2025 Pure Poker Tour Series #1 – Event #4: $220 Tag Team (Valentine’s Day)

It was a pretty pure run for Nohad Teliani & her partner Daniel Senekal tonight. While Teliani is a familiar face at these events and has bagged a few of the older trophies from previous seasons, her partner Senekal is a newcomer to the game. In fact, he was playing in his very first official tournament in this game tonight, so he’s kicking off his MTT career pretty well.

Teliani and Senekal were the chip leaders as things got down to the business end, and they played a very measured game that saw them come out on top. It wasn’t smooth sailing however – the pair were almost out the door at one point for a lower payout, but managed to hold on for a double back into the lead.

Teliani and Senekal both work locally at VisionMax Eye Centre where Senekal is an ophthalmologist.

Read more in our front page recap

Pure Poker Tour

Partners Flourish in Day 2 of the 2025 Pure Poker Tour

February 16, 2025

The Team game is over now after Brenda and Holly hit the rail in 2nd place tonight. The final hand was king-ten against ace-jack for Nohad Teliani and Daniel Senekal. They hit a jack on the flop to take a bigger lead and the rest of the board was clean to send Brenda & Holly to the rail in 2nd place tonight.

They are heads up now after Maddie Sharma shoved the button and got called by Nohad Teliani in the big blind. Sharma was blind with 6♥2♥ against J♣10♣. They hit a jack on the flop, but Sharma turned a heart draw. The river bricked, though, and they hit the rail in 3rd place tonight.

They are down to 3 now after James & Garrett couldn’t hold onto their stack. I missed the action, but the hand came just before the end of Level 20 right after they sent Vince & Annie to the rail in 5th. Their chips went across to Nu & Daniel who now look to have the big chip lead three ways with 520k while Parmar/Sharma have 420k and Brenda & Holly are playing the short stack with 225k.

They are down to 4 left now after Vince Lam & Anie Li hit the rail in 5th place. They were left short after doubling up Parmar/Sharma recently, and got it in with pocket fours. They ran into the pocket sixes of James & Garrett and the sixes held for the win.

Vince Lam (partner Annie Li) raised to 40k under the gun and Taran Parmar (partner Maddie Sharma) shoved all in. While the dealer was counting the all-in, Lam slid in the call and was in a dominating spot with ace-jack into ace-ten. The flop came with an ace and a ten, however, to vault Parmar to the lead. They held through the turn and river to grab the double.

They are down to 5 left in the team game now after Garrett & Amy were the first to bust in the money tonight. They picked up $450 for 6th place.

They are down to 6 left at the final table now and all teams are in the money. Abe Shawile and partner Andre were first off the table before I was able to get pics. Elvis & Tad and Weston & Jolnar were next to exit making it 6-ways in the money. Below is a look at 8 of the 9 teams to make the money tonight.

Tyler Foran and Sunni Pil are playing together and they were almost out at the end of Level 15 when Foran lost an all-in to leave them with just 15k left behind. They switched out and Pil has been running it back up again. She was up to 37k after one bog hand, then just doubled again against Weston Pring (partner Jo Teliani) when her jacks won the race against his ace-queen.

They’ve been 11-handed for quite a while now.

The Team game is now down to 11 teams remaining on the break following Level 14. The only breaks in this game come when staff needs to do chip-ups, since players get a break every 20 minutes when their partner swaps in.

They’ll be back in action for Level 15 in about 5 minutes with all the 100 and 500 denomination chips removed from the game.

They are down to the final table now with 18 teams left in the action. Malm/Sharma were one of the recent exits while the team of Maddie Sharma & Taran Parmar just set the final table when their tens held in a race against ace-jack in the big blind. Parmar was in the seat at the time, and called for the ten on the flop. He got it to take a huge lead, and the team of Kyle Strap and Josh Wallace hit the rail in 19th tonight.

