PCA High Rollers - Live Updates

As you all know the tournament is over. William Reynolds from Sioux City, Iowa took down the whole enchilada.

On paper, he earned a $576,240 prize though we’re not sure what that figure actually is after any deal making that may or may not have happened.

Earlier in the tournament Reynolds had gotten down to less than four big blinds! He was so low on chips that Michiel Brummelhuis at one point begged him to bust so that everyone could go to bed. We’re not sure what Michiel has to say about that statement because he’s been gone from this tournament for a long time.

Reynolds was down but not out, he kept getting all in and winning over and over again until there weren’t any more chips to win. The heads-up battle swung back and forth a few times before all the chips ended up in front of our champion.

The player on the losing end must be feeling pretty much exactly like he did one year ago. Will Molson got second in this same exact event in 2009. Perhaps he can find some consolation in the fact that this year’s second place finish was worth more money than his last but he's got to be disappointed nonetheless.

Molson had to ‘settle’ for $322,075 (again, who knows the real figure after possible deals).

And with that we're done in the Bahamas. It's nothing but bottle-poppin' tonight at the club and beach-lying tomorrow until our flight home on Saturday.

Goodbye from the Bahamas.

Just moments after that crucial double Will Molson has given it all back to his heads-up opponent. They got it in before the flop with pocket sevens for Will Reynolds and A♥ 3♥ for Molson.

Molson flopped a wheel draw but couldn't get there on the turn or the river. With that hand we're back to where we were about 30 minutes ago.

It looked like William Reynolds had a stranglehold on this match but Will Molson has just doubled up and retaken the chip lead.

Reynolds opened and Molson shoved for 1 million. The call was made and we saw Molson was in a dominating spot with A-9 against A-8.

The flop put him even farther ahead, bringing two nines. Reynolds picked up a gutshot on the turn but couldn't get there on the river.

Molson now has 2.19 million to Reynold's 2.01 million.

William Reynolds has taken control of this match since returning from the break and is now sitting on 3.6 million to Will Molson's 880,000.

Like we said before the majority of the prize pool has been chopped up but there is the $60k and the glory of winning an EPT High Roller event.

And we’re back from break. Rumors of the finalized deal have made it to the media room. It’s basically a straight-down-the-middle chop (just a few thousand difference) but they’re saving $60,000 for the winner.

Even though both of these guys will have a few hundred thousand to add to their bankrolls, $60,000 ain’t nothing to sneeze at. We expect both of them to continue to battle hard. William Reynolds returned from break to a 2.6 million chip stack to Molson’s 1.5 million.

The decision has been made to take a 30 minute break before returning to play this match out.

William Reynolds has pulled ahead and now has 2.6 million to Will Molson's 1,558,000.

Catch up with us in half an hour for the conclusion.

Both William Reynolds and Will Molson are playing the heads up match with great trepidation and with good reason. There’s a quarter million dollar difference between second and first and the stacks are almost exactly even.

Remember our little friends the pocket nines? It wouldn’t be right if the tournament ended without nines making at least one last appearance.

Reynolds made it 85,000 to go and Molson made it 185,000 to go.

The T♥ 8♣ 5♦ J♣ J♠ board was checked until the river when Molson fired 200,000.

Reynolds made the call and turned over pocket nines which also happens to be the same hand that Molson turned over. Pocket nines why must thou mock us?

Adolfo Vaeza's seat is empty and the two remaining players are preparing for the one on one battle to come. Both Will Molson and William Reynolds are experienced, talented players and we're hoping to see some suave pokering before this match is decided.

Reynolds holds the advantage at the moment with 2,455,000 to Molson's 1,747,000 but with blinds at 20k/40k even the shorter of the two has a bit of room to maneuver.

We haven't found out if there's a chop in the works but the two were exchanging words just after Vaeza's elimination. Whatever the final deal is, these two are competitors and they won't be going down without a fight.

Stay tuned as we bring you all the action.

Adolfo Vaesa has been playing with fire. As most of us learned growing up, if you play with fire you’re gonna get burned, and Adolfo Vaesa just got burned to a crisp.

