The start of the 2025 season is just days away, and we are looking forward to welcoming you all back to the Pinnacle Poker Club. It looks like we will likely have three tables in action for our Second Annual Season Opener on January 25; in fact, we may end up setting a record for our largest field ever! 

If you haven’t yet decided to join us, we hope you will! Click HERE to let us know that you are coming. 

In the meantime, here are some of the stories we will be keeping an eye on heading into the season. 

Can Thuy, Kara, and Christina repeat their breakout 2024 performances?

Coming into the 2024 season, Thuy, Kara, and Christina were ranked 24th, 18th, and 8th in our all-time PPC Power Rankings. But all three ladies had remarkable runs in 2024, finishing 5th, 3rd, and 1st on the season, and they enter 2025 at #13, #7, and #2 on the updated rankings. 

Thuy made her debut at the PPC in 2023, playing three games and finishing 11th, 12th, and 13th. But she was clearly just warming up because she had her four best PPC finishes last season — taking 2nd, 4th, and 7th in her three regular-season appearances, before finishing 3rd in the 2024 Main Event — all while knocking out 9 opponents. 

Kara, meanwhile, was coming off of a good 2023 season with five final tables in five games. But she stepped it up a level in 2024, picking up her first tournament win to go along with two runner-up finishes and a 5th place finish in 6 games, all while boosting her knockout total from 1 in 2023 to 7 in 2024. 

Christina likewise found a new level of consistency in 2024. Her 2023 season had some bright spots, including a 3rd place finish and 5 knockouts. But her 2024 season was flat-out dominant, beginning with a runner-up finish in our first event and ending with three consecutive wins to close out the regular season as she racked up 16 knockouts!

We will be watching to see if these three continue their rise up the PPC ranks this year. 

Will Kasra and Shealyn rebound from disappointing 2024 seasons?

Coming into the 2024 season, Kasra and Shealyn were ranked #1 and #7, but they both had frustrating seasons in 2024 causing them to slide down the rankings. 

Both players began playing in our home games even before the Pinnacle Poker Club formally began. Indeed, Kasra won two of our earliest games (in 2022) and then finished 3rd in the Player of the Year race in 2023, giving him a huge lead on the rest of the field in the Power Rankings heading into 2024. But he appeared in only 3 games last year, finishing 8th, 10th, and 13th. Those results left him in 20th place on the season, erased his dominant lead in the Power Rankings, and dropped him down to 3rd place all-time. Assuming that the event schedule works out better for the Moayedis this year, we expect Kasra to return to the top of the leaderboards throughout this season.

Shealyn’s 2023 season started slow, but ended strong as she took 5th place in the final regular-season game before finishing 2nd in the Main Event, bringing her to that #7 spot by the end of the year. She seemed poised to ride that momentum to another good season in 2024 when she made the final table in the first game of the year. But she never quite found her groove as she finished 14th in the final two regular-season games and 9th in the 2024 Main Event, leaving her at #17 in the final season rankings. She will now enter the 2025 season ranked 11th as she hopes to rack up some good finishes in the first half of the season before moving to Northern California (where she plans to host her own poker games) when she graduates from UCLA in June. 

Will the schedule work out for Altaf, Jake, Kim, and Lauren to play in enough games to stay in the Player of the Year race?

Several of our best players haven’t finished as high in the standings the past two years, primarily due to scheduling conflicts. For example, Altaf — winner of our first two Main Events — ranked 20th and 21st in our first two POY races because he appeared in only one regular-season game each year.

Similarly, Kim and Jake usually have strong finishes when they can make the long trek up from San Diego, but have only appeared in one or two games per year. Jake won one of our very earliest games, then had a 3rd place finish in 2022, a 7th place finish in 2023, and a 4th place finish in his only game of 2024. Kim has likewise had a strong finish in one game each year: 4th in 2022, 5th in 2023, and 3rd in 2024. 

But it takes more than one strong performance to make it into the hunt for Player of the Year, as Lauren knows all too well. Last year, she got off to a hot start, outlasting 15 other players to win the first game of the season, but she wasn’t able to play in any other events. As a result, she slid down the leaderboard throughout the season, eventually ending up at #8 by the end the year. But her win in the 2024 season opener was no fluke; she has one other tournament win in our games (in 2022), and she finished #9 in our 2023 POY standings on the strength of two final tables, including a 3rd place finish. 

Each of these players is capable of challenging for that Player of the Year award if this season’s schedule works out for them. 

Can Crystal and Matt continue their reign as the PPC’s most prominent power couple after welcoming a new baby in December?

Sitting at #4 and #6 in our all-time Power Rankings, Crystal and Matt have been some of our most consistent and successful players at the PPC — and they are always one of the most entertaining spousal rivalries when they play, thanks in part to their polar opposite playing styles. We congratulate them on the birth of their son last December and hope that they will still be able to make it to at least a few of our games this year. (Baby Tyler will be making his first appearance at the PPC next weekend at our Season Opener. 😀)

Which new players will make their mark on the PPC?

Thirty different players have made at least one appearance at the PPC in the past few years, and we currently have 24 active players. We are excited and grateful for each of you, and the group is still growing. Shealyn’s friend Emma will be joining us for the first time at our Season Opener. After years of playing at our house, Shealyn has started her own poker group at UCLA called the Golden Dragon. And Emma was the winner of the Golden Dragon’s first tournament a couple of months ago, so there may be a new shark in the PPC waters. 

We also have at least six friends from Chris’s college days, from our time at O’Melveny, and from Christina’s time at Alteryx that are hoping to make their first appearance this year, including Chris’s friend Lindsey, who was one of the most consistent winners in the games at USC where Chris first learned to play. 

We will be watching to see if any of these players makes an immediate impact in their first season, like Kasra did in 2022, and like Quang, Cole, and John did in 2023. 

Will Altaf ever bust in a Main Event?

Finally, when we eventually make it to the end of the year, all eyes will be on Altaf to see whether anyone can ever bust him in a Main Event. With back-to-back dominant season-ending wins — starting with the smallest chip stack each time — he has a big target on his back at the end of the season. 

We look forward to welcoming you all to the Pinnacle Poker Club. Get ready to shuffle up and deal!