Rob Lothian has come very close in this game before - in 2022, he came second in the Feb Seniors tournament at Casino Edmonton, then took third in the Sep version here at Yellowhead. He also had a fifth place in this game back in April of this year in Calgary, so this win will finally be a bit of a monkey off his back.

He had big stacks through much of the game, though earlier in the day he was nearly felted when his wheel wasn't good enough against Ron Lauzon's flush. That left him with just 7k, but he spun it back up again and was chip-leading with 700k when play got six-handed after he busted Ed Zurawell.

He then ran into some snags when his queens were crushed by the aces of Jean Croteau. That hand gave Croteau the lead and sent Lothian down the ranks a bit, but he persevered and chipped back up again. Lothian was the short stack when play got three ways after the elimination of Kevin Billay shortly after the final break of the night.

The final three players negotiated an ICM chop based on the stacks at the time that saw Lothian bag third place money worth $4,310, Ali Razzaq took the second biggest prize worth $4,705, while chip leader Croteau took the big prize of $5,420.

All three players were still interested in the trophy, however, so they played the rest of it out to determine a winner. Ali Razzaq bowed out in third shortly after the deal was struck, sending his chips to Croteau who took a huge lead into heads-up play.

Lothian wasn't about to give up though - he managed to draw back to even and chip into a small lead before Croteau reversed the trend again to go back to the top. He finally chipped up to a substantial lead with a turn shove on a board reading .

That hand gave him about a million chips, and it wasn't much longer after that when they both found an ace on the same deal, and the money went in. Lothian was a dog with ace-five against ace-eight, but he spiked his five for the win.

This looks to be Lothian's first win, so despite the lower payout, he will no doubt be happy with the result.

Event #1: #340 Seniors Event Final Table Results

It was a long heads-up battle with both players having the lead at various times, but for most of it, there wasn't a time when both players had big hands to get it in. That changed in the final hand of Level 24 Jean Croteau shoved and Rob Lothian snapped it off. 

They were both playing an ace, with Croteau's eight kicker just slightly pipping Lothian's five. That didn't stop Lothian from hitting his five on the turn though and securing the official win while Croteau took second place, but the biggest payday as a result of the deal.

It's been back and forth a bit and Rob Lothian is now back in the lead again with about 1 million. He picked up chips recently in a hand where he limped, then called a raise to 80k from Jean Cronteau. 

The flop came and Croteau led for 80k. Lothian raised to 210 and got the call to the turn. Croteau check-folded to a shove from Lothian.

Jean Croteau is back to the lead as Level 24 begins. They'll go for another break at the end of this level and the levels have dropped to 20 minutes in length.

The two players are now basically dead even, each with about 870k. In the most recent hand, action was on the flop of and Jean Croteau check-called for 60k. Croteau led for 60k on the turn and Lothian called to see on the river.

Croteau fired 130k and after a few seconds, Lothian slid in the call. His queen-ten was good against the nine-seven for Croteau.

So far, heads up has been pretty quiet with a few open folds, and a few raise and take its, but they just saw a board for the first time in a few hands when both players limped to the flop of . Both players checked to the turn and Rob Lothian fired 25k. Jean Croteau called and they both checked the river.

Lothian showed seven-six for the rivered pair, and Croteau mucked his hand.

Jean Croteau raised the small blind to 50k and Ali Razzaq called from the big. Croteau checked the flop, then shoved when Razzaq bet 120k.

"I committed myself," Razzaq said, making the call for his life.  Croteau was ahead with ace-queen against seven-five, and Croteau rivered his ace for good measure.

Ali Razzaq shoved the small blind and Rob Lothian snap-called the big. It was ace-jack for Lothian against ace-deuce for Razzaq and the ace-jack held to give Lothian more than 500k.

The final three players have agreed on a deal to chop the prize money by ICM. However, they are still playing it out for the trophy and the points, so the game will continue. The new payout numbers are below but they are still deciding on an official winner.

They are down to three players left now after Kevin Billay hit the rail shortly after the break concluded.  Jean Croteau is still the big leader with around 900k and the final three players are now chatting about deal numbers.

Jean Croteau is still in the lead at the break with more than 800k while Ali Razzaq is in 2nd with about half that. The players will be back for Level 21 in about 8 minutes.

It was blind on blind when Rob Lothian limped the small and Jean Croteau checked the big. Lothian fired 16k on the flop and then 35k on the turn.

He slowed down on the river with a check, then mucked when Croteau fired 60k.

There was just a massive final table cooler after Kevin Billay opened the button, but then got out of the way after Rob Lothian shoved the small blind and Jean Croteau called the big with a bit less.

