$10,000 Single-Day High Roller
Day 1 Completed
2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
$10,000 Single-Day High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
Level 21
: 50,000/100,000, 10,000 ante
The action was fast and furious in the $10,000 Single-Day High Roller at the last day of the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. In the hyper format, blinds were just 15 minutes long. A total of 55 entries, 13 of which being reentries, came to the Imperial Ballroom of the Atlantis Resort for one last chance at a spade trophy and hefty cheque.
After just six and a half hours, American grinder Almedin Imsirovic took down the tournament. The $160,050 he collected, marks the biggest score of his career. Cheered on by his friends on the rail, he beat a star-studded final table including Ryan Riess who had to settle for 2nd place.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Almedin Imsirovic | United States | $160,050 |
| 2 | Ryan Riess | United States | $115,770 |
| 3 | Matthias Eibinger | Austria | $74,690 |
| 4 | Mustapha Kanit | Italy | $56,550 |
| 5 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | $43,750 |
| 6 | Benjamin Pollak | France | $34,140 |
| 7 | Stefan Schillhabel | Germany | $27,210 |
| 8 | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbijan | $21,340 |
A lot of the high rollers strolled into the tournament room at 1 to gamble it up one last time this PCA. A lot of them left empty-handed, with some closer to the money than others.
Closest to the money without cashing, came Sylvain Loosli. The former November Niner finished in ninth place, running ace-five into the ace-eight of Mustapha Kanit.
Time was of the essence in this event, and Ramin Hajiyev's ran out soon enough after the bubble had burst. Severely short stacked, he got it in with king-six and didn't outrun Greenwood's ace-three.
Stefan Schillhabel was next to go, getting crippled with queen-jack suited to Almedin Imsirovic's ace-king. Kanit, again, was the one finishing the job eliminating the German high roller with ace-three versus six-seven. "Koray needs you more on his rail than we need you here," Kanit said with a big smile.
Schillhabel cracked a smile too and gathered his things before he moved over to the rail of the final table of the Main Event to support his friend Koray Aldemir.
Benjamin Pollak (six-deuce into king-ten) and Sam Greenwood (king-queen to ace-seven) departed in respectively sixth and fifth before Mustapha Kanit himself exited. The one-time chip leader doubled Ryan Riess first and lost ace-five to eights to bust in fourth place.
Riess and Imsirovic were both big stacks, while Matthias Eibinger was the absolute shorty. The latter didn't recover and had to settle for third place getting it in with queen-four against Riess' jack-ten. A ten on the flop and jack on the river was all there was to it for Riess, Eibinger had to leave the tournament area just before the heads up began.
Riess and Imsirovic started out about even, but with just a few big blinds in play, the tournament finished under 10 minutes later. After Riess folded two-pair to a river check-raise on a dangerous board, he was the shorter one. He made a move shoving all in with king-deuce and ran into the ace-jack of Imsirovic. Five community cards later, it was all over as Almedin Imsirovic was crowned victorious.
Level 21
: 50,000/100,000, 10,000 ante
Almedin Imsirovic limped in from the button like he had done sometimes before already. Ryan Riess shoved all in from the big blind for about 1.7 million and Imsirovic called instantly.
Almedin Imsirovic: 
Ryan Riess: 
The flop of 
paired up Imsirovic but the 
on the turn did the same to Riess. The 
on the river was a blank and just like that, Riess had to settle for second place while Imsirovic was crowned victorious.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
5,500,000
1,600,000
|
1,600,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 21
: 50,000/100,000, 10,000 ante
Ryan Riess limped in on the button and Almedin Imsirovic checked his option from the big blind.
The flop came down 
and both players checked. They checked again on the 
turn. The river was the and Imsirovic checked over to Riess. Reiss put out a bet of 200,000 and Imsirovic decided to check-raise, making it 800,000.
Riess dropped into the tank and tanked through three of his time bank chips. As he was thinking he started talking.
"Will you show?" Riess asked, but Imsirovic sat silent. Finally Reiss decided to fold. "Show a bluff. One time."
"I can't," Imsirovic said. "But you can choose one."
Riess flipped over the 
"No bluff," Imsirovic said.
Riess flashed his 
for two pair before tossing it into the muck. With that pot, Imsirovic took the lead in the match.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,900,000
1,200,000
|
1,200,000 |
|
|
1,600,000
-1,200,000
|
-1,200,000 |
|
|
||
Level: 21
Blinds: 50,000/100,000
Ante: 10,000
Level 20
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Matthias Eibinger moved all in from the button for about 400,000 and Ryan Riess called from the big blind.
Matthias Eibinger: 
Ryan Riess: 
Eibinger had the slightly better hand going in but the 
flop favored Riess. The 
on the turn gave Eibinger some new outs but the 
on the river was all Riess and Eibinger left in 3rd place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,800,000
700,000
|
700,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
2,700,000
-160,000
|
-160,000 |
|
Busted | |
Level 20
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Mustapha Kanit shoved for 525,000 and big blind Matthias Eibinger called.
Mustapha Kanit: 
Matthias Eibinger: 
With the board coming 
, Kanit doubled.
Still, the next hand it would all be over. He shoved again, this time for 1,020,000. Almedin Imsirovic called from the big blind to put Kanit at risk.
Mustapha Kanit:
Almedin Imsirovic: 
The flop of was good for Kanit and the 
on the turn wasn't too bad either, but the on the river spoiled his party.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,860,000
1,085,000
|
1,085,000 |
|
|
400,000
-510,000
|
-510,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 20
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
From the button, Almedin Imsirovic moved all in with a covering stack on both blinds. Ryan Riess tanked for a while before calling from the big blind.
Imsirovic: 
Riess: 
The board ran out 
which kept Riess in the lead the whole way with his pair of fives and that earned him the double up while knocking Imsirovic down. With that pot, Riess moved into the chip lead while Imsirovic dropped into second place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,100,000
950,000
|
950,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
1,775,000
-1,095,000
|
-1,095,000 |
Level 20
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Acting out of the cutoff, Almedin Imsirovic moved in to put the pressure on all of his opponents behind him. The button and small blind folded before Sam Greenwood checked his cards one by one. As soon as he had seen the second, he flipped in a chip to call.
Almedin Imsirovic:
Sam Greenwood: 
The flop of brought nothing for Greenwood and neither did the on the turn or on the river.
Down to 4 players now, all guaranteed $56,550.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,870,000
870,000
|
870,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level: 20
Blinds: 40,000/80,000
Ante: 10,000