The 2015 European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure rolled along on Thursday, with the champion determined in the $100,000 Super High Roller tournament as the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) Bahamas and PCA Main Events both came to the felt.
$100,000 Super High Roller
Continuing what has been a great run for him of late, Steve O’Dwyer was able to overcome a difficult final table on his way to the PCA Super High Roller championship.
Seven men came back to the tables on Thursday looking to decide who would walk off with the lion’s share of the more than $6 million prize pool. Sorel Mizzi was the favorite for that feat, sitting on a 4.8 million chip stack, while O’Dwyer (2.925 million) lurked in third place at the start of action. Roger Sippi (3.255 million), Bryn Kenney (2.41 million), Christoph Vogelsang (1.54 million), Andrew Robl (1.37 million) and Day 1 leader Sam Greenwood (705K) rounded out the table as the cards hit the air.
Everyone thought that the short-stacked Greenwood would be the first to go, but it was actually Robl who found his way to the rail first. All in on the turn with top pair over Kenney’s flush draw and over cards, Robl couldn’t dodge the completing flush card on the river and headed to the exits in seventh place. Glad to have moved up a spot, Greenwood would depart next in sixth at the hands of Vogelsang after Greenwood’s pocket sixes ran into Vogelsang’s pocket nines.
With five players remaining, Kenney had snatched the lead from Mizzi and he continued to extend it by taking some chips off of O’Dwyer. He and Sippi began to move away from the pack, becoming the first two players to crash the four million chip mark. Vogelsang, meanwhile, couldn’t continue his run after eliminating Greenwood as he would end the tournament in fifth place after Vogelsang’s pocket tens couldn’t dodge the river against Sippi’s A-Q off suit.
O’Dwyer found himself at the bottom of the ladder four-handed and it got worse for him after Kenney dropped Mizzi from the tournament in fourth place after Kenney hit runner-runner for a straight to eclipse Mizzi’s pocket deuces. O’Dwyer hit quad Aces (and was paid decently) against Sippi, however, to tighten up the standings. It was another clash soon after the quads that would set O’Dwyer up for the victory, however.
After an O’Dwyer raise out of the small blind, Sippi three-bet the pot to 650K from the big blind only to be met with a four-bet from O’Dwyer. Sippi moved all-in and was immediately called by O’Dwyer, putting his tournament life on the line. It proved to be a massive cooler for Sippi; his pocket Queens were dominated by O’Dwyer’s pocket Kings and, after the board came Jack high, O’Dwyer got a huge double to catapult into the lead.
Those two men would continue to joust as Kenney slid down the leaderboard. The end of Kenney’s day would come against O’Dwyer as, after an all-in from Kenney, O’Dwyer made the call and was in the lead with pocket tens over Kenney’s K♠ Q♠. O’Dwyer would fade Kenney’s six outs on the 4-2-7-A-A board (one spade), sitting on over 11 million chips as he went to heads-up play against Sippi (4.695 million).
With such a chip disparity, it was O’Dwyer’s tournament to take and he seized it. He never let Sippi back into the event, finishing it off by making the call against an all-in Sippi on a Q-8-8-2-3 board. After pondering the situation for several minutes, O’Dwyer would eventually make the call and show just an A-10 off suit for Ace high; it would prove to be good, however, as Sippi could only muster a J-10 off suit for Queen high, earning the championship for O’Dwyer.
1. Steve O’Dwyer, $1,872,580
2. Roger Sippi, $1,344,420
3. Bryn Kenney, $873,880
4. Sorel Mizzi, $659,400
5. Christoph Vogelsang, $512,160
6. Sam Greenwood, $396,920
7. Andrew Robl, $313,700
8. Scott Seiver, $243,820*
9. Jake Schindler, $185,660*
10. David Peters, $0*
(* – eliminated on Wednesday)
$10,000 PCA Main Event – Day 1A and $3000 LAPT Bahamas Main Event – Day 2
Day 1A of the PCA Main Event was quite popular for the players at Paradise Island in the Bahamas. 220 players stepped to the line for the start of action but, by the end of the night, only 139 of those players would remain.
Atop those 139 survivors is Alex Millar who, to this point, is more known for his high-stakes poker play than his tournament success. With his 169,100 in chips, though, he should make a deep run in this tournament. Millar faces a formidable task ahead of him as such notable names as Dani Stern (145,200), Owen Crowe (121,000), 2012 World Series of Poker (and Japan’s only) bracelet winner Naoya Kihara (108,100) and former World Champion Chris Moneymaker (97,200) are all arranged in the Top Ten at this time.
Today’s Day 1B will determine what the final field numbers are going to be (and it is expected to be a big one) as well as the total prize pool for the event.
In the LAPT Bahamas Main Event, eleven players are remaining with a shot at the championship. Josh Kay and his 2.541 million in chips will lead the players as a champion is determined on Friday. He does face some serious challenges, though, as former PCA champions Galen Hall and Dimitar Danchev, Martin Finger and others are looking to take him down.
1. Josh Kay, 2.541 million
2. Jose Carlos Garcia, 2.377 million
3. Dimitar Danchev, 2.168 million
4. Mustafa Kanit, 1.881 million
5. Stefan Jedlicka, 1.568 million
6. Martin Finger, 1.226 million
7. Galen Hall, 875,000
8. Taylor Paur, 800,000
9. Jonathan Borenstein, 487,000
10. Aaron Massey, 400,000
11. Kyle Frey, 372,000
The eventual champion of the LAPT Bahamas Main Event will walk away with the spoils of war, including the LAPT trophy and a payday of $367,928.
This weekend promises to be a hectic one in the Bahamas. Along with the PCA Main Event’s second Day One and the LAPT final table, other side events will be drawing significant action as the 2015 EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure rolls along.
