Hart Falls, Carrel Leads PokerStars Championship Bahamas Super High Roller Final Seven
With Anton Astapau, Timothy Adams, Pascal Lefrancois and defending champion Bryn Kenney signing up before the start of play on Day 2, the PokerStars Championship Bahamas $100,000 Super High Roller closed registration with 54 entries, 41 unique players and a total of 13 reentries.
Adams and Bill Perkins were the biggest contributors to subsidize the $5,239,080 prize pool with $300,000 each. Both wouldn't make it count as they busted well before the money was reached. Adams found himself shoving short with pocket nines. Steve O'Dwyer, who won the $50,000 Single-Day here in the Bahamas last year, called with ace-jack and outflopped his rival. No nine on the turn or river for Adams and he parted ways with his stack and hopes of winning the tournament. Perkins was just as unlucky; he started out as one of the shorter stacks and never had things work out for him.
Hart flopped an ace but Colman hit a backdoor straight to send him packing.
Adams and Perkins started out with a below-average stacks and did not make runs at it, but neither did the two players who started out on top. Nick Petrangelo, who had played like a bull on Day 1 according to Daniel Negreanu, started with over three times the starting stack but busted well before the dinner break. He got it in with pocket kings in a pot worth well over 1 million, only to see [B]Connor Drinan[/B] turn over pocket aces. Drinan, who had overtaken the lead from Petrangelo just before that pot, saw his hand hold up and send the Day 1 chip leader to the rail.
O'Dwyer, who started out second in chips, wouldn't last much longer either. He didn't have a great deal of chips when he faced a decision to wager it all or not. Daniel Dvoress had pushed all in and O'Dwyer called it off with ace-ten. Dvoress had pocket jacks and saw his hand hold up.
Things were not meant to be for Kevin Hart. He busted late on Day 1 and bought straight back in, but did not run it up on Day 2. Down to just five big blinds, he shoved with ace-six. Dan Colman called with pocket threes to put the actor and stand-up comedian at risk. Hart flopped an ace but Colman hit a backdoor straight to send him packing.
As these things tend to go, players kept on busting till a final table of nine was reached with the departure of Sean Winter. With just seven spots paid, none of them were guaranteed to walk away with cash just yet.
Carrel will have 93 big blinds to start with.
Leo Yan Ho Cheng was the one soft-bubbling the event. He value-bet his aces on a queen-nine-six rainbow flop and got a check-call from Charlie Carrel. The six on the turn had Carrel check again and Cheng bet once more. Carrel check-raised all in and Cheng called with his overpair. Carrel showed six-seven suited for turned trips and Cheng had just two outs to stay alive. He hit neither of them; instead a queen completed the board gifting Carrel a full house and Cheng a ticket to the rail.
With eight players remaining, the next to go out would go home empty-handed, while the rest would be guaranteed $275,060 from that moment on, enough for everyone left in to make a profit. Byron Kaverman and Sam Greenwood were the two with the shortest stacks, with the Greenwood having Kaverman just slightly covered. Greenwood would be the one bubbling the event, though. He shoved with king-jack and Kaverman called with jacks after some time in the tank. No king or any other form of help appeared and Greenwood was left with just a single blind. Greenwood, who finished sixth in this event two years ago, departed soon after. He got his last chips in with queen-eight against the king-jack of Carrel and saw his British adversary hit a flush.
That last pot didn't contribute greatly to Carrel's stack, but he did finish up top with a starting stack just shy of four million in chips. Carrel, who finished runner up in the last super high roller in Prague last month, will have 93 big blinds to start with, as there are just over 20 minutes left in the 20,000/40,000/5,000 ante level. He's followed by Big One for One Drop and 2014 GPI Player of the Year winner Dan Colmanwho'll bring 67 big blinds.
The player to return to the battlefield with the shortest stack is defending champion Bryn Kenney. He was the last one to buy in and he is already guaranteed to just about triple his investment. He'll bring 19 big blinds. Rounding out the final table with $1,650,300 on the line are 2015 GPI Player of the Year Byron Kaverman, last year's seventh-place finisher Daniel Dvoress, 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open winner Jason Koon and EPT Barcelona High Roller champ Connor Drinan.
| Suit | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Colman | United States | 2,690,000 | 67 |
| 2 | Bryn Kenney | United States | 740,000 | 19 |
| 3 | Byron Kaverman | United States | 970,000 | 24 |
| 4 | Charlie Carrel | United Kingdom | 3,710,000 | 93 |
| 5 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 1,640,000 | 41 |
| 6 | Connor Drinan | United States | 1,455,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Jason Koon | United States | 2,305,000 | 58 |
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,650,300 |
| 2 | $1,191,900 |
| 3 | $759,660 |
| 4 | $576,300 |
| 5 | $445,320 |
| 6 | $340,540 |
| 7 | $275,060 |
The last seven players return to the final table at noon local time. There will be no live stream covering the event. For updates, the PokerStars blog is your designated spot to follow along with all the action.
Photos Neil Stoddart/PokerStarsBlog.com
