The opening day of the October 2026 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOP-C) Calgary is now complete, and the first two rings of the series have been awarded. The opening event was the traditional Big 30 Stack, which saw 344 entries, while in the evening, the NLH/PLO MIx drew 167 entries on the side.
That puts the combined prizes so far well over $200k, with both winners so far earning more than $20k for their efforts. Martin Kaspers made it through the field in Event #1 to claim more than $23k, while Pengju Wang had a huge stack for the final table and dominated the endgame of the Mix for nearly $21k.
It looks like both players were not only winning their first Circuit ring, but also notching their first-ever live win. Kaspers had 11 previous cashes on his Hendon going into this series, with 11th place as his previous best, while I couldn’t find a Hendon page for Wang, indicating this may well be his first live tournament cash (equally, it could also mean I just couldn’t find his profile).
Martin Kaspers Bags the First October Ring
- Date: Sep 30, 11 AM
- Entries: 344
- Prizes: $113,520
- Winner (1st Place): Martin Kaspers ($23,432)
Event #1: $400 Big 30 Stack NLH ($330 + $70)
The opening game saw a solid turnout of 344 entries for total prizes of almost $114k. With such a big field, they played pretty late into the evening, with the final hand dealt almost 15 hours after they sat down for the opening hands.
Most of the day was played out in the Sundance Room, as will be the case throughout the series. Once they were down to three tables, the final action of the night was moved to the Chrome room, which will also be typical through the series. While some games may finish out in Sundance, it’s likely that most of them will award the ring in the Chrome room.
Martin Kaspers was the winner of the first ring, sharing the chip lead through most of the endgame with Bobby Jones (3rd, $10,746). Jones and Kaspers had a huge confrontation three-handed with both players very close in chips. Kaspers came out on top, giving him a huge chip lead and leaving Jones on fumes.
Jones busted out shortly after, setting up the final battle between Kaspers and Raghav Sharma. Sharma was in tough with a very short stack against the mountain of chips in front of Kaspers. It looked like Sharma was on the road to a double to make it interesting when they both got it in with a king, with Sharma holding a ten kicker versus a six for Kaspers.
Typically in that spot, the ten would play, but when the board paired with the rest jack-low, it was a chop as neither kicker made the cut. In the final hand, which came just a few minutes later, Sharma shoved a nine-seven suited connector, but he was pipped by Kaspers with ten-nine offsuit. Kaspers turned his ten, then rivered the nine for two pair.
As mentioned above, this looks to be Kaspers’ first live tournament win. His Hendon Mob shows an 11th place as his previous best, from 2018 in Vegas, and he has multiple other scores from WSOP-C here in Calgary and elsewhere, but this looks like the first time he’s made it to a final table in a big game.
Final Table Results for Big 30 Stack
See the Payouts tab for a look at the full list of prizes from the opening event.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Martin Kaspers | $23,432 |
| 2 | Raghav Sharma | $15,610 |
| 3 | Bobby Jones | $10,746 |
| 4 | Weston Pring | $7,562 |
| 5 | Ryan Teixeira | $5,441 |
| 6 |  Riley Zehnder | $4,006 |
| 7 | Brendan Spearing | $3,020 |
| 8 | Joseph Cosco | $2,331 |
| 9 | Hayden Hetland | $1,845 |
| 10 | Nadav Bitton | $1,497 |
Pengju Wang Takes the Mix Game Ring
- Date: Sep 30, 3 PM
- Entries: 167
- Prizes: $86,005
- Winner (1st Place): Pengju Wang ($20,862)
Event #2: $600 NLH/PLO ($515 + $85)
Pengju Wang dominated the final table of the NLH/PLO Mix, holding the big stack through most of it. After nearly 13 hours of play, he was the one with all the chips and the ring, for what looks like his first ever live tournament cash.
It was quite the final table in this one, featuring Alex Liu, Leo Zhang, and Jaskaran Brar, among others. Korey Dadger was the recipient of some solid ladders through the endgame, nursing his short stack through a few other busts at the table before he finally lost his chips for 3rd place.
That left Michael Wo to battle the massive stack of Wang. Wo tried to make a game of it, grabbing a double shortly after they got heads up, but he was still quite short compared to Wang, and wasn’t able to complete the comeback.
The game ended shortly before 4 AM with a not-so-classic flip. Wo had king-jack off against ace-six off for Wang, and Wang flopped the ace. That was all he needed to secure the ring, though Wo threatened to extend the game by flopping a gutshot to Broadway. The low runout kept Wang ahead, however, and he took it down.
I wasn’t able to find a Hendon Mob profile for Wang, so it’s possible this was his very first tournament cash. If so, it’s a pretty decent way to open your Hendon profile.
Final Table Results for NLH/PLO Mix
See the Payouts tab for a full look at all the Event #2 prizes.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pengju Wang | $20,862 |
| 2 | Michael Wo | $13,590 |
| 3 | Korey Dadgar | $9,140 |
| 4 | Jaskaran Brar | $6,348 |
| 5 | Leo Zhang | $4,559 |
| 6 | Kenneth Der | $3,389 |
| 7 | Marco Ferrone | $2,610 |
| 8 | Ying Luo | $2,087 |
| 9 | Alex Liu | $1,733 |
| 10 | Dean Morrone | $1,499 |
16 Rings Still Waiting for Fingers
With the first day of action in the books, there are still 16 rings waiting in the wings for players to win this time around. On deck is the huge Mini Main Event, which set the record for most entries in an Alberta poker tournament last January with more than 2,250 entries for prizes of well over $700k in a $400 buy in.
Day 1a of the Mini Main plays out on Thursday evening, with three more flights to play on Friday & Saturday before Sunday’s Day 2 is. In the meantime, side Rings like the Black Chip Bounty (Thursday), the Mystery Bounty, and the Seniors game will play out while the Mini Main runs down to a winner.
Stay tuned to the exclusive live reporting from poker.pro for all the Ring action upcoming in WSOP-C Calgary October 2026.
