As 2024 winds down, the Alberta poker scene is heating up with the final series of the Pure Poker Tour (PPT) season. The trophy events kick off at Pure Casino Yellowhead on November 21 with the Seniors First event, followed by 11 days of action-packed poker, and highlighted by the $1,100 Main Event starting on November 29.
Check out live updates and reporting from the 2024 Pure Poker Tour Series #6 by Lyle Bateman. Chose an event of your choice down below:
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Down to 16
Level: 15 (2500/5000/5000) Entries: 16/93 Prizes: $26,505 They are just 6 off the money now with 16 players left in the game and Level 15 just underway. Dana Shore and Mike X were the two busts since they got to the final two tables.
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75 Entries Confirmed; $4,847 to the Winner
Level: 11 (1500/2500/2500) Entries: 22/75 Prizes: $14,250 Entries are closed for the Turbo game with 75 confirmed entries. That [uts the prizes at $14,250 with 8 players getting a share of that later tonight and the winner set to pocket more than $4,800.
Turbo Payouts
1 $4,847 2 $3,277 3 $2,137 4 $1,425 5 $940 6 $684 7 $527 8 $413 -
Final Two Tables
Level: 14 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 18/93 Prizes: $26,505 They are down to the final two tables now with 18 players left in the action. John Donnelly still looks to be sitting behind the biggest stack, but I don’t have eyes on all the chip counts, but the players still in action are below.
Table 1 1 John Donnelly 2 Rob Lothian 3 Igor Gorelik 4 Brian Wells 5 Tony Nguyen 6 Richard Housch 7 Dana Shore 8 Ed Zurawell 9 Naleen Narayan Table 2 1 Brett Worton 2 Russ Sluchinski 3 Dave Pietryzko 4 Mike X 5 Faramarz Ghorbani 6 Paul Meyer 7 Fran Fisher 8 Malcolm Bolger 9 Gorge Broumas -
Narayan Takes it on River
Level: 13 (1500/3000/3000) Entries: 21/93 Prizes: $26,505 I picked up the action on a four-way flop of 2♦7♣2♥. It checked around and again on the 4♦ turn. On the [invalid notations]As[/pcn river, it checked to Kim Graham under the gun, and he bet 5,500. Naleen Narayan came over the top to 11k which pushed out blinds John Donnelly and Brian Wells before Graham also got out of the way.
In the next hand, Donnelly raised the button to 7k but then mucked it when Graham shoved for about 60k from the big blind.
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The Survivor is Running
Level: 1 (100/100/100) Entries: 9/9 Prizes: $2,565 The third game of the day is now underway with 9 players to start the Survivor. Level 1 has just kicked off and there are about 2.25 hours to enter this game with entries set to close at 9:15 at the start of Level 7.
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Final Level of Entry
Level: 9 (600/1200/1200) Entries: 32/73 Prizes: $13,870 There are just over 10 minutes to play in Level 9 and this is the final level of poker before registration closes. Entries will still be open through the break following this level, but will be closed when they sit down for Level 10.
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Final Three Tables at Break
Level: 13 (1500/3000/3000) Entries: 27/93 Prizes: $26,505 The Seniors have just gone for another break with the end of Level 12. They are down to the final three tables with 27 left at the break.
The big stack right now looks like it belongs to Main Event winner John Donnelly. He has about 230k in front of him right now, but Rob Lothian is also stacking chips with about 210k while Ed Zurawell looks to playing about 170k.
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Four Tables Left
Level: 11 (1000/2000/2000) Entries: 35/93 Prizes: $26,505 Level 11 is about halfway finished now with the field down to 35 players left on the final four tables. Among the players still active in the game are Cliff Green, Kim Graham, Brian Wells, Ali Razzaq, John Donnelly, Nancy Kelln, Kirk Nilson, Brett Worton, Francis Fan, Mike X, Malcolm Bolger, George Broumas, Joe Herlein, Leonard Siebenga, Tony Nguyen, Rob Lothian, and Russ Sluchinski.
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Almost $7.5k in Prizes
Level: 5 (300/500/500) Entries: 29/39 Prizes: $7,410 They are about 10 minutes away from the first break of the day with the field now at 39 entries and 29 players still in the action. That puts the prizes at just over $7.4k with entries open for another 2 hours.
Among the players in the action today are Weston Pring, Josie Brown, Benny Sarnelli, Michael St. Pierre-Porter, Saroar Parvez, Gerald Chung, and DJ Sharma.
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93 Entries Confirmed; 10 Places Paid
Level: 10 (1000/1500/1500) Entries: 44/93 Prizes: $26,505 The numbers are confirmed at 93 entries for prizes of $26,505. There will be 10 paid spots tonight with the winner set to pocket almost $8k.