There were 59 entries today for the Team game, which looks like a record for this event on the PPT. There will be 6 teams getting a share of $11,210 later tonight and the field is now down to 20 left. Full prizes are loaded under the Payouts tab, but the winning team tonight is set to pocket $4,150.

I don’t have a full handle on all the teams remaining yet but there are a few interesting teams out there. Mike Malm and DJ Sharma may well be the most interesting one, at least in terms of contrasting styles with Malm’s measured approach remarkably different from the free-wheeling play of Sharma.

Other teams tonight include Weston Pring & Jolnar Teliani, Josie Brown & Pete Fylyma, and chip leaders Maddie Sharma and Taran Parmar. Larry Quon’s team just grabbed a double-up through Sharma/Malm when they got it in with ace-king over ace-queen. Sharma/Malm still had chips after the hand but were left short.

The Team event is going strong with 50 entries on the board and 29 teams still in action. There are about 40 minutes left until the entry desk shuts down for the night.

The turnout for the Team game is pretty solid early on with 36 entries on the board and 31 teams in action. There are still about 90 minutes left to enter so it’s likely the final tally will be more than 40 and might approach 50 entries before is all shuts down later tonight.

I’m still watching Day 1a if Event #3 so I don’t have eyes on the Team game yet, but E3 is very close to bagging up so I’ll be over to cover the Team game relatively soon I expect.

The Team game is now underway with 19 teams in action to start the night. Level 1 has just begun and they have about 2.5 hours to enter or rebuy.

Friday’s side game is the Tag Team game starting at 7 PM. Two-player teams will pay $220 to enter, and players will swap every round. Each team is also given 5 “Switch Tickets” to use as they wish. The tickets can be used to force another team to switch players, or can be used to swap with your own partner, but they can only be used between hands.

Teams will have 7 levels of poker to enter or reenter. That means entries will be open for about 2.5 hours with the final chance to enter coming at about 9:35 PM.

This game likely won’t get much coverage early in the game but I suspect they’ll still be playing when Day 1a of Event #3 bags up, and if so, I’ll move over to finish my night with the teams.

It was a pretty pure run for Nohad Teliani & her partner Daniel Senekal tonight. While Teliani is a familiar face at these events and has bagged a few of the older trophies from previous seasons, her partner Senekal is a newcomer to the game. In fact, he was playing in his very first official tournament in this game tonight, so he’s kicking off his MTT career pretty well.

Teliani and Senekal were the chip leaders as things got down to the business end, and they played a very measured game that saw them come out on top. It wasn’t smooth sailing however – the pair were almost out the door at one point for a lower payout, but managed to hold on for a double back into the lead.

Teliani and Senekal both work locally at VisionMax Eye Centre where Senekal is an ophthalmologist.

Read more in our front page recap

Pure Poker Tour

Partners Flourish in Day 2 of the 2025 Pure Poker Tour

February 16, 2025

The Team game is over now after Brenda and Holly hit the rail in 2nd place tonight. The final hand was king-ten against ace-jack for Nohad Teliani and Daniel Senekal. They hit a jack on the flop to take a bigger lead and the rest of the board was clean to send Brenda & Holly to the rail in 2nd place tonight.

They are heads up now after Maddie Sharma shoved the button and got called by Nohad Teliani in the big blind. Sharma was blind with 6♥2♥ against J♣10♣. They hit a jack on the flop, but Sharma turned a heart draw. The river bricked, though, and they hit the rail in 3rd place tonight.

They are down to 3 now after James & Garrett couldn’t hold onto their stack. I missed the action, but the hand came just before the end of Level 20 right after they sent Vince & Annie to the rail in 5th. Their chips went across to Nu & Daniel who now look to have the big chip lead three ways with 520k while Parmar/Sharma have 420k and Brenda & Holly are playing the short stack with 225k.

They are down to 4 left now after Vince Lam & Anie Li hit the rail in 5th place. They were left short after doubling up Parmar/Sharma recently, and got it in with pocket fours. They ran into the pocket sixes of James & Garrett and the sixes held for the win.