He called a preflop raise from William Reynolds and, as he’s done a few times lately, Vaesa open-shoved for a huge amount when the flop came down A♦ 6♥ 4♦.

Reynolds made the call with A♠ K♠ and Vaesa was drawing with his 3♣ 5♣.

The South American failed to connect on either the turn or river and we’re now heads up. Vaeza will be receiving $218,150 for his finish in today’s event. Not bad for a complete amateur.

Michiel Brummelhuis had been whittled down to less than 10 big blinds and he moved all in preflop. It folded to William Reynolds who made the difficult call with pocket aces. Brummelhuis had just Q♠ 9♥.

The flop came down T♠ 6♦ 3♣.

As we’ve learned, nobody is left drawing dead on the turn in the High Roller Event. The dealer burned and turned a jack. Brummelhuis was still in the game with an open ended straight draw.

He had six cards in the deck to save him but the river wasn’t one of them. The last hope for the European faction exited the stage area and we’re now down to three.

“I’ll call an all in but I won’t be happy about,” said Will Molson to Adolfo Vaeza.

The two were heads up on a K♠ J♣ 8♣ board. Vaeza took the cue and moved all in. Molson, a man of his word, called and turned over A♣ 3♣. Alfredo Vaeza turned over the K♥ 8♥.

It was the nut flush draw against top and bottom pair. The dealer burned and turned a club. Molson had made a flush, but wait! It was the K♣! Vaeza had made a full house. Molson was drawing dead and rather than being down to three we’re still four handed.

The hand catapulted Vaeza to just under a million chips. He’s the tightest player left so getting those chips back is not going to be an easy task for Molson. Buckle your seatbelts kids, this might be a long one.

William Reynolds opened for 70,000 and Will Molson called out of the small blind. Lisa Hamilton reraised it from the big blind to 180,000. An interesting side note is that Lisa had squeezed a little while ago and that might have had some bearing on Molson’s decision to flat call from the small blind.

Reynolds folded but Molson moved all in. Lisa was called with two black jacks. Molson turned overA♣ Q♥.

The pot was worth over a 1.2 million with each player putting in about 570,000.

The 8♣ 4♥ 6♣ flop was just what Lisa was looking for but the turn was a crushing Q♣. Molson put on his best “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do it, that’s so unfair” look. The pot put Molson at just under 2 million chips so we hope that will make him feel better about busting the last girl remaining in the event.

Hamilton, our fifth place finisher, headed off to gather her $133,770.

It's been a little while since our last noteworthy action but there are a few things to report. Since Tobias Reinkemeier's exit we've seen Will Molson and William Reynolds controlling the action at this final table.

They're pulling farther and farther away from the other three and with new blinds of 15k/30k/3k things are going to get pretty desperate for the shorter stacks.

Keep yourself busy until the next big hand by checking out the current chip counts, photo gallery and a rundown of everyone who cashed in this event so far.

Refusing to slow down, William Reynolds made it 56,000 to go preflop and it folded to Tobias Reinkemeier. He moved all in from the small blind for just less than half a million.

Reynolds insta-called and turned over pocket kings. Tobias had just pocket eights.

The dealer turned over card after meaningless card and the man who started today with the chip lead found himself heading to the rail.

Tobias Renkemeier’s premature exit earned him the first six figure check of the tournament totalling $108,045.

William Reynolds has been raising very often lately and Michiel Brummelhuis must have taken notice.

Moments ago Reynolds just raised it up in a blind v. blind confrontation against Brummelhuis. The two saw a J♣ J♥ 2♥ flop. Reynolds fired 46,000 and Michiel called.

The turn was the A♣ and Reynolds continued the aggression by firing 102,000. Brummelhuis thought for a bit and flat called.

The river was the 8♥. Reynolds checked and Michiel moved all in for 330k.

William tanked it and folded the A♦ 4♦ face up - a tough laydown with top pair.

Brummelhuis, in a soul crushing mood, turned over his K♣ 4♣ for just king high. Oops!

Tobias Reinkemeier has been super active in the last few minutes, scoring a double up through Michiel Brummelhuis and then getting very unlucky to ship a big pot to Adolfo Vaeza. Details:

Michiel Brummelhuis made it 47,000 and it folded to Will Molson in the small blind who made it 117,000 to go.