Seniors Payouts
Place Prize 1 $7,691 2 $5,301 3 $3,445 4 $2,650 5 $2,040 6 $1,616 7 $1,272 8 $1,007 9 $821 10 $662 -
93 Entries After Dinner
Level: 9 (600/1200/1200) Entries: 49/93 Prizes: $26,505 Level 9 is now underway and entries for the opening event of the Tournament of Champions are now closed. The final (unofficial) number on the board is 93 for $26.5k in prizes. I’ll confirm that when the prizes are posted shortly, but if it holds it should mean 9 players are getting some money back later tonight.
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21 Entries in Level 2
Level: 2 (100/200/200) Entries: 20/21 Prizes: $3,990 Level 2 is halfway finished with 21 entries on the board now for prizes of almost $4k. There is just over an hour until the first break of the day and just under 3 hours left in the registration period.
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92 Entries to Start Dinner
Level: 8 (500/1000/1000) Entries: 48/92 Prizes: $26,220 The Seniors are on dinner now with 8 levels of play now in the books. Entries will be closed when they return from dinner for Level 9 in less than 40 minutes.
There are 92 entries on the board to start the dinner break, so it remains to be seen if they’ll hit 100 or not with dinner entries.
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Turbo is Off and Running
Level: 1 (100/100/100) Entries: 12/12 Prizes: $2,280 The second game of the Tournament of Champions is now off and running with Event #2 underway. They were a bit late getting started, but Level 1 is now in play with 12 players to start and prizes of $2,280. Entries are open for a bit more than three hours on this one and I expect the numbers to grow significantly.
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More than 90 Entries
Level: 8 (500/1000/1000) Entries: 49/91 Prizes: $25,935 There is nearly $26k in prizes for the Seniors with 91 entries on the board with 10 minutes to play in Level 8. Entries remain open throughout the dinner break following this level but will close when they sit down for Level 9 at about 5 PM.
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First Multi-Day Game of the Series Starts Friday
Event: Event #4: $670 NLH Day 1A ($600 + $70) Dates: Nov 22 – 24 Day 1a: Nov 22, 1 PM Day 1b: Nov 23, 1 PM Day 2 Nov 24, 1 PM Blinds: 40 Minutes Starting Stack: 25k4 Late Entry: 9 Levels (~8:00 PM) Day 1 Ends: 12.5% of the Field The multi-day games kick off on Friday at 1 PM with Day 1a of the $670. There are two chances to bag a stack for Sunday’s Day 2 with Day 1a running Fri, Nov 22, and Day 1b running on Sat, Nov 23.
Players can play both starting days regardless of their chip status. This means that players who bag a small stack on Day 1a can come back on 1b to try again if they like — in the event they back two stacks, the bigger stack will play while the smaller stack is paid out a min-cash and removed from play.
Players start the day with 25k in chips to play 40-minute levels throughout the game. Entries are open until the start of Level 10 which should be around 8 PM on each day. Day 1 play will continue until 12.5% of the field remains, at which point the bags will come out and the remaining players move on to Day 2. That means there is no hard stop point for Day 1 play — they’ll play as long as it takes to get down to 12.5% with Day 2 starting at the earliest endpoint for Day 1 play.
This game should be my main focus throughout the weekend.
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Two More Levels of Entry
Level: 7 (400/800/800) Entries: 55/82 Prizes: $23,370 Level 7 has just over 20 minutes to play with the field at 82 entries and 55 players still at the felt. They’ll take their dinner break following Level 8 and when they return for Level 9 at about 5:00 pm, entries for the first event will be closed.
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Both Grahams in the Mix
Level: 6 (300/600/600) Entries: 56/79 Prizes: $22,515 Level 6 has just begin with he field at 79 entries now for prizes of $22,515. I’ve just had another walk around the room and among the other players I spotted today were John Donnelly, Joe Herlein, Brian Wells, Gerald Chung, Cliff Green, Keith Graham (who is here with his twin brother Kim), Ali Razzaq, Kirk Nilson, Ed Zurawell, and Nancy Kelln, who was at the final table of the recent Seniors game in Calgary. Former winner of this event Mike X is also in the crowd today.
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More than $22k in Prizes
Level: 5 (300/500/500) Entries: 59/78 Prizes: $22,230 The field is closing in on 80 entries with more than $22k in prizes already in the prize pool. There is just under 2.5 hours left to enter the game today so that number should still grow with 100 entries easily within sight.
I’ve just arrived in the room at Pure Casino Yellowhead and a first look around the room has revealed Ron Lauzon, Malcolm Bolger, Francis Fan, Rob Lothian, Gord Pettit, Brett Worton, and Kim Graham, who won the last Seniors event here before going on to final table the Main Event.
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PPT Tournament of Champions is Underway!
Level: 1 (100/100/100) Entries: 23/23 Prizes: $6,555 It’s a good start for the opening event of the 2024 Tournament of Champions with 23 Seniors in their seats to start the game. I am not yet on the floor and likely won’t be for a couple of hours yet but I should be reporting live sometime after the first break,
There is more than $6,500 in the prize pool to start the day, so it looks like this could be a pretty big game with a late finish.
