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WPT Global is running a three-stage online satellite ladder that lets players chase a $1,500 WPT Seoul package from a $1.10 buy-in. The package covers a seat in the KRW 1 billion-guaranteed WPT Seoul Inspire Championship, plus $250 credited for expenses.

The route moves from a $1.10 Step to an $8.80 Satellite and then an $88 Qualifier. Players can also buy into any later stage directly. Each $88 Qualifier guarantees three packages and runs Sundays at 12:05 UTC through Oct. 25, while the lower stages run daily through that date.

The championship seat is for Day 1A on Nov. 5. The main event has a KRW 1.75 million buy-in and runs within the wider WPT Seoul festival at INSPIRE Entertainment Resort in Incheon, scheduled for Oct. 30 to Nov. 9.

As covered in August, the 11-day festival is set to open INSPIRE’s new second-floor entertainment space. INSPIRE sits next to Incheon International Airport.

The first 30 package winners also receive four complimentary hotel nights, although the two reports name different Brown Dot properties for that benefit. PokerNews identifies Brown Dot Hotel Airport New Town, while Somuchpoker’s earlier guide names Brown Dot Hotel Eurwangri and says the stay runs from Nov. 4 through Nov. 8.

All package winners receive access to the VIP Ultra Lounge, WPT Seoul Player Party and event merchandise. Somuchpoker also says winners must complete KYC by Nov. 1 or forfeit the package, and that missing the Oct. 28 hotel-modification deadline can cost a winner the accommodation benefit.

Players must be at least 19 and have a valid passport to register for a player card at INSPIRE. WPT Global does not accept players from the United States.

Despite its WPT branding, the tour’s event page classifies WPT Seoul as a Khartes-presented special event rather than an official World Poker Tour stop. Players therefore will not earn WPT Player-of-the-Year points there.

Michael Barlow won the RunGood Poker Series Golden Expedition Ohio $600 Main Event at Lake Erie Poker Room after the final three players split the money and settled the ring with an unusual nine-card flip.

Barlow, Antonio Ndoja and David Hanna agreed to an even-money chop with three players left. Barlow then persuaded the others to play for the ring, but Hanna declined. Barlow and Ndoja each received nine cards and made their best hand using five community cards; Barlow’s tens full of aces beat Ndoja’s tens full of jacks.

The $600 event drew 360 entries, built a $200,000 prize pool and paid 37 places. As we reported in September, the Lake Erie Golden Expedition had been scheduled around a $200,000-guaranteed Main Event and five starting flights.

RunGood’s official results listed Barlow as the winner for $29,318, with Ndoja and Hanna each receiving $29,316. The near-identical payouts reflect the three-way deal, while the ring went solely to Barlow through the flip.

Ndoja, Barlow and Hanna began the final table as the three biggest stacks, in that order. Ndoja knocked out James Garr in ninth place, Nicholas Lanzi in eighth and Jonathan Tackett in seventh, while Hanna eliminated Patrick Beatrez in fifth. Joffrey Gaetz finished fourth, setting up the eventual three-handed agreement.

The victory was Barlow’s second RunGood title. His first came in the 2024 RGPS Resort Ohio Tag Team event, which he won alongside his brother, Matthew.

Gaetz earned $15,270 for fourth, followed by Beatrez with $11,000 and Joel Brink with $8,645. Tackett took $6,760 for seventh, Lanzi received $5,290 for eighth and Garr collected $4,185 for ninth.

Maxime Parys won the 12,000 MAD Unibet Open Marrakech Main Event at Casino de Marrakech, outlasting an 853-entry field over four days to collect 1.375 million MAD. The tournament generated an 8.845 million MAD prize pool, and Parys also took home the Main Event trophy and Unibet cummerbund.

The win came after Parys had been reduced to five big blinds at the final table. He described the escape as a “second life,” having previously found himself with one or two blinds in tournaments and knowing how to keep building a stack and climbing the payouts.

PokerNews reported that a pivotal all-in came when Parys moved all in with A♥10♥ against Moneyhunter’s 10♠10♣ and hit the 6♥ on the river to complete a flush. Parys later eliminated Redwan Ferman in third place for 670,000 MAD, with both players making quads on a 9♠9♥9♦5♠9♣ board but Parys winning on his ace kicker.

Parys and Benjamin Hammann then struck a heads-up deal that guaranteed each player 1.125 million MAD, while leaving 250,000 MAD, plus the silverware, for the winner. The match ended in the opening hands when Parys called Hammann’s all-in with J♠3♦ against 3♣2♣; the 10♦ river confirmed his victory. Hammann finished second with 1.125 million MAD.

