Sunday saw a delighted British professional poker player, Roberto Romanello from Wales, finally best a field of 196 quality players to claim the main prize of $450,000 in the $10,300 buy-in Caribbean Partypoker High Roller event in the Bahamas.
28 survivors returned to the felt on the final day of the competition, twenty-three of whom would cash, including respected names like Isaac Haxton, Jonathan Duhamel, Thomas Muehloecker, Steve O’Dwyer, and Joseph Cheong.
When the final table formed it included further quality players like Benjamin Pollack, Mustapha Kanit, Justin Bonomo, Daniel Dvoress and Spanish ace Adrian Mateos.
In fact Pollack was the first final tabler to head to the exit about two hours into final table play, followed quickly by partypoker pro Joao Simao, and Guillaume Diaz.
Canadian player Daniel Dvoress hit the rail at third, shortly after agreeing a three-way chop with Italy’s Mustapha Kanit and Romanello which gave him a $210,000 take-home and opened the door for the heads up between the pro from Wales and Kanit.
Thanks to the earlier chop agreement, the atmosphere during the hour-long heads up was friendly and relaxed, but remained competitive as the duo set about deciding the winner, with Romanello asserting dominance from the start thanks to holding the chip lead.
He successfully called several Kanit bluffs and scored double ups until he eliminated the Italian at second for $271,200 and raised the PartyPoker trophy above his head in the small hours of the morning.
Romanello’s $450,000 victory takes his career earnings north of $3.6 million. .