It was queens for Lothian against aces for Croteau, and the aces held on a paired board to give Croteau a huge lead of around 800k.

They are down to 4 players left now in the Seniors after Tony Nguyen hit the rail in 5th place for $2,230.

Meanwhile, Kevin Billay managed to spike his ace on the river to survive when his ace-jack was at risk against the pocket kings of Jean Croteau.

Rob Hordos shoved early for 120k and Ali Razzaq reshoved from his left with more. Razzaq was in great shape with kings against ace-jack. Jean Croteau folded an ace-jack face up after all the all-ins, and Hordos was unable to hit his reduced outs whole Razzaq turned a set.

Ed Zurawell shoved 93k early and it folded around to Rob Lothian in the small blind, who made the call. It was a race between the sixes of Lothian and ace-nine for Zurawell. The board of ran clean for the sixes and Zurawell hit the rail.

Cliff Green was short since doubling up Rob Lothian recently, and he got his final 46k in the middle in the final hand of Level 18. Tony Nguyen opened the button to 35k and Rob Lothian flatted the small blind before Green shoved from the big.

Nguyen and Lothian checked through the board of and Lothian's ace-ten took it down over Nguyen's ace-eight (suited!) and Green's nine-six.

Rob Lothian raised the hijack to 22k and only button Jean Croteau called to the flop of . Lothian fired 33k on the turn and Croteau flatted to the river.

Lothian had look at Croteau's stack and then shoved with more. Croteau didn't take long to release his hand, sending the pot to Lothian with no showdown.

It was a cooler between Ali Razzaq and Kevin Billay. Razzaq raised to 20k early, and then called when Billay shoved from his left. Billay had ace-queen against ace-jack for Razzaq and both players ended up with two pair.

Shortly after that, Rob Lothian and Cliff Green hit the cooler as well when Green's ace-king had to pay a double up to Lothian's aces.

After an open to 20k by Cliff Green from early position, small blind Tony Nguyen raised it up to 65k. Green shoved for 180k and, after a few seconds of thought, Nguyen folded ace-queen face up as Green raked in the pot.

They are down to 8 players left in the Seniors' event now after the exit of Francis Fan. Fan pocketed $850 for his day's work and the next player out will make $1,150.

Ali Razzaq opened the hijack for 16k before Kevin Billay went all in for 48k from the cutoff. The rest of the table got out of the way, and Razzaq followed suit after a bit of thought.

They are now all in the money after Dave Pietrzyko bubbled the final table and paid spots. Stay tuned for some final table pictures and a look at the chip stacks during the upcoming break in about 8 minutes.

The game is now hand for hand on the bubble to the money after the exit of Ron Lauzon. He shoved for 55.5k from the hijack, and Rob Lothian called from the small blind.

It was a race between pocket fours for Lauzon and ace-seven of spades for Lothian. Lauzon faded the overs until the river when Lothian hit his ace and took it down.

George Virus' recent chip-up was short-lived. I missed the action, but his seat is now empty and the field is now down to 11, two players off the money.

I arrived at the table with the board of already out and George Virus was facing a bet of 11,000 from button Rob Lothian. After a bit of time, Virus put in the call and it turned out Lothian was on nine-eight of diamonds, and while neither player had a club, Virus' king-jack two pair took it down.

They are down to 12 remaining now after the recent exit of Brian Wells. That puts them 3 off the money with about 12 minutes left to play in Level 15 and the next break scheduled for the end of Level 16.

Jean Croteau has been on a mission and he now has what appears to be the biggest stack in the room with about 300k. He just dispatched Russ Sluchinski to the rail when his ace-nine held over the ace-eight for Sluchinski. Croteau was down to about 7k at one point today so he's had a pretty decent runup.

Tony Nguyen opened to 10k from the button, and big blind Rob Hordos called to see a flop of and both players checked to the turn.

Hordos bet 14k and Nguyen put in a quick call. On the river Hordos shoved for about 44k and Nguyen mucked after a few seconds of thought.

They are now just 5 players off the money with 14 players left in the game. Among the recent bustouts was Steve Azizi.

Ed Zurawell has about 160k as Level 13 begins tonight while Rob Lothian is playing 166k. They are down to 18 players left in the game now after the exit of Joe Herlein. That puts them nine players off the money now. 

Rob Hordos opened to 6,000 from the hijack and saw calls from button Leo Brouwer and big blind Jean Croteau. They all checked through the board of and Brouwer took it down when he showed jack-ten.

They are down to 26 players left in the Seniors game now on three tables. Gerald Chung was among the most recent busts from the game. It looks like Rob Lothian might be the leader right now with 135k, but last year's winner Brett Worten and Francis Fan are close as well.

