It was an action-packed Sunday with the first Day 2 of the series playing down to a winner. After a three player chop, Alan Zhu took down Event #3: $670 NLH for $23,000. Mike Malm and Kris Steinbach got $16,000 each after the ICM deal. A fan favorite side event, the $560 NLH Big Bounty played down to a winner. Michael St. Pierre-Porter took home the trophy along with $7,960 plus bounties.
Alan Zhu Takes Down Event #3: $670 NLH After a Three Way Chop ($23,000)
The first two day event of the series played down to a winner. It was a hard fought 7 hours, as Alan Zhu made an ICM deal with Kris Steinbach and Mike Malm. After the deal was made, Zhu fought valiantly to take down his first PPT trophy and $23,000. The tournament had a combined 222 entrants to build a prize pool of $126,540.
Zhu came into Day 2 as the chip leader, but his early tournament was off to a rocky start. Zhu took down a pot to grind back over 300,000, far from his 565,500 starting stack. However, by the break he had returned to 530,000 and regained the chip lead. Zhu made a large bet on the river of the J♥A♦6♦A♠K♥ board to close in on one million chips. By the time of the final table he was third in chips with 680,000.
Zhu fell to the short stack seven-handed with 300,000 in chips. Zhu doubled shortly after to stay alive and regain a 900,000 stack. Zhu’s tournament slowed down until he flushed out against Alemu Makonen. Makonen hit the rail soon after leaving Steinbach, Malm, and Zhu three-handed. The three agreed to an ICM chop with Zhu taking $23,000. Malm and Steinbach took home $16,000 with Zhu taking $23,000 with the chip lead.
Zhu found two pair shortly after the deal against Malm’s top pair flush draw to send him out in third place. Heads-up play lasted under 20 minutes. Steinbach found a pair along with a straight and flush draw. Zhu put him all in and he called off with many outs to double. With “too many out syndrome,” the river bricked to give Zhu his first PPT trophy.
Event #3: $670 NLH Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alan Zhu | $23,000 |
| 2 | Kris Steinbach | $16,000 |
| 3 | Mike Malm | $23,000 |
| 4 | Alemu Makonen | $10,000 |
| 5 | Sebastian Crema | $7,700 |
| 6 | Hongwei Liu | $6,100 |
| 7 | Keith Schultz | $4,800 |
| 8 | Victor Ma | $3,800 |
| 9 | Adrian Baran | $3,100 |
Michael St Pierre-Porter Bests the Rest to Win Event #6: $560 NLH Big Bounty ($7,960)
A staple of the Pure Poker Tour, Event #6: $560 NLH Big Bounty returned for its spotlight in the series. The tournament found the largest field of the side events thus far, with 102 entries. This combined for a prize pool of $48,450 ($28,050 prizes, $20,400 bounties). Michael St Pierre-Porter took home the trophy along with $7,960 plus bounties for his first place finish.
Jimmy Lee held the chip lead heading into the final table with 750,000. There was a large gap between the next closest, with Edward Sikorski holding 483,000. Eliminations were rapid, as short stacked play and bounties incentivized the action. By five-handed play, Sikorski held a substantial chip lead with 950,000. This was almost double Lee’s second place stack of 480,000. St Pierre-Porter eliminated Lee shortly after with pocket tens against Lee’s overcards.
From here. St Pierre-Porter didn’t look back as his hunger for bounties only rose. He found an elimination on the short-stacked Shane Chief with flopped top pair. With play at three-handed, Sikorski eliminated Kim Phan to being play to heads-up. While Sikorski started action as the chip leader, St Pierre-Porter’s unrelenting aggression gave him the chip lead. With one foot on the gas, St Pierre-Porter laid the trap. After finding top pair top kicker, he allowed Sikorski to bet into him and called off his all in. His hand was the winner as he took home his second PPT trophy.
Event #6: $560 Big Bounty NLH Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael St Pierre-Porter | $7,960 |
| 2 | Ed Sikorski | $5,485 |
| 3 | Kim Pham | $3,565 |
| 4 | Shane Chief | $2,742 |
| 5 | Jimmy Lee | $2,111 |
| 6 | Paul Meyer | $1,673 |
| 7 | Tony Ma | $1,316 |
| 8 | Chris Macpherson | $1,042 |
| 9 | George Gializis | $850 |
| 10 | Chris Lahey | $685 |
| 11 | Shawn Silva | $311 |
| 12 | Curtis Glyngsdal | $310 |
There is still plenty of the series left at Pure Casino Yellowhead. Holiday Monday features the NLH $780 6-Max and $230 NLH. Follow all the exclusive reporting here on poker.pro.
