With ten rings awarded, the 2026 WSOP-C Calgary is more than halfway complete, but all the biggest events are yet to come. The combined prizes are nearly $2 million already, but that total promises to more than double before the end of the final weekend, with the Main Event expected to be bigger all on its own.
Three more rings have been awarded at Deerfoot Inn & Casino in Calgary since Monday, with the PKO game playing out late Monday for a marathon game of nearly 18 hours. Sebastian Crema took down his first ring over 477 entries, with the total prize pool at more than $200k ($104,940 prizes, $95,400 bounties).
Tuesday was $1k day, with the final day of the Two-Day $1k, as well as th Turbo $1k in the evening. Michael Sullivan made it through 209 entries in the Two-Day for his fourth live win, and first Circuit ring, while local legend DJ Sharma put on a Sharma Time show for the ages in the Turbo game Tuesday evening after making it through 167 entries.
Summary of WSOP-C Calgary 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 |
| $1,000 $1k Turbo | 167 | $146,125 | DJ Sharma | $35,126 |
| Totals | 4,666 | $1,971,161 | $329,326 |
Sebastian Crema Grabs First Ring in PKO
- Date: Oct 5, 11 AM
- Entries: 477
- Prizes: $200,340 ($104,940 prizes, $95,400 bounties)
- Winner (1st Place): Sebastian Crema ($16,537 + $21,500 in Bounties)
Event #8: $500 NLH Progressive K.O. ($220 + $200 + $80)
Sebastian Crema is no stranger to the top of the podium in poker tournaments. He had ten previous wins and more than $1.25 million in lifetime earnings coming into this series, but he was still looking for his first Circuit Ring.
Nearly 18 hours after they started the game at 11 AM, he was ringless no more, taking down the top spot over 477 entries and defeating Anthony Riley heads-up for the PKO ring. The final table dragged a bit in spots, with play nine-handed for nearly an hour before the exit of Rob Lothian sent a stream of players to the cash cage.
The game went from nine to five in less than 15 minutes, but things slowed down a bit once again. It was nearly two more hours of poker before Crema was getting his picture taken with the ring.
Fabienne Spuzak played a cagey game that kept her in the mix right up to the endgame, laddering over a few other players in the process. Her 3rd place for nearly $13k combined was the biggest poker win of her life, and she was pretty excited to make it so deep.
Crema faced off against Riley in what turned out to be a relatively short heads-up match. Crema came into heads-up with about a 2:1 lead and held the lead throughout. Most of the damage to Riley came just before the end, in a hand where Crema rivered trips and got huge value on the final street of action.
Crema limp-called a bet of 500k to see 5♣7♣6♣ on the flop. Riley bet 500k, and Crema called to the K♠ turn. Riley fired another 500k, and Crema called it.
Riley checked the 6♦ river, and Crema fired big for 1.7 million. After some time in the tank, Riley called, but mucked when Crema showed 10♥6♥ for the trips.
That left Riley quite short, and the money went in preflop shortly after. Riley had a suited queen-nine and was in a fair fight against the ace-three for Crema. The board missed both hands, leaving Crema’s ace-high as the best.
Riley added nearly $5k in bounties to his $16,537k score, while Crema piled $21.5k in bounties on top of his $16,537 prize.
Final Table Results for the PKO
See the Payouts tab on the Live Reporting page for the full prizes from the PKO.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sebastian Crema | $16,537 |
| 2 | Anthony Riley | $16,537 |
| 3 | Fabienne Spuzak | $9,250 |
| 4 | Julius Roque | $6,597 |
| 5 | Ed Kershaw | $4,793 |
| 6 | Jason Chan | $3,549 |
| 7 | James Cruickshank | $2,680 |
| 8 | Cole Harmon | $2,063 |
| 9 | Rob Lothian | $1,621 |
| 10 | Debi Loomer | $1,300 |
Michael Sullivan Takes the Two-Day $1k Ring
- Date: Oct 5-6, 2026
- Entries: 209
- Prizes: $182,875
- Winner (1st Place): Michael Sullivan ($42,835)
Event #9: $1,000 NLH ($875 + $125)
The Two-Day $1k kicked off action at 4 PM on Monday afternoon, with 10 levels of late entry, and 18 levels of poker on Day 1. The game got 209 entries for prizes of $182,875, and 32 players got a share of those prizes.
A total of 15 players got paid out on Day 1 before they bagged up for the night, all earning min-cashes of either $2k or $2,084. That left 17 players alive for Day 2, with the cash set at $2,229 for 14th-17th place.
Sheng Qiu was the leader after the first day, and he rode that lead through most of Day 2, while the eventual winner, Michael Sullivan, started the day with a middle stack of 315k, about 1/3rd of Qiu’s chips to start.
Qiu kept chipping up through the day. Among the big hands for him was a spot against Danesh Luthra early on the final table where Qiu got it in with an underpair of tens against jacks for Luthra. Luthra hit a jack on the flop to take a commanding lead in the hand, but Qiu flopped a backdoor straight draw and ran out perfectly to win with the jack-high straight, killing Luthra’s set.
Sullivan was in the middle of the stacks at that point, but he scored a big chip up with a double elimination that sent Mal Hagan and Chris Lahey out. Sullivan had pocket nines and was marginally ahead of ace-king for Hagan and king-queen for Lahey. Sullivan found a four-card heart flush with the 9♥, and he needed it after Lahey hit his queen on the flop for a bigger pair.
