The 2025 poker season in Canada kicks off with WSOP Circuit Calgary, starting January 8. Spanning 13 days of thrilling Circuit action in Cowtown, you can stay updated with live coverage by Lyle Bateman right here.
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Jerry Li Wins PLO Bounty for Second 4-Card Ring
Jerry Li might just know a thing or two about 4-card poker. Coming into today’s bounty event, he already had a ring from the very first WSOP-C Calgary in Jan 2022 from the $600 PLO as well as a bracelet in the PLO Bounty in Vegas later that same year.
He’s now added a PLO Bounty ring to his jewelry collection with the win here in Event #14. He played the big stack very well for most of the final table, maintaining his lead throughout. He almost had the ring about a half hour earlier when he had runner-up Brandon Sampson all in at risk with kings over queens, but Sampson spiked a queen to stay alive.
That didn’t tilt him though, and he stayed on task, chipping Sampson back down pretty quickly. In the final hand, Sampson was double-paired but Li ran out to a straight for the win. The win tonight will likely push him very close to $700k in lifetime winnings.
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Brandon Sampson Out in 2nd Place for $12,861
Level: 30 (100000/200000/200000) Entries: 1/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Brandon Sampson always had an uphill climb tonight heads up. Not only did he come into heads up with the chip deficit, but the player across the table was Jerry Li, who has a ring and a bracelet in four-card poker already.
While Sampson was able to claw some chips back a few times, he never did manage to get the upper hand. The closest he came was when he had one foot out the door with queen-queen-x-x against king-king-x-x but spiked his queen for a double. That put him around 3 million but that was as close as he got.
In the final hand Sampson got it in double paired with tens and fours against jack-seven-five-three for Li. Li flopped a pair of threes and an open-ended straight draw, then rivered the straight for the win. After the game, Sampson said he wasn’t even planning to play this one but max-late reg’d after he busted 1b of the Main. He may not have gone quite as far as he wanted, but $12k is a decent consolation prize for busting the Main.
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Sampson Doubles
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 2/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) It looked like it might be all over when Brandon Sampson raised, then shoved over a pot from Jerry Li. Li snapped it off with king-king-jack-ten against queen-queen-ten-six and looked set to take his second PLO ring here in Calgary but Sampson spike a queen on the flop and held for a big double to stay alive. Li still has the chip lead, but it’s closer after that hand.
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Nick Storie Out in 3rd Place for $8,958 + 7 Bounties
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 2/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) They are heads up now after Nick Storie hit the rail in 3rd place tonight. He’d been chipped down over the last level and put the remainder in from the small blind after Jerry Li raised to 350k. Li called it off and he had A♦K♠8♣6♠ against Q♠J♠9♥6♦ for Storie. When the 2♣7♦5♠6♥9♦ board was out, Li had a straight and the win.
Li goes into heads up as the big leader with nearly 6 million of the 8.6 million in play.
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Li Leads at Break
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 3/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Jerry Li has 4.67 million at the break, with Brandon Sampson on 2.06 million and Nick Storie on 2.02 million. They’ll be back in action at 60k/120k/120k in about 10 minutes.
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Sampson Forces the Fold
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 3/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Brandon Sampson raised to 300k from the small blind and Jerry Li potted to 900k from the big blind. Sampson repotted all in for 2.26 million and after getting a count and then counting out the call from his stack, Li elected to fold. The hand put Sampson over 3 million with Li still on about 4 million.
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Ed Zurawell Out in 4th Place for $6,361
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 3/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Ed Zurawell was 4th place tonight but I missed the action as he busted while I was writing the previous hand.
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Colin Miller Out in 5th Place for $4,607
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 4/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) They are down to 4 after Colin Miller shoved over button raise from Jerry Li to 150k. Li called it off with A♥Q♥9♥3♣ against A♠A♦K♥4♦ and then hit trip threes on the 3♥7♠3♠7♥8♣ to crack the aces.
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Down to 5
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 5/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) They are down to 5 left now with Level 27 just underway. Scott Bodnarek, who was leading earlier in the night, ended his day in 7th place while Nick Lloyd finished 6th.
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7 Left
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 7/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Wes Peters Gerry Edwards They are down to 7 left on the PLO Bounty FT after Wes Peters (9th) and Gerry Edwards (8th) hit the rail while I was getting the FT pictures uploaded. Jerry Li is still the leader with close to 4 million but Brandon Sampson looks to be in second with around 2 million.
