Vaughan’s Adil Morkos Finishes Runner-Up for CA$124,000 at MSPT Canadian Poker Championship as Caledon’s Benjamin Chen Wins High Roller; Montreal’s Samuel Chartier Takes Title

Two Ontario players finished at the top of the second MSPT Canadian Poker Championship at Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake, Que. Adil Morkos of Vaughan finished runner-up in the CA$1,150 Main Event for CA$124,000, and Benjamin Chen of Caledon won the CA$2,200 Mega Stack High Roller for CA$50,000. The title went to Montreal’s Samuel Chartier, who beat a field of 809 entries for CA$175,000, according to CanadianPoker.com.

The festival ran from October 1 to 12. Canadian players won most of its titles, and players from Quebec and Ontario took several side events as well as the Main Event podium.

Morkos Falls One Place Short

The Main Event drew 809 entries across four starting flights, and 91 players returned for the combined Day 2. Pascal Gregoire led the field with 1,183,000 chips, just ahead of Guillaume Charbonneau on 1,172,000. Chartier came through from Day 1B with only 271,000.

Chartier climbed from there to take the trophy. Morkos earned CA$124,000 for second. Mohamed Kechiche, also of Montreal, finished third for CA$80,150. Gregoire, the Day 2 chip leader, finished 10th.

Chartier is no newcomer. He has more than US$3.4 million in live tournament earnings, and in July he won a CA$2,500 Mega Stack High Roller at the same venue for CA$51,020. First place also came with a CA$3,500 seat in the MSPT Championship.

Chen Takes the High Roller

Ontario’s biggest win of the series came before the Main Event’s final weekend. Chen topped a 79-entry field in the CA$2,200 Mega Stack High Roller, the second-largest buy-in on the schedule, to collect CA$50,000 and his first MSPT Gold Card. Santiago Plante finished second for CA$32,000 and Boyd Donald O’Neill third for CA$21,000. Chartier made that final table too, finishing seventh for CA$6,500.

The festival opener, a CA$300 Mega Stack, produced the biggest field: 1,080 entries. Tomas Larivee Magni of Notre-Dame-de-Grace won it for CA$42,000.

A Smaller Field Than Last Year

The Main Event field was well below the inaugural edition. In October 2025, the first MSPT championship held outside the United States drew 1,057 entries for a CA$1,055,000 prize pool, according to PokerNews. That event was won by Toronto’s Jinrong Zhang for CA$165,000, and the CA$2,200 High Roller went to Senthuran Vijayaratnam, also of Toronto, from 104 entries. This year’s 809 entries mark a drop of about 23 per cent, and the High Roller fell from 104 to 79.

The autumn calendar was crowded. Playground hosted the WSOP Super Circuit Canada from late August to mid-September, which drew 2,844 entries to its Main Event, and the WSOP Circuit stop at Deerfoot Inn & Casino in Calgary overlapped with the MSPT festival. The Calgary Main Event drew 850 entries, down from 910 a year earlier. Whether the crowded schedule explains the smaller fields is not clear from the results alone.

Why Ontario Players Travel

Playground, about six hours from Toronto by road, has become the closest major tournament venue for many Ontario players. Ontario residents took the 2025 MSPT title and High Roller there, and Toronto’s Mayukh Chakraborty won the WSOP Super Circuit Canada Main Event at the venue in September, as we reported at the time. Our guide to Playground Poker Club covers the venue. The next WSOP Circuit stop there is set for November, and GGPoker has announced online qualifiers for it.

For players who stay home, the province’s own card rooms remain open. Our guide to live poker in Ontario lists the main rooms and series.

Results are from CanadianPoker.com (Samantha Doyle, October 15, 2026), which cites MSPT listings, and 2025 results from PokerNews and MSPT. The illustration is AI-generated for editorial purposes. Online poker in Ontario is limited to players aged 19 or over who are physically located in the province. Free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day from ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600.