Tobias Reinkemeier shoved from the big blind and Molson tanked before figuring out he had the right odds to call. Molson turned up A♥ J♥ to Reinkemeier’s far superior A♦ K♦.

By the turn Reinkemeier had an unbeatable nut flush and was back up to nearly a million in chips.

Just a few hands later Reinkemeier opened his button and Adolfo Vaeza shoved from blinds for just over 300,000. Reinkemeier snap-called with pocket queens and Vaeza was in a lot of trouble with J♣ 7♣.

The flop was a dream for the South American, coming 9♦ 8♣ 5♣. He had the double-gutter and the flush draw, giving him a long list of outs good for the double.

The turn was the 5♦ but the river brough the 6♣ and nailed his flush. Vaeza doubles to 740,000 while Reinkemeier laments his bad luck.

The curse of the nine continued today. Speaking of curses, Hamilton has a big mouth for such a small girl.

She’s been swearing like a sailor and was just reminded by floor staff that this tournament is being broadcast at the moment and perhaps millions of people are watching.

There are no penalties for bad language here at the PCA but Hamilton apologized and promised to clean things up.

Back to the curse of nine. Lisa Hamilton and Michiel Brummelhuis got all in preflop. Michiel turned over pocket aces and Lisa, well we don’t have to tell you what she had.

As we saw yesterday, there must be 23 nines in the deck because they’re popping up all over the place and this time was no different. Hamilton flopped a set of nines and was suddenly in the lead.

A tough pill to swallow, Michiel watched on as his fate was delivered. The dealer burned and turned a brick but, hang on a minute, the river was an ace!

If there was a large crowd watching the tournament, we’re sure they would’ve gone wild.

Hamilton smiled as she paid off her 346,000 debt to Brummelhuis.

Tobias Reinkemieer bet 65,000 on a flop of J♦ T♦ 8♠.

“Let’s make it 180,000 total,” said Molson as he cut out the bet.

Tobias moved all in. It was the two big stacks involved in a massive pot.

“I have to call,” said Molson.

Reinkemeier: K♦ 9♦

Molson: K♥ Q♥ molson

“Please one time,” begged Reiknemeier.

The dealer burned and turned the T♥ which increased the likelihood of a split, but it was the A♠ river that gave Molson broadway and awarded him a monster pot.

Just like that we have a new chipleader. Will Molson’s stack was boosted to a staggering 1.86 million which is more than double Lisa Hamilton’s 818k.

It looks like they’re playing some impulse poker in here. Will Molson made it 48k to go and it folded to William Reynolds in the big blind who moved all in. Molson snap called it.

Both players turned over A-Q off. The flop came down J♠ 5♠ 2♠. A quick check revealed that Will Molson held the only spade in the form of a queen.

What should have been a simple chop now turned into a gut wrenching sweat for Reynolds. The dealer burned and turned a red five. Then she rapped the table and produced another red five on the river. Crisis averted, chop it up!

Amateur player Adolfo Vaeza just lost a chunk of his stack to Will Molson. Vaeza had bet the flop and turn and there was about 400,000 in the pot by fifth street.

Vaeza insta-fired 100,000 on the river with the board reading Q♠ J♣ 7♦ 5♥ 3♠.

Molson tanked it for a bit before moving all in for about 400k. Vaeza tank-folded and Molson took a big a big pot with no need for showdown.

William Reynolds just killed two birds with one stone. He just about doubled up and busted Matt Marafioti in one fell swoop.

The two got all in on a flip. Marafioti showed pocket sevens while Reynolds tabled A-K offsuit. The flop was a good one for Marafioti but the ace on the turn was not. A brick on the river was the final nail in Marafioti’s coffin. He’s our seventh place finisher.

Matt will be collecting $87,465 for seventh place, a far cry from the $576,240 he was looking for.

Because we played nine-handed last night for almost four hours the blinds had grown very large compared to the stacks. When the final table players arrived earlier this afternoon they were clamouring for the blinds to be rolled back.

It seemed everybody was OK with the plan except for Tobias Reinkemeier. He said that he would have to think about it. As the chipleader, rolling back the blinds would just allow some of his opponents more breathing room and that’s not necessarily something Reinkemeier wanted to do.

