There are now four events in the books for the 2026 Spring Super Stack here at Deerfoot Inn & Casino in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Thursday night saw the PLO Double Board Bomb Pot game play out, with 62 entries for $23,560 in prizes, while Friday night played host to a PKO side game that drew 76 entries for combined prizes of $21,660.
In addition to those games, the main action since Thursday has been in the first multi-day game of the series, Event #3: Deepstack. Thursday’s opening flight drew 93 entries for $26.5k in prizes, with Friday’s second flight adding another 130 entries for a combined total of 223 entries and $63,555 in prizes. There is still one more Day 1 to play on Saturday for Event #3, and it’s looking like that game will end up handing out more than $100k in total prizes on Sunday’s Day 2.
Darlington is the PLO Darling
Event #4: $450 PLO Double Board Bomb Piot ($400 + $50)
- Entries: 62
- Prizes: $23,560
- Winner: Peter Darlington ($8,010)
Peter Darlington is a familiar face around Calgary games, especially when there are four cards involved. And, he’s among the best in the region when four cards are in play. He showed that again on Thursday night when he powered through the PLO Double Board Bomb Pot game to take down the win.
It was the first game so far this series that didn’t end in a chop, as Darlington got heads up with Gord Chen holding a big chip lead. Chen did his best to chip away at Darlington’s mountain of chips, but when Darlington is running hot with four cards, he is virtually unstoppable.
With the short stack, Chen opted for a hyper-aggressive strategy, opting to check-pot the flop on several hands, forcing folds from the big-stack Darlington. Ultimately, however, he ran into Darlington’s heater. Chen flopped the nut wheel, and the money went in.
Darlington was drawing strong, however, flopping two pair with ace-deuce. He improved that two pair to aces and threes on the turn before the river ace boated him up for the win. This was Darlington’s 6th live win, with four of those in some form of PLO format. He also has a couple of Circuit rings from the Calgary Circuit events, including a four-card ring, which he won in the same series in 2024.
Final Results for the PLO Double Board Bomb Pot
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Peter Darliington | $8,010 |
| 2 | Gordon Chin | $5,654 |
| 3 | Kalil Fayez Geha | $4,006 |
| 4 | Raymond Trieu | $2,592 |
| 5 |  Oleksandr Sviderskyi | $1,885 |
| 6 | Fat Wong | $1,414 |
Wayne Hoffert Wins PKO after HU Chop
Event #5: $340 PKO ($150 + $150 + $40)
- Entries: 76
- Prizes: $21,660 ($10,260 prizes, $11,400 bounties)
- Winner: Wayne Hoffert ($2,719 + $2,100 in Bounties)
The PKO game on Friday night drew a crowd of 76 entries, which put the total prizes at more than $21k. $10,260 of that was in the prizes for the top 8 players at the end of the night, and as is traditional in a PKO, both top spots had the same payout, with the difference expected to come from the final bounty.
That wasn’t quite how it all worked out on Friday night, however. Todd Oakley was the table captain for much of the final table play, but as the numbers dwindled, Wayne Hoffert surged into the lead after a huge three-way all-in that saw Hoffert scoop a big pot to take the lead and bring the game three ways.
Sherbrooke resident Alexandre Fortin was then the short stack from the final three, and he sent his chips over to Oakley fairly quickly after Hoffert sent Corey Arsenault home in 4th place. That left Oakley and Hoffert heads up, with Hoffert on the big stack.
As it was getting late, the final two players decided to just take their money and run. They both took the payout of $2,719, with Hoffert collecting $2,100 in bounties along the way, against $3,400 extra for Oakley. That meant that, despite getting second place in the standings, Oakley actually pocketed the best payday from the game.
This was Hoffert’s seventh live win, but it’s been a while since he’s stood atop a poker podium. His last win was right here at Deerfoot back in the 2019 Fall Super Stack, where he won the $500 NLH game. The score tonight will push his Hendon Mob earnings to just a fraction under $200k.
Final Results from the PKO
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wayne Hoffert | $2,719 |
| 2 | Todd Oakley | $2,719 |
| 3 | Alexandre Fortin | $1,642 |
| 4 | Corey Arsenault | $1,077 |
| 5 | Tim Xia | $718 |
| 6 | Weston Pring | $513 |
| 7 | Jason Olynyk | $462 |
| 8 | Stefan Maloney | $410 |
