John Dibella Wins the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event

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Live Reporter
3 min read
John Dibella

After seven days of tournament-poker action, a winner was crowned in the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. John Dibella, who began the final table fifth in chips, emerged victorious.

Ruben Visser started the table fourth in chips, but had what he called the worst seat at the table. With the big stacks on his left and the short stacks on his right, Visser wasn't in the ideal position and he was the first to fall. He lost a good portion of his stack when Mark Drover moved all-in with AQ for about nine big blinds. Visser called from the big blind with AJ and although he flopped a flush draw, his hand never improved. He bowed out soon after when his 66 lost a race to Kyle Julius' AQ when a queen hit the flop.

David Bernstein exited next when he three-bet shoved 44 into Dibella's AA and he was soon followed out the door by Anthony Gregg. Entering the final table as the short stack, the 2009 PCA Main Event runner-up fought hard, but ran A10 into Xuan Liu's AQ. Gregg picked up a flush draw on the turn, but did not connect and finished in sixth place.

Mark Drover, at one point during the early stages of the final table, had a mere three big blinds left in his stack. However, four double-ups brought him back in the game before ultimately busting in fifth place. With KJ, Drover's three-bet shove was met by a call from Faraz Jaka who tabled 66. No help came for Drover and four players remained heading into the dinner break.

The first hand back from dinner was Xuan Liu's last. She moved in on the button with A7 and was called by Jaka in the big blind with A6. A cruel A6352 board sealed Liu's fate as the fourth-place finisher.

Jaka and Julius traded turns as the chip leader during three-handed play before the two tangled in a game-changing hand. A preflop raising war between Jaka and Julius ensued, culminating with Jaka five-bet shoving KJ into Julius' AK. An AK798 flop locked up the double for Julius.

Jaka doubled on the following hand, but soon thereafter, a huge turning point occurred that gave John Dibella the chip lead. Jaka opened the pot with a raise on the button holding 66. Dibella, in the small blind, three-bet with 77. Julius woke up with AA in the big blind and smooth-called. With the feeling he was beat, Jaka ducked out of the way and allowed his two opponents to see an 873 flop. Dibella check-called with his set before filling up on the turn when the 8 fell. A check-raise jam from Dibella got both players' chips into the pot and Julius did not catch up on the river.

Jaka hit the rail shortly thereafter when his AJ fell to Julius' K10 after the board ran out K6210A.

Dibella began heads-up play with 18,585,000 to Julius' 13,105,000, and did not relinquish that lead. He finished it off when Julius bluff-raised the river of an AQ3810 with 96. Unfortunately for him, Dibella rivered a flush with 65.

With this win, Dibella, a 43-year-old stock trader from Westcherster County in New York, demolished his previous largest cash, a 60th-place finish in the 2008 PCA Main Event worth $16,000.

Final Table Payouts

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
*1John DibellaUSA$1,775,000
*2Kyle JuliusUSA$1,500,000
3Faraz JakaUSA$755,000
4Xuan LiuCanada$600,000
5Mark DroverCanada$468,000
6Anthony GreggUSA$364,000
7David BernsteinCanada$260,000
8Ruben VisserThe Netherlands$156,600

*denotes heads-up deal leaving $275,000 to the winner

Although PokerNews' coverage of the PCA Main Event has concluded, we'll be back with the PCA High Roller Final Table Saturday. Check out our Live Reporting pages for all of the action.

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