Jenelle Exner Goes Back-to-Back Ladies Rings

With the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOP-C) Calgary August 2024 nearly complete, there have been a few big stories emerging from the week. Earlier in the series, David Labchuk picked up his third Calgary ring and first open ring in the opening Big 30 Stack, while Scott Calvank bagged his first ring on his second final table of the series in the Seniors game.

As the series wore on, more stories have also emerged. Phillip Louie and Sunny Lubana picked up big wins in multi-day events, and Duff Charette bagged his second Calgary ring in the Flip & Go after he bagged #1 in May in the Mystery Bounty. Then early Sunday morning, Jenelle Exner bagged her second ring, winning the Ladies event for the second time.

There are still three rings left to award in Calgary for this series, with the Main Event playing Day 2 on Sunday and the High Roller and final Big 30 Stack finishing out on Monday as the final table of the Main Event plays out, if required.

WSOP-C Calgary Aug 2024 Summary

WSOP-C Calgary Aug 2024 Summary
Total Prizes	$2,995,820
Total Entries	5,298
Total 1st Place	$534,221

Back-to-Back Ladies Rings for Exner

When Jenelle Exner came to Calgary in May, she was a bit of an unknown quantity. She had just a few live results on her Hendon Mob page for around $US3,500. When she won that Ladies event, it might have been seen as a bit of beginner’s luck.

Any thoughts of that should be put away now after she came back to Calgary for the August series, built herself a big stack, and held on for her second win in a row in the Ladies game. She built a big stack early and held the lead through most of the endgame.

Her main challenger near the end of the night was runner-up Barb Walser. While most of the other players at the final table were staying out of Exner’s way, Walser, who had Exner on her left at the FT, didn’t hesitate to duke it out with the defending champion.

Walser was the only player at the FT to challenge for the chip lead at any point on the FT, and she actually had it a couple of times. Exner’s aggression won the night, however, as anytime she dropped out of the lead, she quickly pulled back with aggressive moves to steal chips without showdown.

In the end, the win came down to a bit of rungood, as is often the case in short-handed poker, but Exner was in the position to capitalize on it. The final hand saw a three-way all-in with the final three players, Exner, Walser, and Jen Peters from Okanagan, BC, all on pocket pairs.

Exner was in with the worst of it on pocket fives, but she stacked the other two. Walser had the best with jacks while Peters was in the middle (on the short stack) with pocket eights. It looked like Walser might get the game heads up with a huge lead if her jacks held, but this is poker, and the best hand doesn’t always win the day. As happens so often in the game, a five showed up on the flop to rocket Exner to the lead, two cards away from her second ring.

Neither player managed to find the two-outer they needed to re-scoop, and Exner was left with all the chips. and her second Ring in back-to-back Ladies events.

Lubana Wins Two-Day $1k for First Ring

Among the other big stories in the final week of the series came from Saskatoon’s Sunny Lubana. Lubana is a regular at the end of big events here in western Canada and he is often seen with all the chips at the end, though this was his first Circuit ring.

This win will put him in the range of $650k in live Hendon Mob earnings, so it’s clear that Lubana can play the game, and he’s always one of the most feared players to show up at the table. That said, it’s hard to think of a nicer player to play against.

Lubana is one of the good guys of the game, without question. He has a quiet, calm, and friendly demeanor at the table and is never seen on tilt. He shows a lot of respect for his fellow players and while no one wants to face his poker skill, everyone loves having him around.

He’d be a “good guy” if that was all, but there’s another dimension to Lebana’s game — he uses his poker to help make the world a better place. He and his family run a charity that funds the education expenses of children, from start to end, in his native India, and 10% of Lubana’s poker winnings always go into the charity. So while Lubana is certainly smiling after his first ring, there will be some kids in India smiling even more as they get the rest of their education covered thanks to Lubana.

Charette Bags Second Ring on Ottawa Night

Duff Charette has also had a good week here in Calgary. He was heads up in the Turbo $1k earlier in the week, but had to settle for second when Teddy Thalhuber came in from Minnesota and took it away. Not to be denied, a couple of days later, he made his way to heads-up again in the Flip & Go second day, and this time he made good, taking down fellow Ottawa resident Michael Kahn for his second Calgary ring in as many series.

That same night proved to be a bit of an Ottawa night for Calgary, as the winner of the PLO Bounty, which was playing alongside Day 2 of the Flip, was also from Ottawa. Manfred Gunther has the run of his life to take down the ring, seemingly hitting every hand he played, including flopping the nut straight and holding to send Vince Lam out in 3rd, and then flopping a boat heads-up against Ricky Nguyen on his way to taking it all dowAction is winding down here in Calgary for the final Circuit here in 2024, but there are still a few rings to be awarded. Coverage of the Main Event, High Roller, and final Big 30 Stack is powered by Main Event Travel and hosted by PokerPro — follow the final weekend of coverage at the links above.

Results from WSOP-C Calgary Aug through 13 Rings

#	Event Name	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	1st Place
1	$400 Big 30 Stack	363	$119,790	David Labchuk	$24,338
2	$600 NLH/PLO Mix	222	$114,330	Kevin Li	$26,458
3	$600 Mystery Bounty	261	$134,415	Youssef Hmama	$18,207
4	$400 4-Flight	905	$298,650	Phillip Louie	$47,068
5	$400 Seniors	332	$109,560	Scott Calvank	$22,835
6	$400 Black Chip Bounty	269	$88,770	Sean Cardoso	$13,628
7	$1,000 $1k	268	$234,500	Gunpreet(Sunny) Lubana	$51,568
8	$500 PKO	166	$69,720	Antoine Saddleback	$7,386
9	$400 Monster Stack	881	$290,730	Zhi(George) Yang	$45,940
10	$1,000 $1k Turbo	105	$91,875	Theodore(Teddy) Thalhuber	$24,487
11	$1,700 Main Event	828	$1,254,420		$214,873
12	$250 Flip & Go	344	$72,240	Duff Charette	$16,097
13	$400 PLO Bounty	274	$90,420	Manfred Gunther	$13,764
14	$400 Ladies	80	$26,400	Jenelle Exner	$7,572
15	$2200 High Roller	0
16	$400 Big 30 Stack	0