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 40 Left
Level: 14 (2000/4000/4000) Entries: 40/179 (57/316) Prizes: $168,350 ($297,198) Level 14 has just begun and they are now 17 off the bags with 40 players at the felt. There is another break following Level 15, assuming they make it that far.
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14 Teams
Level: 11 (1000/2000/2000) Entries: 8/14 Prizes: $5,320 It was a pretty small team game tonight with 14 teams in the pool and 8 teams still in play. The prizes for the game are $5,320 with two teams expected to share that later tonight.
Team Payouts
Place Prize 1 $3,299 2 $2,021 -
Jatinder Brar Leading 1b at Break
Level: 13 (1500/3000/3000) Entries: 48/179 (65/316) Prizes: $168,350 ($297,198) There are 48 players left at the break following Level 12 with Jatinder Brar leading the way. He has 361k in front of him at the break, while Nathan Masih has about 270k which looks like the second stack in the room right now.
They are playing down to 23 tonight and based on the current pace of play, I’m expecting today’s flight to end around the same time as 1a, near the end of Level 15 or the start of 16.
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Final Event is the Last Chance NLH
Event: Event #16: $340 Last Chance NLH ($300 + $40) Date: Dec 1, 2 PM Blinds: 30 Minutes Starting Stack: 25k Late Entry: 8 Levels (~6:45 PM) Day 1 Ends: One-Day Event The final PPT for 2024 is nearly complete with the final event running Sunday at 2 PM. The Last Chance NLH is $340 to get in and players start with 25k in chips to play 30-minute levels until a winner is decided.
Entries are open until the start of Level 9 which puts the cutoff time for entries at about 6:45 PM Sunday. This is a one-day event that plays until someone has all the chips.
Day 2 of the Main Event will be running alongside this one so I won’t be paying too much attention to the Last Chance tomorrow, at least not until later in the evening. If the Main Event finishes up early, I’ll finish my night on the endgame in this one, but this may well finish before the Main, in which case I’ll likely only be updating numbers and trying to get a winners photo done.
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66 Left Halfway Through Level 11
Level: 11 (1000/2000/2000) Entries: 66/179 (83/316) Prizes: $168,350 ($297,198) Theya re down to 66 left in the final flight with 20 minutes to play in Level 11. There is a break following Level 12 and I’ll have a look around at the break to see who has a few chips in front of them.
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Final Numbers Confirmed
Level: 10 (1000/1500/1500) Entries: 78/179 (95/316) Prizes: $168,350 ($297,198) The final numbers are confirmed with 316 entries across both starting flights for $297,198 in combined prizes. That puts the top payout at $62,468 with the min-cash in 40th place worth $1,810.
Day 1b will play down to 23 players tonight before the bags come out and 40 players will be coming back on Sunday for Day 2 with everyone in the money. Full prizes will be under the Payouts tab shortly but the top nine payouts are below.
Final Table Prizes for the Main
Place Prize 1 $62,468 2 $43,020 3 $27,960 4 $21,510 5 $16,560 6 $13,120 7 $10,330 8 $8,170 9 $6,670 -
10 Teams in Action
Level: 5 (300/600/600) Entries: 8/10 Prizes: $3,800 The team game is ongoing in the Poker Room with 10 teams on the board and 8 in play right now for combined prizes of $3,800. There is about 1 hour and 45 minutes left to get into the team game tonight.
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179 Entries for 1b
Level: 10 (1000/1500/1500) Entries: 78/179 (95/316) Prizes: $168,350 ($297,198) Entries are now closed for the Main Event with 179 on the board for 1b and 316 in total. That puts the combined prizes just shy of $300k and, assuming the number holds, will mean 22 players advancing from today’s flight for a total of 40 returning players on Day 2.
I’ll confirm all those numbers shortly once the prizes are complete.