They are down to 32 players left in the Seniors game with one of the recent eliminations being WSOP-C Ring winner Rob Limpert. There are about 15 minutes left in Level 10, and the players will take their next break after Level 12.

The numbers are confirmed now with 87 entries for a prize pool of $24,795. That means 9 players will be sharing in the prizes with the top prize set at $6,805. At the moment, it looks like there are some issues with the prize pool tab on the main page, but I'm trying to work that out. In the meantime, the full payouts for tonight are below.

Leroy Lavalee was short with just over 5k in front of him when he shoved the cutoff. Rob Lothian called from the button, as did Chris MacKenzie from the big blind.

With Lavalee all in, the remaining players could have built a side pot but instead checked all the way through the board. Lavalee rolled over king-jack for the rivered pair, and the others mucked to send a triple plus to Lavalee.

The entries are now closed on the Seniors event with the beginning of Level 9. It looks like there were no new entries over dinner, so the final tally looks to be 87 entries for this event with 40 players left in the game. If that holds, then 9 players will share $24,795 in prizes.

I'll update the prizes when the official numbers come out shortly.

I've just had a look around the room on the dinner break, and I saw two stacks that were bigger than 100k. Francis Fan was a late entry today, but he's made up for lost time and looks to be in the lead with 134k. Rob Lothian is also sitting with more than 100k which is quite a rise from earlier in the day when he was down to 7,000.

The Seniors players are now on their dinner break and will be back to the action in just over 40 minutes now. There are 87 entries in total right now with 40 players left in the game still.

Entries will be closed when they return from dinner, and prizes should be available shortly after that.

There are a bit more than 10 minutes left in Level 8, and the Seniors will be going on their dinner break at the end of this level. Entries will still be open throughout dinner, so it's likely we'll see a few more entries before the desk shuts down, but in the end, it looks like the field will be about 90 entries in total for a bit more than $25k in prizes, but I'll update all the numbers once the payouts are published after dinner.

Level 8 has just begun, and this will be the final level for players to enter the game. Entries will still be accepted through the dinner break following this level but will be closed when they sit down for Level 9. There are now 83 entries in total with 43 players still at the felt and they are playing for a bit more than $23k right now.

Rob Limpert raised to 2,000 from the hijack and Bill Lubyk came along from the cutoff. The two players saw a flop of and Limpert bet 3,000.

Lubyk called to see on the turn and both players checked to the river, where both players checked again. Limpert showed king-queen for the flopped pair while Lubyk's king-jack hit the muck.

Meanwhile, Shawn Taghavi hit the rail from the same table in a subsequent hand.

Among the players now in the Seniors game are a couple of familiar faces from BC. Colin Burton and WSOP bracelet winner Calen McNeil have just arrived from the West Coast and are trying their hand in the opening event.

Level 7 is just beginning, which means there are now just two levels of poker left before the registration desk closes for the Seniors. The desk will stay open through the dinner break following Level 8, but will be shut down when they return to the felt for Level 9 at about 5 pm.

Dale "Soupy" Campbell was forced to hit the rail recently. I arrived at the table with most of the action completed as the board was out reading . Ed Zurawell was deep in the tank facing an all-in from Campbell for slightly less than his stack. After a minute or so, he put in the call, and his Broadway with king-jack was good against the queen-jack for Campbell.

The prize pook just pushed over $20k with 72 entries on the board now. There are still 51 players at the felt as Level 6 begins.

There are just under 10 minutes remaining in Level 5 now with 66 entries in the prize pool now. That means they are currently playing for $18,810 but there are still a bit more than 2 hours left to enter.

The players are just returning from the first break of the day, and after a quick look around at the stacks on the break it looks like Leo Brouwer is the current leader with just shy of 50k.

There are four more levels of poker plus the dinner break before the end of entries, so players have just under three hours left to get into this game.

The Seniors are about to head out for their first break of the day as Level 4 comes to a close. There are now 61 entries on the board with 48 still in play, putting the prize pool at just over $17k right now. There are till four levels of entry remaining after they return from the break in just over 15 minutes.

Ron Lauzon just took a decent pot from Rob Lothian. Lauzon opened the middle to 800 and got three callers to the flop.

It checked to Lauzon on the flop and he fired 1,000. Only small blind Rob Lothian called to see the turn. He check-called 1,500 to see on the river.

Lothian asked what Lauzon was playing, and saw that it was about 14k. He fired 4k into the middle, but Lauzon nearly beat him to the middle with a shove.

"So you needed the diamond, eh?" Lothian asked, tossing in his call a few seconds later. Sure enough, Lauzon rolled over queen-jack of diamonds for the flush while Lothian mucked four-deuce for the rivered wheel.