Vince Lam (partner Annie Li) raised to 40k under the gun and Taran Parmar (partner Maddie Sharma) shoved all in. While the dealer was counting the all-in, Lam slid in the call and was in a dominating spot with ace-jack into ace-ten. The flop came with an ace and a ten, however, to vault Parmar to the lead. They held through the turn and river to grab the double.

They are down to 5 left in the team game now after Garrett & Amy were the first to bust in the money tonight. They picked up $450 for 6th place.

They are down to 6 left at the final table now and all teams are in the money. Abe Shawile and partner Andre were first off the table before I was able to get pics. Elvis & Tad and Weston & Jolnar were next to exit making it 6-ways in the money. Below is a look at 8 of the 9 teams to make the money tonight.

Tyler Foran and Sunni Pil are playing together and they were almost out at the end of Level 15 when Foran lost an all-in to leave them with just 15k left behind. They switched out and Pil has been running it back up again. She was up to 37k after one bog hand, then just doubled again against Weston Pring (partner Jo Teliani) when her jacks won the race against his ace-queen.

They’ve been 11-handed for quite a while now.

The Team game is now down to 11 teams remaining on the break following Level 14. The only breaks in this game come when staff needs to do chip-ups, since players get a break every 20 minutes when their partner swaps in.

They’ll be back in action for Level 15 in about 5 minutes with all the 100 and 500 denomination chips removed from the game.

They are down to the final table now with 18 teams left in the action. Malm/Sharma were one of the recent exits while the team of Maddie Sharma & Taran Parmar just set the final table when their tens held in a race against ace-jack in the big blind. Parmar was in the seat at the time, and called for the ten on the flop. He got it to take a huge lead, and the team of Kyle Strap and Josh Wallace hit the rail in 19th tonight.

There were 59 entries today for the Team game, which looks like a record for this event on the PPT. There will be 6 teams getting a share of $11,210 later tonight and the field is now down to 20 left. Full prizes are loaded under the Payouts tab, but the winning team tonight is set to pocket $4,150.

I don’t have a full handle on all the teams remaining yet but there are a few interesting teams out there. Mike Malm and DJ Sharma may well be the most interesting one, at least in terms of contrasting styles with Malm’s measured approach remarkably different from the free-wheeling play of Sharma.

Other teams tonight include Weston Pring & Jolnar Teliani, Josie Brown & Pete Fylyma, and chip leaders Maddie Sharma and Taran Parmar. Larry Quon’s team just grabbed a double-up through Sharma/Malm when they got it in with ace-king over ace-queen. Sharma/Malm still had chips after the hand but were left short.

The Team event is going strong with 50 entries on the board and 29 teams still in action. There are about 40 minutes left until the entry desk shuts down for the night.

The turnout for the Team game is pretty solid early on with 36 entries on the board and 31 teams in action. There are still about 90 minutes left to enter so it’s likely the final tally will be more than 40 and might approach 50 entries before is all shuts down later tonight.

I’m still watching Day 1a if Event #3 so I don’t have eyes on the Team game yet, but E3 is very close to bagging up so I’ll be over to cover the Team game relatively soon I expect.

The Team game is now underway with 19 teams in action to start the night. Level 1 has just begun and they have about 2.5 hours to enter or rebuy.

Friday’s side game is the Tag Team game starting at 7 PM. Two-player teams will pay $220 to enter, and players will swap every round. Each team is also given 5 “Switch Tickets” to use as they wish. The tickets can be used to force another team to switch players, or can be used to swap with your own partner, but they can only be used between hands.

Teams will have 7 levels of poker to enter or reenter. That means entries will be open for about 2.5 hours with the final chance to enter coming at about 9:35 PM.

This game likely won’t get much coverage early in the game but I suspect they’ll still be playing when Day 1a of Event #3 bags up, and if so, I’ll move over to finish my night with the teams.