks to be sitting behind the biggest stack, but I don’t have eyes on all the chip counts, but the players still in action are below.

I picked up the action on a four-way flop of 2♦7♣2♥. It checked around and again on the 4♦ turn. On the [invalid notations]As[/pcn river, it checked to Kim Graham under the gun, and he bet 5,500. Naleen Narayan came over the top to 11k which pushed out blinds John Donnelly and Brian Wells before Graham also got out of the way.

In the next hand, Donnelly raised the button to 7k but then mucked it when Graham shoved for about 60k from the big blind.

The Seniors have just gone for another break with the end of Level 12. They are down to the final three tables with 27 left at the break.

The big stack right now looks like it belongs to Main Event winner John Donnelly. He has about 230k in front of him right now, but Rob Lothian is also stacking chips with about 210k while Ed Zurawell looks to playing about 170k.

Level 11 is about halfway finished now with the field down to 35 players left on the final four tables. Among the players still active in the game are Cliff Green, Kim Graham, Brian Wells, Ali Razzaq, John Donnelly, Nancy Kelln, Kirk Nilson, Brett Worton, Francis Fan, Mike X, Malcolm Bolger, George Broumas, Joe Herlein, Leonard Siebenga, Tony Nguyen, Rob Lothian, and Russ Sluchinski.

The numbers are confirmed at 93 entries for prizes of $26,505. There will be 10 paid spots tonight with the winner set to pocket almost $8k.

Seniors Payouts

Level 9 is now underway and entries for the opening event of the Tournament of Champions are now closed. The final (unofficial) number on the board is 93 for $26.5k in prizes. I’ll confirm that when the prizes are posted shortly, but if it holds it should mean 9 players are getting some money back later tonight.

The Seniors are on dinner now with 8 levels of play now in the books. Entries will be closed when they return from dinner for Level 9 in less than 40 minutes.

There are 92 entries on the board to start the dinner break, so it remains to be seen if they’ll hit 100 or not with dinner entries.

There is nearly $26k in prizes for the Seniors with 91 entries on the board with 10 minutes to play in Level 8. Entries remain open throughout the dinner break following this level but will close when they sit down for Level 9 at about 5 PM.

Level 7 has just over 20 minutes to play with the field at 82 entries and 55 players still at the felt. They’ll take their dinner break following Level 8 and when they return for Level 9 at about 5:00 pm, entries for the first event will be closed.

Level 6 has just begin with he field at 79 entries now for prizes of $22,515. I’ve just had another walk around the room and among the other players I spotted today were John Donnelly, Joe Herlein, Brian Wells, Gerald Chung, Cliff Green, Keith Graham (who is here with his twin brother Kim), Ali Razzaq, Kirk Nilson, Ed Zurawell, and Nancy Kelln, who was at the final table of the recent Seniors game in Calgary. Former winner of this event Mike X is also in the crowd today.

The field is closing in on 80 entries with more than $22k in prizes already in the prize pool. There is just under 2.5 hours left to enter the game today so that number should still grow with 100 entries easily within sight.

I’ve just arrived in the room at Pure Casino Yellowhead and a first look around the room has revealed Ron Lauzon, Malcolm Bolger, Francis Fan, Rob Lothian, Gord Pettit, Brett Worton, and Kim Graham, who won the last Seniors event here before going on to final table the Main Event.

It’s a good start for the opening event of the 2024 Tournament of Champions with 23 Seniors in their seats to start the game. I am not yet on the floor and likely won’t be for a couple of hours yet but I should be reporting live sometime after the first break,

There is more than $6,500 in the prize pool to start the day, so it looks like this could be a pretty big game with a late finish.

The final Pure Poker Tour series of 2024 is set to go with the opening action, as usual, going to the Senior players. The open salvos for the 50+ game will be fired starting at noon on Thursday.

Players start out with 25k in chips for 30-minute levels and they’ll have 8 levels to enter the game. That should put the last chance to register at about 5 pm when the return from the dinner break following Level 8.

This is a one-day game so they’ll finish it out sometime late Thursday evening or the wee hours of Friday morning. This will be my main focus for the opening day of action.