Qiu sent Jeff Cormier out in 4th place when he rivered a set of queens after Cormier flopped an ace to take the lead. Qiu was still the leader three ways, but Sullivan was right on his heels, while Eliuth Hernandez was the short stack. That changed quickly as Hernandez found back-to-back doubles that left Qiu on the bottom end of the counts.
Qiu then shoved threes, with Sullivan calling him off for a race against ace-jack. Sullivan found an ace on the river to get the game heads up.
That gave Sullivan a huge lead with more than 5 million of the 6.1 million in play. Hernandez grabbed a quick double, but that’s as far as he got. In the final hand, Sullivan jammed over a raise to 130k, but was pipped with ace-five into the ace-six for Hernandez.
Sullivan found another river, however, hitting his five on the river for the win. This was Sullivan’s fourth live win, and his first Circuit Ring.
Final Table Results from the Two-Day $1k
See the Payouts tab on the Live Reporting page for a full look at all the prizes.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Sullivan | $42,835 |
| 2 |  Eliuth Hernandez | $28,296 |
| 3 |  Sheng Qiu | $19,134 |
| 4 | Jeffery Cormier | $13,307 |
| 5 | Marco Ferrone | $9,526 |
| 6 | Christopher Lahey | $7,025 |
| 7 | Mal Hagan | $5,341 |
| 8 | David Quang | $4,192 |
| 9 | Danesh Luthra | $3,399 |
| 10 | Leonardo Song-Carillo | $2,850 |
Sharma Time at Deerfoot; DJ Sharma Wins 3rd Ring over Abhay Dogra
- Date: Oct 6, 4 PM
- Entries: 167
- Prizes: $146,125
- Winner (1st Place): DJ Sharma ($35,126)
Event #11: $1,000 NLH Turbo ($875 + $125)
It was Sharma Time at Deerfoot Inn & Casino on Tuesday evening, with Edmonton business mogul DJ Sharma running over the final table in a performance that may well be the quintessential “Shama Time” run. He powered through the final table, knocking out nearly every player, leading up to a final hand that was as close to the perfect Sharma Time example as possible.
Sharma’s strength is always putting his opponents to difficult decisions for big pots, and he was in rare form on Tuesday, finding the perfect aggression level to steal chips at the right times. When he needed to, he managed to get there for huge pots as well.
He started the final table in true Sharma fashion, sending Thomas Taylor and Chi Chan out immediately after the table was set. He got it in with the underpair of nines, facing two bigger pairs, but in an omen of what was to come, he found his nine for a set.
For the rest of the night, Sharma either had it or got there, as he ran over the field. The only player Sharma didn’t knock out was 3rd-place Kyle Ho, who fell to the runner-up Abhay Dogra, who was on his second final table of the series.
Sharma started heads-up in the lead, but Dogra pulled ahead with a bit of “Dogra time”. Sharma called a raise preflop to the 2♣J♥5♥ flop, where Dogra check-called for 360k. They both checked a deuce on the turn, and Dogra check-called for 560k on the jack of diamonds on the river.
Sharma showed the ten-seven bluff, which had been ahead of Dogra’s ten-deuce preflop. Dogra’s deuce turned out to be king, however, giving him the chip lead.
Sharma activated Sharma Time mode, shoving his short stack over a limp in the next hand, followed by an open-shove. Sharma needed to get there with nine-eight off against ace-deuce, but Sharma turned a nine to double back to the lead.
Dogra limp-folded to a shove on the next hand, then Sharma shoved blind from his button. Dogra called it off with suited cards, for a fair fight between eight-four of clubs against queen-three off for Sharma.
It was a classic Sharma Time finish. Dogra flopped a four to take the lead, but Sharma was open-ended with his three after the first three board cards. The paired deuce on the turn was a brick for both, but with Mike Malm on the stage capturing the magic, Sharma called for an ace while Malm called for a six, the two ends to Sharma’s straight draw.
It was Malm who called correctly, with a six coming on the river to give Sharma the straight and his 3rd ring, but his first here at Deerfoot (his previous two rings were won across the country in Montreal).
Sharma had nearly $600k in lifetime poker earnings coming into the game, but truth be told, he’s not playing poker for the money. He’s made his fortune in the business world and plays the game for fun and for wins, and his win here at Deerfoot last night was as close to a perfect encapsulation of his poker philosophy as possible.
Final Table Results from $1k Turbo
See the Payouts tab on the Live Reporting page for a look at all the prizes from the $1k Turbo.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dj Sharma | $35,126 |
| 2 | Abhay Dogra | $23,332 |
| 3 | Kyle Ho | $15,820 |
| 4 | Chris Alcindor | $11,050 |
| 5 | Steve Bergeron | $7,958 |
| 6 | Glenn Slater | $5,915 |
| 7 | Ning Zhuang | $4,543 |
| 8 | Gloria Kanngiesser | $3,609 |
| 9 | Chi Kit Chan | $2,968 |
| 10 | Thomas Taylor | $2,532 |
Monster, Main Event, & High Roller on Deck at WSOP-C Calgary
The biggest events of the series are still to come, as the final weekend approaches. The Monster stack plays its final two flights on Wednesday, with Day 2 on Thursday, alongside the opening flight to the Main Event.
As always, the Main Event is expected to be the biggest prize pool of the series, with more than $2 million total up for grabs. The High Roller will almost certainly add another half million or more and, with the side events through the remainder of the series, the final prizes will almost certainly be well over $5 million.
Follow all the action with Poker Pro’s exclusive live reporting from WSOP-C Calgary.
