button in SafariPoker Player Runs Huge Bluff and Wins Onyx $25,500 Main Event for $1.25M
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Raoul Kanme had spent the final table of the $25,500 Main Event working his way toward a seven-figure payday, but at one point, he was willing to risk everything with nothing more than a gut feeling.
Having started the day as chip leader, Kanme remained around the top throughout, but after losing a couple of pots, he decided to put his tournament virtually on the line with a bluff against Matthias Lipp. It worked, and several hours later, it was Lipp who Kanme defeated heads-up to get his hands on the trophy and the $1,250,000 top prize.
The win came inside the Onyx Club at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, where Kanme beat the 255-entry field to take away the biggest slice of the $6,120,000 prize pool and become the latest Main Event champion at a Onyx High Roller Series.
"It's been a stressful few months. I've put the work in. I had a bad year up until now and all I feel is relief," Kanme said. "I'm of course super happy, but relief is the word I'm looking for."
However, there was somebody else on Kanme's mind when he finally got his hands on the trophy.
"I want to dedicate this trophy to my cousin," Kanme said. "He's been diagnosed with cancer like three or four months ago and I've been thinking about him the whole time. Just thinking about him gave me strength, and I want to dedicate this to him. I'm very happy I could make it happen. So cousin, you know who you are. This one is for you."
$25,500 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raoul Kanme | Netherlands | $1,250,000 |
| 2 | Matthias Lipp | Austria | $800,000 |
| 3 | Jordan Woodall | Germany | $600,000 |
| 4 | Aliaksandr Shylko | Belarus | $420,000 |
| 5 | Manuel Fritz | Austria | $320,000 |
| 6 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | $250,000 |
| 7 | Italo Modena | Italy | $200,000 |
| 8 | Anze Smajd | Slovenia | $171,000 |
| 9 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | $143,000 |
Kanme Starts at the Top
As expected, Fahredin Mustafov was the first to go just a few hands after cards got in the air, having started the day with only a few big blinds, and it meant Onyx would have a new Main Event champion.
Kanme then found the biggest boost to his stack, despite getting it in badly with queens against the cowboys of Anze Smajd. Kanme flopped a boat, sending the Slovenian out in eighth and propelling Kanme soaring clear of the other seven players. Lipp then survived with a flip against Italo Modena, then sent him packing with a classic cooler, helping him climb up the counts.
One of the Austrian contingent, Daniel Rezaei, who had started the day second, was the only player keeping Kanme company at the top and even managed to briefly move ahead. However, while Kanme was winning pot after pot, Rezaei began to unravel out of nowhere.
Rezaei flopped two pair against Aliaksandr Shylko, only for Shylko to spike a straight on the river and almost fully double. With Rezaei licking his wounds, the poker gods decided it was his time to go, with Shylko being the one to finish the job in a coin flip.
With five left, Kanme looked to be running away with it, with the others fighting to climb the pay ladder. Manuel Fritz's stack had deteriorated significantly, mainly due to small pots where he seemed to always be second best. Jordan Woodall's cowboys ended Fritz's final table appearance in fifth, leaving Lipp, Woodall and Shylko to fight with Kanme for the seven-figure payday not far away.
Kanme Puts it All on the Line
It would have been foolish to bet against Kanme, with him oozing confidence, winning every pot and likely spending the $1,250,000 in his mind already. However, things can change quickly in poker, and after hero-calling incorrectly against Shylko, then doubling up Woodall, Kanme was on a downward spiral and was virtually neck-and-neck with Lipp.
Then came the most memorable hand of the final table, and possibly of Kanme's poker career. Lipp raised and Kanme, who was silent and seemingly docile having lost his huge lead, defended his big blind with a suited king. With only backdoor outs on the flop, Kanme check-raised Lipp, then blasted a blank turn before jamming the brickiest of brick rivers, with just three big blinds more than Lipp.
Looking back on the hand afterward, Kanme revealed that once Lipp bet the flop, he had already decided this was the hand he was going to go for.
"Once he bets, I had in my mind, I'm going to check-raise him and just go all the way, no matter what," Kanme said. "I was just like, I'm going to go for it."
"It was a gut feeling and I saw that he was strong, but still, it's a tough call for him to make. I'm happy I went with my gut."
In the biggest pot of the tournament, Lipp gave it a lot of thought and eventually went for the fold. Mid-massage, Kanme chucked his stone-cold bluff across the table for the poker world to see, giving him close to half the chips in play and what seemed like the spark that pushed him toward the finish line.
Kanme didn't look back from there. Building on that momentum and being relentlessly aggressive, he even forced Shylko off top pair with another big shove shortly before the dinner break.
It was a style Kanme later said was very much intentional. "I kept believing, I kept playing, kept making action," he said. "I just wanted to win all the pots, basically. I couldn't win them all, but I tried to win."
With it being 'Fishy Friday' at the hotel buffet, whatever Kanme gobbled down during the break seemed to turn him into the shark, and he quickly smelled blood in the water from the other three. Showing no mercy, he began open-shoving non-stop, taking down roughly nine out of ten pots without a showdown as the others found it near impossible to make a stand.
When somebody finally did, Kanme got the better of that too. Shylko called off with pocket tens against Kanme's queen-jack, but a jack on the flop sent the Belarusian out in fourth. Just a few hands later, Woodall found big slick against Kanme's pocket tens, but the pair held to send the Main Event into heads-up.
Kanme Finishes the Job
Lipp was now the only man standing between Kanme and the title, but there was little sign of a comeback. Kanme kept his foot down, repeatedly shoving and picking up the blinds and antes as Lipp's stack got smaller and smaller.
It wasn't long before Lipp found something to fight with, shoving king-three and finding himself dominated by Kanme's ace-three. Neither player improved, leaving Kanme's ace-high in front and bringing the final table to an end.
After more than six levels of play, Kanme had gone wire-to-wire from start-of-day chip leader to $25,500 Main Event champion, collecting $1,250,000 while Lipp had to settle for $800,000 as runner-up.
Kanme had made the trip to the Merit Royal Diamond several times before without much luck, making this win all the sweeter.
"I've been here six or seven times, always lost," Kanme commented. "And now I won, so I'll probably come back soon."
There won't be another tournament for him this week, though. After months on the road and finally getting the result he had been searching for, Kanme was more than ready for some time away from the felt.
"I'm finished man. I've been traveling since the beginning of this year. I haven't been home for more than two or three weeks. I'm done playing now for a little bit. I'm going to take some time to reflect on everything."
"For now, it's vacation time."
