With so many massive events taking place concurrently at the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, there simply is no way all of the tournaments can get their time under the spotlight of the live stream. As a result, several huge events have taken place away from the fanfare and the featured tables in the past week, including three single-day high roller events that awarded over $4.2 million in combined prize money.
The first event that might have flown under the radar was a $25,000 buy-in single day high roller. The tournament drew a total of 75 entries, creating a prize pool of $1,800,750. Play was halted with two players remaining late on Tuesday, Jan. 8., with Sean Winter and David Peters still in contention. The two agreed to postpone playing out the event until a later date, in order to allow them to compete in several super high roller events that were taking place over the days that followed. The two resumed play on Friday, Jan. 11. It took only three hands for Winter to vanquish Peters, securing the title and the top prize of $495,210.
The PCA hosted two $50,000 single-day high rollers, with the first being won by Rainer Kempe last week. The second $50,000 buy-in single day high roller of the series took place on Jan. 12. It attracted 26 entries to grow the prize pool to $1,274,130. Tim Adams emerged victorious in that event after striking a deal heads-up with Stephen Chidwick. The two agreed to lock up $423,822 for Chidiwck and $350,978 for Adams based on their stack sizes at the time of the deal, leaving $21,530 and the title to play for.
Adams and Chidwick also agreed to play out the rest of the tournament with jokers added into the deck. The final hand of the tournament saw Chidwick get all-in with the ASpade SuitJDiamond Suit against Adam’s Qd and a joker. The ASpade Suit6Spade Suit4Club SuitQHeart Suit7Heart Suit runout gave Adams a set of queens, earning him the title and a final payout of $372,508.
A second $25,000 single-day high roller was held on Sunday, Jan. 13. A 47-entry turnout built a prize pool of $1,128,470. In the end, it was Justin Bonomo who came out on top to secure the $383,650 top prize. While this is a great start to the year, it will be hard for Bonomo to top his performance in 2018. Last year he set the record for money earned in a calendar year by cashing for $25.3 million.
Bonomo now has just shy of $44 million in lifetime earnings, making him the leader on poker’s all-time money list with more than a $5.3 million lead on his nearest competition in Daniel Negreanu ($38,663,630).
Here is a look at the payouts and Card Player Player of the Year points awarded in these three events:
PCA $25,000 Single-Day High Roller 1
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | Sean Winter | $495,210 | 588 |
2 | David Peters | $352,040 | 490 |
3 | Jack Salter | $230,500 | 392 |
4 | Rainer Kempe | $177,380 | 294 |
5 | Ivan Luca | $140,460 | 245 |
6 | Steve O’Dwyer | $109,840 | 196 |
7 | Stanley Choi | $86,440 | 147 |
8 | Igor Kurganov | $67,520 | 98 |
9 | Byron Kaverman | $51,320 | 0 |
10 | Erik Seidel | $45,020 | 0 |
11 | Alex Foxen | $45,020 | 0 |
PCA $50,000 Single-Day High Roller 2
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | Tim Adams | $372,508 | 306 |
2 | Stephen Chidwick | $423,822 | 255 |
3 | Alex Foxen | $207,040 | 204 |
4 | Justin Bonomo | $149,720 | 153 |
5 | Igor Kurganov | $121,040 | 128 |
PCA $25,000 Single-Day High Roller 2
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | Justin Bonomo | $383,650 | 420 |
2 | Jesus Cortes | $265,200 | 350 |
3 | Steffen Sontheimer | $169,280 | 280 |
4 | Igor Kurganov | $129,780 | 210 |
5 | Nick Petrangelo | $101,560 | 175 |
6 | David Peters | $79,000 | 140 |
Source: cardplayer.com