Two rings were awarded on Saturday at the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP-C) Calgary at Deerfoot Inn & Casino. The Ladies game played through 91 entries to generate a prize pool of more than $30k. Across the Chrome room, the TORSE Mixed game was playing out with 89 entries and prizes of more than $61k.
In addition to the two ring events, the final flight to the Main Event played out, and it was a big one. Going into Day 1c, the Main Event was on pace to break the record for the biggest prize pool in Alberta history, with the first two flights coming in about $200k ahead of the previous record series, Jan 2024.
When the dust settled on the entries late Saturday night, the record had fallen by about $300k. 1c drew almost 640 entries for 1c prizes of almost $1.2 million. Added to the first two days, that brought the Main Event total to a whopping $2.58 million, the first time any prize pool has hit $2.5 million here in Alberta.
With three more prize pools to calculate, including the High Roller, this series is also shaping up to be the biggest overall series ever here in Calgary. It’s still too early to call it official, but there’s a very good chance that come Monday evening, this series will be the biggest ever, with combined prizes over $6 million for the very first time.
Annee Ngo Wins 2nd Ring for her New Baby
- Entries: 91
- Prizes: $30,030
- Winner: Annee Ngo ($8,517)
It was Annee Ngo’s second Ladies ring, and she had a little extra help. At the poker table, we usually have a very firm rule of “one player to a hand,” but there can be exceptions. In Ngo’s case, her helper was still a little underdeveloped, but she very much credited her baby glow with helping to propel her to the win in the Ladies game on Saturday night.
She made her way through 91 entries to take the biggest share of $30,030 in prizes, taking down the ring heads up over Eun Park. Park was in her second Ladies heads up in a row, after falling in second to Jenelle Exner in October’s Ladies game. For her part, Exner wasn’t able to make it a fourth Ladies ring on Saturday, but she did find a cash in 12th place, meaning she’s cashed in every Ladies game she’s played in, with three rings, a 3rd place, and a 12th place from last night.
For the early part of the final table, it was Ghislaine Johnson from New Brunswick who held the big stack. That was the case until they got short-handed, when Ngo set up a trap, and Johnson stepped right into it. Ngo slow played pocket kings blind on blind, and while she didn’t get a full double from the hand, she turned a set and got solid value on the river, taking the lead and dropping Johnson down.
Johnson was the next out to set up heads up between Ngo and Park. The game didn’t last long from there, as Ngo had a big chip lead, and Park wasn’t able to spin up her short stack. Ngo had to get there in the end when Park found king-queen heads up and got her final chips in.
It was a small stack, and Ngo was likely calling with any two cards. She was dominated with a suited king-four, but that didn’t stop her from turning a four for the win on a board of 6♥8♣A♦4♠J♥.
Ngo won this game last January, but missed the October series here. That means she sort of went back-to-back in this event, winning it both times on her only trips to WSOP-C Calgary. That ring from Jan 2025 was her first live win, and this looks to be her second. The modest win looks to slot 6th or 7th on her all-time score list, and will give her more than $130k in lifetime earnings.
Results from the Ladies Game
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Annee Ngo | $8,517 |
| 2 | Eun Park | $5,435 |
| 3 | Ghislaine Johnson | $3,624 |
| 4 | Susan Webb | $2,528 |
| 5 | Miranda Alexis | $1,850 |
| 6 | Peggy Malinowski | $1,423 |
| 7 | Sheralyn King | $1,153 |
| 8 | Jen Peters | $988 |
| 9 | Cindy Grabia | $897 |
| 10 | Jacqueline Ray | $855 |
| 11 | Samantha Nguyen | $855 |
| 12 | Jenelle Exner | $855 |
| 13 | Debi Loomer | $855 |
| 14 | Susan King | $855 |
Remy Bhend Takes Down the TORSE
- Entries: 89
- Prizes: $61,855
- Winner: Remy Bhend ($17,164)
Every player in the final three had a story to tell by getting where they were. 3rd place Benham Esfahanizadeh jumped into this game at the very last minute, registering less than 10 minutes from the end of entries. That brought him into the game with less than 10 big bets, not a very tenable spot in a TORSE game. He was still able to spin it up after getting a nice early run in O8 to take 3rd place.
