There were a trio of big scores from Canadians on Saturday, with big money coming to Canada out of the Seniors, the mixed triple-draw lowball, and the $50k PLO High Roller. While there were no bracelets sent north from Saturday’s action, more than $350k USD shifted to Canadian hands.
It was a bit of a quiet day on Saturday at the 2025 World Series of Poker hosted by Horseshoe & Paris, Las Vegas, with only 6 active games running. In addition to the three big cashes, 22 players found bags in the fourth and final flight to the Millionaire Maker, while Thomas Taylor and Daniel Idema bagged up for Day 2 of the nine-game mix.
Rabie Takes $187,351 from Seniors for Fifth Place
Lawrence Rabie had every reason to smile on Saturday in Vegas — or at least, he had about 187,000 reasons to smile. That was the payout he pocketed after his deep run in Event #48: $1,000 Senior’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship.
While Rabie fell a bit short of Lonnie Hallett’s 2023 victory in this event, the Thornhill, ON native found the biggest score of his career, and it wasn’t even close. In fact, going into the Seniors, Rabie’s Hendon Mob page showed just over $100k in total live earnings, so he more than doubled his lifetime total in a single go with the $187,351 prize.
This looks to be Rabie’s second cash at the series this year after a modest cash in 357th in the Salute to Warriors game.
Klecan Highballs the Lowball
Mark Klecan was the source of Canada’s second final table performance on Saturday in Las Vegas. He managed to find his way to 4th place in the stacked field in Event #56, Mixed Triple Draw Lowball.
Klecan came to the final day of play 7th in chips out of 15 returning, and he was up against some talent. Among the other stacks going into the final day were mixed-game legends like David “Bakes” Baker, Chris Klodniki, Yuval Bronshtein, Chino Rheem, and perhaps the current GOAT of mixed games, Benny Glaser. With James Woods, George Alexander, and Johannes Becker also in the Day 3 mix, Klecan had his work cut out for him.
He not only managed to find a final table in the game that combined the triple-draw variants of various forms of lowball poker like badugi, deuce to seven, and ace to five, but he spun up his seventh-place stack to fourth for a score of more than $60k, with the incomparable Glaser going on to win yet another mixed bracelet.
Taylor, Idema Bag Nine-Game; Leblond Leads 1d Milly Stacks
Top Alberta earner Thomas Taylor was one of two players to find a bag in the opening day of the $3k Nine-Game on Saturday. Vancouver’s Daniel Idema will be joining him for Day 2 of that one, while Benjamin Leblond led 22 Canadian bags from the fourth and final flight to the Millionaire Maker. Tony Hoang, Nathan Tang, Alemu “Jerome” Makonen, Nadav Bitton, Michael Ma, and Gregory Katayama are among the other Canadian bags from 1d.
The Milly this year saw nearly 12,000 runners for prizes of more than $16.5 million. 2,618 players are coming back for Day 2, with 77 of those players sporting a maple leaf in their profile. Richard Mullen, who bagged his stack on Day 1b, is Canada’s top stack for Day 2 with 260k to start the day.
Canadian Cashes for Jun 21, 2025
| Event | Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Event #48: $1,000 Senior’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship | 5 | Lawrence Rabie | $187,351 |
| Event #56: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball | 4 | Mark Klecan | $61,409 |
| Event #57: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller | 17 | Frederic Normand | $105,000 |
Canadian Bags for Jun 21, 2025
| Event | Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 57 | Benjamin Leblond | 233,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 85 | Tony Hoang | 215,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 94 | Steven Parkin | 199,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 126 | Nathan Tang | 185,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 137 | Alemu Makonen | 181,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 166 | Nadav Bitton | 169,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 212 | Michael Ma | 152,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 241 | Gregory Katayama | 145,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 374 | Santiago Plante | 113,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 457 | David Baba | 99,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 489 | Olivier Brodeur | 94,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 530 | Vadim Rozin | 87,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 544 | Sebastian Crema | 84,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 560 | Benjamin Szwimer | 82,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 602 | Armin Ojani | 78,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 632 | Konstantinos Tsikopoulos | 73,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 670 | Harsukhpaul Sangha | 69,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 785 | Ran Yi | 55,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 890 | Kristen Foxen | 40,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 912 | Israel Pantaleon | 38,000 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 939 | Amirpasha Emami | 33,500 |
| Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 1014 | Azim Popatia | 19,000 |
| Event #58: $3,000 Nine Game Mix | 45 | Thomas Taylor | 136,000 |
| Event #58: $3,000 Nine Game Mix | 51 | Daniel Idema | 126,000 |
