WSOP-C Calgary Crushes Its Own Record

There were more than $5 million in prizes across the two-week series. In 2022, the inaugural running set a local prize-pool record with a Main Event prize of almost $1.8 million, but this year blew past the $2 million mark.

It seems like January in Calgary is about setting records. When the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOP-C) first came to Calgary in January 2022, it exceeded all the expectations and set a provincial record for single-event prize pools of almost $1.8 million. That massive result guaranteed a return early-year visit to Cowtown for the Circuit and the 2023 return set another local record.

With expectations high for the Jan 2023 edition of WSOP-C Calgary, it went well beyond those expectations, nearly bursting host Deerfoot Inn & Casino at the seams. With more than 8,000 entries and more than $5 million in total prizes over the two-week series, it was even bigger than anyone expected.

Despite long lines for many events, three different poker games had four-figure entry totals. One event, the traditionally big 4-Flight, blew through the 1,500 entry mark for almost $600k in prizes in a $400 event, while the $1,700 Main Event drew more than 1,400 total entries over three starting days.

Inflated Numbers From the Start

It was clear from the very first game that the series was going to be big. The opening Big 30 Stack game drew more than 500 entries for a single-day Ring event, and the winner of the $400 event, Surrey, BC’s Joon Park, pocketed almost $32k for his investment.

He had to defeat GGPoker streamer Kevin Martin heads up and that was Martin’s top result of the series. He was ring-hunting throughout the series, but the big result still gave him a profit.

Wrapped up a huge Canadian live series:

Hours: 82
Buy-ins: $14,500
Cashes: $25,000

Solid start to 2023 pic.twitter.com/f7zquqIIvl

— KMart (@KevinRobMartin) January 23, 2023

The big numbers continued through the series, including the $400 4-Flight game that saw 1,539 entries and $593,932 in prizes. That was the biggest field of the series, but the Main Event on the final days of the series came pretty close.

While the Main Event field, at 1,432 entries, was only the second biggest field in this series, it blew the other prize pools out of the water and set a new provincial record for a single-game prize pool at $2,169,303.

John French, who is mostly an online poker player, apparently had to be convinced by his rail to even enter the event, but he showed that online skills translate to the live felt. He faced off against streamer Mehdi “GitAndSos” Saeed in the heads-up battle.

Martin, who was enjoying his time at the series despite the massive numbers and the sometimes long lines, shouted out the poker community over top prize in the game, but he also recognized the staff who went through heroic efforts to deal with record numbers. When he arrived on Sunday to play the $2,200 High Roller game, he brought armfuls of donuts and muffins as a thank you to the staff for their hard work.

There were a couple of other big events to close out the series. The $400 Monster Stack game saw almost 1,200 entries and nearly $400,000 in prizes, while the $2,200 High Roller game got 379 entries for a 1^st place prize of $157,726 and total prizes of more than $755k.

Big Numbers Draw Big Names

The massive numbers in the series helped draw even bigger numbers and attracted some big names from Canadian poker. Among the biggest to make it out for the series was Canada’s tenth highest live poker winner, Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah (~$8 million in live earnings).

He arrived in Cowtown in time for the $1k events and fired multiple events towards the end of the series, booking several cashes but missing out on his seventh Circuit ring. Rumor has it that he was crushing souls on the cash tables throughout the final week however, so it looked like it was a successful week for him in Calgary. Leah wasn’t the only high profile player at the series either. The aforementioned Martin, who was also a two-time contestant and winner of Big Brother Canada, runs one of the most watched poker streams in Canada. He was joined in Cowtown by a few of his fellow streamers and Big Brother alumni.

Fellow BBC contestants and poker streamers Jon Pardy (Americas Cardroom) and Arlie Shaban (PokerStars) came to Calgary to play some poker and hang out with Martin, and it looks like they are bringing more BBC alumni into the poker fold. BBC2 contestant Adel Elsari is far less experienced on the green felt, but he joined his BBC buddies for a smaller event and booked a cash in one of his first live tournaments.

Both Pardy and Shaban booked cashes in more than one event as well, including a Day 2 cash for Shaban in the record-breaking Main Event, so it was a decent series for the BBC crew. Another streamer who had a great series was Mehdi “GitAndSos” Saeed. Saeed had two top-three finishes in the series, but narrowly missed out on winning his first Circuit Ring. He booked a third-place in the massive 4-Flight game early in the series for almost $35k, then went on to take second in the massive Main Event for $210,286. Martin’s GGPoker teammate Patrick “irEgption” Tardif also made a Day 2 run in the Main, and was on the rail for French’s epic win.

Vancouver DJ Anthony “DJ Physik” Mar had a whirlwind weekend with Main Event poker straddling a weekend of DJ gigs on the lower mainland. He fired a bullet in Day 1a of Main Event under the assumption that the game would pay out on Day 1, as planned on the schedule. He knew he had DJ duties in Vancouver over the weekend, and was expecting to either have a chance at a payday on Day 1, or guaranteed money coming back to Calgary for Day 2.

The massive numbers messed with his plans though – he bagged a stack for Day 2, but players were just outside the money. Undeterred, Mar hopped on a plane after bagging his stack, did two nights of DJ duty in Van finishing at 3am Sunday morning, then was on a 6am flight back to Calgary to fight in Day 2 of the record-breaking Main Event 32 off the money. It wasn’t a pure Cinderella story, but Mar managed a respectable finish in 42^nd place for more than $6k.

Hot Canadian Poker

With total prize pools of more than $5 million, and a Main Event that smashed its own record, the WSOP is clearly a good match for Calgary. But the turnout also speaks to what is rapidly becoming one of the hottest live poker markets in Canada. This was the third running of a WSOP Circuit event, with big numbers for all three, and there will very likely be a fourth before 2024, but the live scene extends well beyond marquee series like WSOP.

Host Deerfoot Inn & Casino runs multiple Super Stack series every year in addition to the WSOP events and local competitor Pure Gaming runs the Pure Poker Tour (PPT) spanning Alberta’s two biggest cities. The PPT runs 6 series in 2023 in addition to big monthly events at three properties between Calgary and Edmonton, and the 2023 PPT season will include Player of the Series and $20k in Player of the Year prizes, all added by the operator.

Ace Casino’s new airport facility also runs multiple series per year, and the location of the new facility may well facilitate out-of-town entries swelling those games. WSOP-C Calgary was massive, and that’s a testament to a marquee event and a host that stepped up to manage record-breaking numbers. But it also speaks to red-hot poker market kindling in Alberta. If you like live tournament poker, Alberta might need to be a new stop on your world travels.