Pure Poker Tour Series #6 – Event #1: $340 Seniors First

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.