
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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Day 1 is Complete with 72 Players Left In the Money
Level: 16 (2000/3000/3000) Entries: 72/485 Prizes: $424,375 Day 1 of the $1k is complete and there are 72 players still alive with chips. There were 73 paid spots tonight, with Douglas Berry from Vanderhoof, BC, as the min-cash spot at the end of Day 1.
The remaining 72 players will return to the action at 2 pm on Tuesday to play down to a winner. I’ll load the full prize list into the backend shortly, but in the meantime, here is the short list of payouts below.
Place Prize 1 $84,962 2 $56,641 3 $38,684 4 $26,970 5 $19,202 6 $13,968 7 $10,386 8 $7,898 9 $6,145 10-11 $4,895 12-13 $3,994 14-17 $3,340 18-26 $2,865 27-35 $2,522 36-44 $2,279 45-53 $2,117 54-73 $2,017 -
Nearly 400 Entries for $1k
Level: 6 (400/800/800) Entries: 262/374 Prizes: $327,250 The $1k is into Level 6 now with the field just shy of 375 entries. That puts more than $325k into the prize pool so far with more than 3 hours left to enter the game today.
They’ll take the second break of the day following this level of play, then return for the final three levels of entry. There is a 45-minute dinner break following Level 9, and entries close when they sit down for Level 10. I haven’t had a chance to lool through the other room yet so I’m not totally sure who is over there, but I did see Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin heading into the room with a seat tag.
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Two-Day $1k Kicks Off Monday Action
Event 8: $1000 Two-Day $1k ($875 + $125) Date: Day 1: Jan 13, 11 AM Blinds: 40 Minutes Starting Stack: 30k Late Entry: 9 Levels (~6:15 PM) Day 1 Ends: 15 Levels (~10:30 PM) Day 1 of the Two-Day $1k is set to roll on Monday as the early start, though I won’t be watching the opening day very closely. I plan to make this my focus on Tuesday when they are in Day 2, but Monday’s focus will be on the final day of the HORSE.
Players sit down with 30k in chips for 40-minute levels. Registration is open for 9 levels plus breaks, which should put the last chance to enter at about 6:15 PM. Once entries close, they’ll play another 6 levels before the bag for the night with the remaining players returning on Tuesday’s Day 2.
Event 8
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Michael Malm Wins Two-Day $1k for $84,962
Michael Malm had an amazing 2024 and it looks like 2025 is off to a great start as well as he just picked up his first Circuit Ring. He had to come from behind to defeat a bit of an end-boss to do it too as he was facing Thomas Taylor with the chip lead when they got heads-up.
Malm first got a double to the lead when his overpair of kings held over Taylor’s top pair, and then a cooler ended it all when both players flopped three jacks, but Malm had an eight to go along with it for a boat.
Malm won the Alberta Poker Index Player of the Year for 2024 and this will put him on his way to another deep run in the local standings.
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Thomas Taylor Out in 2nd Place for $56,641
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 1/485 Prizes: $424,375 Thomas Taylor It was a bit of a brutal end for Thomas Taylor tonight. He got to heads up with a big chip lead, but then doubled up Mike Malm when he flopped top pair but Malm had an overpair.
That put Malm in the lead, and then a huge cooler happened. The flop was 8♠J♣J♥ and Malm checked to Taylor who bet 250k. Malm pumped it up to a million before Taylor clicked it back to 1.75 million. Malm flatted and the 10♥ turn hit the board.
Malm bet 1 million, then snap-called when Taylor shoved. Taylor had jack-four for flopped trip, but Malm had jack-eight for the flopped boat and the win. Taylor was drawing to a chop, but the 6♦ was a brick.
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Malm Doubles to Lead
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 2/485 Prizes: $424,375 I missed the early action but Mike Malm’s kings just held for a huge pot over Thomas Taylor’s flopped top pair of jacks. The double flipped the script in chips putting Malm out in front.
