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Check out live updates and reporting from the 2025 WSOP Circuit Calgary by Lyle Bateman. Chose an event of your choice down below:
Canadian Poker in 2025 Starts in Calgary
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The 2025 poker season in Canada kicks off with WSOP Circuit Calgary starting on Jan 8. There are 13 days of Circuit action planned for Cowtown and among the new additions this time around is a HORSE game for the first time in modern Alberta.
Follow the action here on the live reporting links with updates from all games on the schedule throughout the series. See below for a look at all the structures for the ring events and the live satellites.
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Steven Labelle Wins First Ring in Big 30 Stack
Steven Labelle, in his fighting pose after taking down the final event of WSOP-C Cal Jan 2025 Steven Labelle recognized when he got heads up that he was against a more skilled player in Michael Malm, and said as much out loud on several occasions during the final table. He also said he was dead tired more than once, and his strategy to deal with both those problems was to shove nearly every hand.
He mostly adopted a shove-or-fold strategy for the heads-up phase, as excellent strategy for anyone who feels outmatched heads up as it removes the possibility for the more skilled player to steal pots on late streets. The strategy kept Malm on his heels, mostly having to fold to the shoves and giving up his calls or raises.
That let Labelle chip back up, and despite Malm doubling into the lead a few times, Labelle was always able to chip back up through his aggression. On the final hand, Malm called off the shove with a hand that had Labelle dominated but the poker Gods are fickle, and Labelle found his kicker for a three-outer win. He had a slightly bigger stack at the time and the ring was his.
That’s a wrap from Deerfoot Inn & Casino for the January 2025 WSOP-C Calgary — I’ll tidy up some final posts and admin work on Tuesday, but that’s another successful Circuit stop for Calgary in the books.
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Michael Malm Out in Second Place
Level: 33 (250000/500000/500000 Entries: 1/400 Prizes: $132,000 Michael Malm It was a tough heads-up battle for Michael Malm tonight. He was going for his second ring in this series but ran into the unconventional play of Steven Labelle. Labelle said multiple times during heads up that he was very tired, and his strategy was to shove most hands.
Malm had the patience of a saint, waiting for the right spot against the aggression of Labelle. He doubled into the lead a couple of times over the night, but folding to the shoves in between chipped his opponent back up again.
In the final hand he was set to double into a huge lead with most of the chips in the middle. Labelle shoved with ace-ten and Malm went to domination nation with ace-queen. Unfortunately for Malm, Labelle spiked a ten and held for the win as he had Malm slightly outstacked at the time.
Malm won the $1k earlier in the series, and he’s also been heads up in this event before as well. Last time it was Lap Chi Duong he had to hand the ring over to, but it seems pretty likely he’ll be in the hunt for more rings here in Calgary when the WSOP-C returns in October.
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Labelle Doubles to Stay Alive
Level: 31 (200000/300000/300000) Entries: 2/400 Prizes: $132,000 Steven Labelle is up to about 4 million after he shoved 1.77 million with jacks and Michael Malm called off with queen-six. The jacks held and Labelle doubled, but Malm is still leading by about 2:1.
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Malm Back on Top
Level: 31 (200000/300000/300000) Entries: 2/400 Prizes: $132,000 Steven Labelle shoved and Mike Malm called for a race between his ace-queen suited and pocket deuces. He flopped an ace and held to drop Labelle to about 1.5 million.
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Even Stacks
Level: 31 (200000/300000/300000) Entries: 2/400 Prizes: $132,000 Steven Labelle shoved and Michael Malm called. It was ace-three for Labelle against king-six suited for Malm and the ace held for the double. That puts them roughly even now.
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Malm Doubles to Lead
Level: 31 (200000/300000/300000) Entries: 2/400 Prizes: $132,000 Steve Labelle shoved and Mike Malm called with the dominating hand. Malm had ace-king against king-nine of diamonds and the ace-king held for a double.
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Labelle Chips Up Early
Level: 30 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 2/400 Prizes: $132,000 It was limped to the flop of 5♠6♣2♦ and Michael Malm led for 250k. Steven Labelle called to the [invalid notations] river, but called when Labelle bet 425k. Labelle showed 10♠3♠ for the backdoor flush win.
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Morgan McLellan Out in 3rd Place for $12,048
Level: 30 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 2/400 Prizes: $132,000 Morgan McLellan It’s heads up now between Michael Malm and Steven Labelle with Labelle on about a 2 million chip lead to start heads up. Morgan McLellan was 3rd place tonight/
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Chris Alcindor Out in 4th Place for $8,494
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 3/400 Prizes: $132,000 Chris Alcindor Chris Alcindor was looking for his second ring this series after taking down the HORSE last week. Unfortunately he fell short with 4th place tonight in a blind-on-blind hand against Morgam McLellan. McLellan had him dominated with the best king.
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Griffin Ristevski Out in 5th Place for $6,120
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 4/400 Prizes: $132,000 Griffin Ristevski Michael Malm and Griffin Ristevski got it in with Malm on ace-three against king-ten of diamonds for Ristevski. Malm held to send Ristevski out in 5th.
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Charlie Schwalm Out in 6th Place for $4,508
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 5/400 Prizes: $132,000 Charlie Schwalm There are five left now after Charlie Schwalm took sixth place. I missed the action while writing the last hand.
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Hai Oan Out in 7th Place for $3,396
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 6/400 Prizes: $132,000 Hai Oan They are down to 6 now after Hai Oan shoved under the gun and Morgan McLellan reshoved a it more to isolate from the button. He was ahead with A♠J♠ against K♠7♦. Oan flopped a 7, but McLellan rivered a jack for the win.
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Down to 7 Left
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 7/400 Prizes: $132,000 Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin Darcy Beaucage Morgan McLellan There are seven left now as three players busted while I was getting the photos uploaded.
Place Player Prize 8 Ben Field
$2,619 9 Darcey Beaucage
$2,068 10 Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin
$1,673 -
Final Table Faces
Steven Labelle Morgan McLellan Michael Malm Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin Hai Oan Griffin Ristevski Darcy Beaucage Chris Alcindor Charlie Schwalm Ben Field -
Final Table Time
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 10/400 Prizes: $132,000 They are down to the final table now after Tyler Thomas bubbled the final ten. Thomas won this event last January when it was a $250 buy-in but he won’t be doing the year-on-year repeat this year.
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Final Table Bubble
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 11/400 Prizes: $132,000 Mike Malm is back in the lead with nearly 4 million now after his kings held against ace-king for a big double. They are now down to 11 on the final table bubble.
Recent Payouts (Full list on the Payouts tab)
Place Prize Player 12 Chris Duffy
$1,387 13 Weston Pring
$1,387 14 Dean May
$1,180 15 Jeff Saunders
$1,180 16 Cody Cloutier
$1,180 17 Jacob Watrich
$1,180 18 Dongwoo Ko
$1,031 -
Two Players in the Running for Two Rings Tonight
Level: 25 (30000/60000/60000) Entries: 12/400 Prizes: $132,000 There are two players still left in the final event who have a shot at winning their second ring of the series. Chris Alcindor took down the first HORSE tournament on Alberta soil earlier in the series, while Mike Malm took down the $1k event. Malm is also chip-leading at the moment with around 3 million after sending Weston Pring to the rail in 13th place.
Pring opened, then called off when Malm raised enough to force him in. It was a race between ace-six for Pring and fours for Malm and the fours held.
