The first series on the Pure Poker Tour (PPT) for 2024 got a big start on Thursday, Feb. 15 with two events that saw big numbers.
The 2024 season of the PPT is now underway, and it looks like it could be a big one. The first day of play saw two events award trophies and both games got bigger fields than last year’s Feb series here at Casino Edmonton.
Opening day action got going at noon on Thursday, Feb, 15 with the Seniors First game, a tradition on the PPT that sees the 50+ game always running as Event #1. To ensure that everyone had a chance to play on the opening day, however, there was an evening side event, the First Chance Turbo for players who can’t make the age cutoff for Seniors.
Ronald Taylor Wins Event #1: $340 Seniors First ($11,180)
The first trophy of 2024 on the PPT was, technically speaking, actually the second. The Seniors game was an epic tilt that went close to 16 hours before Ronald Taylor (pictured above) bagged the trophy at about 3:40 am.
It was a great turnout that saw a couple more entries than this game in 2023, with 152 total. That meant they were playing for $43,320 in total with 15 players sharing in the gold.
Taylor didn’t have an easy run of it, facing off against a pretty stacked final table of 50+ regs. He battled Gerald Chung heads up, who has won a few of these Seniors events in the last couple of years, with the previous winner Nick Milkovich, Brian Wells, Jeff Forester, and Ed Zurawell also in the final nine players.
Event #1: $340 Seniors First Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ronald Taylor | Edmonton | $11,180 |
| 2 | Gerald Chung | Sherwood Park | $6,960 |
| 3 | Darren S | Edmonton | $5,330 |
| 4 | Nick Milkovich | Ryecroft | $4,240 |
| 5 | Greg Duke | Edmonton | $3,380 |
| 6 | Brian Wells | Edmonton | $2,750 |
| 7 | Sheldon Clarke | Edmonton | $2,120 |
| 8 | Jeff Forester | Leduc | $1,490 |
| 9 | Ed Zurawell | Sherwood Park | $950 |
| 10 | Jerry Ozog | Edmonton | $840 |
| 11 | Andy Wong | Fort McMurray | $840 |
| 12 | Arnel Mateo | Edmonton | $840 |
| 13 | Rob Lothian | Sherwood Park | $800 |
| 14 | Russ Sluchinski | Edmonton | $800 |
| 15 | Robert Thacker | Edmonton | $800 |
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Markus Williams Wins Event #2: $230 First Chance Turbo ($7,180)
The second trophy of PPT 2024 was awarded before the first one, as the Turbo game lived up to its name. It started five hours later than the Seniors game but still ended about an hour earlier than the 50+ crowd.
The turnout for the first open event of the series was massive with 143 entries on the board when registration closed. That was significantly higher than the 94 entries this game got in 2023 and bodes well for the remainder of the series.
In the end, it was Marcus Williams (pictured above) with all the chips. The final four players agreed to a deal that saw everyone secure $4,200 with $830 left over for the winner. Williams had the lead when the deal was struck, and ended up holding on to take it all down.
Event #2: $230 First Chance Turbo Results
| 1 | Marcus Williams | St. Albert | $7,180 |
| 2 | Krista Meilleur (Tellier) | Leduc | $4,390 |
| 3 | Nadeem Walji | Edmonton | $3,370 |
| 4 | Angela Carroll | Invermere, BC | $2,690 |
| 5 | Trevor York | CAN | $2,140 |
| 6 | Colin Armstrong | Edmonton | $1,750 |
| 7 | Kris Steinbach | Edmonton | $1,350 |
| 8 | Artan Bislimi | CAN | $960 |
| 9 | Francis Fan | Edmonton | $630 |
| 10 | John Letts | AB | $550 |
| 11 | Abhizer Rajkotwala | Vancouver, BC | $550 |
| 12 | Daniel O’Leary | Edmonton | $550 |
| 13 | David Cox | Kamloops, BC | $530 |
| 14 | Julius Roque | Lethbridge | $530 |