Runner-up Ed Tonnellier was battling more than just poker variance. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with early dementia symptoms, and he’s been on medication to control that condition ever since. He was still able to put in 14 hours in a very complex game that requires strategy shifts every few hands, with a new game that plays completely differently from the last. A game like TORSE is tough for any player to navigate through to the final table, taking an understanding of five quite different games, but given the extra challenges Tonnellier faces these days, it was even more of an achievement to take the runner-up spot.
Winner Bhend had his own story to tell. With play six-handed, he had the nut low stack at the table, and looked to be the next one out the door. Instead, he was able to run it back up again to a big lead by the time they got three-ways.
He sent Esfahanizadeh home in 3rd in a deuce hand where he pipped Esfahanizadeh with eighty-six over ninety-six. That got him heads up with Tonnellier, with Bhend holding a big chip lead. When they got to the razz round, Tonnellier was the bring-in on every hand, damaging his stack severely.
It all went in during the stud8 round with Tonnellier very short. The money was in on 4th street with Bhend on a pair of deuces with no low draw, while Tonnellier was ace-high with two diamonds and two clubs and three cards to a low.
Bhend improved to trip deuces on 5th street, but Tonnellier paired his five, giving him a draw to the five, with an outside shot at a low still. The king on 6th killed his low draw, meaning he was looking for one of two fives left in the deck to out-trip Bhend. He pulled a nine for his final card, and Behnd’s trip deuces took it down as neither player found a low.
This looks to be Bhend’s first live win, and should push his lifetime earnings over $85k on Hendon Mob.
Final Results from the TORSE
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Remy Bhend | $17,164 |
| 2 | Ed Tonnellier | $11,107 |
| 3 | Benham Esfahanizadeh | $7,476 |
| 4 | Tony Ma | $5,239 |
| 5 | Kyle Rosnes | $3,830 |
| 6 | Mitch Heidt | $2,926 |
| 7 | Kwong Au | $2,340 |
| 8 | Linda Brine | $1,964 |
| 9 | Deven Lane | $1,734 |
| 10 | Luteng Li | $1,615 |
| 11 | Jerod Dobson | $1,615 |
| 12 | Zachary Nichols | $1,615 |
| 13 | Chris Watson | $1,615 |
| 14 | Greg Genge | $1,615 |
Final Flight to the Main Event Breaks the Record!
- Day 1c Entries: 639
- Day 1c Prizes: $1,252,440
- Main Event Total Entries: 1,321
- Main Event Total Prizes: $2,589,160
- Previous Main Event Record Prizes: $2,234,625
While it wasn’t a record field size for the Main Event, the 1.321 entries were still a solid showing, coming in at fourth place in Main Event fields, and 10th place for overall field size in all events.
The difference this year was the buy-in. Past Main Events here have generally been a $1,700 buy in, but in October 2025, that was bumped up to $2,300, and was $2,200 for this Main Event. That extra juice in the buy-in is what pushed the prizes into record territory. All three flights for this Main were ahead of the record prizes from 2024, and the strong showing in the Main means that this series has every chance of being the biggest ever in Alberta, with more than $6 million in combined prizes once all the chips are counted.
Day 2 of the Main Event plays out on Sunday with 180 players coming back, and Mehmet Siginc (who won Event #2 this series, and was runner-up in the Monster Stack to Allen Shen) & Jo Teliani are the Day 2 chip leaders and the only two with a million or more in their bags. The Day 2 action plays ten levels, with the remaining players back on Monday to finish it out, and the expectation is that Monday will have at least two tables of action to start.
Monday will be when the final tally for the series comes in as well. With the High Roller prizes, as well as two other one-day ring events yet to come in, it’s still too early to tell if this really will break the record and/or hit $6 million, so stay tuned over the next few days to find out just how big the 2026 WSOP-C Calgary actually gets!
