The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOP-C) Calgary for January 2026 is now complete, and it was a doozie. Early in the series, there were hints that this series might push past the previous record for total series prizes by a little bit, as the opening days of action saw big fields and a lot of interest.
Then came the Mini Main Event, and clear signs of something special in the works. By the time four flights to the Mini Main Event were complete, they didn’t just set a record – the game obliterated the previous biggest field in a Calgary Circuit by a mile. The previous record for the biggest event was the 4-Flight game in Jan 2024, with 1,715 entries, but by the time all was said and done in this year’s Mini Main, that new record was an astonishing 2,269, about a 30% increase over the previous record.
From there, it just got better. The Monster Stack set a new record for a Monster field, while all the one-day events drew great numbers. In particular, the PLO Bounty game drew 569 entries, while the Seniors game got just shy of 540. In addition, there were five other one-day games that capped 400 entries.
At that point, the series record was still an open question. Despite the big early numbers, the Main Event prize pool makes up the majority of the total prizes in any given series, so it would be the job of the Main to make or break that new standard.
It did not disappoint, putting nearly $2.6 million into the pot before entries closed on Day 1c. That was more than $300k ahead of the previous record, set in January of 2024 at $2.34 million.
With a few prize pools yet to come, that set the bar for a new record. Once all the beans were counted after 18 events, the final tally was head and shoulders above the previous record. That previous high water mark was set in January of 2024, with a bit more than $5.8 million in total, and that number was surpassed even before the fianl prize pools were in.
Solid Individual Event Numbers
Beyond the huge multi-day games in this series, the interest was strong across the board. Only three games failed to hit 6-digit prize pools, and two of those three games were expected to be smaller. Both the TORSE and the Ladies game were projected to be smaller events, due to the restricted entry for the Ladies and the esoteric nature of the TORSE games.
Outside of those, and the PKO game, all prize pools were greater than $100k, with 6 games, including the Main Event and High Roller, pushing past $200k. At the end of the day, the 2026 January series came in at $6,637,533, more than $800k ahead of the 2024 mark. It’s safe to say this series was a success.
Senthuran Vijayaratnam Takes Down Main Event for Almost $400k
- Entries: 1,321
- Prizes: $2,589,160
- Winner: Senthuran Vijayaratnam ($396,556)
The Main Event prize pool made up more than 1/3rd of the total prizes for this series, but that’s a pretty normal situation for these games. That was by far the biggest prize pool, as expected, and was the only one in 7 figures.
180 players came back for Day 2 of the game on Sunday, and after 10 levels of play, they were down to 14 remaining, with everyone expecting a 5-figure score at least. For players who made the final table later on Day 3, the minimum payout was more than $25k, with 4 players scoring 6 figures.
Calgary’s Weston Pring just missed out on the 6-figure scores with 5th place, but after pocketing $99,420 for the run, he can be included as an honourary member of the 6-figure club.
The final battle for the big prizes came down to Senthuran Vijayaratnam from Ontario, and Saskatchewan transplant and Calgary resident Robin Bergren. Vijayaratnam was running hot, coming into the day with the big chip lead, and never really facing any pressure until he got heads up against Bergren.
They were about even for the final phase, and Bergren even pulled ahead for a bit, but when both players flopped top pair, with Vijayaratnam’s kicker the best, he took a commanding lead, and it was only a matter of time before he was celebrating his big win.
Bergren, for his part, had a decent payday for second place, pocketing $264,283. The final tally of nearly $2.6 million for the Main set a new high bar for individual prize pools in Alberta.