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Malm Doubles; Taylor Takes Some Back
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 2/485 Prizes: $424,375 Mike Malm grabbed an early double when he flopped a nine and it held. That evened them out a little bit, though Thomas Taylor was still in the lead.
A couple of hands later, Taylor limp-called a raise to 500k to see a flop of 10♦3♦5♦. Malm led for 400k and Taylor called to the 8♣ flop.
They both checked it to the A♣ river where Malm fired 1 million. Taylor tanked for about 15 seconds before tossing in two plaques for a call.
“You’re good,” Malm said, showing king-high. Taylor showed ace-six for the win.
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Jeremy Doll Out in 3rd Place for $38,684
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 2/485 Prizes: $424,375 Jeremy Doll Thomas Taylor is the big leader heads up after he called off a shove from Jeremy Doll with the best ace. Taylor’s ace-king ran out to Broadway against the ace-nine for Doll.
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Taylor with Big Lead at Break
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 3/485 Prizes: $424,375 The final three players are on a break now with Thomas Taylor playing with most of the chips. he has 9.52 million compared to 3.36 million for Mike Malm and 1.6 million for Jeremy Doll. They’ll be back at the felt in about 10 minutes.
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Garrett Gilmurray Out in 4th Place for $26,970
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 3/485 Prizes: $424,375 Garrett Gilmurray I missed the action, but the field is now down to 3 after Garrett Gilmurray hit the rail for 4th place tonight.
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Mehmet Siginc Out in 5th Place for $19,202
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 4/485 Prizes: $424,375 Mehmet Ali Siginc Mehmet Siginc was left short after a hand against Thomas Taylor earlier in the night when Taylor flopped trip fours. He doubled back once, but couldn’t hold onto it and ended his day in 5th place.
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Joel Kogan Out in 6th Place for $13,968
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 5/485 Prizes: $424,375 Joel Kogan Joel Kogan got into a race against Thomas Taylor. Taylor was on ace-ten against pocket fives for Kogan, and by the time the board was done, Taylor had trip tens and the win.
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Duff Charette Out in 7th Place for $10,386
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 6/485 Prizes: $424,375 Duff Charette Dugg Charette just hit the rail in a cooler when Garrett Gilmurray shoved after a limp from Jeremy Doll. It folded to Charette in the big blind and he shoved for less. Doll tanked for a bit, then folded pocket fours face up. Charette showed pocket kings against ace-king for Gilmurray.
Gilnurray hit his ace on the 9♠10♣A♣4♥2♣ board to take the lead and send Charette to the cage, but Doll was annoyed by the turned four as he would have taken both.
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Mike Schmidt Out in 8th Place for $7,898
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 7/485 Prizes: $424,375 Mike Schmidt They are down to 7 left now after Mike Schmidt hit the rail in 7th place.
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Charette Doubles Blind on Blind
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 8/485 Prizes: $424,375 Mehmet Siginc shoved the small blind and Duff Charette tank-called from the big. Charette had Siginc pipped with king-nine over king-eight and the nine player with tens and an ace on the board.
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Taylor Flops It
Level: 25 (30000/60000/60000) Entries: 8/485 Prizes: $424,375 Thomas Taylor opened to 150k under the gun and got to callers to the flop of 4♠10♦4♦Taylor led for 150k, and only Joel Kogan called to the 6♣ turn. They both checked it and the 8♦ river and Kogan showed pocket eights, but there were no good against the 4♣3♣ trips for Taylor.
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Devon Morgan & Jimmy Lee First Off FT
Level: 25 (30000/60000/60000) Entries: 8/485 Prizes: $424,375 Devon Morgan Jimmy Lee I missed the action while getting pictures sorted and eating some dinner, but they are down to 8 on the final table now with Devon Morgan and Jimmy Lee ending their runs in 10th and 9th places respectively. The approximate chip counts for the remaining players are below.