As Level 3 comes to a close, Douglas Bowering grabbed a double through Shawn Taghavi. I arrived at the action as the flop of was dealt and four players in the pot. Small blind Taghavi shoved for more than 50k and pushed out two players but got a call from Douglas Bowering.

Taghavi had the over pair of tens, but Bowering was on ace-jack with the ace of diamonds, drawing to overs and the nut flush. Taghavi faded the brick turn, but Bowering got there with an ace on the river.

Level 3 is about halfway finished now with 52 entries on the board and 47 left in the action. There are currently five tables open with a few players waiting at a sixth as staff moves a few players to the new table.

The first break of the day will come after the end of Level 4, so players will get a chance to stretch their legs in just over 45 minutes.

Level 2 is just underway now with 41 entries on the board now with numbers still growing. Among the recent entries are Ed Zurawell, WSOP-C Ring winner Rob Limpert, and Leo Brouwer.

Entries remain open on this event until the end of the finner break following Level 8, which will be at about 5 pm, so there are still more than four hours to get into the game.

Level 1 is nearly complete now with 38 entries on the board. That puts almost $11,000  into the prize pool already and there are still more than 4 hours left for entries.

Among the recent entries to the game are Ali Razzaq, Tony Nguyen, John Donnelly, Cliff Green, Reg Hampton, Nicholas Milkovich, 
Russ Sluchinski, Lee Miskew, Jeff Forester, Joe Herlein, Rob Fediuk, and Steve Azizi.

The final edition of the Pure Poker Tour is now underway with the start of the seniors event. There are 29 players on the board to start the gane and a lineup at the registration desk. Among the players in action early today are Ron Lauzon, Rob Lothian, Christian Mirkovic, Bernice McLennan, Malcolm Bolger. Brett Worten, and Sean Taghavi.

The first event of the 2023 Tournament of Champions is just hours from cards in the air. Action on the Seniors game kicks off at noon on Thursday and players will sit down with 20,000 in chips.

Blinds will increase every 30 minutes throughout the day with 8 levels of entry available before the field is set. With the scheduled breaks, that should put the last chance to enter at about 5 pm.

Last year, it was Brett Worten who took down the big Seniors prize worth more than $10k. He defeated Malcolm Bolger heads up for the title, and yours truly was in the mix in that one as well, booking a fourth-place finish.

2022 Tournament of Champions Seniors Results

This year, I'm back behind the keyboard for the event, however, so I won't be at the felt for the game this time around. The winner of the game will be decided before the end of the day, so look for this one to go pretty late into Friday morning.

It's time for the final stop on the Pure Poker Tour for 2023, the Tournament of Champions. With the biggest Main Event buy-in of the season, and tickets to the Main awarded to all 2023 Main Event winners as well as Player of the Series winners, the ToC is always a fitting end to a great season of poker.

In 2022 it was Edmonton's Krzysztof Slaski who took down the big prize in the ToC Main Event. He bagged more than $86,000 for his win over local legend and WSOP Bracelet winner Paul Brar after a stacked final table that saw Brar and Slaski forced to go through a virtual who's who of Western Canadian poker.

2022 Pure Poker Tour Tournament of Champions Main Event Final Table Standings

Seniors First

As always, the 2023 series kicks off with Seniors first. The old folks (I can say that because I am one of them lol) will sit down for their first hand at noon on Thursday, Nov 23 and they'll decide a winner before the day is done. Stay tuned here for a full start of day post just before the event begins.

Last year's Seniors game in the ToC saw 122 entries and was won by Brett Worton in a heads-up battle over the chatty Malcolm Bolger while yours truly shunned the reporting duties for once to sit behind a stack and bagged a fourth-place finish. I'll be back on my reporting duties for this one though, so none of the other seniors have to worry about seeing me at the felt this year.

For people who are no chronologically challenged, there is still poker to played on opening day. Starting at 3pm, Day 1a of the opening multi-day event for this series kicks off. The bounty format game has two Day 1 flights on Thursday and Friday, and then plays out Day 2 on Saturday to decide a winner.

This is a new format I am testing for the coverage of this final series of the year, and if it all works smoothly, this will very likely be the reporting platform for 2024, though the web address may well change to my own page first. For the record, we are being hosted on Main Event Travel for this series as a test, and if anyone is looking for inclusive travel deals around upcoming international poker festivals, Main Event Travel is worth a look for sure! I'd also like to thank Jason Glatzer for arranging the test.

We are now just days away from the start of the PPT Tournament of Champions for 2023. Stay tuned here to find out who will take home the big trophy this year and see below for all the structures for the 2023 Tournament of Champions on the Pure Poker Tour.