After two third place finishes in Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure high roller competitions back in 2011 and 2015, Bryn Kenney’s Caribbean treasure ship finally came in over the weekend when he bested a field of 58 talented competitors to claim a bank account boosting $1,687,800 first prize in this year’s $100,000 buy-in PAC Super High Roller.
The 58 entrants ((44 uniques; 14 re-entries) created a prize pool of $5,626,000, ensuring worthwhile pay checks for the other final tablers, too – Joe McKeehen ($1,220,840), Ankush Mandavia ($787,640), Mustapha Kanit ($596,360), David Peters ($461,340),Isaac Haxton ($360,060), Daniel Dvoress ($286,920) and Kathy Lehne ($225,040).
Third placed US player Ankush Mandavia probably suffered the most disappointing experience in this contest; with a seemingly unassailable lead at the three-handed stage he encountered a run of bad cards and aggressive opponents that saw him haemorrhage 7 million chips in 13 losing hands, leading to his elimination at third for $787,640.
World Series of Poker star Joe McKeehen once again showed what a great player he is as he and Kenney slugged it out in an extended heads up in the final stage which was remarkable for the repeated changes of fortune and chip leadership over its exciting 47-hand, three–and-half-hour duration.
The heads up began with Kenney holding the chip advantage at 7,945,000 versus McKeehen’s 6,550,000, but the lead see-sawed as the two expert players went at it with skill and determination.
At one point Kenney was down to 2.8 million chips vs. McKeenhen’s 11.7 million, and it looked as if it would be another huge victory for the WSOP champion…yet just ten hands later Kenney had not only recovered, but seized a substantial lead thanks to some significant fouble ups, and he went on to eliminate McKeehen and score his biggest career win yet.
McKeehen’s virtuoso performance was rewarded by the runner up prize of $1,220,840, bringing his live tourney career earnings to more than $10 million.