The 1.375 million MAD prize was Parys’ second-largest recorded live cash, according to The Hendon Mob, despite being his first live tournament win apart from a freeroll he won when younger. His recorded live cashes date back to 2014.

Parys’ rail backed him throughout the 11-hour final day. “We did it,” were his first words after winning, and he credited the group for ensuring he was not at the event alone.

The APT Jeju High Roller drew 295 entries and built a prize pool of about $958,000, making it the richest edition of the tournament in Asian Poker Tour history, according to Poker.org. The winner was set to receive about $190,000 and the rose-gold Mega Lion trophy as the field played down to its final few players.

That projected first prize was still below the roughly $196,000 Eric Tsai won in the 2024 Jeju High Roller. The tournament was part of the APT’s 20th-anniversary season.

The 295 figure covers the tournament field, while APT’s official High Roller Day 1 page records 191 entries, 43 survivors and a KRW 825 million prize pool for the event’s Sept. 30 opening day. It also lists a KRW 5 million buy-in and says players contributed 4% of the prize pool toward staffing. The page names Joseph Sanghyon Cheong first, Kunal Patni second and Ka Chun Tsui third in its Day 1 standings.

The High Roller was the third Jeju event of the series to establish a record. The Superstar Challenge attracted 51 entries for a prize pool of about $1.25 million, its largest field and richest edition, while the $2.2K 9-Game High Roller drew 119 entries from 84 unique players and generated about $595,000, setting APT country records for all three measures.

As we reported when APT Jeju opened, the festival is the fourth stop of the tour’s 20th-anniversary season and runs through Oct. 7. More than two dozen tournaments remained after the High Roller report, including three starting flights in the $550 Micro Main Event and the $3K High Roller Ultra Stack, both beginning Monday.

The season-ending APT Championship is scheduled in Taipei from Nov. 13 through Nov. 29, led by a $10,000 freezeout Main Event with a $5 million guarantee and more than 200 other tournaments.

The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments Wednesday, Oct. 7, on whether Ontario can let users of its regulated online gaming market play and bet with people outside Canada. The appeal, Atlantic Lottery Corporation, et al. v. Attorney General of Ontario, will determine whether that model remains lawful under the Criminal Code.

The case is an Ontario civil appeal as of right. It concerns online gaming and sports betting generally, but the practical stakes are especially clear for poker: Ontario’s ring-fenced market has required players to compete only with others located in the province since its April 2022 launch.

As we reported in September, Ontario and Alberta are seeking to preserve the Court of Appeal ruling that opened the door to cross-border peer-to-peer gaming pools.

Pooled liquidity would combine players across jurisdictions at the same cash tables and in the same tournaments. Ontario’s proposal would permit shared games, cash tables and tournament fields with players in other countries, rather than other Canadian provinces. Ontario players remain restricted to provincial player pools unless the Supreme Court permits the plan.

The province referred the question to the Ontario Court of Appeal on Feb. 2, 2024, under the Courts of Justice Act. A Court of Appeal majority concluded in November 2025 that the proposed model would remain lawful under the Criminal Code. Next.io characterized the decision as a 4-1 ruling.

Justice van Rensburg dissented, finding that the Criminal Code exemption in section 207(1)(a) would not apply to Ontario’s involvement in the international-liquidity element. That provision allows a provincial government to conduct and manage a lottery scheme “in that province.”

Atlantic Lottery Corporation, British Columbia Lottery Corporation and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation filed their appeal in December 2025, with Loto-Québec added in April. The lottery corporations argue that the Supreme Court’s 2003 Reference re Earth Future Lottery decision requires provincially licensed lottery schemes to be conducted and managed within provincial geographic boundaries. They also contend that Ontario’s plan would entail cooperation with international operators they say operate unlawfully elsewhere in Canada.

Ontario’s position is that iGaming Ontario would continue to conduct and manage the provincial side of the scheme while contracting with private operators. It argues the territorial restriction prevents provinces from operating in one another’s territory without consent, rather than barring play with users abroad. Ontario also says a regulated international offering could move players away from unlawful sites, reducing exposure to fraud, addiction and other harms while raising public revenue.

Flutter Entertainment, NSUS Group, the Canadian Gaming Association and Alberta are intervening. The appellants and Ontario each have 60 minutes for argument; three industry interveners have 10 minutes apiece, while Alberta has five. The interveners cannot take a position on the appeal’s outcome.

No decision date has been set. Even if the court upholds the Court of Appeal opinion, Ontario would still need a regulatory framework and agreements with international jurisdictions before a licensed poker room could begin pooling players.