It was a big weekend on the Pure Poker Tour. The first series of 2026 is well underway, with 6 events now in the books.The big game so far was Event #3, the first multi-day game of the series, but the weekend also saw four-card deepstack hyper action, the Second Chance NLH, and the PKO game.
With three events in the books, Francis Fan was leading the Player of the Series race on the back of his seniors’ win and a min-cash in Event #4, but the weekend activities saw Brad Bishop take the lead after his big win in Event #3, plus a cash in Event #5.
2026 PPT #1 Player of the Series – Top Ten Points after 6 Events
| Player | Points | Cashes |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Bishop | 196 | 2 |
| David Kang | 180 | 1 |
| Jeff Forester | 180 | 1 |
| Benny Sarnelli | 124.6 | 2 |
| Francis Fan | 122.4 | 2 |
| Jordan Panas | 121 | 1 |
| Mehmet Siginc | 108 | 1 |
| Steve Azizi | 106.8 | 2 |
| Jimmy Lee | 105.6 | 1 |
| David Cox | 104.4 | 2 |
With several big buy-in events coming up, including both the PLO and NLH Mains, there are still a lot of points up for grabs. Expect some big movement on the list over the next 6 days before the end.
Brad Bishop Wins Event #3 after 3-Way Chop
Event #3: $670 NLH Day 2 ($600 + $70)
- Entries: 255
- Prizes: $145,350
- Winner: Brad Bishop ($26,006 after deal)
The biggest game so far in the opening PPT of 2026 was Event #3. The multi-day game saw two starting flights on Friday and Saturday, with the qualifiers from each flight convening on Sunday for Day 2 money play.
111 entries for Day 1a combined with 144 on 1b for a grand total of 255 entries and $145,350 in combined prizes. 32 players found bags at the end of one of the flights (14 for 1a, 18 for 1b), and everyone returning for Sunday’s Day 2 action was guaranteed at least a mn-cash of $1,110
Day 2 played for more than 10 hours before they decided on the winner, and in the end, the final three decided to chop it up as the stacks were getting short with blinds already at 50k/100k/100k. Brad Bishop, who started the day second in chips, took down the win with the biggest stack, with David Heechan Kang & Jeff Foreter also taking part in the deal. Start-of-day leader Mehmet Siginc ended his run in fourth place just before the deal.
The final table of this one was a pretty wild affair, with the chip lead moving around the table fairly smoothly. While Bishop had the most chips at the end, Siginc, Curtis Singleton (5th), Kang, and Forester all held the lead at one point during the FT. Singleton, for his part, was stacking big until his aces were cracked by Forester’s jacks.
Singleton laddered up one spot after that, but that was the beginning of the end for him. Once they got four ways, it was pretty much all Bishop. He found a couple of doubles before he sent Siginc home in 4th to take a big lead, and they decided to chop.
Final Table Results from Event #3
See the Payouts tab under the Live Reporting link for Event #3 to get a full look at the payouts.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Brad Bishop | $26,006* |
| 2 | David Heechan Kang | $23,275* |
| 3 | Jeff Forester | $20,009* |
| 4 | Mehmet Siginc | $11,185 |
| 5 | Curtis Singleton | $8,610 |
| 6 | Cam Stewart | $6,820 |
| 7 | Steve Azizi | $5,370 |
| 8 | Pav Braich | $4,250 |
| 9 | David Cox | $3,465 |
David Cox Wins PLO Deepstack Hyper
Event #4: $300 PLO Deepstack Hyper ($300 + $40)
- Entries: 89
- Prizes: $25,365
- Winner: David Cox ($8,120)
The PLO Deepstack Hyper played out on Friday night, as a mix between deepstack poker and lightning-fast blinds. It lived up to it’s hyper name, playing down from 89 entries to the winner in less than 8 hours.
When the dust settled, David Cox was the player with all the chips. He took it down after a short heads-up against Keith Stick after they both flopped a pair of kings, with Stick ahead with the best kicker, only to watch Cox run out to a straight on the turn and river.
This was Cox’s second live win in only his 5th recorded result. His first win came here at Pure Casino Edmonton at the beginning of February in one of the Monthly Bounty events.
