Three more trophies were awarded at the third running of the 2026 Pure Poker Tour in the past couple of days at Pure Casino Edmonton, and Tuesday was the Day of Ali. While Shawn Taghavi took down Event #8 on Monday night, Tuesday’s games were dominated by players named Ali, with Ali Razzaq taking down Day 2 of the 6-Max, and Ali Khani prevailing in the PLO Big Bounty.
Recent results have also had a significant impact on the Player of the Series race. Cam Stewart is still in the lead, but he’s got a few more players nipping at his heels now. Razzaq jumped into second place yesterday with his win in the 6-Max, while both Ross Wilson & Denis Mujcin grabbed points as well.
Benny Sarnelli is still in third on the back of three cashes so far, and Alan Zhu jumped into 6th, right behind Eric Wasylenko, with a 3rd cash in the 6-Max game. Below is a look at the current top 10 in the PoS standings with 9 events in the books.
| Place | Player | Cashes | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cam Stewart | 2 | 208.00 |
| 2 | Ali Razzaq | 2 | 190.67 |
| 3 | Benny Sarnelli | 3 | 146.70 |
| 4 | Denis Mujcin | 3 | 145.60 |
| 5 | Eric Wasylenko | 1 | 140.00 |
| 6 | Alan Zhu | 3 | 137.80 |
| 7 | Ross Wilson | 3 | 127.60 |
| 8 | Johnny Dalphond | 1 | 120.00 |
| 9 | Shawn Taghavi | 1 | 120.00 |
| 10 | Ali Khani | 1 | 120.00 |
Ali Razzaq Crushes the 6-Max
- Entries: 54
- Prizes: $46,170
- Winner (1st Place): Ali Razzaq ($16,390)
Event #7: $1,000 NLH 6-Max ($900 + $100)
The 6-Max game was the second multi-day game of the series, but unlike Event #3 and the Main Event, the 6-Max only had a single starting flight, on Monday. By the time entries closed, 54 entries were in the game for prizes of more than $46k.
They played down to the 7 paid spots on Monday night before bagging up, and the eventual winner, Ali Razzaq, bagged the biggest. He managed to hold that lead throughout almost all of Day 2, with the exception of heads-up when he and Sebastian Lampreau traded the lead a couple of times before Razzaq finally took it down.
Bronze medal winner Denis Mujcin grabbed enough points in this one to jump him into 4th overall in the PoS race, while Razzaq’s win propelled him to 2nd place overall. This was Razzaq’s 5th live win and 3rd PPT trophy.
Final Results from the 6-Max
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ali Razzaq | $16,390 |
| 2 | Sebastian Lampreau | $11,310 |
| 3 | Denis Mujcin | $6,925 |
| 4 | Alan Zhu | $4,155 |
| 5 | Shen Liew | $3,230 |
| 6 | Clayton Littke | $2,310 |
| 7 | Steve Azizi | $1,850 |
Shawn Taghavi Wins Event #8
- Entries: 104
- Prizes: $29,640
- Winner (1st Place): Shawn Taghavi ($8,415)
Event #8: $340 NLH ($300 + $40)
Shawn Taghavi was running pure in the $340 NLH game on Monday night. He found pocket queens three times on the short-handed final table, including in the final decisive hand of the evening.
It was a relatively long affair, with the final hand dealt after 3 AM in the poker room. Weston Pring ended 3rd and was the short stack through pretty much the whole endgame.
That left Taghavi heads up against Cindy Grabia, and Grabia had a big task ahead of her. Taghavi had a huge chip advantage to start, and when he found pocket queens for the 3rd time in less than an hour, the game was over.
This was Taghavi’s 7th live win and 4th PPT trophy, with his most recent win coming right here at Pure Casino Edmonton in Mar in the $450 NLH.
Final Results for $349 NLH
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shawn Taghavi | $8,415 |
| 2 | Cindy Grabia | $5,795 |
| 3 | Weston Pring | $3,765 |
| 4 | Dale Campbell | $2,900 |
| 5 | Rodney Hafso | $2,230 |
| 6 | Bash Ramahi | $1,765 |
| 7 | Ricardo Silva | $1,390 |
| 8 | David Chau | $1,100 |
| 9 | Sharmark Mohammed | $900 |
| 10 | Craig Froelich | $725 |
| 11 | Ramaz Haymour | $655 |
Ali Khani Wins Swingy Heads Up for PLO Big Bounty Crown
- Entries: 115
- Prizes: $54,625 ($31,625 prizes, $23,000 bounties)
- Winner (1st Place): Ali Khani ($8,805)
Event #9: $560 PLO Big Bounty ($300 + $200 + $60)
It was a pretty swingy game at the end of the PLO Big Bounty. The chip lead moved around between a few different players, with Ross Wilson, Mike Spiruda, Leo Zhang, Neil Smith, and Ali Khani all stacking biggest at various times.
Despite the stacks being quite deep most of the way through, there was no shortage of action. Leo Zhang was in the lead with five players remaining, but by the time they got three ways, he was the short stack, and out in 3rd. Mike Spiruda found the lead a couple of times four ways, but ultimately ended his night in 4th.
Khani came into the heads-up with the chip lead, but he & Vancouver’s Neil Smith traded the lead several times during the final phase, with both players on the verge of both winning it all, and ending in second. Just before the final confrontation, Khani had doubled to the lead when his rivered straight capped Smith’s set of kings to keep Khani alive.
In the next hand, the rest of the money went in on the flop, with Smith quite short, and Smith was in good shape with an open-ended draw, while Khani was drawing thinner to backdoor spades with overs. Smith bricked his straight draw while Khani spiked a king to take it all down after about 14 hours of play.
Final Results for PLO Big Bounty
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ali Khani | $8,805 |
| 2 | Neil Smith | $6,065 |
| 3 | Leo Zhang | $3,945 |
| 4 | Mike Spiruda | $3,035 |
| 5 | Matej Bosnjak | $2,335 |
| 6 | Ross Wilson | $1,850 |
| 7 | Ryan Comely | $1,455 |
| 8 | Sheraz Nasir | $1,150 |
| 9 |  Oleksandr Lobur | $940 |
| 10 | Thanh Tu | $760 |
| 11 | Kevin Lee | $643 |
| 12 | Denis Mujcin | $642 |
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