As the World Series of Poker Circuit Calgary rolls into its final weekend of play, there have been 12 rings awarded so far. Thursday action at Deerfoot Inn & Casino featured the final day for the Monster Stack, as well as the Ladies event on the side in the evening. Thursday also featured the opening round of what promises to be the biggest prize pool of the series, the Main Event.
The Monster Stack final day played as a bit of marathon, taking nearly 12 hours to play through 71 returning players. In total, the game drew more than 1,400 entries for the second-biggest field of the series, and the third-biggest Monster in Circuit Calgary history. Both of the bigger Monsters were from recent January series (2026 & 2025, respectively), so that makes this the biggest non-January Monster ever for Cowtown.
Alongside Day 2 of the Monster Stack, Thursday was Ladies’ Night at Deerfoot. More than 100 entries were recorded for the Ladies Ring, with the game playing until about 2 AM after a 4 PM start.
With 2/3rds of the rings already awarded for WSOP-C Calgary October, the series prizes are now just shy of $2.5 million, with the biggest prize pools yet to come. The Main Event should add more than $2 million to the total alone, with the High Roller likely adding half a million or more, so the Oct 2026 series is still looking like more than $5 million in total prizes by the time the dust settles on Monday evening.
Summary of WSOP-C Calgary October So Far
| Event | Entries | Prizes | Winner | 1st Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $400 Big 30 Stack | 344 | $113,520 | Martin Kaspers | $23,432 |
| $600 NLH/PLO Mix | 167 | $86,005 | Pengju Wang | $20,862 |
| $400 Black Chip Bounty | 198 | $82,170 | Matthew Robertson | $19,154 |
| $400 Mini Main Event | 1,907 | $628,586 | Gennady Klimenko | $80,611 |
| $600 Mystery Bounty | 379 | $195,185 | Pavel Krumer | $24,032 |
| $400 Seniors | 459 | $151,470 | Jimmy Mak | $28,974 |
| $600 NLH | 359 | $184,885 | Stephen Klaamas | $37,763 |
| $500 PKO | 477 | $200,340 | Sebastian Crema | $16,537 |
| $1,000 $1k NLH | 209 | $182,875 | Michael Sullivan | $42,835 |
| $400 Monster Stack | 1,417 | $467,430 | Stephen Dauphinais | $65,165 |
| $1,000 $1k Turbo | 167 | $146,125 | DJ Sharma | $35,126 |
| $400 Ladies | 104 | $34,320 | Karyn Gemmill | $9,158 |
| Totals | 6,187 | $2,472,911 | $403,649 |
Dauphinais Does it Again in Monster Stack
- Date: Oct 6-8, 2026
- Entries: 1,417
- Prizes: $467,430
- Winner (1st Place): Stephen Dauphinais ($65,165)
Event #10: $400 Monster Stack NLH ($330 + $70)
It was almost a year to the day since Stephen Dauphinais won his first Circuit ring here at Deerfoot when he was on the main stage in the Chrome Room, battling for another one in Day 2 of the Monster Stack. He picked up his first ring last October in the TORSE event, and after outlasting 71 returning players on Day 2, he picked up his second close to midnight on Thursday.
He came into Day 2 with a very average stack of 335k, getting that bag in the final, turbo flight that ran Wednesday evening. It was the first time the Monster Stack has had three flights (in the past, it only ran two flights).
Dauphinais had chipped up to the 3rd-biggest stack by the time they got to the final table, trailing the leader and eventual 3rd-place finisher, Brian Fleming, as well as Daniel Ee (5th, $15,247). Runner-up Dale Chalifoux started his ascent early on the FT, sending Chad Riddell home for 9th place in a queens over jacks cooler.
By the time they were down to 7, Dauphinais was the clear leader with more than 15 million, and the top three stacks at that point were almost a perfect representation of the top three pay spots, albeit with Fleming slightly ahead of Chalifoux, who were both playing more than 10 million.
Dauphinais found a huge cooler to send Tyler Hurman home in 7th place with nines over eights. Hurman pulled off another of his traditional moves with a max late entry on Day 1c, spinning it up to a final table finish. Max late entry to a solid payday is Hurman’s modus operandi in these games, typically.
Within about an hour, the game was three ways, but that’s when things stalled a bit. Fleming, Chalifoux, and Dauphinais played three-handed for more than two hours, with the lead trading back and forth between all three in a battle that no one wanted to lose.
Finally, more than two hours later, Fleming went out in a huge cooler that he started at 80%. He had pocket eights and was all-in at risk to the bigger stack of Chalifoux, but Chalifoux found a duck on the river to hit the set and send Fleming home in 3rd.
That put Chalifoux in the lead, but Dauphinais doubled when he won a race with eights into ace-nine. A bit later, he took a stranglehold on the heads-up game when he ran out perfectly to a boat with ace-seven on a board of 7♠Q♦5♠A♦A♠, getting 6 million in value on the river.