Final Results from PLO Deepstack Hyper
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Cox | $8,120 |
| 2 | Keith Stick | $5,326 |
| 3 | Richie Tran | $3,551 |
| 4 | Darrell Moore | $2,536 |
| 5 | Troy Salai | $1,902 |
| 6 | Josh Myers | $1,369 |
| 7 | Paul Meyer | $1,065 |
| 8 | Michael Mchale | $837 |
| 9 | Francis Fan | $659 |
Teliani & Bishop Chop Second Chance NLH
Event #5: $340 NLH 2nd Chance ($300 + $40)
- Entries: 97
- Prizes: $27,645
- Winner: Jo Teliani ($6,650 after deal)
The Second Chance NLH game played out on Saturday evening, alongside Day 1b of Event #3. The side game saw 97 entries for prizes of $27,645, and 10 players got a piece of that money.
It took nearly 14 hours to play down from the 97 entries to the winner. In the end, the final two players agreed to a chop, as it was getting late, and Jo Teliani was scheduled to be back in action on Sunday in Day 2 of Event #3. Teliani agreed to a lower payout to secure the win, while Adam Bishop took the biggest share of the money for second place.
Teliani has been coming on strong recently, with 5 wins since 2022 coming into this series. This was her 6th win, and second PPT trophy, though she also picked up a win here at Pure Casino Edmonton in January in a Monthly Event.
Final Standings from Second Chance NLH
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jo Teliani | $6,650* |
| 2 | Adam Bishop | $6,901* |
| 3 | Cameron Phillips | $3,593 |
| 4 | Ian Broen | $2,764 |
| 5 | Randy Dalla Vecchia | $2,128 |
| 6 | Sean Chapman | $1,686 |
| 7 | John Hubensky | $1,326 |
| 8 | Brad Bishop | $1,050 |
| 9 | Gordon Yu | $856 |
| 10 | Noah Clark | $691 |
Sarnelli & Panas Chop the PKO
Event #6: $560 NLH PKO ($300 + $200 + $60)
- Entries: 118
- Prizes: $56,050 ($32,450 prizes, $23,600 bounties)
- Winner: Jordan Panas ($7,329 after deal)
Sunday afternoon featured the $560 PKO game, playing out alongside Day 2 of Event #3. The action got underway at 2 PM, and it was more than 12 hours before they decided on a winner.
At about 2:30 AM, once they got heads up, the final two decided on a deal. Benny Sarnelli took first place money, but accepted second place in the standings, while Jordn Panas took the second place money and the official win. Both players kept their own bounties, which were an extra $5,300 for for Sarnelli, and $3,850 more for Panas.
Johnny Dalphond just missed out on the deal, ending his day in 3rd place on a cooler. He shoved ace-queen with the short stack, but ran into ace-king for Panas and couldn’t get there.
That came shortly after a double knockout by Sarnelli. Daniel Lefebvre was nearly felted after Dalphond doubled through him after a spade flush, and he was forced all in from the big blind in the next hand. After Dalphond limped in, Sarnelli shoved a big stack to isolate.
Thomas Taylor was also short and got the rest of his chips in with queen-jack, while Dalphond backed away. That left Sarnelli in good shape with a suited ace against the Broadway connectors for Taylor and king-ten for Lefebvre. Sarnelli found an eight for a bigger lead and held for the double bust.
Panas was joined for the winner’s photo by some of the local crushers who were playing cash at the time.
Final Results for $560 PKO
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan Panas | $7,329 |
| 2 | Benny Sarnelli | $7,929 |
| 3 | Johnny Dalphond | $4,047 |
| 4 | Thomas Taylor | $3,113 |
| 5 | Daniel Lefebvre | $2,397 |
| 6 | Shawn Taghavi | $1,898 |
| 7 | Blair Stevens | $1,494 |
| 8 | Jatinder Brar | $1,182 |
| 9 | Michael “Berny” Bernstein | $965 |
| 10 | Ron Lauzon | $778 |
| 11 | Ken Kaneda | $659 |
| 12 | Weston Pring | $659 |
