Sharma Time in Event #11; Myers & Cairns Chop E12

The first Pure Poker Tour series of 2026 is drawing to a close, with just four days of action remaining until the final trophies are awarded on Sunday. Wednesday’s action saw two more trophies awarded, with local business tycoon DJ Sharma securing his second PPT trophy in the main game, and Josh Myers and Ryan Cairns chopping the Deepstack Hyper game at the end.

Sharma’s big win let him jump up into the top 10 in the Player of the Series race now. That was his 3rd cash of the series, but the first that scored significant PoS points, which was enough to push him to 6th place. That pushed Steve Azizi out of the Top 10, dropping him to 11th now.

Myers & Cairns both added a second cash to their PoS results in E12, but it wasn’t quite enough to push either into the top 10. Cairns is currently in 14th place, with Myers in 17th. See the full Top 10 as it stands after 7 days of action, and below that is a reminder of exactly what they are playing for.

It was Sharma Time in the $560 NLH

Event #11: $560 NLH ($500 + $60)

• Entries: 99
• Prizes: $47,025
• Winner: DJ Sharma ($13,645)

There are times when a single player dominates the action in an MTT, and last night’s $560 NLH was an example of that. Local businessman DJ Sharma put on a clinic of big stack play, playing the most chips for most of the night.

It’s not uncommon for Sharma to rack up a big stack in these games, as he plays a style that favours a big stack or no stack a lot of the time. What is a bit rarer is when he builds a big stack, then holds it through a full game, as happened in Event #11.

That shows a real progression in Sharma’s game, as he is better able to adapt to the changing needs of tournament poker as the game progresses. His run through the endgame of E11 showed more patience than usual, though it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

One of the hallmarks of Sharma’s game is that he’s willing and able to play almost any two cards from almost any position on the table, and last night was no exception. He was a bit of a wrecking ball at the final table, scoring 6 of the 8 knockouts before the end.

It wasn’t all Sharma, however — he had his share of setbacks as well. While he ultimately found a spot with seven-five to crack Todd Cochrane’s ace-king of hearts and get the game heads up, Cochrane had his number in a couple of hands just prior.

That put Sharma heads up against Matthew Ouellette, who picked up his first PPT trophy last July when he won the Main Event here at Pure Casino Edmonton. Sharma had a huge lead, playing well over 2 million of the ~3 million in play, so Ouellette had a huge mountain to climb.

It wasn’t to be, and the heads-up phase was pretty short. In the final hand, Oellette shoved just a few blinds. “I haven’t looked yeat, but I’ll call you blind,” Sharma said, putting in the call.

“I haven’t looked yet either,” chuckled Ouellette, and they both sweated each hand as it turned over. Ouellette was actually ahead, technically, with ten-three over eight-seven suited for Sharma. Sharma flopped a flush draw, turned a pair, and rivered the flush to end it in dramatic fashion.

The final table dynamic was a bit of a strange one. They initially played nine-handed for nearly two hours before the first elimination from the FT. Once that dam burst, however, it was a pretty quick run down to the trophy for Sharma.

This was Sharma’s 10th live win and second PPT trophy. He also has a WSOP Circuit ring that he won in Montreal in 2025.

Final Results from $560 NLH

Place	Player	Prize	PoS Points
1	Dj Sharma	$13,645	120
2	Matthew Ouellette	$9,405	100
3	Todd Cochrane	$6,115	80
4	Van Le	$4,700	60
5	Amir Khan	$3,620	50
6	Edward Sorensen	$2,870	40
7	Deven Lane	$2,255	30
8	Shane Beckinsale	$1,785	20
9	Arnold Groot	$1,455	10
10	Sebastian Crema	$1,175	6

Myers & Cairns Chop the Deepstack Hyper

Event #12: $340 NLH Deepstack Hyper ($300 + $40)

• Entries: 71
• Prizes: $20,235
• Winner: Josh Myers ($5,768 affter chop)

The Deepstack Hyper lived up to its name, finishing in less than 8 hours. I wasn’t able to catch much action in this one as the $560 NLH was playing out at the same time, and this game finished first.

By the time the game ended, there were fewer than 40 big blinds in play, with the 15-minute blinds driving action throughout the night. It was about an hour to go through the final table, with the final hands playing out before 1 AM.

Because the stacks were getting short, the final two players cut a deal at the end. Ryan Cairns & Josh Myers agreed to an even chop of the money, while Myers took the trophy with the biggest stack at the time. As a result of the deal, they chopped the Player of the Series points for the event.

Cairns is a Main Event winner here on the PPT, taking down the July 2024 Main. For his part, Myers picked up his 5th win and 3rd PPT trophy after scoring two PPT diamonds during the 2025 season.

Final Results from NLH Deepstack Hyper

Place	Player	Prize	PoS Points
1	Josh Myers	$5,768*	70.4
2	Ryan Cairns	$5,768*	70.4
3	Randy Vecchia	$3,035	51.2
4	Aaron Syrenne	$2,025	38.4
5	Mark Hutchinson	$1,335	32
6	Jacob Chechotko	$970	25.6
7	John Williams	$750	19.2
8	Brendan Harder	$585	12.8