Some of the biggest names in poker get back to the Atlantis poker room today for the final table of the $100,000 Super High Roller.
Leading the 7 remaining players, who are all in the money after Erik Seidel bubbled late last night, is Argentinain wunderkind Iván "Negrin" Lucá. Right on his heels is Justin "Zeejustin" Bonomo who's been around for well over a decade at the highest stakes of games.
The player in third needs no introduction as he's arguably the world's most famous poker player. PokerStars Team Pro Daniel Negreanu busted as one of the first on Day 1 but bought back in and fared much better on his second bullet. Negreanu brings a stack just shy of 50 big blinds to the table.
Like Bonomo, Isaac Haxton has been around at the highest stakes for an eternity as well. After years of dominating the big cash games online, he's been more and more focused on tournaments. High Roller regulars Sam Greenwood, Bryn Kenney, and PokerGO owner Cary Katz complete the 7-handed final table line-up and have their work cut out for them.
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Ivan Luca
Argentina
2,760,000
55
2
Isaac Haxton
United States
1,095,000
22
3
Sam Greenwood
Canada
695,000
14
4
Bryn Kenney
United States
1,485,000
30
5
Cary Katz
United States
855,000
17
6
Daniel Negreanu
Canada
2,415,000
48
7
Justin Bonomo
United States
2,695,000
54
Cards will be pitched again at 3:30 pm local time with blinds at 25,000 and 50,000 - ante 5,000. Coverage of this event will be on a 30-minute delay with hole cards up.
Hand 6: Ivan Luca opened for 110,000 with but folded to Sam Greenwood's 805,000 shove with .
Hand 7: Isaac Haxton opened under the gun plus one for 110,000 with . In the hijack, Sam Greenwood called with . Daniel Negreanu, in the small blind, had the same hand as Haxton and squeezed to 450,000 with .
The big blind folded and Haxton asked how much Negreanu had behind. When he found out it was 2.1 million behind, he called. Action was now on Greenwood and he started counting his chips. He used a time bank card before he let it go.
Negreanu was first to act and bet 275,000 into 1,095,000 on . Haxton let it go.
Hand 8: Action folded to Justin Bonomo in the small blind and he limped in with . Ivan Luca in the big blind with shoved all in. Bonomo folded right away.
Hand 9: We missed this hand because of a segment on the stream. Isaac Haxton in the big blind won the hand with .
Hand 10: Bryn Kenney opened for 110,000 with under the gun. Action folded around to Sam Greenwood in the big blind and he woke up with . With a stack of just 895,000, Greenwood moved in. Kenney wasted no time calling.
The board ran out and Greenwood shook hands with Kenney before exiting the tournament room.
Greenwood takes home almost $250,000, the remaining six players are guaranteed $307,940 from here on out.
Hand 45: Action folded to Ivan Luca in the small blind and he shoved all in with . Isaac Haxton had a decision in the big blind with and eventually called for 1,410,000 total.
The flop came giving Haxton a gutshot. The on the turn, however, did nothing and neither did the on the river.
"Ok," Haxton said while getting up from the table.
Haxton shook hands with the rest of the players while they went on their first break of the day.
The remaining 5 players are guaranteed $402,700 from here on out.
Hand 46: Coming back from the break, Ivan Luca raised to 210,000 on the button with the and Bryn Kenney, who was in the big blind, called with the . The flop saw Kenney check an Luca continue for 140,000.
Kenney made the call and then checked the turn. Luca bet again, this time 200,000, but he couldn't shake Kenney. When the completed the board on the river, Kenney checked for a third time and Luca bet 425,000. Kenney called and reclaimed the chip lead.
Hand 47: Luca raised to 175,000 with the on the cutoff (dead button from Haxton's bustout) and Kenney looked down at the in the small blind. He three-bet to 635,000 and Luca used a time extension before four-betting all in for 3.095 million. Kenney snap-called.
Luca, who started the day as the chip leader, needed some major help; in fact, he had just a 23% chance of winning and a 5% of chopping. The flop was no help, and neither was the turn. He needed a jack and a jack only on the river, but it was not meant to be as the bricked.
Hand 54: Daniel Negreanu moved all in for 185,000 from the button with the and Justin Bonomo called from the small blind with the , Bryn Kenney came along from the big with the and both active players checked the flop.
They did the same on the turn and river, and Negreanu tripled to 595,000.
Hand 55: Negreanu moved all in for 585,000 under the gun with the and Kenney called with the in the small blind. Negreanu was a 4-1 dog with just a 20% chance of surviving.
The flop paired his ten, but he needed another ten to stay alive. He had a 9% chance of hitting it, and he did on the turn! The river improved Negreanu to quads and he doubled to 1.29.
Hand 56: Bryn Kenney found another big hand, this time shoving on the button. The big blind, Daniel Negreanu, called instantly with .
The flop came hitting Negreanu. The on the turn gave enney a gutshot but the on the river wasn't the card he was looking for.
Hand 75: As Justin Bonomo and Bryn Kenney folded, Cary Katz shoved with from the small blind. Daniel Negreanu called from the big blind for 405,000 with saying "I can beat that."
The flop came which didn't do much for either.
The on the turn, however, gave Katz a flush draw.
With the on the river, Negreanu doubled.
Hand 76: Bryn Kenney raised to 210,000 with first to act. Small blind Daniel Negreanu shoved for 840,000 in the small blind with .
In the big blind, Justin Bonomo woke up with and contemplated what to do for some time. He shoved all in over the top and Kenney folded right away.
"He flashed an ace, that's good for me!" Negreanu said having seen Kenney's ace.
The flop still came , and Bonomo jumped into the lead.
