The opening week of the 2025 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas is coming to a close, and there is already some Canadian glory. While Canada is yet to score a bracelet in 2025, Fred Normand came very close in Event #3.
There are also some big bags moving forward to Day 2 of the Mystery Millions, with double ring winner and future doctor Nicholas Lee among the top 10 stacks for the final Day 1 flight. He’ll join 3x ring winner David Ko (Ko also owns EPT, WPT, & Irish Poker Open titles) and some other Canadians in Sunday’s Day 2.
Canadian money leader (and 7th all-time) Daniel Negreanu bagged big in the $10k O8 championship, and he’ll be joining the biggest Alberta earner, Thomas Taylor, for the 2nd day of action.
Event #1: $1,000 Mystery Millions
Two-time ring winner Nicholas Lee was among the top 10 stacks from the final Day 1 flight to the Mystery Millions. Lee is a regular at the Calgary series, with his two rings coming in Cowtown, and ,while other players can often be seen playing online poker or scrolling socials between hands, Lee typically has his tablet out studying medical texts to further his education towards becoming a doctor.
Among the other notables from Day 1e were Manish “Bubs” Rahl, Darlene Lee, and Chun Kit Kwan. Rahl recently won the WSOP-C Main in Calgary for his first ring, while Kwan, who flies a Hong Kong flag but lives and plays in Canada, picked up two rings in a recent Calgary Circuit series. Darlene Lee also has a Day 2 shot as she bagged 1.3 million on 1e after getting a Day 1 cash on 1d.
Day 1e Baggers:
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Nicholas Lee | 2,530,000 |
| 22 | Gaetano Dimaria | 1,735,000 |
| 26 | Callum Roque | 1,600,045 |
| 47 | Manish Ralh | 1,390,000 |
| 52 | Darlene Lee | 1,315,000 |
| 55 | Ghislain Pigeon | 1,305,000 |
| 73 | Anthony Aston | 1,111,000 |
| 135 | Chun Kit Kwan | 840,000 |
| 281 | Glenn Swanlund | 485,000 |
| 433 | Eric Afriat | 180,000 |
Event #3: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
Quebec’s Frederic Normand came within one player of bagging Canada’s first bracelet of 2025 in the first week of action. He powered through the 693-player field to get heads up against Antonio Galiana from Spain.
The hardware eventually went to Spain, but even winner Galiana admitted in his post-game interview with PokerNews that Normand had the upper hand to start, saying, “There was no point I really thought I was winning it”. But getting a big bluff through heads up got them even and sent the Spaniard on to the win.
Normand had $2.1 million in earnings going into the event, earning him a spot on the Top 100 Canadian earners list. He has five live wins on his resume, including a WPT title, but he’s still looking for his first WSOP hardware after coming ever-so-close in the opening days this year.
Event #3 Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Frederic Normand | $387,979 |
| 78 | Benjamin Underwood | $10,000 |
| 102 | Aram Zobian | $10,000 |
Event #8: $1,500 Dealers Choice
Day 2 of the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice finished with three Canadians collecting a payday, and a fourth one eyeing the big money and the hardware. Canadian pro Shawn “Bucky” Buchanan bagged a modest cash of $5,094 for 29th place, with Top-10 Canadian earner Mike Leah and UK native & Canadian transplant Paul Sokoloff also bagging modest cashes in the event.
Jonathan Krela is still in the mix, however, with a decent shot at wearing Canada’s first 2025 bracelet. He starts Day 3 3rd in chips with 1,305,000 but won’t have an easy go of it. He is looking way up at the huge stack of mixed-game wizard Benny Glaser, with Justin Liberto, Scott Bohlman, Daniel Zack, and Eric Baldwin among his seasoned competitors in the final 14.
Event 8 Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Shawn Buchanan | $5,094 |
| 48 | Mike Leah | $3,274 |
| 53 | Paul Sokoloff | $3,274 |
Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
Some big mixed-game names made their way through to Day 2 of the $10k O8 Championship. Canadian #1 Daniel Negreanu has a top 10 stack for Day 2, while Thomas Taylor also has a decent stack moving forward. They will be joined by Alex Livingston, who has already featured in a few of these daily updates and looks to be having a solid start this year, and Ari Engel.
Event 9 Baggers
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Daniel Negreanu | 241,000 |
| 31 | Thomas Taylor | 141,000 |
| 41 | Alex Livingston | 106,000 |
| 92 | Ari Engel | 11,000 |
Get a maple-focused view of the 2025 WSOP by following Canada at WSOP 2025. We’ll be doing quick daily updates and two bi-weekly recaps of all the deep Canadian runs from the Vegas summer camp, so stay tuned to poker.pro.
