Get ready for the penultimate PPT series of 2024 at Pure Casino Edmonton, featuring 11 events and culminating in the $1,100 Main Event, plus fan favorites like 6-Max, PLO Big Bounty, and the $2k High Roller!
Check out live updates and reporting from the Pure Poker Tour Series #5 by Lyle Bateman. Chose an event of your choice down below:
-
Rhett Stensrud Wins 6-Max for $10,580 (after Deal)
Rhett Stensrud, winner of the 6-Max Rhett Stensrud went the whole distance as the leader at the final table tonight. He had a few challengers throughout the endgame, with 3rd place Michael St. Pierre-Porter coming within 100k at a few points. Runner-up Ron Lauzon managed to get close in heads-up as well, but Stensrud always managed to stay ahead.
In the final hand, he woke up with pocket queens and raised his button, then snapped it off when Lauzon shoved his ace-nine. The queens held, turning a boat with trip sixes on board, to take down the win. The final two players made a deal to take $10k each and play for the rest, so Stensrud’s final win tally tonight was $10,580.
This was Stensrud’s first win in just his second cash, according to Hendon Mob. He picked up $2,330 for a 9th place finish in 2022 here on the PPT, so this was close to 5x his previous best score.
-
Ron Lauzon Out in 2nd Place for $10,000 (after Deal)
Level: 23 (15,000/30,000/30,000) Entries: 1/76 Prizes: $36,110 
Ron Lauzon It didn’t take long to finish it out once they struck the deal, but it still took a couple of big hands to end it. Rhett Stensrud raised the button, then snapped it off when Ron Lauzon shoved. Lauzon was on ace-nine, but Stensrud woke up with pocket queens. The board missed both players but with three sixes it ended up giving Stensrud the boat for the win.
Lauzon was short for pretty much the whole final table, but still managed to ladder up to second place.
-
Let’s Make a Deal
Level: 22 (15,000/25,000/25,000) Entries: 2/76 Prizes: $36,100 Ron Lauzon and Rhett Stensrud have decided to cut a deal where each player takes $10k and they play for the remaining $580 and the trophy. Stensrud still has the lead but there wasn’t much between them when the deal was struck.
-
Lauzon Doubles Again
Level: 21 (10,000/20,000/20,000) Entries: 2/76 Prizes: $36,100 Ron Lauzon was chipped down to 365k when he limp-shoved over a raise from Rhett Stensrud. Stensrud called it off and had the best with A♥7♦ versus K♥J♣ for Lauzon. Lauzon flopped his king and held to double up to around 800k now, but Stensrud still has the big stack with about 1.1 million.
-
Michael St. Pierre-Porter Out in 3rd Place for $5,415
Level: 21 (10,000/20,000/20,000) Entries: 2/76 Prizes: $36,100 
Michael St. Pierre-Porter They are down to heads up now after Michael St. Pierre-Porter hit the rail in third tonight. I missed the action while working on pics for the side event.
Rhett Stensrud is the chip leader with about 1.2 million to Ron Lauzon’s 700k.
-
Lauzon Keeps Doubling
Level: 20 (10,000/15,000/15,000) Entries: 3/76 Prizes: $23,940 Ron Laizon is still the short stack, but things are getting closer. He just doubled to 470k and Michael St. Pierre-Porter shoved the small blind and Lauzon woke up with ace-king in the big. St. Pierre-Porter was on queen-nine and both players missed the board so the big slick held to take it down.
Lauzon now has 470, St. Pierre-Porter has about 670k while Rhett Stensrud has the lead with around 760k. Level 20 is nearly complete and players will be out for a break following this level.
-
Lauzon Doubles
Level: 20 (10,000/15,000/15,000) Entries: 3/76 Prizes: $36,100 Ron Lauzon open-shipped the button, and Rhett Stensrud called off from the small blind. Both players were on an ace, but Lauzon was suited with the better kicker. The board missed both hands and Lauzon doubled with ace-high, jack kicker.