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More than 300 Entries
Level: 9 (600/1200/1200) Entries: 77/169 (94/306) Prizes: $158,945 ($287,793) The combined field is now closing in on 310 entries for prizes of $287,793. Level 9 is just finishing with dinner about to start so, while we should expect a few more entries during the dinner break, the final combined field will likely end up somewhere around 310 for prizes around $290k.
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Final Level of Entry for Main Event
Level: 9 (600/1200/1200) Entries: 84/160 (101/297) Prizes: $150,480 ($279,329) The combined field is now just three entries away from 300 as Level 9 kicks off. This is the final level of poker for entries, but the desk will stay open until the end of the dinner break to follow. That puts the end of entries about 85 minutes away.
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Nearing $275k in Prizes
Level: 8 (500/1000/1000) Entries: 84/153 (101/290) Prizes: $143,897 ($272,745) The 1b field is up to 153 entries now with just over 2 hours of entry left in the final flight. That puts the two day total at 290 entries for prizes of $272,745 and climbing. It’s a bit of an open question if they’ll make it to $300k or not as they need 30 more entries to hit that total, but a combined field of more than 300 seems like a lock at this point.
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Two-Card Tag Team on Saturday Night
Event: Event #15: $440 NLH Tag Team ($400 + $40) Date: Nov 30, 6 PM Blinds: 20k Starting Stack: 20 Minutes Late Entry: 9 Levels (~9:15 PM) Day 1 Ends: One-Day Event This series had two different Team events with the Mixed version running on the opening weekend and the straight two-card version running on the final Saturday of the series at 6 PM. Teams buy in for $440 for the team and will sit down with 20k in chips.
Levels will be 20 minutes long throughout the game and the teams will have 9 levels to buy in or rebuy. That should put the cutoff for entries at about 9:15 PM.
Teams consist of two players and players will swap out every level. Each team starts the game with 5 switch tickets which can be used to swap with your won teammate during a level or to force another team at the table to swap their players. Switch tickets can only be played in between hands — if the player to swap has cards in front of them, they can’t be swapped out until that hand ends.
As this is the side game running alongside Day 1b of the Main Event it’s likely I won’t have much time to watch this one in the early running. I may well make it over to the Team game after the Main Event bags, depending on how long this one runs, but I also don’t plan to stay at the casino past about 2 AM tonight as I need to be on the floor at noon for Day 2 of the Main, so I may not be able to cover the endgame of this one depending on how long everything lasts today. I’ll do my best to keep up to date on numbers, and get the final results posted by tomorrow at the latest.
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More than $255k in Prizes
Level: 6 (300/600/600) Entries: 90/135 (107/272) Prizes: $126,968 ($255,816) The combined prizes are now over $255k with 272 entries on the board across both starting days. A few additional players I’ve spotted in the field today include Tony Comely, Steve Chung, Jeffery Clarke, Joe Herlein, Leonard Siebenga, and Ian Alvarado.
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Closing in on $250k in Prizes
Level: 5 (300/500/500) Entries: 92/121 (109/258) Prizes: $113,801 ($242,649) The combined prizes are now over $240k and climbing with Level 5 about half complete. The 1b field is at 121 for a two-day total of 258 and combined prizes of $242,649.
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More than 100 Entries
Level: 4 (200/400/400) Entries: 87/107 (104/244) Prizes: $100,634 ($229,482) The 1b prizes are now over $100k with 107 entries in the pool so far today. That puts the combined prizes at almost $230k already with nearly 250 total entries with just under 5 hours left to enter today’s final flight.
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More Familiar Faces
Level: 3 (200/300/300) Entries: 81/93 Prizes: $216,315 A few more of the players I spotted on my last trip around the room were Cindy Grabia, Ed Zurawell, Jolnar Teliani, Rob Limpert, Shawn Taghavi, Francis Fan, Holly Berry, Mal Hagan, Mike Kim, Michael Khan, Ryan Comely, Matthew Ouelette, and Ross Wilson.