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Final Table Faces
Wes Peters Scott Bodnarek Nick Storie Nick Lloyd Jerry Li Gerry Edwards Ed Zurawell Colin Miller Brandon Sampson -
Final Table Time
Level: 25 (30000/60000/60000) Entries: 9/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) They are down to 9 players left now in the PLO Bounty on the final table after bustouts on both tables in the same hand. I’ll grab pics and full names from the final table shortly but in the meantime, below is a look at the recent payouts.
Place Player Prize 10 Brad Ellis $1,250 11 Leanne Brown $1,250 12 Viet Do $1,027 13 Nikhil Madadi $1,027 14 Marc Kalvari $864 15 Ryan Cairns $864 -
Prizes are Updated Under Payouts
Level: 23 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 15/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) The PLO Bounty field is down to 15 players left now with about 15 minutes to play in Level 23. I’ve finally managed to get the prizes updated in the backend — see the Payouts tab for a full look at the prizes to 16th place.
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Bodnarek and Li Over 1 Million
Level: 22 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 17/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) The players are on a break following Level 21 and it looks like Scott Bodnarek is still leading with a bit more than 1.3 million, but Jerry Li, who has both a ring and a bracelet in four-card poker, is playing about 1.1 and they appear to be the only players with a million or more.
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Final Two Tables; Bodnarek Leads
Level: 21 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 17/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Scott Bodnarek is the chip leader at the moment with 17 players left. He’s playing more than 1.4 million and looks to be the only one in the million range. I don’t have complete names for the remaining players yet, but among the players still alive tonight are Gerry Edwards, Ryan Cairns, Juss Viet, Ed Zurawell, and PLO ring and bracelet winner Jerry Li.
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432 Entries for PLO Bounty
Level: 13 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 65/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) The PLO Bounty Event is in the money with 65 places paid tonight. They got 432 entries and the field just hit 65 remaining with no hand-for-hand play tonight. The prizes won’t be in the backend for a little while yet, but the summary of payouts is below.
1 $19,291 2 $12,861 3 $8,958 4 $6,361 5 $4,607 6 $3,404 7 $2,562 8 $1,976 9 $1,555 10-11 $1,250 12-13 $1,027 14-17 $864 18-26 $744 27-35 $656 36-44 $592 45-65 $564 -
Four-Card Bounty Action on Deck for Friday
Event 14: $400 PLO Bounty ($230 + $100 + $70) Date: Jan 17, 6 PM Blinds: 20 Minutes Starting Stack: 20k Late Entry: 9 Levels (~9:30 PM) The side action on Friday night is four-card bounty fun with the $400 PLO Bounty. The action kicks off at 6 PM and entries are open for about 3.5 hours until the start of Level 10. Players start with 20k in chips for 20 minute levels throughout so it’s a bit of a turbo.
That said, I still expect a fairly long day with action going until at least 3 AM. I won’t be watching the early action very closely in this one, but I’ll be around at the end for endgame coverage.
Event 14
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Jerry Li Wins PLO Bounty for Second 4-Card Ring
Pei “Jerry” Li, winner of PLO Bounty for his second PLO ring Jerry Li might just know a thing or two about 4-card poker. Coming into today’s bounty event, he already had a ring from the very first WSOP-C Calgary in Jan 2022 from the $600 PLO as well as a bracelet in the PLO Bounty in Vegas later that same year.
He’s now added a PLO Bounty ring to his jewelry collection with the win here in Event #14. He played the big stack very well for most of the final table, maintaining his lead throughout. He almost had the ring about a half hour earlier when he had runner-up Brandon Sampson all in at risk with kings over queens, but Sampson spiked a queen to stay alive.
That didn’t tilt him though, and he stayed on task, chipping Sampson back down pretty quickly. In the final hand, Sampson was double-paired but Li ran out to a straight for the win. The win tonight will likely push him very close to $700k in lifetime winnings.
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Brandon Sampson Out in 2nd Place for $12,861
Level: 30 (100000/200000/200000) Entries: 1/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Brandon Sampson Brandon Sampson always had an uphill climb tonight heads up. Not only did he come into heads up with the chip deficit, but the player across the table was Jerry Li, who has a ring and a bracelet in four-card poker already.
While Sampson was able to claw some chips back a few times, he never did manage to get the upper hand. The closest he came was when he had one foot out the door with queen-queen-x-x against king-king-x-x but spiked his queen for a double. That put him around 3 million but that was as close as he got.
