Thursday at Deerfoot was Megastack day. The final day of the NLH Megastack played out with 28 players returning from a field of 280, while across the room, the PLO Megastack played out as a single-day event.
It was a day for the local crushers as well. Michael Baldwin got the two-card win after the final three players decided to cut a deal, while Aidan Klingbeil got into a spirited heads-up battle with Dylan Payne for the four-card title.
Two-Card Megastack Ends in Three-Way Chop
| Event 10: | $560 Megastack ($500 + $60) |
| Date: | Apr 8 – Apr 10, 2025 |
| Blinds: | 40 Minutes |
| Starting Stack: | 30k |
| Entries: | 280 |
| Prizes: | $133,000 |
Final Table Results for NLH Megastack
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Michael Baldwin | $27,500 |
| 2 | Antonio Ma | $18,500 |
| 3 | Jordan Johnstone | $18,500 |
| 4 | Leo Aiello | $10,640 |
| 5 | Mahiraj Sabanathan | $7,980 |
| 6 | Matt Kwong | $6,318 |
| 7 | Caleb Simmons | $4,921 |
| 8 | Douglas Lee | $3,924 |
| 9 | Todd “The Rock” | $3,126 |
| 10 | Peter Amic | $2,660 |
It was a pretty crazy final table in the NLH Megastack on Thursday. Raj Sabanathan (5th, $7,980) provided much of the excitement with unconventional play that often put other players at the table on the heels. His stack was up and down throughout the final table, as he occupied both the top and bottom spots at various times.
Doug Lee also provided some fireworks for the final table. In one short sequence of hands, he shoved his button with nine-eight, but ran into pocket queens. He turned the straight for a big double, but then quickly had his kings cracked when Sabanathan called off a shove with ace-queen and rivered his ace.
The final five players discussed a deal, but they weren’t able to arrive at an agreement. That changed once play got three ways as the stacks were getting shorter with each new blind level. Three-handed started with an average stack of about 50 bigs, but they kept trading chips back and forth until it was down to about 20, at which point the three decided to do a rough ICM chop.
Michael Baldwin was the big leader and took the win with $28,500 in prizes, while Tony Ma and JJ Johnstone each secured $18,500 from the deal. Get all the details from Event #10 at our exclusive live reporting page.
Klingbeil & Payne Battle Late for Four-Card Megastack Glory
| Event 13: | $800 PLO Megastack ($720 + $80) |
| Date: | Apr 10, 2 PM |
| Blinds: | 30 Minutes |
| Starting Stack: | 30k |
| Entries: | 66 |
| Prizes: | $45,144 |
The PLO Megastack was a one-day affair with an $800 buy-in. The game got 66 entries for prizes of a bit more than $45k.
It took about 13 hours to play through the field before Aidan Klingbeil managed to take the win over Dylan Payne heads up, and the final table in this one contained a lot of “the usual suspects” for a local PLO endgame.
Double-ring and bracelet winner in PLO, Jerry Li, was the money bubble in this one, so that gives an idea of the level of play at the final table, which also included Andy Truong, Chris Clisby, and Garett Maybery.
They played down to heads-up relatively quickly, but the battle between Payne and Klingbeil was a doozy. Both players had their opponent on the ropes and at risk at various times and it took about three levels of poker to finally decide a winner.
The big hand for Klingbeil came after Payne grabbed a small lead, but then sent a huge double across the table when his two pair was bested by a set of Klingbeil. That left Payne on fumes, and while he was able to double back multiple times after being forced all in from the big blind, ultimately, he couldn’t pull off the miracle comeback.
Final Results from PLO Megastack
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aidan Klingbeil | $13,994 |
| 2 | Dylan Payne | $10,383 |
| 3 | Garett Maybery | $7,223 |
| 4 | Arnulfo Alontave | $4,966 |
| 5 | Johnathan Hansmeyer | $3,612 |
| 6 | Christopher Clisby | $2,709 |
| 7 | Phong Truong | $2,257 |