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3 From the FT
Level: 24 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 13/400 Prizes: $132,000 They are now three off the final table with 13 players left. The average stack is creeping up towards 20 big blinds for the first time in a couple of hours at least, but that will change again when the blinds go up in 3 minutes.
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15 Left
Level: 24 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 15/400 Prizes: $132,000 The players are back from the break and Level 24 is just underway. I had a look around at the break and it looked like Morgan McLellan was the chip leader with about 1.3 million, but Mike Malm had about 1.1 million and just sent Jeff Saunders to the rail. Saunders was also playing about a million, so Malm is now the clear leader with almost 2.3 million.
Marc-Andre Kudjick-Paquin is also fairly big playing about 1.2 million while HORSE winner Chris Alcindor folded a big hand before the break to McLellan, keeping about 900k back to play with.
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Final Two Tables
Level: 23 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 18/400 Prizes: $132,000 They are down to the final two tables with 18 players left. I don’t have a full list of players remaining yet, but among the players still alive are Mike Malm and Weston Pring, who were 1 and 2 in the API race last year, as well as Tyler Thomas who has won this event in a previous series when it was a $250 buy-in.
Recent Payouts
Place Player Prize 19 Donald Arsenault
$1,031 20 Ricky Chow
$1,031 21 Wai Chan
$1,031 22 Scott Gallant
$1,031 23 Ngoc Nguyen
$1,031 24 Joel Kogan
$1,031 25 Ksenia Shuali
$1,031 26 Jonnathan Brownlee
$1,031 27 Edwin Seagris
$925 28 Barry Bay
$925 29 Jean-Pierre Hetu
$925 30 Ryan Parker
$925 31 Joshua Frazer
$925 32 Raymond Trieu
$925 33 Kendrick Arason
$925 -
33 Left
Level: 21 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 33/400 Prizes: $132,000 They are dropping quickly in this event with the average stack still pretty short at 15 big blinds. Below is a look at the recent payouts (fill a full list under the Payouts tab). One player to note is Youssef Hmama, who booked his seventh cash of the series tonight. He started the series off with 2nd place in Event #2, and while he hasn’t been that deep again, he found six more money finishes.
Recent Payouts
Place Player Prize 34 Youssef Hmama
$925 35 Kalil Geha
$925 36 Deepak Chaunkaria
$853 37 Baowei Sun
$853 38 Riley Tobin
$853 39 Frank Szelepcsenyi
$853 40 Ghislaine Johnson
$853 41 Jason Kelson
$853 42 Julius Roque
$853 43 Curtis Singleton
$853 44 Steven Parkin
$853 45 Hee Lee
$812 -
Final Five Tables
Level: 19 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 45/400 Prizes: $132,000 The action is moving fast since the bubble with the field down to 45 now. The average stack is a bit less than 20 big blinds, so that is driving the action a bit at this point.
First 15 Payouts in Final Event
Place Player Prize 46 George Lagos
$812 47 Linda The
$812 48 Roneen Shaffer
$812 49 Vikram Gill
$812 50 Adrian Chan
$812 51 Erin Pulchinski
$812 52 Chris Fabris
$812 53 Marc-Andre Yelle
$812 54 Ian Monahoyios
$812 55 Giuseppe “The Don” Galluzzo
$812 56 Nicholas Ruiz
$812 57 Maksim Kniter
$812 58 Derek Dufour
$812 59 Gerry Edwards
$812 60 Trent Hopper
$812 -
In the Money
Level: 18 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 54/400 Prizes: $132,000 They are in the money in the final game of this 2025 WSOP-C Calgary event. The field is down to 54 and I’ll get the prizes updated shortly in the Payouts tab.
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400 Entries for the Big 30 Stack
Level: 14 (3000/5000/5000) Entries: 115/400 Prizes: $132,000 The field for the final event is set at 400 entries. That means 60 players will share in $132k in prizes later tonight with the winner set to take home more than $26k.
Big 30 Stack Prize Summary
Place Prize 1 $26,183 2 $17,455 3 $12,048 4 $8,494 5 $6,120 6 $4,508 7 $3,396 8 $2,619 9 $2,068 10-11 $1,673 12-13 $1,387 14-17 $1,180 18-26 $1,081 27-35 $925 36-44 $853 45-60 $812 -
Manish “Bubs” Ralh Wins Main Event for $312,624
Manish “Bubs” Ralh, Winner of WSOP-C Calgary Jan 2025 Main Event Manish “Bubs” Ralh shows off the WSOP-C bling after winning the Main Manish “Bubs” Ralh is relatively new to the game, but he’s already won his first Circuit ring. He had a stellar run heads up against Angelo Jopek in the Main Event Day 3, coming from behind once they got two ways.
His first recorded cash was in 2020, but the rest of his results are from 2024 and he said at the table during heads-up that he’s only recently gotten serious about the game. This is his second win but biggest score by a long shot — his lifetime earnings before tonight were just over $80k USD with a best cash of $44k. Tonight’s win comes close to quadrupling his lifetime earnings before tonight.
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Angelo Jopek Out in 2nd Place for $208,416
Level: 34 (250000/500000/500000) Entries: 1/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Angelo Jopek Angelo Jopek was on the run of his life for most of the final table, but when he got heads up against Manish “Bubs” Ralh, it all came crashing down for him. Ralh dominated the heads up portion, taking most of the pots and building a big lead by dinner. Jopek found some life and clawed some chips back on a hand with significant flop action.
The pot was more than 10 million by the end of the flop action, with paired nines and a three on the board. Jopek had been winning pots all day with a nine in his hand, prompting the 4-bet/call action on the flop. It slowed down to checking on the turn and Jopek fired 3.2 million on the river when it ran out ten-four, forcing a fold from Ralh.
That was about all he could get though as Ralh’s relentless aggression, and apparently going card dead, kept Jopek on his heels. It ended on a hand when Ralh raised it to 1.25 million and then snap-called when Jopek shoved. Ralh was miles in front chip-wise, and also with the hand as Jopek was left looking for a king with king-seven against pocket jacks. No help came on the flop and Jopek had to settle for second, though it’s worth noting the players evened the prizes a bit between them.
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Jopek Gets Some Back
Level: 34 (250000/500000/500000) Entries: 2/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 It was limped preflop to see 9♣3♥9♠. “That’s my card, man,” Angelo Jopek said with a smile as he’s won a few pots tonight with at least one 9 in his hand.
Jopek checked and Manish Ralh bet 500k. Jopek came over the top to 1.6 million before Ralh smiled and said “What, my nine is no good? Kicker problems?”
Ralh pumped it up to 3.5 million and Jopek called. The both checked on the 10♠ turn, and Jopek fired 3.2 million on the 4♦ river. Ralh conceded the hand and Jopek got a few chips back.
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Ralh With Lead at Dinner
Level: 34 (250000/500000/500000) Entries: 2/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The Main Event players are on their dinner break now with Manish Ralh holding a big advantage. The last 30 minutes or so has been a lot of non-showdown hands with Ralh taking the majority and slowly chipping up to more than 40 million while it seems like Angelo Jopek’s rungood has stalled and he is down to 14 million.
They are just about to return to the action shortly.