In the final hand Sampson got it in double paired with tens and fours against jack-seven-five-three for Li. Li flopped a pair of threes and an open-ended straight draw, then rivered the straight for the win. After the game, Sampson said he wasn’t even planning to play this one but max-late reg’d after he busted 1b of the Main. He may not have gone quite as far as he wanted, but $12k is a decent consolation prize for busting the Main.
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Sampson Doubles
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 2/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) It looked like it might be all over when Brandon Sampson raised, then shoved over a pot from Jerry Li. Li snapped it off with king-king-jack-ten against queen-queen-ten-six and looked set to take his second PLO ring here in Calgary but Sampson spike a queen on the flop and held for a big double to stay alive. Li still has the chip lead, but it’s closer after that hand.
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Nick Storie Out in 3rd Place for $8,958 + 7 Bounties
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 2/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Nick Storie They are heads up now after Nick Storie hit the rail in 3rd place tonight. He’d been chipped down over the last level and put the remainder in from the small blind after Jerry Li raised to 350k. Li called it off and he had A♦K♠8♣6♠ against Q♠J♠9♥6♦ for Storie. When the 2♣7♦5♠6♥9♦ board was out, Li had a straight and the win.
Li goes into heads up as the big leader with nearly 6 million of the 8.6 million in play.
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Li Leads at Break
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 3/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Jerry Li has 4.67 million at the break, with Brandon Sampson on 2.06 million and Nick Storie on 2.02 million. They’ll be back in action at 60k/120k/120k in about 10 minutes.
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Sampson Forces the Fold
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 3/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Brandon Sampson raised to 300k from the small blind and Jerry Li potted to 900k from the big blind. Sampson repotted all in for 2.26 million and after getting a count and then counting out the call from his stack, Li elected to fold. The hand put Sampson over 3 million with Li still on about 4 million.
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Ed Zurawell Out in 4th Place for $6,361
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 3/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Ed Zurawell Ed Zurawell was 4th place tonight but I missed the action as he busted while I was writing the previous hand.
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Colin Miller Out in 5th Place for $4,607
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 4/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Colin Miller They are down to 4 after Colin Miller shoved over button raise from Jerry Li to 150k. Li called it off with A♥Q♥9♥3♣ against A♠A♦K♥4♦ and then hit trip threes on the 3♥7♠3♠7♥8♣ to crack the aces.
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Down to 5
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 5/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Scott Bodnarek Nick Lloyd They are down to 5 left now with Level 27 just underway. Scott Bodnarek, who was leading earlier in the night, ended his day in 7th place while Nick Lloyd finished 6th.
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7 Left
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 7/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Wes Peters Gerry Edwards They are down to 7 left on the PLO Bounty FT after Wes Peters (9th) and Gerry Edwards (8th) hit the rail while I was getting the FT pictures uploaded. Jerry Li is still the leader with close to 4 million but Brandon Sampson looks to be in second with around 2 million.
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Final Table Faces
Wes Peters Scott Bodnarek Nick Storie Nick Lloyd Jerry Li Gerry Edwards Ed Zurawell Colin Miller Brandon Sampson -
Final Table Time
Level: 25 (30000/60000/60000) Entries: 9/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) They are down to 9 players left now in the PLO Bounty on the final table after bustouts on both tables in the same hand. I’ll grab pics and full names from the final table shortly but in the meantime, below is a look at the recent payouts.
Place Player Prize 10 Brad Ellis $1,250 11 Leanne Brown $1,250 12 Viet Do $1,027 13 Nikhil Madadi $1,027 14 Marc Kalvari $864 15 Ryan Cairns $864 -
Prizes are Updated Under Payouts
Level: 23 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 15/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) The PLO Bounty field is down to 15 players left now with about 15 minutes to play in Level 23. I’ve finally managed to get the prizes updated in the backend — see the Payouts tab for a full look at the prizes to 16th place.
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Bodnarek and Li Over 1 Million
Level: 22 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 17/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) The players are on a break following Level 21 and it looks like Scott Bodnarek is still leading with a bit more than 1.3 million, but Jerry Li, who has both a ring and a bracelet in four-card poker, is playing about 1.1 and they appear to be the only players with a million or more.
