PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller: William Reynolds Emerges Victorious
The $25,000 High Roller Event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure came to and end Thursday night with William Reynolds taking home the title. Reynolds bested the nine-hour final table to come out with the $576,240 first-place prize money.
The final eight players began at noon Thursday in the back of the Imperial Ballroom at the Atlantis Resort and Hotel on the NAPT final table stage to play out to a winner. Nearly $1.7 million was up for grabs at the final table and all eight players had their eyes on the prize.
Tobias Reinkemeier was the man to catch, coming into the day as the only player with over one million in chips. Just two hands into play, Reinkemeier increases his chip lead after eliminating Dimitry Stelmak in eighth place. Shortly thereafter, Matt Marafoti was sent to the rail in seventh place after losing a flip with 7♣ 7♠ against Reynolds' A♥ K♠.
With two players eliminated early on, play quieted down between the remaining six. That was until Will Molson challenged Reinkemeier in a massive pot. The two players found nearly a million chips in the middle each on a board of J♣ 10♦ 8♦. Molson held K♥ Q♥ against the K♦ 9♦ of Reinkemeier. The turn was the 10♥ and the river was the A♠, saving Molson from elimination and propelling him to the chip lead.
Just minutes later, more drama occurred. Lisa Hamilton and Michiel Brummelhuis found themselves all-in preflop. Hamilton held two nines and Brummelhuis two aces. A nine flopped and put Hamilton in the lead, but an ace spiked on the river to keep Brummelhuis alive.
The start-of-the-day chip leader was the next to go. Reinkemeier busted in sixth place when his pocket eights ran into Reynolds' pocket kings. Then, out in fifth place went the reigning WSOP Ladies' Event champion, Hamilton. She lost a flip with pocket jacks to Molson's A♣ Q♥ after a queen fell on the turn.
Brummelhuis became one of the short stacks over the next few rotations and eventually made a move with Q♠ 9♥, shoving from under the gun. He got through everyone except for the big blind, Reynolds, who woke up with pocket aces and made the quick call. Failing to crack the rockets, Brummelhuis finished in fourth. About 20 minutes later, Adolfo Vaeza busted in third when he had an open-ended straight draw with 5♣ 3♣ on the flop of A♥ 6♥ 4♦. His opponent was Reynolds, holding A♠ K♠. The turn and river blanked for Vaeza and heads-up play was set between Molson and Reynolds.
This was the second year in a row that Molson made it to the heads-up part of the High Roller Event at the PCA. Last year, he placed second to Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier for $228,000. Second place this year would be just about $100,000 more than that, meaning Molson already improved money wise from last year.
Reynolds had the lead when they started with 2.45 million to Molson's 1.75 million. Molson was able to even within the first few hands. From there, the two flip-flopped several times before Reynolds began wearing Molson down until the two finally had a big all-in confrontation.
After Reynolds raised to 110,000 with blinds of 20,000/40,000, Molson moved all-in for 1.21 million and Reynolds made the call. Molson held A♠ 9♣ and Reynolds held A♥ 8♥. Molson flopped trip nines and went on to double up, taking over the chip lead. A little while later, it was Reynolds' turn to double up when his pocket sevens held up against the A♥ 3♥ of Molson. After regaining the chip lead, Reynolds didn't look back.
The final hand came a little over three hours into heads-up action when Molson open-shoved with K♣ {8d and Reynolds called with A♦ 10♦. The board ran out 9♠ 7♥ 5♥ J♥ A♣ and the tournament was over. The two competitors shook hands and congratulated one another with Reynolds hoisting the trophy at the end of the day.
When asked about his win, Reynolds mentioned that it was an unbelievable ride to victory. On Day 3 alone, Reynolds was all-in countless times, especially on the bubble of the final table. Each time he survived and worked his way to a victory, earning well over half a million dollars.
Congratulations to all the winners, and especially to William Reynolds on taking down the 2010 PCA High Roller Event!
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Winner photo courtesy of PokerStars