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Jopek Folds Straight
Level: 33 (200000/400000/400000) Entries: 2/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Angelo Jopek raised to 800k from the button and Manish Ralh called. Ralh check-called for 1 million on the K♦J♥10♦ flop. He check-called again on the A♠ turn for 1.5 million, but when Rahl fired 5 million on the 2♦ river Jopek tanked for a few seconds before folding Q♠4♠ face up. Ralh showed it was a solid fold as he tabled 9♦5♦ for the rivered straight.
The players have now taken a quick break with the stacks virtually even though Jopek still has about 2 million more.
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“You Play That Shit?”
Level: 33 (200000/400000/400000) Entries: 2/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 In a pretty funny hand, both players limped it preflop, then checked through a board of 6♦Q♥7♥8♦7♦. On the river Angelo Jopek said “No balls, you win. Five high.”
Manish Ralh hesitated for the few seconds, showing his own five high with five-three. Jopek tables five-three as well. “You play that shit?” he joked as they chopped the pot.
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Heads Up Players
Heads up WSOP-C Calgary Jan 2025 Main Event Mansih Ralh Heads Up in the Main Angelo Jopek Heads Up in the Main It’s a battle heads up now. Angelo Jopek is still leading but Manish Ralh has some chips to work with as well.
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Ashkan Razavi Out in 3rd Place for $147,340
Level: 32 (150000/300000/300000) Entries: 2/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Ashkan Razavi Ashkan Razavi was 4th in this event in Aug 2024, and he just went one better today with 3rd place. After big stack Angelo Jopek folded the button, Mansih Ralh raised the small blind to 850k then tank-called when Razavi shoved the big for 7.725 million.
It was a gross spot for Razavi with nines into pocket tens for Ralh. The board ran dry for both hands leaving the tens in front and Razavi on the rail in 3rd.
Jopek is still sitting behind a mountain of chips, but Ralk is now on close to 20 million after collecting Razavi’s stack.
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Ralh Chips Up
Level: 32 (150000/300000/300000) Entries: 3/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Manish Ralh opened the button to 700k and Angelo Jopek defended his big blind. Jopek check-called for 400k on the 8♠K♣10♠ flop and again for 1.5 million on the 6♦ turn. They both checked the 2♥ river and Rlah announced “King” showing K♣9♦ while Jopek fired his cards to the muck after spending about 20 seconds staring at his hand and the board.
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Jopek Loses One, Wins One
Level: 32 (150000/300000/300000) Entries: 3/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 In the first hand, Angelo Jopek raised to 600k from the button and Ashkan Razavi called from the big blind. Razavi check-called for 400k on the 8♥3♠A♠ flop and they both checked the Q♥ turn. When the 3♣ river paired the board, both players checked again and Jopek mucked when Razavi showed A♦6♦.
“I wanted to bluff, but that river was terrible,” Jopek said.
The next hand Manish Ralh raised to 700k from the button and Jopek called from the big blind. They both checked the 5♠Q♣7♣ flop, and Ralh folded after Jopek check-raised the 2♥ turn from 800k to 2.1 million.
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Jopek Has 70% of the Chips
Level: 31 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 3/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Angelo Jopek is on the run of his life today. He now has 70% of the chips in play at the final table with more than 38 million. Neither of his competitors has 10 million, so he;s got a stranglehold on the final three.
They’ll be back for Level 32 (150k/300k/300k) in a bit more than 5 minutes.
T-S PlayerChips 32 – 1 Ashkan Razavi 9,025,000 32 – 3 Angelo Jopek 38,450,000 32 – 7 Manish Ralh 7,475,000 -
Jopek Has it Again
Level: 31 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 3/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Angelo Jopek looks unstoppable now. He just rivered a flush against Manish Ralh to take a big pot worth more than 7 million.
Ralh raised the button to 600k preflop and Jopek called to see a flop of Q♣K♣J♥. He check-raised from 600k to 1.65 million and Ralh called.
They both checked the Q♥ turn, but Jopek slid out 3.65 million on the 7♣ river. Ralh called but mucked when Jopek showed J♣9♣ for the rivered flush.
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Pascal Gregoire Out in 4th Place for $105,691
Level: 31 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 3/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Pascal Gregoire Angelo Jopek is on the run of his life now, playing well and hitting cards when he has to. He just sent Pascal Gregoire to the rail by cracking his pocket kings. Jopek called off with ten-nine and turned trip nines for a huge win. I’ll grab exact counts in about 10 minutes when they go on break, but Jopek now has at least half the chips in play.
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Scott Johnson Out in 5th Place for $76,945
Level: 31 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 4/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Scott Johnson They are four ways now after Scott Johnson followed Greg Taylor to the rail today. I missed the action as he busted while I was writing the previous hand, but he took the final 5-digit payout tonight with the remaining players now all guaranteed at least $105,691.
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Greg Taylor Out in 6th Place for $56,864
Level: 31 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 5/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Greg Taylor They are down to five now after Greg Taylor shoved under the gun and Ashkan Razavi called from the big blind for a not-so-classic race between ace-jack for Razavi and king-queen for Taylor. The board ran dry for both hands and Razavi’s ace held for the win.
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Johnson Holds
Level: 31 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 6/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Manish Ralh raised to 550k from the middle before Scott Johnson shoved 1.2 million from the hijack. Ralh called for a race between his J♠10♠ and pocket sevens for Johnson. Ralh flopped some hope with backdoor spades, but when the 9♠4♣2♣A♣4♠ runout was done, the sevens were still good.
Johnson doubled to a bit more than 3 million while Ralh is still playing a bit more than 10 million after the hand. There is a break coming in about 20 minutes and I’ll do another full round of counts while they are away from the table, but it’s safe to say Angelo Jopek is still the big stack as he has a stack of plaques in front of him plus several stacks of blues.
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Jopek On a Run
Level: 31 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 6/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Angelo Jopek has been on a run for the past 39 minutes or so, stacking chips like crazy. He is now playing close to half the chips in play with just shy of 24 million in front of him and only about 55 million in play.
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Johnson Finds a Double
Level: 31 (150000/250000/250000) Entries: 6/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Greg Taylor raised to 1 million under the gun, the snapped it off when Scott Johnson shoved the small blind for 1.5 million. Taylor was dominated with ace-jack into ace-king and the board missed both hands to leave the ace-king in front. Taylor was left with about 5.1 million while Johnson is up to about 4 million.
They are still pretty deep on the final table with more than 200 big blinds in play right now.
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Rus King Out in 7th Place for $42,669
Level: 30 (100000/200000/200000) Entries: 6/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Rus King The are down to seven left after Angelo Jopek raised the small blind to 400k, then snapped it off when Rus King shoved the big with less. King was dominated with king-seven into ace-king, but the 2♥5♥5♠10♠A♣ didn’t bring any joy for King and Jopek chipped up a bit more as King hit the rail for 7th place.
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Robin Bergren Out in 8th Place for $32,516
Level: 30 (100000/200000/200000) Entries: 7/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Robin Bregren They are down to 7 remaining in the Main Event after Robin Bergren shoved ace-eight and was called off by queen-nine. He had about 5 bigs and looked in decent shape to double in what amounted to roughly a race. The nine came on the river to send Bergren to the cage for 8th place tonight.
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Nikhil Madadi Out in 9th Place for $25,172
Level: 30 (100000/200000/200000) Entries: 8/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Nikhil Madadi Nikhil Madadi shoved and Rus King called with more from his left. Madadi needed a king or diamonds with K♦Q♦ against pocket queens for King. The board paired jacks but there was no king or diamonds coming for Madadi and he was out in 9th place tonight.