In the end a compromise was made that everybody agreed on. There were 34 minutes left at the 10k/20k level but the tournament director added time to it so that the level would be extended to two hours total.

After that they’ll resume their regular pace.

It didn’t take more than a few hands before the short-stacked Dmitry Stelmak moved all in from the button for his 150k, called by Tobias Reinkemeier.

Stelmak turned up the K♥ T♥ but found nearly the worst case scenario when he saw Reinkemeier’s A♥ T♣.

The flop came down A♦ T♦ 9♥, giving Reinkemeier a healthy lead. The K♣ turn gave Stelmak a shred of hope but the river was a meaningless brick. Stelmak headed off to collect the $66,885 he earned for his eighth place finish.

The High Roller Event Final Table has just begun, more than 30 minutes after the original noon start time. Eight lucky players mowed their way through a pro-rich field. Here’s a look at who’s who.

Tobias Reinkemeier of Germany comes into today as the chipleader and the only player to have more than a million in chips. The German poker community considers him to be one of the best from Deutschland. He has a chance today to more than double his lifetime tournament earnings of $360,000.

Starting the day in second place is Adolfo Vaeza of Uruguay. He’s different than everyone else at this table for a couple of reasons. With the exception of Lisa Hamilton, Vaeza is more than twice as old as any other player left.

The other thing that separates Adolfo from the pack is that he is just an amateur player that plays for fun. He runs a construction company and has only travelled to three tournaments in his life. Don’t count him out as a threat though, he final tabled all three! He made the final table of the High-Roller event London, coming in fourth. He also final tabled the 5,000 Euro EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo and today he finds himself at yet another final table.

Canadian Will Molson is a 22 year old that has had success in these high roller tournaments before. Last year he was the guy that got heads up against Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier in this same event and lost. Today he has a chance to best last year’s result and take it down. He’s already practically on a free-roll. At the end of day two he was dead last in chips. Now he finds himself in third.

William Reynolds got his start playing poker at the age of 16. By the time he turned 18 he knew it was what he wanted to do. After putting off college repeatedly he decided to just bite the bullet and turn pro. Being just 18, Las Vegas would have to wait. He hit the tournament trail and got fourth at EPT San Remo, cashed in the LAPT event in Costa Rica, and has several big scores online as well.

William Reynolds

 

Lisa Hamilton is a 38 year old pro from Las Vegas. She’s a regular at the high stakes cash game tables at Bellagio. She was heard saying that she didn’t know anything about playing tournaments. What an odd thing to say considering that she took down the Ladies Poker Championship at the WSOP for just shy of $200,000 and now finds herself at the final table of one of the toughest tournaments on the circuit.

Michiel Brummelhuis came all the way from Amsterdam to roll the dice at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He’s reportedly one of the biggest winners in the Netherlands and has several $100k scores. He has a great chance at besting his biggest live win which now stands at 68,310 Euros.

Dmitry Stelmak is in last place today. He starts the day with 150,000 in chips and will have to get something going early if he hopes to have a chance. He is a full time poker pro who studied Mathematics and Science at the University of Moscow in his hometown of the same name.

He’s no stranger to travel. He chopped for first in a $3k event at the Bellagio Cup, cashed in two different events at EPT Barcelona, and he won a side event on the Russian Poker Tour. We’ll be keeping an eye on him for he might be down, but he’s not out by any means.

Oh, we almost forgot. Matt “ADZ124” Marafioti. What do we say about Marafioti? Well, at just 21 years of age, he’s young. Despite his age he’s not only earned enough FPP’s to get him SuperNova Elite status on PokerStars, he earned enough to buy the Aston Martin with points!

Marafioti is well known online for running his mouth. He talks a lot of trash and gets under many people’s skin. He was banned from Full Tilt by Mike Matusow (details to follow) and, earlier in this tournament, he was seen begging Mike for leniency.

Matusow promised he would look into getting his account reinstated. Besides all the notoriety Marafioti is a good player who has already won millions of dollars in the high-stakes cash games. His live tournament winnings already top $600,000 and, should he win today, he has a chance to get that number into the seven figure range.