Player Chips Thomas Taylor 2,895,000 Michael Malm 2,300,000 Jeremy Doll 2,250,000 Mehmet Ali Siginc 2,205,000 Joel Kogan 2,180,000 Duff Charette 1,400,000 Mike Schmidt 745,000 Garrett Gilmurray 500,000 -
Final Table Faces
Duff Charette Garrett Gilmurray Devon Morgan Jeremy Doll Jimmy Lee Joel Kogan Mehmet Ali Siginc Michael Malm Mike Schmidt Thomas Taylor -
Mehmet Siginc Looks to be Leading
Level: 24 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 11/485 Prizes: $424,375 It looks like there’s been som chip movement as Mehmet Siginc now looks to be the leader with about 2.8 million in front of him which Jeremy Doll, who is to Siginc’s right, has dropped down to a bit more than a million. Thomas Taylor looks to be playing more than 1.5 million now.
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Final Table Bubble
Level: 24 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 11/485 Prizes: $424,375 They are down to 11 left in Day 2 of the Two-Day now with just under 30 minutes to play in Level 24. 61st place is still missing, but the rest of the full prizes are under the Payouts tab, with the recent cashers below.
Place Player Prize 12 Kyle Levicki
$3,994 13 Jui Hsu
$3,994 14 Matthew Ouellette
$3,340 15 Erin Pulchinski
$3,340 -
12 Left
Level: 23 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 12/485 Prizes: $424,375 They are down to 12 remaining in the Two-Day $1k with just under 15 minutes to play in Level 23. Erin Pulchinski and Matthew Ouellette were among the recent busts, but I still haven’t seen a name for 13th place yet.
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Doll Leading
Level: 23 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 15/485 Prizes: $424,375 I’ve just had a quick look at the remaining players in the Two-Day $1k and it looks like Jeremy Doll is the big stack right now. He’s on about 3 million with the next biggest stack in front of Thomas Taylor, playing about 1.4 million. Jimmy Lee is to Taylor’s right with about 950k.
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Down to 15 Left
Level: 22 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 15/485 Prizes: $424,375 They are down to 15 remaining in the Two-Day $1k with about 15 minutes to play in Level 22. 61st place is still blank, but otherwise, all the prizes are loaded under the Payouts tab with he recent busts below.
Place Player Prize 16 Jay Dragland
$3,340 17 Serge Noel
$3,340 18 Kyle Ho
$2,865 -
Back From Dinner
Level: 22 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 17/485 Prizes: $194,370 The final 17 players in the Two-Day $1k are now back in their seats for Level 22.
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Dinner Time with 17 Left
Level: 21 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 17/485 Prizes: $424,375 The dinner break has just begun with 17 players remaining in the field. Kyle Ho was the first player to exit the game from the final two tables and the remaining field will be back in action in about 40 minutes.
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Final Two Tables
Level: 21 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 18/485 Prizes: $424,375 They are down to the final two tables in the Two-Day $1k now with about 15 minutes to play until dinner. We are still missing 61st place but otherwise, the full prizes are posted under the Payouts tab with cashing players since my last update below.
Place Player Prize 19 Steven Barber
$2,865 20 Donal Fujita
$2,865 21 David Burnard
$2,865 22 Michael St.Pierre-Porter
$2,865 23 Jerry Li
$2,865 24 Marco Di Nardo
$2,865 25 Kyle Chang
$2,865 26 Matthew O’Brien
$2,865 27 Steven Wiens
$2,522 28 Marc Lavergne
$2,522 29 Taran Parmar
$2,522 -
Down to 29
Level: 19 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 29/485 Prizes: $424,375 They are down to 29 remaining in the Two-Day $1k with just over 20 minutes to play in Level 19. They’ll take a 45-minute dinner break following Level 21. See below for the payouts so far (with full prizes under the Payouts tab) but 61st place is still blank.
Place Prize Player 30 Deven Lane
$2,522 31 Ian Monahoyios
$2,522 32 Morgan Mclellan
$2,522 33 Shawn Sperber
$2,522 34 Youssef Hmama
$2,522 -
34 Left in Two-Day
Level: 18 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 34/485 Prizes: $424,375 They are down to four tables with 34 players left now in the Two-Day $1k. 61st place is still missing from the list, but the rest of the prizes since my last update are below with full prizes under the Payouts tab.