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Michael Lim Out in 10th Place for $19,800
Level: 30 (100000/200000/200000) Entries: 9/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Michael Lim Michael Lim was the first player to exit the final table today in 10th place. I missed the action while I was processing the pictures, but he’s had a bit of a rollercoaster today with his stack up and down.
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Final Table Faces
Scott Johnson Rus King Robin Bregren Pascal Gregoire Nikhil Madadi Michael Lim Manish Ralh Greg Taylor Ashkan Razavi Angelo Jopek -
Weston Pring Out in 11th Place for $19,800
Level: 30 (100000/200000/200000) Entries: 10/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Weston Pring laddered up a couple of spots today but ended his day just before the final table. I missed the action while getting chip counts done from the break. Stay tuned for some final table faces coming soon.
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Johnny Dalphond Out in 12th Place for $15,829
Level: 30 (100000/200000/200000) Entries: 11/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Johnny Dalphond hit the rail just before the break for 12th place, though I missed the action while I was writing the previous bust. I’ve just had a look at all the remaining stacks with Ash Razavi still out in front and Manish Ralh also playing more than 10 million.
T-S Player Chips 32 – 1 Ashkan Razavi 13,550,000 32 – 4 Weston Pring 1,250,000 32 – 6 Robin Bergren 2,250,000 32 – 7 Pascal Gregoire 2,250,000 32 – 8 Nikhil Madadi 1,825,000 32 – 9 Angelo Jopek 3,050,000 38 – 1 Scott Johnson 5,375,000 38 – 2 Greg Taylor 4,425,000 38 – 3 Michael Won Taek Lim 3,825,000 38 – 4 Rus King 6,025,000 38 – 5 Manish Ralh 10,225,000 -
Dennis Ashmore Out in 13th Place for $15,829
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 12/1371 Prizes: $2,077,65 Dennis Ashmore was one of the shorties coming into today, but he managed to ladder up one pay jump at least. Pascal Gregoire shoved the hijack for 1.575 million and Dennis Ashmore called with less from the small blind. He was in trouble with pocket fours into pocket sixes and the board missed both hands to send Ashmore out in 13th place.
The remaining 12 players will be on their first break of the day in a couple of minutes, and I’ll grab chip counts while they are away from the table.
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Lim Turns it to Stay Alive
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 13/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Michael Lim was down to just over 1.5 million when he got it in with suited connectors and Johnny Dalphond called it off with ace-queen off. Lim flopped huge with a flush and straight draws on 5♠3♠2♥ then turned the spades on the K♠10♣ runout with his seven-six of spades.
Lim is up to about 3.5 million now while Dalphond dropped to 2.66 million.
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Michael “Berny” Bernstein Out in 14th Place for $12,865
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 13/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 13 and everyone is now guaranteed almost $16k with the pay jump at 13th place. Michael Bernstein came into today with the short stack and he did his best to grab a double, putting his final 500k into the middle with pocket sevens from the button. Scott Johnson called it off from the big blind with king-nine, then spike two pair on the 6♣K♥9♦3♦J♥ board. Berny couldn’t find his seven and hit the rail in 14th place today.
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Pring Doubles through Razavi in Crazy Runout
Level: 29 (100000/150000/150000) Entries: 14/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Ashkan Razavi was on pocket tens against the pocket aces for Weston Pring when the money went in preflop. Razavi smashed the flop with a ten to jump into the lead as Pring let out a loud sigh. That changed toa cheer when the ace hit the turn to re-pop Pring to the top. He held for a huge double to stay alive in a hand that initially looked like it would bad-beat him to the rail for the min-cash today.
Estimated Chips
T-S Player Chips 32 – 1 Ashkan Razavi 10,500,000 32 – 2 Dennis Ashmore 1,200,000 32 – 4 Weston Pring 3,200,000 32 – 6 Robin Bergren 3,500,000 32 – 7 Pascal Gregoire 2,300,000 32 – 8 Nikhil Madadi 1,400,000 32 – 9 Angelo Jopek 3,300,000 38 – 1 Scott Johnson 5,300,000 38 – 2 Greg Taylor 4,000,000 38 – 3 Michael Won Taek Lim 4,500,000 38 – 4 Rus King 5,000,000 38 – 5 Manish Ralh 5,000,000 38 – 6 Michael Bernstein 1,000,000 38 – 7 John Dalphond 3,300,000 -
Ralh Has It & Flops It; Pring Gets it Through
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 14/1731 Prizes: $2,077,035 Rus King opened the hijack to 300k then called when Manish Ralh raised it up from the cutoff to 1.3 million. The flop was 7♠9♠Q♦ and King checked to Ralh, then folded when Ralh put out 1.35m. Ralh showed pocket queens for the flopped set.
Meanwhile, on the other table, Ashkan Razavi opened the hijack to 240k, then folded when Weston Pring shoved for a bit less than 2 million.
The opening level of Day 3 is nearly complete with action moving to 100k/150k/150k in about a minute.
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Ace Doesn’t Scare Lim
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 14/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Scott Johnson opened the cutoff to 275k before Michael Lim reraised the small blind to 600k. Big blind Rus King said “Easy fold” as he mucked his hand, but Johnson called to see a flop of 4♥A♦10♦.
Lim fired 500k and Johnson laid down his hand. Lim rolled over pocket kings as he collected the pot, showing that the ace on the flop didn’t scare him.
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Last Chance Big 30 Stack
Event 17: $400 Big 30 Stack ($330 + $70) Date: Jan 20, 4 PM Blinds: 20 Minutes Starting Stack: 30k Late Entry: 11 Levels (~8:10) Day 1 Ends: One-Day Event The final ring event of the series kicks off at 4 PM on Monday. The Big 30 Stack bookends the series as the opening and closing events.
Players buy into the final event for 30k in chips and they play 20-minute levels until one player has all the chips. This game likely goes to 2 or 3 AM depending on numbers, so look for a late one today. Players can enter late until the start of Level 12, which means the last chance to buy into WSOP-C Calgary Jan 2025 will be at about 8:10 PM.
I won’t be watching this series very closely until after both the Main Event and the High Roller have awarded their rings, but expect some late-night endgame action here to finish off my series.
Event 17 -
Final Day of Play at WSOP-C Calgary Jan 2025
Level: 28 (60000/120000/120000) Entries: 14/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 It’s the final day of play here at WSOP-C Calgary for Jan 2025 and that means there’s some money on the table. One of the players seated around the final two tables of the Main Event will pocket more than $311k later today, but all 14 of them have already secured a decent score of at least $12,865.
Ashkan Razavi comes into Day 3 with the lead and he’s been here before — He was 4th last August in this event so he’ll be looking to go a few spots deeper than that today. Scott Johnson and Rus King are his closest competitors with stacks in the 6 million range but every player in the game today has the chips and skills to take it all the way.
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Three More Hands in Day 1
Level: 15 (3000/6000/6000) Entries: 52/294 Prizes: $577,710 Day 1 is nearly complete and it looks like they’ll come back for Day 2 7 players off the money. It’s possible they’ll still lose a player or two in the final three hands, but seems very unlikely that they’ll lose enough to hit the money before tomorrow.
Hand-for-hand bubble play should start very early in Day 2. Stay tuned for the seat assignments for Day 2, which should be out in about an hour.
