PCA Retrospective: First Year Sees Katchalov Defeat Negreanu in $100K
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We can still remember how we felt when it was announced that the 2011 edition of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure would feature a mammoth $100,000 buy-in poker tournament. Estimations quickly made ways around the PokerNews offices as to how many entries the event would get and who would show up, but none of that chatter had us prepared for the buzzing feeling that ran through our veins while walking the floor of the event as the first cards were pitched in the air.
For the players, this was a six-figure buy-in event and some were, without question, overextending themselves by taking a shot. For the media, we all knew the same — this was a six-figure buy-in event and some of these players were without question overextending themselves by taking a shot.
The first few hands of the event were played in almost complete silence, but the tension broke just 30 minutes into play when Dutch player [Removed:39] hit the rail in spectacular fashion. For Berendsen, his $100,000 ticket saw him wake up to pocket kings halfway through the first level of the day. Each player began with 250,000 in chips and a stack of 250 big blinds. That didn't stop Berendsen from getting every last one of those chips into the middle against Nick Schulman. Unfortunately for Berendsen, Schulman woke up to a brighter sunrise that day in the Bahamas, as he held pocket aces. Berendsen couldn't improve and was the first player sent packing.
"Seat open!" was the cry from the voice of Daniel Negreanu at the table, which prompted plenty of jaw dropping and chatter from around the room.
As the day wore on, 38 players entered the competition. Day 1 finished with 23 left and German Tobias Reinkemeier in the lead.
With a prize pool of $3.743 million up for grabs, the grind to the final table on Day 2 was exactly that, a grind. Following the completion of Day 2, the field had been cut down to just seven, and it was Schulman leading the pack. Only the top five spots were set to reach the money, meaning two unfortunate players would go home with nothing to show for their efforts come Day 3.
Andrew Lichtenberger was the first player to go on Day 3, and his elimination set up the bubble. Then, the richest person in Hungary and 1980 TIME Magazine Man of the Year, Sandor Demjan, busted in sixth place to Eugene Katchalov.
With everyone then in the money, Humberto Brenes hit the rail in fifth place for $200,000, Schulman fell in fourth for $400,000, and Bryn Kenney was knocked out in third for $643,000. That set up a near-even heads-up duel between Katchalov and Negreanu, and it didn't take long for Katchalov to pull away.
A couple big pots for Katchalov gave him a sizable lead, but then Negreanu doubled back to give himself additional life. Even so, Katchalov took a chip lead of nearly 4-1 into the dinner break. Upon their return, Katchalov didn't stop the charge and soon finished off his opponent to earn the $1.5 million top prize and the inaugural PCA $100,000 Super High Roller title. Negreanu scored an even $1 million for his runner-up finish.
The $100,000 Super High Roller in running for the sixth time at PCA. If you enjoyed this look back in time at a prior year of the event, click here to read about the other years from our PCA retrospective series.