-
Stensrud Pressures Turn
Level: 19 (6,000/12,000/12,000) Entries: 3/76 Prizes: $36,100 Rhett Stensrud limp-called from the small blind after big blind Michael St. Pierre raised it to 36k. The flop was 7♥K♦7♣ and Stensrud check-called for 35k. The turn was 4♦ and Stensrud checked again, but elected to raise after St. Pierre fired 60k. Stensrud made it 200k with a stack of whites, and St. Pierre gave up his hand.
-
Stensrud Takes One
Level: 19 (6,000/12,000/12,000) Entries: 3/76 Prizes: $36,100 Rhett Stensrud raised to 26k from the small blind, then called when Michael St. Pierre reraised it to 67k. Ste. Pierre fired 55k on the Q♦4♣10♣ flop and Stensrud called to the 6♠ turn.
St. Pierre slid out 100k and got the call to see Q♥ on the river and both players checked it. St. Pierre showed ace-king but it was no good against the ten-eight for Stensrud.
They are currently more than 50 big blinds deep on average, but most of the chips are divided between Stensrud and St. Pierre with Ron Lauzon nursing a short stack for most of the final table tonight.
-
Lauzon Doubles
Level: 17 (4,000/8,000/8,000) Entries: 3/76 Prizes: $36,100 All the chips are across the table from Ron Lauzon as Rhett Stensrud and Michael St. Pierre have about 1,7 million of the 1.9 million in play right now. Ron Lauzon is on about 200k after getting a double through St. Pierre, who shoved the small blind and Lauzon snapped from the big.
Lauzon had sevens against ace-four, but it was a sweat for the August Player of the Series. St. Pierre flopped a wheel draw, then turned his four for even more outs, but the river was safe for Lauzon’s pair to survive.
-
Weston Pring Out in 4th Place for $3,610
Level: 17 (4,000/8,000/8,000) Entries: 3/76 Prizes: $36,100 
Weston Pring It was a bit of a brutal end for Weston Pring tonight. Ron Lauzon opened to 16k under the gun and Pring called from the button before big blind Michael St. Pierre shoved a stack that covered both Pring and Lauzon.
Lauzon quickly mucked but Pring called just as quickly and it looked like he was set to double up with kings versus queens. This is poker, however, and there was a queen on the turn to give St. Pierre the set. Pring couldn’t catch up and was off to collect his payout.
-
Chips on Break
Level: 17 (4,000/8,000/8,000) Entries: 4/76 Prizes: $36,100 Seat Player Chips 3 Ron Lauzon 141,000 4 Weston Pring 166,000 5 Rhett Stensrud 818,000 6 Michael St. Pierre 691,000 -
Daniel O’Leary Out in 5th Place for $2,382
Level: 16 (3,000/6,000/6,000) Entries: 4/76 Prizes: $36,100 
Daniel O’Leary They are down to just four players left now after Daniel O’Leary hit the rail in 5th place tonight. There are just over five minutes to play in Level 16 with a break scheduled following this level and it seems unlikely they’ll play much past Level 18 or so.
O’Leary min-clicked to 12k, then called when Michael St. Pierre shoved a covering stack. It was a classic race between ace-king for St. Pierre and queens for O’Leary. St. Pierre hit his ace on the flop and nothing else changed to send O’Leary to the cage.
-
Alex Liu and Jayvee Lumahan Out in 7th and 6th
Level: 16 (3,000/6,000/6,000) Entries: 5/76 Prizes: $36,100 
Jayvee Lumahan 
Alex Liu They are down to five shortly after the final table convened with Alex Liu hitting the rail in 7th place followed by Jayveen Lumahan in 6th place.I missed the action while I was outside for a minute.
-
Stensrud Leads Final Table
Level: 16 (3,000/6,000/6,000) Entries: 7/76 Prizes: $36,100 Ron Lauzon 
Rhett Stensrud Michael St. Pierre Jayvee Lumahan Daniel O’Leary Alex Liu Weston Pring -
Colten Yamagishi Bubbles the Money; Chung Takes First Cash
Level: 15 (2,500/5,000/5,000) Entries: 7/76 Prizes: $36,100 They are setting up the final table now and I’ll grab photos shortly. Colten Yamagishi was the bubble tonight after leaving himself short from doubling up Ron Lauzon while Gerald Chung managed to ladder into the min-cash spot with his shortie.