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Ashkan Razavi Leads Day 3 Stacks
Event 12: $1,700 Main Event ($1,515 + $185) Date: Day 1a: Jan 16, 11 AM
Day 1b: Jan 17, 11 AM
Day 1c: Jan 18, 11 AM
Day 2: Jan 19, Noon
Day 3: Jan 20, NoonBlinds: 60 Minutes Entries: 14/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 There are 14 players left in the Main Event for Day 3 and Ashkan Razavi, who took 4th in the August Main, is the chip leader to start Day 2. He has 8.575 million to start the day with Scott Johnson his closest competitor with 6.68 million. Rus King also has more than 6 million while Michael Lim and Robin Bergeron are playing stacks in the 5 million range.
Day 3 action starts at noon on Monday in the Chrome room and they’ll play it down to a winner on Monday. Blinds will remain at 60 minutes throughout the day and everyone returning is guaranteed at least $12,865. That will be the first payout before it jumps to $15,829 at 13th place. See the Payouts tab for a look at all the prizes awarded on Day 2.
Day 3 Players, Seats, and Stacks
32 – 1 Ashkan Razavi 8,575,000 32 – 2 Dennis Ashmore 1,580,000 32 – 4 Weston Pring 1,945,000 32 – 6 Robin Bergren 5,365,000 32 – 7 Pascal Gregoire 3,010,000 32 – 8 Nikhil Madadi 2,050,000 32 – 9 Angelo Jopek 2,480,000 — — — 38 – 1 Scott Johnson 6,680,000 38 – 2 Greg Taylor 3,995,000 38 – 3 Michael Won Taek Lim 5,640,000 38 – 4 Rus King 6,160,000 38 – 5 Manish Ralh 2,680,000 38 – 6 Michael Bernstein 725,000 38 – 7 John Dalphond 3,855,000 Day 3 Prizes
Place Prize 1 $312,624 2 $208,416 3 $147,340 4 $105,691 5 $76,945 6 $56,864 7 $42,669 8 $32,516 9 $25,172 10 $19,800 11 $19,800 12 $15,829 13 $15,829 14 $12,865 Event 16 -
13 Off the Money in Final Level
Level: 15 (3000/6000/6000) Entries: 58/294 Prizes: $577,710 The High Roller players are into the final level of the night now with 58 players left alive. That puts them 13 off the money with about 25 minutes left in Day 1. At this point, it seems like even money whether they make the money or bag before payday.
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$123k for the Winner
Level: 14 (3000/5000/5000) Entries: 64/294 Prizes: $577,710 The prizes are in with the field now confirmed at 294 entries for prizes of more than $575k. The winner tomorrow will get more than $123k for their troubles with the top nine players all pocketing 5-figure scores at least. See below for the prize summary with the full list loaded under the Payouts tab shortly.
High Roller Prize Summary
Place Prize 1 $123,847 2 $82,565 3 $58,740 4 $42,406 5 $31,073 6 $23,116 7 $17,461 8 $13,397 9 $10,443 10-11 $8,272 12-13 $6,660 14-17 $5,452 18-26 $4,539 27-45 $4,323 -
294 Entries (Unofficial)
Level: 13 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 97/294 Prizes: $577,710 Entries are closed for the High Roller with 294 on the board. I’m still waiting on the payouts to confirm that number, but if it holds it looks like 45 players will share in $577,710 in prizes tomorrow.
There are three more levels of play tonight with the bags expected to come out at the end of Level 15 around 2 AM. It’s likely they’ll still be outside the money when the bags come out but there are still 2 hours of poker left to play so it’s at least possible they could hit the money spots.
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Ashkan Razavi Leads Final 14
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 14/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Day 2 is over with 14 players still in action for the final day of play on Monday. Vancouver’s Ashkan Razavi bagged the big stack today with more than 8.5 million. That’s almost 2 million ahead of the second-place player Scott Johnson who has 6.68 million. Rus King also has more than 6 million for 3rd.
It’s worth noting that Razavi made Day 3 of this event in August of 2024, finishing his run in 4th place. In that one, he started Day 3 looking way up at the eventual winner Alex Liu who came into Day 3 with about half the chips in play five-handed. This year, everyone else will be looking up at Razavi.
Final 14 Stacks & Seats for the Main
Table-Seat Player Chips 32 – 1 Ashkan Razavi 8,575,000 38 – 1 Scott Johnson 6,680,000 38 – 4 Rus King 6,160,000 38 – 3 Michael Won Taek Lim 5,640,000 32 – 6 Robin Bergren 5,365,000 38 – 2 Greg Taylor 3,995,000 38 – 7 John Dalphond 3,855,000 32 – 7 Pascal Gregoire 3,010,000 38 – 5 Manish Ralh 2,680,000 32 – 9 Angelo Jopek 2,480,000 32 – 8 Nikhil Madadi 2,050,000 32 – 4 Weston Pring 1,945,000 32 – 2 Dennis Ashmore 1,580,000 38 – 6 Michael Bernstein 725,000 -
Down to 14
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 14/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The dream od a repeat for Alex Liu is now dead as he hit the rail in 15th place tonight. He was the winner of the most recent Main Event last August, and made a pretty deep run in this one as the last winner still in action. That means that WSOP-C Calgary still has not had a repeat winner and this year will be a new player once again.
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Down to 15 with 20 Minutes to Go
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 15/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 15 with just over 20 minutes left in Day 2 after Steve Zhang hit the rail for 16th place tonight.
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16 Left with 35 Minutes to Play
Level: 27 (50000/100000/100000) Entries: 16/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 16 left with about 35 minutes to play until the Day 2 bags come out. Terry Goode and Romualdo Cusano were the most recent busts to bring them to 16.
Place Player Prize 17 Romualdo Cusano
$12,865 18 Terry Goode
$10,633 -
Final Level of the Night
Level: 27 (50000/10000/10000) Entries: 17/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Level 27 has just kicked off and this will be the final level of the night. It looks like Rus King is the leader now with about 6.85 million in front of him while Greg Taylor, two to his right, is on about 5.2 million. Ashkan Razavi (who was 4th in the August 2024 Main) and Pascal Gregoire are both playing stacks in the 4 million range.
There are now about 50 minutes left until they bag up for the night.
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Gregoire Doubles through Lim
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 17/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Michael Lim raised early to 165k and it folded around to Pascal Gregoire in the big blind. He put out the call to see J♣7♣K♠ on the flop.
Gregoire checked to Lim who bet 230k. Gregoire tanked for a bit before announcing all in with the smaller stack.
“Fuck,” Lim muttered under his breath, and the dealer double-checked to make sure he didn’t say “call.” He eventually did say “Call” and he was drawing to straight clubs with eight-seven against top pair for Gregoire with king-nine of hearts.
The 4♠2♦ runout were bricks and Gregoire’s king held up for the win and the double. Lim was the leader with over 6 million, but he shipped about 2.5 million of that over to Gregoire, putting Lim down to about 4 million with Gregoire up to a bit more than that.
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Pring Puts Liu to Test
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 18/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Weston Pring opened to 200k from the middle and August champ Alex Liu raised to 500k from the hijack. It folded back to Pring and he shoved more than Liu had behind. Liu hit the tank, checking the clock and the other table to assess the situation before folding after a couple of minutes in the tank.
“If it dropped to 17, I’d just call,” Liu said after the hand, as there is a $2,200 pay jump for 17th place tonight. Liu is relatively short at the moment, but he’s still in the running to be the first player to win two Main Event rings in Calgary.
