Teliani Takes PoS Lead with $780 NLH Win; Akbari Scores #2

September 23, 2026

With about half the games now complete, Nu Teliani, who was the Alberta Poker Index Female Player of the Year for 2025, has taken over the lead in the Player of the Series race for the 2026 Pure Poker Tour #4. She took down the $780 NLH on Monday for her 3rd cash, and first win of the series, giving her enough points to jump into the lead.

Later in the day, the PLO Double Board Bomb Pot game kicked off as the side event. The game went late into Tuesday morning, finishing at around 5:30 AM with Khairuddin Akbari picking up his second win of the series and securing 2nd place in the Player of the Series race.

Nu Teliani Comes from Behind for $780 NLH Win

Date: Sep 21, 6 PM
Entries: 64
Prizes: $42,560
Winner (1st Place): Nu Teliani ($15,325)

Event #7: $780 NLH ($700 + $80)

The main Monday action at the 2026 Pure Poker Tour #4 was the $780 NLH. The game drew 64 entries for prizes of $42,560, with 7 players sharing in the prizes.

For the field size, it was a relatively long game, with the final hands dealt just before 3 AM, about 15 hours after they sat down for the first hand at noon. Shawn Taghavi spent much of the day in control with the big stack, and that continued onto the final table as well with him keeping the lead pretty much right up to heads up play.

That’s when he ran into the 2025 Alberta Poker Index Female Player of the Year, Nu Teliani. She was on fumes in the early part of heads up, and actually turned to me with a smile to ask “What are my chances” as she was sitting on about 200k to Taghavi’s 1.7 million.

I reminded her that she still had chips, so still had a chance, and she then went on a run of doubles that ended with her stacking all the chips. She started her ascent with ace-high holding against king-high for Taghavi, then she rivered hearts after the money went in on the flop with Taghavi on a flopped pair.

That gave her the lead, and a few hands later, she flopped a set of queens, then faded Taghavi’s draw to Broadway to take it all down. This was her 3rd cash of the series, and the result rocketed her to the top of the PoS standings.

Final Results for $780 NLH

Place	Player	Prize
1	Nu Teliani	$15,325
2	Shawn Taghavi	$10,640
3	Weston Pring	$6,810
4	Dennis Zekios	$4,255
5	Rob Limpert	$2,555
6	Brad Young	$1,700
7	Jonathon Zacks	$1,275

Akbari Gets Second PPT Trophy in 3rd Live Cash

Date: Sep 21, 6 PM
Entries: 67
Prizes: $25,460
Winner (1st Place): Khairuddin Akbari ($9,165)

Event #8: $450 PLO Double Board Bomb Pot ($400 + $50)

It was a long one in the PLO Double Board Bomb Pot on Monday evening, with the final hand playing out nearly 12 hours after they started. With Event #7 also going quite late, I didn’t have a chance to watch this one until they got to three handed play.

Richie Tran was dominating play with three players left, sitting on the big stack, with Colten Yamagishi on the shorty. Yamagishi wasn’t able to get any traction, and was eventually forced all in with the ante to end his day in 3rd place.

That left Tran heads up against Khairuddin Akbari, who chopped for the win in Event #4 on Saturday night for his first live win in his second recorded live cash. Tran had the lead, but Akbari was determined to make a comeback.

Heads up was a cagey affair, and Tran kept the lead for the early part, as the stacks stayed roughly the same with lots of chopped pots, and a few traded ones. Then Akbari found a huge scoop to double into the lead. After that, it didn’t take long for the final hand to end it all and give Akbari his second win in three days.