Place Player Prize 35 Allan Alejandro
$2,522 36 Yu(Alex) Liu
$2,279 37 Pavlo Vertiiko
$2,279 38 Dylan Boyer
$2,279 39 Kelly Becker
$2,279 40 Shannon Lazorko
$2,279 41 Pascal Gregoire
$2,279 42 Daniel Bong
$2,279 43 Darnell Simpson
$2,279 44 Zachary Verpaalen
$2,279 45 Malcolm Bolger
$2,117 46 Garrett Birch
$2,117 47 Zhi Lin
$2,117 48 Sunny Labana
$2,117 49 Jeremy Roberts
$2,117 50 Christopher Charlton
$2,117 -
50 Left in $1k
Level: 17 (5000/10000/10000) Entries: 50/485 Prizes: $424,375 I was a bit late getting to the floor today as it was a very late night on Monday night. There are about 30 minutes to play in Level 17 with the field now at 50 entries. It looks like 61st place hasn’t stopped by the payout desk yet to get their slip signed, so I don’t have a name for them yet, but the rest of the prizes so far are below.
Place Player Prize 51 Nichols Lee
$2,117 52 Jae Lee
$2,117 53 Stephen Dauphanis
$2,117 54 Eun Park
$2,017 55 Melvin Podaima
$2,017 56 Chad Winnick
$2,017 57 Zacharie Desautels
$2,017 58 Marc-Andre Yelle
$2,017 59 Dennis Ashmore
$2,017 60 Christian Wallmuth
$2,017 61 $2,017 62 Faisel Al Qutub
$2,017 63 Behnam Esfahanizeadeh
$2,017 64 Ty Duong
$2,017 65 Brett Lambden
$2,017 66 Colten Yamagishi
$2,017 67 Ronald Berdusco
$2,017 68 Zhi Yang
$2,017 69 Haven Taylor
$2,017 70 Jodie Dunfield
$2,017 71 Bobby Jones
$2,017 72 Hassan Issa
$2,017 73 Douglas Berry
$2,017 -
72 Players Returning in the Money for Day 2
Event 8: $1000 Two-Day $1k ($875 + $125) Date: Day 2: Jan 14, 2 PM Blinds: 40 Minutes Entries: 72/485 Prizes (Winner): $424,375 ($84,962) Day 2 of the $1k is now set with 72 players returning in the money. Day 2 action kicks off at 2 PM in the Chrome room on Tuesday and they’ll play down to the ring before they end for the day. The blinds will stay at 40 minutes for the rest of the event.
Pavlo Vertiiko is the big stack going into Day 2 with 762k. Jui Hsu, Jerry Li, Jeremy Doll, and Taran Parmar round out the top 5 stacks. This game should be my main focus on Tuesday until the ring is awarded.
