Rainer Kempe Wins the $1,100 Caribbean Poker Party Festival MILLIONS Open for $200,000
Rainer Kempe triumphed over a field of 812 entries to win the Caribbean Poker Party Festival $1,100 MILLIONS Open for $200,000. The German high roller with a staggeringly impressive tournament résumé containing over $11,000,000 in live earnings now sits in 9th on the Global Poker Index following this win in beautiful Punta Cana at The Level at Melia Caribe Tropical.
"I'm just happy that everything went as smooth as it did in the end," he said during his winner's interview.
Kempe secured his latest victory after defeating Claudio Di Giacomo heads-up. The Italian player took home $121,500 for his runner-up finish.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | $200,000 |
| 2 | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | $121,500 |
| 3 | Manuel Martinez | Spain | $80,000 |
| 4 | Paul Hockin | New Zealand | $54,000 |
| 5 | Andrei-Lucian Boghean | Romania | $40,000 |
| 6 | Michael Sklenicka | Czech Republic | $30,000 |
| 7 | William Blais | Canada | $22,500 |
| 8 | Vincent Tremblay | Canada | $15,000 |
Although Canadian Vincent Tremblay won a sizeable pot shortly after the official final table was reached when he rivered a wheel against Kiwi grinder Paul Hockin, his good fortune was short-lived. Soon thereafter, Hockin exacted revenge by eliminating Tremblay in eighth place when the two players got stacks in preflop with Hockin holding ace-queen suited and Tremblay holding pocket nines. Tremblay stayed in the lead after the flop fell, but Hockin paired his ace on the turn, and Tremblay found no help on the river. Following Tremblay's elimination, William Blais and Michael Sklenicka were knocked out in seventh and sixth, respectively.
Next to fall was Romanian Andrei-Lucian Boghean, who was eliminated in fifth place by Manuel Martinez when he got all his chips in the middle before the flop holding king-ten offsuit to Martinez's ace-queen suited and Martinez made the nut flush. Hockin's tournament ended when he three-bet jammed ace-three against the eventual champion's opening raise. Kempe called holding ace-nine and Hockin got no help from the board. But it was downhill for Martinez after that, and he was eliminated in third when his king-jack failed to improve against Kempe's king-queen.
Heads-up play between Kempe and Italy's Claudio Di Giacomo lasted over 90 minutes. Di Giacomo began the battle with the chip lead, but the two players were fairly close in chips for the first 45 minutes. However, Di Giacomo's stack grew progressively shorter as Kempe took pot after pot. On the last hand of the tournament, all the chips went in before the flop with Di Giacomo holding king-queen to Kempe's ace-king. Di Giacomo's chances of survival decreased dramatically when an ace hit the flop and both the turn and river were inconsequential.
The atmosphere surrounding the feature table was somewhat subdued, even in the moment Kempe secured his victory. His small but devoted rail included his girlfriend Maria Ho and a woman who appeared to be his mother. The champion seemed to have a beer in hand within seconds of the final card hitting the felt and looked as unfazed by the post-tournament fanfare as one would expect a seasoned mega-crusher with over $11,000,000 in live tournament earnings to be.
Although this event is now in the books, the $5,300 Main Event is presently underway, so be sure to check back for continuing coverage of the Caribbean Poker Party Festival presented by the PokerNews Live Reporting team.