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Final Two Tables
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 18/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to the final two tables with 18 players left now.
T-S Player Prize 19 Sam Raz
$10,633 20 Zeyu James Du
$10,633 -
More than $500k for the High Rollers
Level: 10 (1000/2000/2000) Entries: 126/260 Prizes: $510,900 The High Roller is now into the final three levels of entry with the prizes over $510k and 260 entries. The registration desk is open for a bit more than 2 hours now with the expected shutdown at around midnight tonight.
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Final 20 Stacks
Level: 26 (40000/80000/80000) Entries: 20/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 T-S Player Chips 19 – 2 Steve Zhang 950,000 19 – 3 Scott Johnson 2,175,000 19 – 4 Terry Goode 795,000 19 – 5 Weston Pring 3,015,000 19 – 6 Sam Raz 530,000 19 – 8 Michael Won Taek Lim 4,975,000 19 – 9 Michael Bernstein 2,945,000 26 – 2 Robin Bergren 4,025,000 26 – 3 Ashkan Razavi 4,325,000 26 – 5 Dennis Ashmore 1,560,000 26 – 6 Romualdo Cusano 1,405,000 26 – 7 Manish Rach 2,150,000 26 – 8 Angelo Jopek 3,340,000 26 – 9 Alex Liu 1,875,000 27 – 1 Pascal Gregoire 2,265,000 27 – 3 John Dalphond 4,325,000 27 – 4 Rus King 4,650,000 27 – 6 Greg Taylor 5,650,000 27 – 8 Zeyu James Du 580,000 27 – 9 Nikhil Madadi 3,340,000 -
20 Players Left
Level: 25 (30000/60000/60000) Entries: 20/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 20 players left with 10 minutes to play in Level 25. Recent payouts are below and stay tuned for a look at the remaining players in the field and how they are seated.
Place Player Prize 21 Sarath Samarasekera
$10,633 22 Gavin Li
$10,633 23 Stephen Dauphinais
$10,633 24 Sean O’Reilly
$10,633 25 Jeremy Lyons
$10,633 -
Moved to Chrome with 25 Left
Level: 25 (30000/60000/60000) Entries: 25/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 25 left and play has moved into the Chrome room now. They cleared out of Sundance when they got down to the final two tables, but two more players have busted as I was getting set up in Chrome. See below for the recent payouts and check the Payouts tab for the full list from today.
Place Player Prizes 26 Aleksei Ponomarev
$10,633 27 Pasquale Dicosmo
$8,940 28 Giuilo Piredda Rosati
$8,940 29 Jae Lee
$8,940 -
Nearing 3 Tables
Level: 24 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 29/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are now two eliminations off the final three tables after Dunstin Centanni ran into it to end his day in 30th place. He was deep in the tank on the turn of a board reading 8♣7♦J♣2♥ until the clock was finally called on him after around 6 minutes. He made the call before time ran down, but his two pair with seven-eight was behind a set of eights for his opponent.
The river bricked out and Centanni was left short. The remainder went in a couple of hands later and he hit the rail for 30th place. Jeff “Ironman” Charlebois also hit the rail recently for 32nd place, but as previously mentioned, no matter how deep he went here today, he’s running pretty good in life right now.
Recent Payouts for the Main
Place Player Prize 30 Dustin Centanni
$8,940 31 Tien Phung
$8,940 32 Jeff (Ironman) Charlebois
$8,940 -
Down to 32
Level: 24 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 32/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 32 remaining now in the Main — see below for the recent prizes and check the Payouts tab for the full payouts for Day 2. Once the field is down to the final three tables I’ll do my best to get full counts for the remaining players.
Place Player Prize 33 Alemu Makonen
$8,940 34 Hee “Sunny” Lee
$8,940 35 Thomas Taylor
$8,940 -
More than $430k in Prizes
Level: 7 (500/10008/1000) Entries: 162/219 Prizes: $430,335 The High Roller field is nearly at 220 entries with players just returning for Level 7. That means there are six more levels with registration open and nine more levels in Day 1. The prizes are now at $430k and they need about 35 more entries to hit $500k.
Just as a reminder I won’t be watching this one until later on Day 2 as the Main Event will be my focus until they award the big ring.
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Four More Levels in Day 2
Level: 24 (25000/50000/50000) Entries: 35/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The players are now back from their dinner break with 35 players left on four tables. Rus King still looks to be leading with more than 4 million in front of him while Ashkan Razavi looks to be playing about 3 million. Angelo Jopek has about 2 million in front of him, and the August champ Alex Liu is playing just over a million. Meanwhile, Thomas Taylor has just hit the rail for 35th place.
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Charlebois is Running Great
Level: 23 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 35/1371 Prizes: $2,099,065 Jeff “Ironman” Charlebois at the final table of the 6-Max event in Jan 2022 at WSOP-C Calgary One player who is still around at the final four tables of play today is Jeff Charlebois. He’ll be recognizable to most players here at Deerfoot Inn & Casino thanks to his ubiquitous Ironman mask, which debuted during the COVID restrictions back in Jan 2022.
He’s already having a pretty decent run in the Main Event this year with almost $9k already locked in, but the truth is, no matter how deep he goes in this one, he’s running well in life at the moment as he’s just beaten cancer.
Charlebois has spent the last 6 months in chemotherapy for a grapefruit-sized tumour, but on the first Friday of the series he received good news from his doctor — the tumour is now nothing but scar tissue. He spent the day calling friends and family to relay the good news, then decided to get into his car and drive all night for some poker here at Deerfoot.
Obviously, beating cancer has given Charlebois a new lease on life, and while his first few days at the series were a bit rough with exhaustion, he’s found his second wind with three cashes so far. But more than that, he said the 6 months he spent in treatment were a real eye-opener for him as he was going through chemo with 41 other people, seeing them for six hours every three weeks during his treatments.
While Charlebois had a good chance at recovering as a result of the chemo sessions, many of the people he was sitting with weren’t so lucky, going through the grueling process with far less hope of recovery. He said he realized just how blessed he was after watching his fellow patients struggle.
Cancer is a bitch, and it’s not always possible to write a “feel-good” story about it. Charlebois is a great example that it can be beaten, at least in some cases, but he also wants to remind people that life is short and it can take sharp turns when we least expect it. Glad to see you back in action Jeff — the local community hopes to be seeing you at the tables for a long time coming.
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Four Tables Left on Dinner
Level: 23 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 35/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The Main Event players are on their dinner break now with the end of Level 23 and they are down to the final four tables. In theory, there are still chips at five tables as they got down to 35 with two busts on the final hand before dinner, so they’ll break a table as soon as they get back in about 30 minutes.
Recent Payouts from the Main
Place Player Prize 36 Rauno Tahvonen
$7,647 37 Shane Brotherwood
$7,647 38 Malachy Hagan
$7,647 -
O’Reilly Doubles
Level: 23 (20000/40000/40000) Entries: 38/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 Sean O’Reilly might be living the life of Reilly right now as he just survived with a double after cracking aces. He shoved the hijack over a raise from the middle, but his [invalid notations] was in trouble against pocket aces. The flop didn’t look good for O’Reilly, but one diamond gave him a glimmer of hope, and when the turn and river also sparkled he found a double to stay alive today.