-
Chung, Lauzon Survive on Bubble
Level: 15 (2,500/5,000/5,000) Entries: 9/76 Prizes: $36,100 Gerald Chung was short after doubling up Alex Liu a while ago. He managed to get close to a triple up with ace high, however, when Rhett Stensrud raised the button and got calls from Chung in the small and Liu in the big. The players checked it through the 10♦8♥7♣3♠3♥ board and Ching showed down ace-jack. Stensrud mucked quickly but Liu showed another ace before mucking.
A couple of hands later on the other table, Colten Yamagishi shoved the button with jack-three and Ron Lauzon woke up with a call. Yamagish hit his jack on the flop, but Lauzon managed to survive with a river queen to give him the bigger pair so they are still 9-handed.
-
Liu Doubles
Level: 15 (2,500/5,000/5,000) Entries: 9/76 Prizes: $36,100 Alex Liu just picked up a bubble double through Gerald Chung. It was the final hand of Level 14 and Chung limped from the small blind and Liu checked his option. Chung bet 4k on the 4♣K♥8♠ and Liu called to the 9♠ turn.
Chung sized up to 7.5k and Liu called again to see 3♣ on the river. Chung fired 11k, then shoved when Liu put in a raise. Liu snapped it off with less, but he flopped two pair with king-four and took the pot as Chung mucked his hand.
-
Hand for Hand to the Money
Level: 14 (2,000/4,000/4,000) Entries: 9/76 Prizes: $36,100 They are now hand for hand to the money in the 6-Max game with 9 players left. Keith Sarnoski, Bash Ramahi, and Jimmy Lee were the casualties from the final two tables to bring it to 9 left. The clock is now paused with 2 minutes coming off for each hand played and there are 9 minutes remaining in Level 14.
-
Down to 12
Level: 14 (2,000/4,000/4,000) Entries: 12/76 Prizes: $36,100 They are at the final two tables in the 6-Max now with 12 players left alive. The remaining players are Keith Sarnoski, Alex Liu, Daniel O’Leary, Bash Ramahi, Rhett Stensrud, Gerald Chung, Michael St. Pierre, Colten Yamagishi, Ron Lauzon, Jayvee Lumahan, Weston Pring, and Jimmy Lee.
| Level | Ante | Small Blind | Big Blind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 2 | 200 | 100 | 200 |
| 3 | 300 | 200 | 300 |
| 4 | 400 | 200 | 400 |
| 15 min Break | |||
| 5 | 500 | 300 | 500 |
| 6 | 600 | 300 | 600 |
| 7 | 800 | 400 | 800 |
| 8 | 1,000 | 500 | 1,000 |
| 30 min Dinner Break/Registration ends | |||
| 9 | 1,200 | 600 | 1,200 |
| 10 | 1,500 | 1,000 | 1,500 |
| 11 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 |
| 12 | 2,500 | 1,500 | 2,500 |
| 15 min Break/ remove 100s | |||
| 13 | 3,000 | 1,500 | 3,000 |
| 14 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 |
| 15 | 5,000 | 2,500 | 5,000 |
| 16 | 6,000 | 3,000 | 6,000 |
| 15 minute break – remove 500s | |||
| 17 | 8,000 | 4,000 | 8,000 |
| 18 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 |
| 19 | 12,000 | 6,000 | 12,000 |
| 20 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 15,000 |
| 15 min Break – remove 1000s | |||
| 21 | 20,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| 22 | 25,000 | 15,000 | 25,000 |
| 23 | 30,000 | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| 24 | 40,000 | 20,000 | 40,000 |
| 15 minute break | |||
| 25 | 50,000 | 25,000 | 50,000 |
| 26 | 60,000 | 30,000 | 60,000 |
| 27 | 80,000 | 40,000 | 80,000 |
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhett Stensrud |  | $10,580 |
| 2 | Ron Lauzon | | $10,000 |
| 3 | Michael St. Pierre-Porter | | $5,415 |
| 4 | Weston Pring | | $3,610 |
| 5 | Daniel O’Leary | | $2,382 |
| 6 | Jayvee Lumahan | | $1,732 |
| 7 | Alex Liu | | $1,335 |
| 8 | Gerald Chung | | $1,046 |
