Timothy Adams Wins the $50,000 Single-Day High Roller for $372,508 With A Joker
After a hectic day of seat changes and all-ins and calls, Timothy Adams was crowned the winner of the $50,000 Single-Day High Roller at the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Atlantis Resort.
Adams defeated Stephen Chidwick heads-up to take home $372,508 and the famous PokerStars spade.
The tournament attracted 26 entries, including eight reentries, creating a total prize pool of $1,274,130.
$50,000 Single-Day High Roller Final Table Payout
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy Adams | Canada | $372,508* |
| 2 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $423,822* |
| 3 | Alex Foxen | United States | $207,040 |
| 4 | Justin Bonomo | United States | $149,720 |
| 5 | Igor Kurganov | Russia | $121,040 |
* reflects a heads-up deal
Single-Day High Roller Action
The tournament was originally billed as a $100,000 Single-Day Super High Roller and slated to start at 12:30 local time. That was changed as only two players were registered at that time. The high rollers discussed among themselves on what the structure of the tournament should look like and in the end, they came to an agreement. The buy-in of the tournament was reduced to $50,000, the level duration was shortened to 20 minutes, and instead of unlimited reentries, players could do only a single reentry during the first ten levels of play.
Around 3:15 PM, the tournament got underway with twelve players in their seats.
Steve O’Dwyer was the first to be eliminated when he shoved queen-seven on the river of an ace-ten-five-deuce-king board. He was called by Foxen who held ace-nine. Kurganov was the second player to be sent back to the registration desk when Nitsche managed to river a flush to take out the PokerStars Team Pro.
Chidwick eliminated Isaac Haxton and Steh Davies in the same hand with ace-ten. Haxton had king-queen and Davies pocket fives. A ten on the flop gave Chidwick the upper hand to take them both out. In Level 10, Shakerchi got his last chips in with queen-jack but got no help of the board against the pocket sevens of Kurganov. Christoph Vogelsang was eliminated in the same level and had to reenter, just like Shakerchi.
The dubious honor of the last reentry of the day went to Mikita Badziakouski in a huge hand against Foxen. Badziakouski called the three-bet of Foxen preflop and check-called on the flop and turn. The river completed the deuce-deuce-eight-six board with the seven of spades to complete the flush draw. Badziakouski check-tank-called Foxen’s shove only to see Foxen reveal a flush indeed, which beat the two pair Badziakouski had flopped.
Shakerchi’s second bullet seemed to hold up better than Haxton’s as he cracked the latter's aces with pocket tens on the river. Defending champion Cary Katz was next to go when his ace-king couldn’t beat Foxen’s queens. Badziakouski’s second attempt at winning the tournament was cut short when he ran his ace-deuce into the ace-jack of Vogelsang. Vogelsang’s run didn’t last much longer as Kurganov eliminated him shortly after.
Bryn Kenney, who traditionally does well in these events at the PCA, shoved and lost it all when he was called by Bonomo. Daniel Dvoress lost most of his stack in a blind versus blind battle against Kurganov and lost the remainder of his stack to Kurganov as well. Nick Petrangelo shoved six big blinds with queen-seven and was trying to beat Bonomo’s ten-eight, but the latter managed to turn a pair of eights. At the same exact time, O’Dwyer was all-in with king-queen and called by Kurganov with ace-queen. They both flopped queens, but Kurganov’s kicker meant that suddenly there were just eight players left.
Final Table Action
Dominik Nitsche was first to leave the final table stage when Matthias Eibinger shoved in the small blind and Nitsche called with a stack of only 5,000 fewer chips. Eibinger held ace-queen while Nitsche was sitting with king-nine and the higher hole cards for Eibinger meant the end of Nitsche’s tournament life.
The bubble burst thanks to another double bust out when Shakerchi shoved, as did Foxen with the slightly bigger stack. Chidwick decided to put in all his big chips to also put Eibinger at risk as the last to act. After tanking for just over three minutes, Eibinger called. Shakerchi’s ace-jack and Eibinger’s ace-nine couldn’t win against Foxen’s pocket eights or Chidwick’s deuces on the nine-five-ten-eight-deuce board.
With five players left, Kurganov was eliminated five minutes after the money was reached. Kurganov’s ace-king couldn’t take down Chidwick’s queens even though he had flopped two pair; the queen on the river gave Chidwick a set. Kurganov made his way to the payout desk to collect $121,040.
The final double bust-out of the event happened another five minutes later when Bonomo shoved for fewer than ten big blinds with king-eight. Foxen jammed almost fifteen big blinds with king-nine, and Chidwick called them both with ace-jack. Chidwick flopped a pair of jacks and hit runner-runner for the flush to eliminate both of his opponents to suddenly go heads-up against Adams.
As soon as Adams and Chidwick were heads-up, Adams looked at Chidwick. “Are you thinking, what I’m thinking?” Chidwick asked Adams and Adams smiled. The floor was called over, and they asked if they were allowed to add two jokers to the deck. The floor checked with the tournament director, and in the meanwhile, they would continue playing heads-up. When the floor and tournament director returned, the tournament clock was paused, and two jokers were added to the deck.
This seemed the perfect opportunity to look at the numbers, and a deal was agreed upon. Chidwick had a big chip lead so was guaranteed $423,822 while Adams would take $350,978. $21,530 and the trophy would be left to play for.
Adams managed to double up immediately with ace-five of clubs against Chidwick’s ace-seven and turned a flush. One of the jokers in the deck appeared on the board after about 40 minutes of play and Adams won that hand with another flush. Two hands later, Chidwick doubled with pocket kings against Adams’ ace-king.
And then, in the final hand of the night, Chidwick shoved and got snap-called by Adams who held the joker in his hand with a queen. Chidwick had ace-jack and was behind by a lot. The board ran out seven-queen-four-ace-six for Adams to be crowned as the winner with a set of queens thanks to the joker!
The PCA just heating up. Check out the PokerNews Live Reporting section for PCA Main Event live updates. Later today, another $25,000 Single-Day High Roller gets underway in Atlantis.
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