That left Chalifoux quite short, and when he woke up with suited paint, the money went in. Unfortunately for Chalifoux, Dauphinais was on the rockets and held when the low board missed both hands.
Dauphinais has more than $1.2 million in live earnings, and in addition to his two circuit rings, he had a very deep run for 3rd in the Milly Maker in Vegas in 2024 for more than $600k, and he also picked up the PPT Main Event trophy in the Tournament of Champions later that same year.
Final Table Results from the Monster Stack
See the Payouts tab on the Live Reporting page for all the stacks, including Day 1 payouts.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Stephen Dauphinais | $65,165 |
| 2 | Dale Chalifoux | $43,419 |
| 3 | Brian Fleming | $30,146 |
| 4 | Jayden Allgaier-Hassan | $21,349 |
| 5 | Daniel Ee | $15,247 |
| 6 | Vince Lam | $11,379 |
| 7 | Tyler Hurman | $8,572 |
| 8 | Frank Gallie | $6,598 |
| 9 | Chad Riddell | $5,191 |
| 10 | Nicholas Teeuwen | $4,177 |
Gemmill Bags the Ladies Ring
- Date: Oct 8, 4 PM
- Entries: 104
- Prizes: $34,320
- Winner (1st Place): Karyn Gemmill ($9,158)
Event #13: $400 Ladies NLH ($330 + $70)
The Ladies game played out on Thursday night, alongside Day 2 of the Monster Stack, and it was a relatively quick game, finishing in about 10 hours. Keryn Gemmill won her first Circuit ring in the game after making it through 104 entries for the biggest share of more than $34k in prizes.
It was the 3rd-biggest Ladies field ever for a Calgary WSOP-C, behind the Jan 2025 and May 2024 games, and just pipping out the Oct 2025 Ladies event by a single entry. With a 20k starting stack and 20-minute blinds, it was a bit of a turbo game, with stacks pretty short as they got to the final table.
Much of the early part of the game played out while the Monster Stack was running across the room, and the game was down to seven players by the time the big game finished. Runner-up Jo Teliani was the leader when they got six-handed, but Gemmill was pretty close behind, with both of them playing 600k or more, for 30+ big blinds each at that point.
Joanne Lewis-Davies was in 3rd with six remaining, but she ran into some bad mojo, first running into sevens for Amelia Ng when she shoved her ace-six, then ran into kings against her ace to double up Marinka Ravlic. That left her on fumes and she was nearly all-in from the big blind a few hands later.
She got her final 45k (barely 2 big blinds at the time) in with a suited jack, and hit her three kicker on the flop, but runner-up Jo Teliani found an ace to send her to the rail in 5th place. Ravlic, who has only been playing poker for about 2 years and looks to have picked up her first live cash in this game, was next to fall in fourth place, followed by Amelia Ng in 3rd shortly after.
The left Gemmill and Teliani, who is leading the Ladies division of the 2026 Alberta Poker Index Player of the Year race and is 7th overall, heads up, with Gemmill holding most of the chips. In the final hand, Gemmill raised the button to 95k with blinds at 20k/40k/40k, then tank-called when Teliani shoved a couple of hundred thousand.
Teliani was in good shape with king-ten against seven-three suited, but Gemmill was running pure in the game, finding a three on the flop to take the lead. She held through the runout, and was very excited to get her first ring in her 3rd live win.
Final Results from the Ladies Event
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karyn Gemmill | $9,158 |
| 2 | Jo Teliani | $5,887 |
| 3 | Amelia Ng | $3,944 |
| 4 | Marinka Ravlic | $2,755 |
| 5 | Joanne Lewis-Davies | $2,011 |
| 6 | Barbara Mcnab | $1,536 |
| 7 | Chery Torrico | $1,230 |
| 8 | Debi Loomer | $1,036 |
| 9 | Shannon Lazorko | $920 |
| 10 | Lisa Hood | $864 |
| 11 | Marianne Hollingsworth | $864 |
| 12 | Jacqueline Ray | $823 |
| 13 |  Tian Yue | $823 |
| 14 | Peggy Malinowski | $823 |
| 15 |  Ivanna Yatsiuk | $823 |
| 16 | Karen Ray | $823 |
The Final Weekend is On Deck at WSOP-C Calgary
The main attraction for the final few days of action here at Deerfoot Inn & Casino is, of course, the Main Event. The game is always the biggest prize pool of the series, and will likely rival the total series prizes to date once the dust settles on entries Saturday evening. Flight A to the Main got 203 entries for prizes of more than $400k. The second flight plays out on Friday, and the Main Event prizes should be over $1 million by the time it closes. The final flight runs on Saturday and is typically the biggest flight, and it should put another $1 million or so at least into the prizes.
The High Roller game, starting on Sunday and finishing on Monday, will likely put another half million or more into the prizes, and with four other side games yet to run, the series will almost certainly be more than $5 million in total prizes.
Follow all the exclusive Main Event live reporting from Poker Pro, as well as the remaining side game action from the October edition of the World Series of Poker Circuit in Calgary.
