The Caribbean Poker Party Festival presented by partypoker has turned into one of the most popular live poker events to take place in the Dominican Republic. The $10,300 MILLIONS High Roller event on the schedule of the festival’s 2017 edition kicked off with a splash in beautiful Punta Cana, offering a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000.
After several days of action and fierce competition, Preben Stokkan topped a star-studded field of 103 entrants to get his hands on $275,000 and the winner’s title. The player made history at Melia Caribe Tropical resort, which kindly plays host to the festival. The festival is currently underway and it is to continue until 25th November.
A $1,100 MILLIONS Open kicked off the festival in style, but it was the $10,300 MILLIONS High Roller event that attracted much greater attention. The top 11 finishers were treated a portion of the prize money and Preben Stokkan from Norway snared the first prize to add $275,000 to his lifetime winnings. Stokkan navigated his way to the throne after overcoming Jonathan Little in a heads-up match.
Preben Stokkan’s Thorny Road to Success
Registration for the event remained open until midday of Day 2, which allowed for players who were knocked out on Day 1 to return, while latecomers had the opportunity to join. By the time registration was closed, the field amounted to 103 players. The unfortunate bubble boy was Manig Loeser. The player exited in 12th place after cards did not go his way. Everyone who had chips in front of them at this point locked up no less than $20,000 in cash prize. Nevertheless, the competition was intense as all the remaining players could feel the sweet taste of victory in the air.
The remaining participants first played down to a final table and then to a champion. The elimination of Stefan Schillhabel in 10th place set the official nine-handed final table. First to fall at the final table was Felipe Ramos. He succumbed in 9th place for $30,000.
Eventually, the field was further trimmed to just 2 players, who were about to cross swords in a heads-up battle. Canada’s Sam Greenwood left the table just shy of the heads-up duel. His confident approach to the game locked him the chip lead during three-handed play, but the player started to lose steam to hit the rail in 3rd place for $124,100.
After the hours-long final table battle, Stokkan and Little were heads-up for the title. At the start of the heads-up duel, both players were holding almost even chip stacks. The final hand for the evening occurred not long after the eventual winner took hold of the chip lead and never looked back. In the final hand, Preben Stokkan challenged his opponent in an all-in confrontation. Stokkan’s [As][5d] squared off Little’s [3c][3d]. The board ran out [Ks][4d][2h][Ad][3h], and it was the river, which brought the card that Stokkan needed to complete his straight and capture the title. Little busted in 2nd place for $175,000.