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More than 90 Entries
Level: 3 (200/300/300) Entries: 79/91 Prizes: $214,434 The field is approaching 100 entries, and it looks like they may hit that number before the first break of the day. The two-day prizes are currently just shy of $215k and climbing with my expectation that the total prizes will pass $300k later today.
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80 Entries to Start Level 3
Level: 3 (200/300/300) Entries: 74/80 Prizes: $204,089 The combined prizes are over $200k with Level 3 just underway today. There are 80 entries on the board to start Level 3 with 74 players still at the felt.. Among the players I’ve spotted so far today are Malcolm Bolger, Colten Yamagishi, Ron Lauzon, Johnny Dalphond, Jason Heang, Johnny Yu, Shane Brotherwood, Haven Taylor, Jerry Li, Stephen Dauphinais, and Micholas MIlkovitch.
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Vijayaratnam Will be Tough to Beat for 1b Players
Event: Event #14: $1,100 Main Event Day 1B ($990 + $110) Date: Nov 30, Noon Blinds: 40 Minutes Starting Stack: 30k Late Entry: 9 Levels (~7:15 PM) Day 1 Ends: 12.5% of the field Day 1a Entries: 17/137 Day 1a Prizes: $128,849 Day 1a was a pretty big one with 137 entries on the board and 17 players getting through to Day 2. That means the prizes are sitting at $128,849 going into the second and final opening flight for the Main Event.
Day 1b kicks off at noon on Saturday and as always, it promises to be bigger than 1a. I’m expecting a field of 200 or more for the final flight, but players will have a chore beating the Day 1a leading stack of Sen Vijayartnam who bagged up 931k at the end of Day 1a.
That was more than 500k more than Jeff Forester in second with 393k and Jimmy Lee in third with 380k and, even with more chips in play on 1b, it’s going to be a challenge to best that total.
As with Day 1a, players for 1b will buy in for 30k in chips to play 40-minute levels throughout the day with Day 2 moving to 60 minutes. They’ll have 9 levels to enter or rebuy with the cutoff coming around 7:15 PM. Day 1 play continues until the field is down to 12.5% of the start, however long that takes with all players in Day 2 guaranteed at least a min-cash.
Day 1a Stacks
Player Chips Sen Vijayaratnam 931,000 Jeff Forester 393,000 Jimmy Lee 380,000 John Huynh 273,000 Trevor Patrick 246,000 Ben Cooper 220,000 Geordi Lobe 215,000 Ali Khani 203,000 Jerry Tria 182,000 Alemu Makonen 176,000 Skyler York 169,000 Marc Lavergne 155,000 Kyle Bonazzo 140,000 Yaofei Feng 140,000 Bash Ramahi 128,000 Thomas Taylor 89,000 Chad Horseman 71,000 
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Vijayaratnam Leads 1a Counts by a Mile
Level: 15 (2500/5000/5000) Entries: 17/137 Prizes: $128,849 Day 1a ended on the final hand of Level 15. The clock was paused for hand-for-hand play for a couple of hands at the end of the level, and the final player busted just before the break was about to start.
Senthuran Vijayaratnam bagged a massive stack of almost 1 million chips, more than 500k more than second place Jeff Forester. Forester bagged 393k for second while Jimmy Lee was close behind him with 380k.
Day 1a Chips
Player Chips Sen Vijayaratnam 931,000 Jeff Forester 393,000 Jimmy Lee 380,000 John Huynh 273,000 Trevor Patrick 246,000 Ben Cooper 220,000 Geordi Lobe 215,000 Ali Khani 203,000 Jerry Tria 182,000 Alemu Makonen 176,000 Skyler York 169,000 Marc Lavergne 155,000 Kyle Bonazzo 140,000 Yaofei Feng 140,000 Bash Ramahi 128,000 Thomas Taylor 89,000 Chad Horseman 71,000
