2024 is drawing to a close but there’s still some big poker to play in Alberta before the calendar switches to 2025. The final series in the Pure Poker Tour season is always the Tournament of Champions and satellite action has been ongoing since Nov 17.
The trophy events kick off on Nov 21 with the traditional opening game, Seniors First. The 50+ game gets going at noon, but there are two other open-entry events on the Thursday schedule, so younger players needn’t worry about getting action.
The game kicks off 11 days of poker action at Pure Casino Yellowhead and there are a few new tweaks to this schedule. Perhaps the biggest change, due to popular demand, is a rejigging of the High Roller schedule.
Traditionally run on the final two days of the series alongside Day 2 of the Main Event, many of the High Rollers have complained about the conflict and early Day 1 entries have tended to be sparse. This series, the HR game will run Nov 26 & 27 which leaves players able to fully concentrate on both that game and the Main. As an added treat, High Rollers who get into the game before the official kickoff time on Nov 26 get half-price on the registration fee for a total of $,1900 entry instead of $2,000.
Other new features this time around include an NLH/PLO Mix Team event in addition to the regular Team game as well as both two-card and four-card Big Bounty Games. Add in a Survivor, some Landmark satellites, and turbos in both variants, and it’s a schedule with something for everyone in addition to some new ideas.
Big Series for Player of the Year(s)
There are a couple of big races in the local poker scene that could be decided in this series, though in truth, neither may be in question at this point. The Pure Poker Tour Player of the Year race is one that is almost certainly already decided with Eric Wasylenko running away with it
Wasy leads the standings by almost 900 points with 1,949 to Michael “Berny” Bernstein’s 1,080, though that’s hardly surprising given he won the first two Main Events of the year in addition to bagging other wins and cashes along the way.
Berny and 3rd place Ian Alverado might well be in striking distance with a stellar series and points in the final monthlies of the year, but for now, it looks like the heads-up specialist from Winnipeg has a lock on the PPT POY for 2024.
Alberta Poker Index
The other POY race ongoing as 2024 comes to a close is run by the Alberta Poker Indes (API). The brainchild of local poker organizer Ryan “Snides” Snyder, the API has been tracking Alberta poker for several years, now under the leadership of Weston Pring.
While the API race is a bit closer this year, there is still a pretty clear favorite going into the final events of the year. Mike Malm has been crushing games all over Alberta this year and is coming off a red-hot performance in Calgary with 5 cashes including a win and multiple final tables.
He was about 200 points ahead of the field in that race going into the recent Calgary series, and while Zeyu Huang, Weston Pring, and Julius Roque all picked up points in that series, Malm is still likely to widen his lead when the event gets tallied. There is still a lot of poker to played in Alberta before 2024 is complete, so things could change, but Malm has the chance to put a bow on the title if his Calgary run follows him up north.
Stay tuned to PokerPro for exclusive live coverage of the final go-round in the 2024 Pure Poker Tour.