Recent Payouts from Main Event
Place Player Prize 39 Nicholas Lee
$7,647 40 Gordon Johnson
$7,647 41 Kevin Huang
$7,647 42 Zhi Yang
$7,647 43 Aaron Quon
$7,647 44 Michael Letal
$7,647 -
Bergren Leads Final 44
Level: 22 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 44/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The field is down to the final five tables tonight with about 20 minutes to play in Level 22. Robin Bergren just sent a player to the rail to bump his stack to about 4 million and what looks like the lead right now. Greg Taylor and Rus King are both playing around 3.8 million while recent PPT Main Event winner Stephen Dauphinais has about 2 million in front of him. Giulio Rosati is playing just shy of that, while the August Champion Alex Liu is on about 1.3 million and sitting next to one of his compatriots from that final table, Ashkan Razavi who has about 2 million right now.
Recent Payouts
Place Player Prize 45 Joshua Frazer
$6,658 46 Saeed Ganji
$6,658 47 Gennady Klimenko
$6,658 48 Andrew Fahey
$6,658 49 Cuong Nguyen
$6,658 50 Colten Yamagishi
$6,658 51 Shawn Leis
$6,658 -
More than $300k
Level: 3 (200/400/400) Entries: 153/153 Prizes: $300,645 The High Roller prize pool is over $300k before the first break of Day 1. The first break is a few minutes away and when they return for Level 4 there will be 9 levels of entry with 12 levels before the bags come out.
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51 Remain at Second Break
Level: 22 (15000/30000/30000) Entries: 51/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The Main Event players are on their second break of the day now with 51 players left in the action. They will be back at the felt in about 5 minutes for Level 22 with 6 levels to play in Day 2.
Recent Payouts for the Main
Place Player Prize 52 Kris Steinbach
$6,658 53 Wai Chan
$6,658 54 Chun Kwan
$5,902 55 Ruoxiao Shi
$5,902 56 David Swirski
$5,902 57 Alen Bakovic
$5,902 -
Down to 57 Left
Level: 21 (15000/25000/25000) Entries: 57/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 57 players left in the Main Event with 20 minutes to play in Level 21. There is another break following this level with six levels of play remaining in the day after the break.
I’ve been spending some time today catching up on the series results in my combined spreadsheets, and the numbers for this year are looking decent. It looks like the total will be a bit down from the 2024 numbers this year as the combined prizes for the series are sitting at just over $5 million from nearly 9,000 entries with two events to go. With the High Roller and Last Chance yet to play, it’s likely that total will end up over 9,000 entries with somewhere around $5.6 million in total prizes.
Recent Payouts from the Main
Place Player Prize 58 Joshua Hopkins
$5,902 59 Sunny Lubana
$5,902 60 Connor Daynard
$5,902 61 Jay Glass
$5,902 62 Christopher Charlton
$5,902 63 Matthew Busch
$5,329 64 Teo Sanchez
$5,329 65 Donald Arsenault
$5,329 66 Garrett Gilmurray
$5,329 -
Nearly $270k in Prizes
Level: 3 (200/400/400) Entries: 137/137 Prizes: $269,205 Level 3 is just underway in the High Roller and the field is at 137 entries for prizes of just shy of $270k already. I expect to see another 100+ entries in this at least before the registration desk closes around midnight tonight with likely prizes of more than $500k. Last year in January this event got 346 entries for prizes of almost $680k.
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66 Remain in Day 2 of Main
Level: 20 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 66/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 66 players left in the Main Event with about 5 minutes to play in Level 20. The action has slowed a little bit as the field dwindles, but there’s still a pretty steady stream of players heading to the Payout desk to get their slips signed.
Recent Payouts from Main Event
Place Player Prize 67 Robert Kliss
$5,329 68 Haochen Zhou
$5,329 69 Ke’Andre Willis
$5,329 70 Rocco Smeriglio
$5,329 71 Ron Campbell
$5,329 72 Steven Filipovic
$4,901 73 Scott Dyck
$4,901 74 Nader Aram Panahi
$4,901 75 Clinton Cockburn
$4,901 76 Roman Gallivan
$4,901 77 Trent Hopper
$4,901 78 Gaetano Buda
$4,901 79 Talal Shoush
$4,901 80 Dylan Payne
$4,901 81 David Quang
$4,595 -
Down to 81
Level: 20 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 81/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The field is still dropping pretty fast here on Day 2 with just 81 players left in the game and 40 minutes to play in Level 20.
Recent Payouts (Full Prizes Under Payouts Tab)
Place Player Prize 82 Yiming Nie
$4,595 83 Bemjamin Cooper
$4,595 84 Ryan Parungao
$4,595 85 Jacob Watrich
$4,595 86 Mehmet Seginc
$4,595 87 Jimmy Lee
$4,595 88 Glenn Baker
$4,595 89 Yiquan Zhong
$4,595 90 Giuseppe Galluzzo
$4,392 91 Robert Lothian
$4,392 -
91 Remain at First Break
Level: 20 (10000/20000/20000) Entries: 91/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The field is down to 91 players at the first break of Day 2 and the action at the Payouts desk is slowing somewhat for the first time today. Players will be back at the felt in about 10 minutes for Level 20, but in the meantime, below is a look at recent payouts.
Place Player Prize 92 Frank Almond
$4,392 93 Chad Lummerding
$4,392 94 Hassan Issa
$4,392 95 Yong Lu
$4,392 96 Faisal Al Qutub
$4,392 97 Roger Grosset
$4,392 98 Mike Leah
$4,392 99 Cody Mckay
$4,281 100 Gordon Wong
$4,281 101 Renmei Liu
$4,281 102 Kevin Kelso
$4,281 103 Richard Rex
$4,281 -
103 Remain
Level: 19 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 103/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 They are down to 103 players left in the game with 20 minutes to play in Level 19. Recent prizes are below with the full list under the Payouts tab.
Place Player Prize 104 Karamjeet Shergill
$4,281 105 Cole Neufeld
$4,281 106 Louis Collette
$4,281 107 Jackson Oniske
$4,281 108 Rafael Stern
$4,078 109 Jorge-Alberto Artiga-Pacheco
$4,078 110 Christopher Bush
$4,078 111 Rami Hammoud
$4,078 -
111 Remain
Level: 19 (10000/15000/15000) Entries: 111/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The field is nearing double-digits now with more than 45 players hitting the rail since the start of the day. The second level of Day 2 has about 40 minutes remaining with the first break of the day scheduled following this level.
Recent Day 2 Payouts
Place Player Prize 112 Pavlo Vertiiko
$4,078 113 Kevin Javier
$4,078 114 Ryan Cairns
$4,078 115 David Swaim
$4,078 116 Dongwoo Ko
$4,078 117 Scott Stuve
$4,078 118 Richard Mullen
$4,078 119 Marc-Andre Yelle
$4,078 120 Steven Labelle
$4,078 121 Zilong Zhao
$4,078 122 Hoang Quach
$4,078 123 Jeremie Bilodeau
$4,078 124 Francis Fortin
$4,078 125 Ning Ma
$4,078 126 Steven Desjarlais
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The High Roller Kicks Off Sunday @ 3PM
Event 16: $2,200 High Roller ($1,965 + $235) Date: Jan 19, 3 PM Blinds: 40 Minutes Starting Stack: 40k Late Entry: 12 Levels (~Midnight) Day 1 Ends: 15 Levels (~2 AM) The second-to-last ring event is the High Roller which kicks off on Sunday at 3 PM. Entries are open for 12 levels on Day 1 putting the end of entries at around midnight with Day 1 set to end around 2 AM at the end of Level 15.