The on the turn and on the river were blanks and all of Negreanu's remarkable comeback was for nothing, he finished in 4th place for just over half a million dollars. The remaining three players are guaranteed $686,960.
Hand 122: Bryn Kenney raised to 275,000 with the in the small blind and Cary Katz folded from the big.
Hand 123: Kenney raised to 275,000 with the on the button and Katz three-bet to 600,000 with the in the small blind. Kenney called, the flop came down , and Katz continued for 775,000.
Kenney, who flopped the best hand, made the call and the dealer burned and turned the . Katz moved all in for 2.395 million and Kenney thought long and hard before releasing his hand.
Hand 124: Justin Bonomo picked up the in the small blind and moved all in. Kenney, who had the in the big blind, took his time before calling off for 2.84 million.
Kenney was ahead, but even so was only a 55% favorite to win the hand. The flop gave Bonomo the lead, but Kenney did pick up a gutshot.
The turn took way his king, and the river sent Kenney out the door in third place.
Hand 129: Justin Bonomo raised to 250,000 with the and Cary Katz three-bet to 820,000 with the in the big blind. Bonomo folded.
Hand 130: Katz limped with the and Bonomo checked his option with the . The flop saw Katz lead out for 300,000 and Bonomo folded.
Hand 131: Bonomo moved all in for 3.3 million holding the and Katz quickly called with the . It was a flip, and Katz was looking to hold for the win.
The flop made Katz a 74% favorite, and that increased to 86% on the turn. Bonomo was looking for an ace or king, but it was not meant to be as the blanked on the river.
The eighth edition of the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $100,000 Super High Roller concluded on Monday night, and self-proclaimed recreational player Cary Katz prevailed over a 48-entry field to win the $1,492,340 first-place prize.
Prior to the win, Katz had $12,205,909 in live tournament earnings including a career-best $1,929,203 for finishing fifth in the 2016 Big One for One Drop. While he’s taken down plenty of ARIA Super High Rollers, a series he started, this win marked his first major victory outside Las Vegas.
Katz’s win was an epic come-from-behind affair. He didn’t even play Day 1 of the tournament, instead opting to late register right before the start of play on Day 2, and spent much of the final table as the short stack.
Meanwhile, all eyes were on Bryn Kenney on becoming a two-time champ. At one point, Kenney, who in 2016 topped a field of 58 entries to win the same event for $1,687,800, held a massive chip lead four-handed.
Surprisingly, he busted in third place for $686,960, which marked his fifth PCA $100K SHR cash in eight events. That now includes three third-place finishes. The $4,166,700 Kenney has won throughout the history of this tournament marks approximately 20% of his now $21,100,543 in lifetime earnings.
Kenney is coming off the best year of his career where he won $8,505,897 million playing tournaments, more than any other player in the world. That included winning $1.75 million in last year’s PokerStars Championship Bahamas. If there’s such a thing as home-field advantage in poker, Kenney has certainly seemed to find it here on Paradise Island.
Place
Player
County
Prize
1st
Cary Katz
USA
$1,492,340
2nd
Justin Bonomo
USA
$1,077,800
3rd
Bryn Kenney
USA
$686,960
4th
Daniel Negreanu
Canada
$521,140
5th
Ivan Luca
Argentina
$402,700
6th
Ike Haxton
USA
$307,940
7th
Sam Greenwood
Canada
$248,720
Kenney got to work on just Hand #10 of the final table when he raised with two red aces. The short-stacked Sam Greenwood woke up with two black kings in the big blind, moved all in, and busted after Kenney called.
Not long after, Kenney claimed the chip lead, which he would swap back and forth with Argentina’s Ivan Luca. On Hand #45, Luca was in the small blind and moved all in with the ace-four and got Ike Haxton to call off for 1.41 million in the big with the queen-jack suited. The board ran brought neither player a pair and Luca’s ace-high was good enough to send Haxton to the rail.
There was a break after that hand, and Luca went into it with the chip lead. Two hands back from break, he was out in fifth place.
In the first hand, he lost nearly a million in chips to Kenney in a failed bluff. In the next hand, he got it in with ace-jack to the ace-king of Kenney in a four-bet pot and he wouldn't find a suck out on the flop, turn, or river.
From there, Daniel Negreanu was knocked down to just two big blinds after getting rivered by Bonomo. Amazingly, he spun that up to 33 bbs in three hands – the result of first tripling up and then hitting back-to-back doubles. Unfortunately, momentum soon escaped “Kid Poker.”
Negreanu was cut back down to size after losing a race with ace-queen to Justin Bonomo’s sixes, and he fell a short time later. It happened when he got it in with pocket kings against Bonomo’s ace-jack. An ace hit the flop and that was all she wrote for Negreanu.
Kenney held the chip lead for most of three-handed play, but eventually, the blinds got big. That is when his fortune flipped. It was also this point that Katz came on strong, going from the short stack to even things up.
Kenney eventually fell to the short stack and opted to call off from the big blind with the king-nine after Bonomo had shoved the small with the queen-ten. Bonomo paired his ten on the flop, and it held to send Kenney home in third place.
Katz and Bonomo began heads-up play fairly even in chips, and it didn’t take long for things to heat up. Long story short, Katz held the seven-four and Bonomo ace-nine on a board reading three sevens and an ace and five. A 5.11 million pot went to Katz with quads, and he pulled out to a more than 2-1 chip lead.
Three hands later, it was all over. Bonomo shoved with Big Slick and Katz called with pocket eights. The snowmen held in the race and Bonomo had to settle for second place. The silver lining was that he earned seven figures to help ease the pain.
“I feel good, it's a great way to start the year,” Bonomo said after his elimination. “I think I made one or two very small mistakes, so otherwise I'm really happy with how I played. It's gonna be a really big year with lots of high buy-ins.”