Pure Poker Tour Series #6 – Event #1: $340 Seniors First

They are down to 13 left in the Seniors game now with Level 16 drawing to a close. I’ll get a full chip count at the break following this level but Igor Gorelik and Fran Fisher recently busted to get the game to 13.

George Broumas folded a pair of nines a few hands earlier to a big blind shove from Russ Sluchincki. Bromas covered Sluchinski but the stack would have cut into his chips pretty sharply if he called and lost. Malcolm Bolger is seated to his right, and they got into a discussion with Bolger saying the nines was a clear call while Broumas was insistent that it was too many chips.

The discussion was still underway when Broumas raised under the gun and it folded around to Bolger’s big blind. He joked “So if I go all in, you’ll fold?” Broumas laughed and said no, and Bolger flatted to the 4♠6♦A♦ flop. They checked it through the 2♠ turn and Bolger fired 20k on the K♣ river.

Broumas called and showed pocket eights, taking the hand down when Bolger mucked. Dave Pietrzyko joked that he was expecting Broumas to show pocket nines. Paul Meyer was the most recent exit to bring the game to 15, 5 off the money and four away from hand-for-hand bubble play at 11.

Ed Zurawell raised the cutoff to 10k and it folded around to Rob Lothian in the big blind. Lothian counted out a reraise to 60k and tossed it in.

“60? Why are you going to to 60 from 10?” Zurawell asked.

“Low sugar,” answered Lothian with a smile. “Just wanted to see if you had something big,” he added as he collected the pot.

Here is a look at my eyeballed stacks with 16 players remaining.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The final Pure Poker Tour series of 2024 is set to go with the opening action, as usual, going to the Senior players. The open salvos for the 50+ game will be fired starting at noon on Thursday.

Players start out with 25k in chips for 30-minute levels and they’ll have 8 levels to enter the game. That should put the last chance to register at about 5 pm when the return from the dinner break following Level 8.

This is a one-day game so they’ll finish it out sometime late Thursday evening or the wee hours of Friday morning. This will be my main focus for the opening day of action.