Players get 40k in chips to start the day and levels are 40 minutes long throughout the event. All remaining players will bag after Level 15 and return on Monday at 1 PM to finish it out.
I likely won’t be watching this one very closely until the endgame on Monday as I’ll have my head pointed at the Main Event for most of the time the High Roller is running.
Event 16 -
More than 30 Players Gone in First Level
Level: 18 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 126/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The action is moving quickly here on Day 2 with the field down to 126 already and still 10 minutes to play in the opening level. As usual, recent payouts are below with the complete prizes so far (and full prize numbers to first) are under the Payouts tab.
Place Player Prize 127 Bryan Lin
$4,078 128 Trevor Morrisette
$4,078 129 Alexander Wong
$4,078 130 Keith Mcintosh
$4,078 131 Christopher Bowers
$4,078 132 Kyle Chang
$4,078 133 Marco Carreira
$4,078 134 Zofimo Xavier
$4,078 135 Andy Truong
$4,078 136 Kip Howard
$4,078 137 Dylan Boyer
$4,078 138 Jayvee Lumahan
$4,078 139 Harpreet Padda
$4,078 140 Wayne Hoffert
$4,078 141 Colin Burton
$4,078 142 Daniel Lefebvre
$4,078 -
Dropping Fast
Level: 18 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 142/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The payouts have been coming fast so far today with the field already down to 142 and barely 20 minutes gone in the opening level of play. Below is a look at the early prizes today and the full prize numbers, along with results so far, are listed on the Payouts tab.
Place Player Prize 143 Luting Li
$4,078 144 Don Lee
$4,078 145 Gregory Liow
$4,078 146 Michael Hooper
$4,078 147 Jacob Hobday
$4,078 148 Aidan Klingbeil
$4,078 149 Michael Retuya
$4,078 150 Raymond Cawaling
$4,078 151 Steven Mager
$4,078 152 Julius Roque
$4,078 153 Tianshu Liu
$4,078 154 John Lawford
$4,078 155 Harman Jassal
$4,078 156 Kayvan Payman
$4,078 157 Joe Basaraba
$4,078 158 Bryan Robitaille-Fequet
$4,078 159 Brayden Brown
$4,078 -
$312,624 for the Winner
Level: 18 (6000/12000/12000) Entries: 147/1371 Prizes: $2,077,065 The prizes are in and the winner at the end of the game is going to pocket $312k for their troubles this series. The numbers are dropping quickly with 12 players hitting the rail since the start of play about 15 minutes ago. I’m still working on getting the Payouts page updated with all the numbers, but look for a fairly long list of early payouts coming shortly.
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“Sometimes You Gotta Go Backdoor,” says Anne Ngo as She Wins Event #15: $400 Ladies NLH
After nearly 12 hours of play, Anne Ngo has bested the 146 player field to take home the $400 Ladies NLH ring. She was rewarded with $12,237 for her effort as a group of her close friends cheered her to victory. It was an action packed day as the single day event saw a share of star studded players among the entries. Pamela Belote was one of these names as she recently set a women’s record for most WSOP Circuit rings. Just a week prior she won her 8th ring at the Choctaw Ladies Event to add to her collection. Unfortunately, she fell just outside the money https://www.poker.pro/live-updates/belotes-impressive-resume-wont-get-a-new-addition/.
Haven Taylor, The 2024 Alberta Poker Index’s Female Player of the Year, saw the day start in her favor. Early on she flopped the nut straight. This wasn’t enough as she turned the nut flush to ensure her opponent was drawing dead. She continued to battle through the competition consistently ranking as the larger stacks as play entered it’s later stages. Her run continued to the final table where she fell in 9th place https://www.poker.pro/live-updates/haven-taylor-eliminated-in-9th-place-1036/.
A staple of this event seems to be Jenelle Exner. She has won the past two events and soared to third this year. Anne Ngo was able to knock her out as she a back and forth all in took place between her and Exner. Equities seemed to flop every street however the board paired up for Ngo to take the pot and send the defending champion to the rail https://www.poker.pro/live-updates/jenelle-exner-eliminated-in-3rd-place-5211/.
Aggressive play mounted momentum into Anne’s favor as she gained a 4:1 chip lead against Ivanna Soya. Soya battled back doubling with pocket aces. Soon Soya found aces again and was all in for her tournament life. A heavy favourite with top set, Ngo was drawing to clubs to finish the tournament and secure her first ever WSOP Circuit Ring. Luck shined on Ngo as the river came the 2♣ to give her the tournament. This ranks as Ngo’s second best cash ever and her first title. Ngo told PokerPro that “Luck is still such a huge factor” in a victory like this. “Soya got lucky getting Aces twice in such a short time period,” and luck combined with aggression allowed Ngo to take down the event.
Thanks for following the coverage of the WSOP Calgary Circuit and stay tuned for updates on the Main Event and High Roller Event.
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Ivanna Soya Eliminated in 2nd Place ($7,843)
Level: 20 (30,000/60,000/60,000) Entries: 1/146 Prizes: $48,180 Ivanna Soya raised to 300,000 and Anne Ngo made the call.
The flop came A♣K♦3♦ and Soya continued for 100,000. Anne made the call.
After the turn peeled the 10♣, Soya checked to Anne. She moved all in and was quickly called by Soya both players revealed their hands.
Ivanna Soya: A♠A♦
Anne Ngo: 6♣7♣
The board completed with the 2♣ to give Ngo the victory. A winners recap with full payouts will follow shortly.
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Soya Doubles With Rockets
Level: 20 (30,000/60,000/60,000) Entries: 2/146 Prizes: $48,180 Anne M called from the small blind and Ivanna Soya checked her big blind.
The flop came 4♠4♥J♠ and Anne led out for 60,000. Soya raised to 340,000 and Anne moved all in. Soya made the call and both players revealed their holdings.
Ivanna Soya: A♣A♦
Anne M: J♦5♦
The board completed with the 2♦K♦ for Soya to find the double to 950,000.
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Anne Flops the Best of it
Level: 20 (30,000/60,000/60,000) Entries: 2/146 Prizes: $48,180 Anne M called from the button and Ivanna Soya checked her option.
The flop came J♣7♠9♥ and Soya checked to Anne. She fired for 60,000.
Soya raised to 250,000 and Anne took little time to move all in.
Soya went into the tank but eventually found the fold. Soya has 570,000 of the 2,920,000 total chips in play.
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Jenelle Exner Eliminated in 3rd Place ($5,211)
Level: 20 (30,000/60,000/60,000) Entries: 2/146 Prizes: $48,180 Jenelle Exner moved all in for 415,000. Ivanna Soya made the call and both players revealed their hands.
Jenelle Exner: 8♦8♣
Ivanna Soya: 7♠7♦
The flop came 5♦7♣6♦ to give Soya the lead with a sweat. The turn improved Exner to a straight as it peeled the 4♣. However, the river swung the odds for good as it completed the board with the 6♥.
Exner has had a pretty absurd run in the Ladies games here at WSOP-C in Calgary. She’s won the last two of these events on the trot and damn near made it three-for-three tonight until she ran into the bad beat. With two wins and a 3rd place in this event, it’s a safe bet we’ll see her back for the October series.