It’s not every day a player gets to beat a major tournament ace and pick up a fat pay check, but Boca Raton, US, mainly internet and cash game player Josh Kay (28) did just that this week at the inaugural Latin American Poker Tournament in the Bahamas.
In the heads up he faced – and bested – WSOP bracelet winner, EPT Prague and London champion and Super High Roller champion and German high-stakes heads-up specialist Martin Finger after surviving a stellar entry field to claim the main prize of $367,928, tripling his career earnings in a stroke.
On its first outing, the $3,000 buy-in event pulled in 532 players and with re-buys generated 736 entries in all.111 players cashed from the $1,945,248 prize pool.
Among them were a host of noteworthy names like Stefan Jedlicka, Mustapha Kanit, Dimitar Danchev, Jose Carlos Garcia, all of whom made the final table with Finger and Kay.
Also seen taking their seats during the event were top players like Galen Hall,Taylor Paur, Aaron Massey, Victor Ramdin, Jonathan Karamalikis, Max Greenwood, Robert Mizrachi, Alex Bilokur, Paul Volpe, Antonio Lafosse, Tom Hall and Zachary Korik.
Kay started 7 hours of final table action holding the chip lead, but played a cautious game and eliminated only one of his final and very aggressive opponents. That was Martin Finger in the heads up, which the German pro started with a 2 to 1 lead.
That disadvantage did not intimidate Kay, who settled down and, aided by some very good cards initially, was able to fight his way back into the lead and ultimately take the win, sending Finger home with a second placing prize of $223,900.
Other final table pay-outs included:
Stefan Jedlicka – $158,740
Jose Carlos Garcia – 119,820
Taylor Paur – $94,920
Dimitar Danchev – $71,780
Jonathan Borenstein – $51,540
Mustapha Kanit – $35,200