Greenwood on Top in Punta Cana; Simao Dominates at King's Casino; Barcelona to Set New Records
The second half of the debut season saw a dominating consistency by a single player in Punta Cana and Rozvadov, will Season 1 of the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS be capped off with a third musketeer in sunny Barcelona? You can read more about the previous three stops by clicking here.
Sam Greenwood Crushes 2017 Caribbean Poker Party
While Europe prepared for the upcoming winter, several top pros headed over to Punta Cana in order to take a shot at the $8,000,000 in guaranteed prize pools. The Level at Meliá Caribe Tropical was host for the Caribbean Poker Party and a bad beat at the poker tables was soon forgotten after jumping into the ocean or sipping a cocktail in the pool area of the resort.
Sam Greenwood and Preben Stokkan met twice on final tables and claimed a trophy to their name, but it was Greenwood that arguably captured the main spotlight during the trip to the Caribbean. Stokkan took down the $10,300 High Roller for $275,000 and Greenwood finished in third place before improving his final position by one spot in the $25,500 Super High Roller. This time, Chris “BigHuni” Hunichen proved to be too strong and the Canadian had to settle for $242,750.
However, the third time was a charm as Greenwood recorded his second-best score ever in order to boost his total earnings on the live circuit to just shy of $8 million. After being down to only a few big blinds, Greenwood staged a massive comeback to defeat Andrey Shatilov and collected a cool $1 million.
| Event | Final Position | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| $10,300 High Roller I | 3rd | $124,100 |
| $25,500 Super High Roller | 2nd | $242,750 |
| $5,300 Main Event | 1st | $1,000,000 |
Other Side Event champions in Punta Cana include Rainer Kempe, third in Germany's all-time money list, and Spanish wonder kid and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Mateos. The latter denied partypoker sponsored pro Anatoly Filatov his third trophy at a partypoker live sponsored event, while WSOP Main Event finalist and tournament director Kenny Hallaert finished third.
The Joao Simao Show at the MILLIONS Germany
While it was Viktor “Isildur1” Blom that claimed the spotlight of the MILLIONS Germany festival with his victory in the €5,300 Main Event and plenty of headlines for his big call in heads-up, another player deserves praise for an incredible series of deep runs at the King's Casino in Rozvadov back in February 2018. Not just one, nor two, but three final tables and another score in the €2,700 Warm Up saw partypoker ambassador Joao Simao more than double his recorded cashed after racking up more than €640,000 across the four tournaments.
| Event | Final Position | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| €25,500 Super High Roller I | 2nd | €251,250 |
| €25,500 Super High Roller II | 4th | €110,000 |
| €2,700 Warm Up | 29th | €6,500 |
| €5,300 Main Event | 4th | €280,000 |
In the first edition of the €25,500 Super High Roller, Simao fell agonizingly close of the victory after ending up second-best to Finnish high stakes player Patrik Antonius. Just one day later the Brazilian came very close to lifting the trophy once more and finished 4th, while Johannes Becker re-established the German stronghold in High Roller competitions over the last few years.
Simao wasn't done just yet and ended up in 29th place in the Warm Up, which proved to be a warmup for another big showing just a few days later. Out of 927 entries, the Brazilian once again found himself as part of the line up for the final table group shot. Eventually, it wasn't meant to be and his ride came to an end in 4th place in Europe's biggest poker arena.
Grand Final in Barcelona Sets New Record in Guaranteed Prize Pools
Fireworks are expected for the Grand Final of the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS at the Casino Barcelona. A hotbed of the European poker scene for several years already, the Catalan city features a 10-day festival with 38 tournaments in total and a record €23,000,000 in guaranteed prize pools. Some of the biggest names in poker from near and far are expected to join the action in the upcoming days with Side Event and Main Event buy-ins ranging from €1,100 to €101,000.
With such big prize pools up for grabs, the top spot of Sam Greenwood in the all time money list of Season 1 is not guaranteed at all. Seven players have already collected $1 million on the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS circuit and at least three further players will do so in the €10,300 Main Event. Already 18 poker enthusiasts cashed for more than $500,000 during the five festivals of the newly established tour.
Thus far, Russia's Alexander Denisov tops the ranking in terms of number of cashes with 18 and three partypoker representatives are in the top five with Natalia Breviglieri (2nd, 14 cashes), Anatoly Filatov (3rd, 13 cashes) and Dzmitry Urbanovich (tied 5th, 9 cashes).