Day 2 Chips by Name
T-S Player Kyle Chang 38 – 8 Alex Liu 315,000 42 – 7 Allan Alejandro 204,000 34 – 1 Behnam Esfahanizadeh 59,000 35 – 1 Bobby Jones 48,000 33 – 2 Chad Winnick 37,000 39 – 6 Chris Charlton 195,000 32 – 6 Chris Wallmuth 114,000 35 – 3 Colten Yamagishi 61,000 39 – 5 Dan Bong 82,000 33 – 5 Darnell Simpson 67,000 33 – 8 Dave Burnand 84,000 39 – 1 Dennis Ashmore 170,000 35 – 9 Deven Lane 140,000 40 – 8 Devon Morgan 449,000 40 – 7 Don Fujita 61,000 40 – 2 Duff Charette 249,000 32 – 3 Dylan Boyer 125,000 39 – 9 Erin Pulchinski 109,000 34 – 8 Eun Ji Park 53,000 34 – 4 Faisal Al Qutab 38,000 33 – 7 Garrett Birch 203,000 32 – 8 Garrett Gilmuray 212,000 40 – 1 Hassan Issa 53,000 38 – 4 Haven Taylor 75,000 35 – 7 Ian Modder 125,000 32 – 1 Ian Monahoyios 260,000 34 – 3 Jae Whan Lee 216,000 34 – 9 Jay Dragland 234,000 35 – 2 Jeremy Doll 570,000 42 – 9 Jeremy Roberts 59,000 33 – 3 Jerry Li 630,000 35 – 6 Jimmy Lee 375,000 33 – 1 Jodie Dunfield 221,000 32 – 7 Joel Kogan 97,000 32 – 9 Jui Hsu 661,000 38 – 5 Kelly Becker 196,000 32 – 2 Kyle CHang 84,000 40 – 4 Kyle Ho 264,000 33 – 9 Kyle Levicki 168,000 38 – 3 Lambden Brett 70,000 38 – 9 Malcolm Bolger 182,000 32 – 5 Marc Lavergne 241,000 34 – 5 Marc-Andre Yelle 219,000 40 – 9 Mario Di Narelo 137,000 33 – 6 Mathew O’Brien 230,000 38 – 7 Matthew Ouellette 161,000 35 – 8 Mehmet Ali Siginc 464,000 33 – 4 Mel Podaima 139,000 39 – 4 Michael Malm 227,000 39 – 3 Michael St. Pierre-Porter 251,000 35 – 5 Mike Schmidt 35,000 42 – 3 Morgan McLellan 327,000 38 – 2 Nicholas Lee 111,000 39 – 8 Pascal Gregoire 210,000 41 – 5 Pavlo Vertiiko 762,000 40 – 3 Ronald Berdusoo 57,000 41 – 6 Serge Noel 346,000 34 – 2 Shannon Lazorko 119,000 41 – 1 Shawn Sperber 349,000 42 – 5 Stephen Dauphinais 159,000 39 – 2 Steve Barber 107,000 41 – 4 Steven Wiens 271,000 42 – 4 Sunny Lubana 124,000 40 – 5 Taran Parmar 545,000 34 – 6 Thomas Taylor 213,000 41 – 7 Ty Duong 154,000 38 – 1 Weijie Zhang 191,000 42 – 8 Youssef Hmama 422,000 41 – 3 Zacharie DeSautels 247,000 32 – 4 Zachary Verpaalen 321,000 41 – 9 Zhi Lin Lin 116,000 42 – 2 Zhigang Yang 191,000 Day 2 Chips by Seat
T-S Player Chips 32 – 1 Ian Monahoyios 260,000 32 – 2 Kyle Chang 84,000 32 – 3 Dylan Boyer 125,000 32 – 4 Zachary Verpaalen 321,000 32 – 5 Marc Lavergne 241,000 32 – 6 Chris Wallmuth 114,000 32 – 7 Joel Kogan 97,000 32 – 8 Garrett Gilmuray 212,000 32 – 9 Jui Hsu 661,000 33 – 1 Jodie Dunfield 221,000 33 – 2 Chad Winnick 37,000 33 – 3 Jerry Li 630,000 33 – 4 Mel Podaima 139,000 33 – 5 Darnell Simpson 67,000 33 – 6 Mathew O’Brien 230,000 33 – 7 Garrett Birch 203,000 33 – 8 Dave Burnand 84,000 33 – 9 Kyle Levicki 168,000 34 – 1 Behnam Esfahanizadeh 59,000 34 – 2 Shannon Lazorko 119,000 34 – 3 Jae Whan