In 2009, Canadian Will Molson was the runner-up to Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier in the $25,000 buy-in High Roller Event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). In 2010, he once again played second fiddle in the prestigious tournament, this time to William Reynolds. Over the weekend, Molson finally broke through and took down the High Roller Event for over $1 million.
Molson’s win in the 151-player tournament boosted his lifetime earnings from the High Roller Event to over $1.5 million. Twelve players turned out for Sunday’s conclusion to the contest and two heavy-hitters were lost almost immediately, Matt Affleck and Tom Marchese, the latter of whom was the 2010 CardPlayer Player of the Year. World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine Bubble Boy Brandon Steven was then ousted in 10th place and Shander de Vries followed him out the door in ninth to set up the official eight-handed final table.
PokerStars pro Jason Mercier landed in eighth place for $129,000 after shoving pre-flop with Q-6. Govert Metaal called, tabled pocket sevens, and no queen came on the board to give Mercier the win. Leo Fernandez ousted poker pro Matt Marafioti in seventh place shortly thereafter with pocket eights against A-Q. The board came 5-7-2-6-8 and Marafioti came up short, but banked $166,000 for his run.
Bracelet winner David “Bakes” Baker hit the skids in sixth place. He open-shoved before the flop with pocket fours and Fernandez looked him up with A-Q to set up a race. The flop of 3-K-J kept Baker in the lead, but Fernandez spiked a queen on the turn to pull ahead for good. Baker earned just over $200,000.
Metaal ran A-3 into pocket jacks on his final hand of the PCA High Roller Event to bust in fifth place for $240,000. Prior to his departure, he had tripled up and then promptly doubled up to stay alive.
Recent Poker Hall of Fame inductee and Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel hit the rails in fourth place for $295,000. Seidel also came out on the short end of a race to end his High Roller hopes. Who says Full Tilt pros don’t participate in PokerStars tournaments anyway? Seidel is a card-carrying member of Team Full Tilt and has eight WSOP bracelets, tied for fifth most all-time.
Max Lykov ran pocket sixes into Molson’s pocket 10s on his final hand to set up heads-up play between Molson and Fernandez. Molson held a 3:1 edge in chips at the onset, but doubled up Fernandez three hands in when Fernandez shoved with ducks and Molson called with K-Q. A queen hit on the flop, but Fernandez made a set on the turn and the river was a blank.
On the final hand of the poker tournament, Fernandez shoved with J-2 and Molson looked him up with A-5. The Canadian flopped a five and never looked back, breaking his two-year second place curse and earning over $1 million:
1: William Molson – $1,072,850
2: Leo Fernandez – $554,925
3: Max Lykov – $369,490
4: Erik Seidel – $295,960
5: Govert Metaal – $240,470
6: David “Bakes” Baker – $203,475
7: Matt Marafioti – $166,480
8: Jason Mercier – $129,480
Visit PokerStars for more info on the 2011 PCA, whose final tables in the High Roller Event and $5,000 Bounty Shootout on Sunday drew the festivities to a close.