The Poker Digest ♠
ISSUE #54 · SEPTEMBER 12, 2026
Hey Poker Fam! I'm writing this one with Montreal still in my system. The WSOP Super Circuit at Playground turned into the biggest Poker tournament Canada has ever seen, and I got to be right in the middle of it.
My Main Event went like this: I bagged a short stack of 68,000 for Day 3. I found enough spots to make the money, and cashed for CA$10,000. It wasn't the deep run I was dreaming of, but getting into Day 3 of a 2,844-entry field is a result I'll take every single time.
The whole trip was a blast: content creators everywhere, great food, and a table with some of the biggest names in the game. I put all of it in my new vlog, down in Clip of the Week.
Outside Montreal, Triton Jeju served up a heads-up rematch, the Sunday Million celebrated its 20th birthday, and the Poker world said goodbye to Phil Hellmuth's father. In Strategy Corner, I break down the Day 4 hand everyone at Playground was talking about.
This Week in Poker
🔥 LEAD STORY
Montreal Makes History: The Biggest Poker Tournament Canada Has Ever Seen
The CA$5,000 WSOP Super Circuit Canada Main Event at Playground drew 2,844 entries and a CA$13,082,400 prize pool, smashing its CA$10 million guarantee by more than CA$3 million. According to PokerNews, it's the biggest live Poker event ever held in Canada, and Pokerfuse called it the biggest tournament in the country's history.
When the field got down to 30, Paul Klann held the chip lead with 11.3 million. He's no stranger to big stages: he won the 2013 WPT L.A. Poker Classic for $1,004,090. Guoyan Li (8.1 million) and Nicholas Palma (7.6 million) were next, with Chance Kornuth and Jack Salter still in the hunt.
The trophy stayed in Canada. Mayukh Chakraborty won the title for CA$1.5 million and a WSOP Circuit ring, beating fellow Canadian Benjamin Veenstra heads-up for CA$1 million. And this wasn't a seasoned pro collecting another score: according to Card Player, Chakraborty is a cyber security expert whose entire recorded tournament history before this week was worth a few thousand dollars.
"This whole week has been… to say that it's blown expectations way out of the water would be the biggest understatement of my life," he told Card Player. Full results on the official WSOP Super Circuit Canada page.
01 He Called the Ace of Diamonds. Then It Came.
Daniel Negreanu's run at a ring on home soil ended on Day 4, and it ended in style. According to PokerNews, Negreanu got his chips in preflop with TdTc against Chance Kornuth's AcKh, and the board ran 5h6s5s3c. With Negreanu still ahead going to the river, Kornuth asked the dealer for the ace of diamonds.
The river was the Ad. Negreanu high-fived him on the way out and finished 99th for CA$14,500. Michael Mizrachi also fell on Day 4, so two of the event's biggest draws were gone before the final 30.
02 It Wasn't Just the Main Event Breaking Records
The CA$500 Mini Main drew 3,484 entries, the largest tournament field in Playground's history, and Daniel Haim won it for CA$185,000. The festival wrapped on September 12 after 18 ring events and more than CA$14 million in guarantees.
The WSOP noticed. On September 7 it announced two new Super Circuit festivals: Super Circuit KINGS at King's Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic (October 28 to November 11, €3,000 Main Event, €2 million guaranteed), and Super Circuit LATAM at Hard Rock Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic (January 24 to February 2, 2027, $3,500 Main Event, $2 million guaranteed). Details are on the WSOP announcement.
03 Poker Says Goodbye to Phil Hellmuth Sr.
Phil Hellmuth Sr., father of 17-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, passed away this week after a nine-month battle with cancer, according to PokerNews. He had a law degree from Marquette University, where he met his wife Lynn, plus a PhD and an MBA, and he spent his whole career at the University of Wisconsin. He and Lynn raised five children.
He wasn't a Poker player, and his son has been open about how hard it was to tell a university man he was dropping out to play cards. But he was there in 1989 when Phil won the WSOP Main Event. Our thoughts are with the whole Hellmuth family.
04 Dvoress Evens the Score with Xuan Liu
At Triton Jeju II, Canada's Daniel Dvoress won the $30,000 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed event for $942,000, his seventh Triton title, per PokerNews and Card Player. The player he beat heads-up was fellow Canadian Xuan Liu ($638,000), who made history in May 2025 as Triton's first woman champion by defeating Dvoress heads-up in Montenegro.
Two heads-up matches with a Triton trophy on the line, and each of them has won one.
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In the Know
♠ The Sunday Million turned 20 in a big way. PokerStars' anniversary edition drew 55,444 entries and a $5,544,400 prize pool, well past its $5 million guarantee. Belarus's "AHTOCb" took it down for $255,336.
♥ A first for the GUKPT. Renee Xie won the GUKPT Luton Main Event for £35,435, topping a 396-entry field. She's the first woman to win a GUKPT Main Event in the tour's roughly 20-year history.
♦ Two Washington card rooms are closing. Maverick Gaming, run by high-stakes regular Eric Persson, will close the Great American and Riverside casinos in Tukwila, just south of Seattle, on November 1. The company is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and 238 workers are affected, per Card Player and local Seattle coverage.
Strategy Corner
When the Quiet Player Raises the River, Believe Him
Going into Day 4 in Montreal, Will Givens was one of the biggest stacks left, and then one hand sent him backwards. PokerNews and Poker.org both reported that Givens fired a huge bluff into Paul Klann's nut flush. Per Poker.org's hand report, Klann 3-bet from the small blind with AhQh and Givens called with 7h5c. The flop came 8hThJh, giving Klann the nut flush. Klann checked and let Givens do the betting. He called through the 3d turn, then check-raised the 6c river. Givens moved all in, Klann called, and Givens' big stack became a short one. He didn't survive the day.
Look at the line from Givens' seat. On a monotone board, his opponent checks, calls, checks, calls, and then suddenly raises on a blank river. A line that passive for three streets and then aggressive at the very end is almost never a bluff. It's the hand that was happy to let you keep betting.
When a player who has only called all hand suddenly raises the river, they usually are strong. Believe them. Re-bluffing into that line is one of the most expensive mistakes in tournament Poker.
Klann's side of the hand has a lesson too. Against an aggressive player, checking the nuts on a scary board can win more than betting, because it gives your opponent room to bluff. If you want to sharpen your river decisions, start with my free Poker training.
Clip of the Week
▶ WATCH NOW
I Played Poker with Daniel Negreanu, Michael Mizrachi & More
Want to see what the biggest tournament in Canadian history looked like from the inside? My new vlog takes you to Montreal for the WSOP Super Circuit: free food, content creators, and a seat alongside some of the most famous players in the game. Watch the vlog →
And subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next from the road: youtube.com/@LexyGavinPoker