Cyber Security Expert Wins $1.1M In WSOP Super Circuit Canada Main Event

Prior to the start of the World Series of Poker Super Circuit main event, Mayukh Chakraborty had a grand total of two lifetime live tournament cashes, for a grand total of $3,260. After Chakraborty’s victory in this massive WSOP Super Circuit event, that number has grown exponentially.

The Canadian cyber security expert outlasted a field of 2,844 entrants in this $5,000 CAD buy-in tournament, taking home a first-place prize of $1,080,000 USD. (Note: all further payouts will be listed in USD unless otherwise specified) This main event at Playground Poker Club is officially the biggest live poker tournament in Canadian poker history by several measures, generating a total prize pool of $9,150,707.

On his way to a life-changing victory, Chakraborty outlasted a final table with multiple standout players, including four-time WSOP bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Chance Kornuth, and England’s Jack Salter.

“Honestly, it feels absolutely surreal,” Chakraborty told theWSOP’s Jeff Platt following his victory. “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. I’ve had plenty of very memorable days in my life, and this will be definitely one of them. An incredible journey, an incredible experience, and I just feel very lucky, obviously, for how everything worked out.”

A Massive Week For Canadian Poker

The impressive turnout to Playground near Montreal, Quebec, Canada made for a massive prize pool, with the top 428 players earning a share. An impactful shift to the prizes was announced by organizers on day 3. Originally, a top-heavy payout table indicated a first-place prize of $2,000,000 CAD, with almost half of the prize pool allocated to the final table.

WSOP officials announced an altered payout schedule, reducing the first-place prize to $1,500,000 CAD and flattening the payouts all the way down the line. Despite some small measure of controversy, the general excitement surrounding the tournament as it played out was palpable. The remaining field combined on day 3 on Sept. 7, and by the close of action that day only 116 players remained.

There were still three days of poker separating the remaining players from the final table. On day 4, players including Justin Liberto (115th – $10,440), Daniel Negreanu (99th – $10,440), Vanessa Kade (94th – $12,600), Rami Hammoud (93rd – $12,600), Pascal LeFrancois (87th – $12,600), Michael Mizrachi (78th – $15,120), Will Givens (33rd – $36,720), and Fred Normand ($32nd – $36,720) fell.

On day 5, Rayan Chamas (20th – $46,800), Fabian Gumz (18th – $46,800), Nick Palma (16th – $61,457), and WPT champions Jack Hardcastle (23rd – $46,800) and Paul Klann (13th – $72,000) all busted just shy of the final table.

An Historic Final Table

At the final table of the biggest live tournament in Canadian history, the home country was well represented. There were six Canadian players among the final nine, including Chakraborty, who held a narrow lead over Kornuth as the pair significantly outpaced the rest of the field.

Kornuth stepped into the lead thanks to a massive pot early on at the final table. He picked up pocket aces against Robert Renaud’s pocket kings and held, eliminating Renaud in ninth place ($108,000).

CA $1.5 MILLION up top and THIS is how the day starts. 😳

If the rest of the stream is going to be like this… watch out.

🇨🇦 Robert Renaud finishes 9th for CA $150,000.

The CA $10M GTD Main Event Final Table is LIVE NOW on the WSOP YouTube channel.@PlaygroundPoker… pic.twitter.com/tNIpTLIMzb

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) September 10, 2026

Chakraborty picked his own pocket pair of aces shortly thereafter, which beat Deven Lane’s pocket queens to send him out in eighth place ($144,000). Just after the players returned from their first break of the day, Kornuth picked up his second elimination, taking out a short-stacked Parth Mansukh with A♣K♥ holding off Q♦J♣. With Mansukh out in seventh place ($216,000), Chakraborty held a significant chip lead, Kornuth stood alone in second place, and the rest of the pack was left chasing them from the shorter stacks.

The Fall Of Kornuth

While the first three eliminations came quickly, the pace slowed significantly as the day went on. More than two-and-a-half hours passed before the next knockout. Chakraborty picked up pocket aces again, and dispatched Brazilian Felipe Baraky in sixth place ($288,000), despite an action-friendly A♥J♦4♥ flop.

Kornuth picked up more chips of his own with his third elimination of the final table, reducing the field to four. But from that point on, things went sideways for the most accomplished player at this final table. After dropping some chips, Kornuth limped in the small blind with pocket fives, and Chakraborty made a hefty raise from the big blind with pocket jacks. Kornuth jammed for 31 big blinds, and Chakraborty called.

Kornuth picked up a few additional outs to a straight on the turn, but his pair of fives ultimately did not improve. He settled for fourth place ($432,000) just over a week removed from making simultaneous final-tables in both Venom events online.

Salter, who started the final table as one of the shorter stacks, had laddered up nicely. At this point though, he was working with just over 10 big blinds. He chipped up significantly over an extended three-handed session that lasted nearly four hours in real time. Salter then found a chance to double into true contention, opening and then calling a three-bet all-in from Chakraborty with pocket tens. Chakraborty was behind with A♣8♥.

Three players left in the Main Event. CA $1.5 MILLION up top. And THIS pot is for the chip lead.

🇬🇧 Jack Salter finishes in 3rd place for CA $750,000.

The CA $10M GTD Main Event heads-up match is LIVE NOW on the WSOP YouTube channel.@PlaygroundPoker pic.twitter.com/wOnefrYPZG

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) September 11, 2026

The 5♠4♠3♦ flop gave Chakraborty outs to a wheel, but the Q♠ turn took them away, courtesy of a spade flush draw for Salter. The 2♥ completed Charkaborty’s wheel, and Salter was out in third place ($540,000). Salter, who has had multiple close calls for WSOP bracelets and European Poker Tour titles, secured the third-largest live tournament result of his career.

Chakraborty Closes It Out

Heads-up play pitted Chakraborty against fellow Canadian Benjamin Veenstra, which meant the title was guaranteed to remain on home soil. Veenstra had ten times the live tournament earnings of Chakraborty heading into their match, but $32,262 compared to the well over $1 million that was on the line still paled by comparison.

Chakraborty’s lead was nearly 4:1 at the start of heads-up play. Veenstra closed the gap to less than 2:1, but then Chakraborty pulled away for good. On the final hand, Veenstra, who had just over 10 big blinds remaining in his stack, shoved with K♠8♦. Chakraborty thought over his decision, and eventually called with J♥10♦.

Veenstra is at risk and only a slight favorite to survive this high-card flip.

🇨🇦 Benjamin Veenstra finishes runner-up in the Main Event for CA $1,000,000.@PlaygroundPoker pic.twitter.com/Ld0Igze4Yv

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) September 11, 2026

The Q♠7♦3♠ flop was clean for Veenstra, but the J♣ turn changed everything. The river was the 7♠, and Chakraborty secured the victory. Veenstra also earned a career-best result by a great margin, locking up $720,000 as the second-place finisher.

For his win, Chakraborty earned 2,400 Card Player Player of the Year points. This result alone was enough to elevate him to 129th place in the yearlong POY race presented by CoinPoker.

Final Table Results

Photo Credit: Playground Casino