Final Table Results from Main Event
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Senthuran Vijayaratnam | $396,556 |
| 2 | Robin Berger | $264,283 |
| 3 | Graham Lupton | $188,206 |
| 4 |  Alen Bakovich | $135,855 |
| 5 | Weston Pring | $99,420 |
| 6 | Rishi Makkar | $73,776 |
| 7 |  Jiajie Sheng | $55,524 |
| 8 | David Quang | $42,390 |
| 9 | Nizar Tajdin | $32,835 |
| 10 | Stephen Dauphinais | $25,812 |
Aaron La Wins High Roller for More than $150k
- Entries: 205
- Prizes: $641,650
- Winner: Aaron La ($152,266)
As is traditionally the case, the High Roller was the second biggest prize pool of the series, with more than $640k in total prizes. Aaron La came through the 205 entries to take down the big prize heads-up over Ontario’s Jacob Hobday.
Hobday was leading for a good portion of the final table, but once they got heads up, it switched around quite a bit. La started heads-up with a bit of a lead, but Hobday grabbed that back after he took down an uncontested pot on the turn.
La jumped back into the lead shortly after, when he outkicked Hobday after they both flopped top pair. After that, it was all La. He seemingly couldn’t miss, with Hobday second-best, or folding in the streets.
He had Hobday chipped down to about 2 million when the final confrontation happened. Hobday got it in with a suited king, but couldn”t crack the sixes for La, and it was all over.
La was railed late in the game by his family, and he was joined in the winner’s photos by his parents and brother, who were perhaps more excited about the win than La himself.
Final Table Results from the High Roller
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron La | $152,266 |
| 2 | Jacob Hobday | $99,914 |
| 3 | Ning Ma | $67,427 |
| 4 | Nan Cui | $46,830 |
| 5 | Steven Labelle | $33,501 |
| 6 | Allen Shen | $24,708 |
| 7 | Alexander Wong | $18,805 |
| 8 | Shahin Norouzian | $14,785 |
| 9 | Jerry Li | $12,021 |
| 10 | Mal Hagan | $10,119 |
Josh Wallace Bags the Final Ring of Jan 2026
- Entries: 488
- Prizes: $161,040
- Winner: Josh Wallace ($32,162)
The final ring of the January 2026 WSOP-C Calgary was awarded early Tuesday morning at the end of the Double Stack Closer, and it came down to a local battle between Calgarians Anthony Casten and Josh Wallace. Both are experienced players — Wallace has more than 400k in live earnings, while Casten was in his 3rd heads up for a Circuit Ring.
It was a pretty stacked final table that included Curtis Singleton, Hassan Issa, Ottawa’s Marc Lavergne, and Scott Serwa, who was working on his 4th cash of the series. 3rd place Thomas Sloan was a bit of an unknown, but he put on a short stack clinic, laddering up from the nut-low stack at the FT. At one point, with play seven-handed, Sloan was playing less than a big blind, but he managed to survive and spin that up to a 3rd place finish.
It was a deepstack turbo game with a 40k starting stack and 20-minute blinds. That kept the action in the endgame pretty fierce, but it still took more than 13 hours to play through the 488 entries.
Casten and Wallace traded the lead a couple of times during heads-up. Wallace started with the lead, but Casten took it over when his jack-ten got there against ace-five for Wallace.
Wallace came back a few hands later when his ace-high held over Casten’s suited queen, and he was up about 3:1. Wallace then took it down in convincing fashion, flopping the nuts for the second time on the final table. Earlier in the night, Wallace flopped the nuts to Broadway, sending Scott Serwa home in 7th place.
Then, he took down the ring by flopping a flush with queen-nine of clubs. That left Casten drawing to running cards, and he was drawing dead by the turn, and he had to settle for the bridesmaid spot once again.
It was the first Circuit ring for Wallace, but his 7th win on the live felt. With about $415k (USD) in earnings coming into this one, the $32k win should easily push him into the $430k range.
And that’s a wrap on the 2026 WSOP-C Calgary series. After 18 events, the tables are all packed away, and the players are on their way home. The biggest legacy from the series is a new high-water mark that will be difficult to surpass, setting the standard at $6.63 million.
The Circuit returns to Calgary in October for the second series of the year — can it possibly set a new record? We’ll find out in October.