Lee 216,000 34 – 4 Faisal Al Qutab 38,000 34 – 5 Marc-Andre Yelle 219,000 34 – 6 Thomas Taylor 213,000 34 – 8 Eun Ji Park 53,000 34 – 9 Jay Dragland 234,000 35 – 1 Bobby Jones 48,000 35 – 2 Jeremy Doll 570,000 35 – 3 Colten Yamagishi 61,000 35 – 5 Mike Schmidt 35,000 35 – 6 Jimmy Lee 375,000 35 – 7 Ian Modder 125,000 35 – 8 Mehmet Ali Siginc 464,000 35 – 9 Deven Lane 140,000 38 – 1 Weijie Zhang 191,000 38 – 2 Nicholas Lee 111,000 38 – 3 Lambden Brett 70,000 38 – 4 Haven Taylor 75,000 38 – 5 Kelly Becker 196,000 38 – 7 Matthew Ouellette 161,000 38 – 8 Alex Liu 315,000 38 – 9 Malcolm Bolger 182,000 39 – 1 Dennis Ashmore 170,000 39 – 2 Steve Barber 107,000 39 – 3 Michael St. Pierre-Porter 251,000 39 – 4 Michael Malm 227,000 39 – 5 Dan Bong 82,000 39 – 6 Chris Charlton 195,000 39 – 8 Pascal Gregoire 210,000 39 – 9 Erin Pulchinski 109,000 40 – 1 Hassan Issa 53,000 40 – 2 Duff Charette 249,000 40 – 3 Ronald Berdusoo 57,000 40 – 4 Kyle Ho 264,000 40 – 5 Taran Parmar 545,000 40 – 7 Don Fujita 61,000 40 – 8 Devon Morgan 449,000 40 – 9 Mario Di Narelo 137,000 41 – 1 Shawn Sperber 349,000 41 – 3 Zacharie DeSautels 247,000 41 – 4 Steven Wiens 271,000 41 – 5 Pavlo Vertiiko 762,000 41 – 6 Serge Noel 346,000 41 – 7 Ty Duong 154,000 41 – 9 Zhi Lin Lin 116,000 42 – 2 Zhigang Yang 191,000 42 – 3 Morgan McLellan 327,000 42 – 4 Sunny Lubana 124,000 42 – 5 Stephen Dauphinais 159,000 42 – 7 Allan Alejandro 204,000 42 – 8 Youssef Hmama 422,000 42 – 9 Jeremy Roberts 59,000 Event 8

Place | Player | Prize |
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1 | $84,962 | |
2 | $56,641 | |
3 | $38,684 | |
4 | $26,970 | |
5 | $19,202 | |
6 | $13,968 | |
7 | $10,386 | |
8 | $7,898 | |
9 | $6,145 | |
10 | $4,895 | |
11 | $4,895 | |
12 | $3,994 | |
13 | $3,994 | |
14 | $3,340 | |
15 | $3,340 | |
16 | $3,340 | |
17 | $3,340 | |
18 | $2,865 | |
19 | $2,865 | |
20 | $2,865 | |
21 | $2,865 | |
22 | $2,865 | |
23 | $2,865 | |
24 | $2,865 | |
25 | $2,865 | |
26 | $2,865 | |
27 | $2,522 | |
28 | $2,522 | |
29 | $2,522 | |
30 | $2,522 | |
31 | $2,522 | |
32 | $2,522 | |
33 | $2,522 | |
34 | $2,522 | |
35 | $2,522 | |
36 | $2,279 | |
37 | $2,279 | |
38 | $2,279 | |
39 | $2,279 | |
40 | $2,279 | |
41 | $2,279 | |
42 | $2,279 | |
43 | $2,279 | |
44 | $2,279 | |
45 | $2,117 | |
46 | $2,117 | |
47 | $2,117 | |
48 | $2,117 | |
49 | $2,117 | |
50 | $2,117 | |
51 | $2,117 | |
52 | $2,117 | |
53 | $2,117 | |
54 | $2,017 | |
55 | $2,017 | |
56 | $2,017 | |
57 | $2,017 | |
58 | $2,017 | |
59 | $2,017 | |
60 | $2,017 | |
61 | $2,017 | |
62 | $2,017 | |
63 | $2,017 | |
64 | $2,017 | |
65 | $2,017 | |
66 | $2,017 | |
67 | $2,017 | |
68 | $2,017 | |
69 | $2,017 | |
70 | $2,017 | |
71 | $2,017 | |
72 | $2,017 | |
73 | $2,017 |