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Final Two Tables; Bodnarek Leads
Level: 21 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 17/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) Scott Bodnarek is the chip leader at the moment with 17 players left. He’s playing more than 1.4 million and looks to be the only one in the million range. I don’t have complete names for the remaining players yet, but among the players still alive tonight are Gerry Edwards, Ryan Cairns, Juss Viet, Ed Zurawell, and PLO ring and bracelet winner Jerry Li.
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432 Entries for PLO Bounty
Level: 13 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 65/432 Prizes: $142,560 ($99,360 prizes, $43,200 bounties) The PLO Bounty Event is in the money with 65 places paid tonight. They got 432 entries and the field just hit 65 remaining with no hand-for-hand play tonight. The prizes won’t be in the backend for a little while yet, but the summary of payouts is below.
1 $19,291 2 $12,861 3 $8,958 4 $6,361 5 $4,607 6 $3,404 7 $2,562 8 $1,976 9 $1,555 10-11 $1,250 12-13 $1,027 14-17 $864 18-26 $744 27-35 $656 36-44 $592 45-65 $564 -
Four-Card Bounty Action on Deck for Friday
Event 14: $400 PLO Bounty ($230 + $100 + $70) Date: Jan 17, 6 PM Blinds: 20 Minutes Starting Stack: 20k Late Entry: 9 Levels (~9:30 PM) The side action on Friday night is four-card bounty fun with the $400 PLO Bounty. The action kicks off at 6 PM and entries are open for about 3.5 hours until the start of Level 10. Players start with 20k in chips for 20 minute levels throughout so it’s a bit of a turbo.
That said, I still expect a fairly long day with action going until at least 3 AM. I won’t be watching the early action very closely in this one, but I’ll be around at the end for endgame coverage.
Event 14
1 | Pei (Jerry) Li | $19,291 |
2 | Brandon Sampson | $12,861 |
3 | Nicolas Storie | $8,958 |
4 | Ed Zurawell | $6,361 |
5 | Colin Miller | $4,607 |
6 | Michael Lloyd | $3,404 |
7 | Scott Bodnarek | $2,562 |
8 | Gerry Edwards | $1,976 |
9 | Wesley Peters | $1,555 |
10 | Brad Ellis | $1,250 |
11 | Leanne Brown | $1,250 |
12 | Viet Do | $1,027 |
13 | Nikhil Madadi | $1,027 |
14 | Marc Kalvari | $864 |
15 | Ryan Cairns | $864 |
16 | James Cruickshank | $864 |
17 | George Mounsef | $864 |
18 | Glenn Tarasoff | $744 |
19 | Douglas Bates | $744 |
20 | Ke’Andre Willis | $744 |
21 | Aaron Van Male | $744 |
22 | Morgan Mclellan | $744 |
23 | Robert Limpert | $744 |
24 | Angelo Jopek | $744 |
25 | Arnulfo Alontave | $744 |
26 | Leonilo Juan | $744 |
27 | Jody Brett | $656 |
28 | Darlene Hernandez | $656 |
29 | Ngoc Nguyen | $656 |
30 | Roneen Shaffer | $656 |
31 | Ravinder Bedi | $656 |
32 | Rishi Makkar | $656 |
33 | Haven Taylor | $656 |
34 | Eric Grimshaw | $656 |
35 | Robert Merluk | $656 |
36 | Aamir Khan | $592 |
37 | Chad Fiddler | $592 |
38 | Catherine Semark | $592 |
39 | Prabhsimran Cheema | $592 |
40 | Vikram Gill | $592 |
41 | Garry Chan | $592 |
42 | Stefan Maloney | $592 |
43 | Munish Bhalla | $592 |
44 | Chao Lu | $592 |
45 | Nicholas Milkovich | $564 |
46 | Darrell Moore | $564 |
47 | Rocco Smeriglio | $564 |
48 | Joyce Funk | $564 |
49 | Essam Saadeddine | $564 |
50 | Pushpinder Singh | $564 |
51 | Donald Mccall | $564 |
52 | John Jabbour | $564 |
53 | Alexander Staub | $564 |
54 | Nicholas Morrison | $564 |
55 | Lawrence Gerrard | $564 |
56 | Jason Chan | $564 |
57 | Patrick Wilsom | $564 |
58 | Marc-Andre Kudjick | $564 |
59 | Shawn Walsh | $564 |
60 | Francis Fortin-Chevalier | $564 |
61 | Steven Labelle | $564 |
62 | Colin Burton | $564 |
63 | Kalil Geha | $564 |
64 | Michael Hildebrand | $564 |
65 | Lap Chi Duong | $564 |