Champion Chino took home $1,567,100 after beating Daniel Strelitz heads-up.
"Things just went my way. Nature ran its course and obviously, it was fun."
Rheem entered the final table with the most chips and he used them to eliminate all of his opponents one-by-one, adding another seven-figure score to his winnings and becoming the champion of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. The 38-year-old LA native outlasted a field of 865 and took home the second biggest cash of his career, crossing the $10 million mark in lifetime earnings.
"It’s an honor," Chino said after the win. "I’m very grateful to even have the opportunity to come here and play, and I’m blessed to be able to win it."
Final table results
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David "Chino" Rheem | United States | $1,567,100 |
| 2 | Daniel Strelitz | United States | $951,480 |
| 3 | Scott Wellenbach | Canada | $671,240 |
| 4 | Pavel Veksler | Ukraine | $503,440 |
| 5 | Vicent Bosca | Spain | $396,880 |
| 6 | Brian Altman | United States | $297,020 |
| 7 | Mihai Manole | Romania | $208,920 |
| 8 | Marc-Andre Ladouceur | Canada | $146,840 |
It took the final six fifty hands to reduce to five after Brian Altman raise/shoved with ace-three and ran into the pocket queens of Rheem’s which managed to hold. The US pro took home $297,020 for finishing sixth.
The remaining five needed another fifty hands to get down to four. It was high-stakes cash game pro, Vicent Bosca, who found himself out of the tournament, despite having countless outs with ace-jack of diamonds against 5-3 on a queen-ten-three flop with two diamonds. However, Chino’s pair managed to hold, sending Bosca to the rail. The Spaniard earned $396,880 for finishing fifth.
Bosca and Wellenbach
At this point, Rheem had a massive lead and he used his stack to put pressure on his opponents by three-betting recklessly. He managed to bust Ukraine’s Pavel Veksler in 4th and then Canada’s Scott Wellenbach in 3rd place for $503,440 and $671,240 respectively.
Scott’s story certainly worth a paragraph. The 67-year-old Buddhist text transcriber was known for donating his PSC Barcelona winnings to charity and he’ll do the same with his newly earned $671K as well. Despite his incredible run, he was a bit disappointed after his bust out.
"A real rollercoaster of emotions. Ups and downs and at the moment, I’m feeling a bit disappointed," he said. "I did have some hopes for playing a little better. "It’s a bit of a bittersweet moment," he added.
Wellenbach leaving the table
"Going into the tournament, if you would’ve said: ‘How’s third place?’ I would’ve said "unbelievably good." I’m sure in a few days, it’ll sink in and I’ll be happy with the outcome. At the moment though, I feel like I could’ve played better. Certain things didn’t go my way as well. I gotta say I was extremely lucky I was getting certain cards in certain situations. So the fact that things went a little odd today, in no way balances the scale, I was very lucky, very fortunate."
"The poker gods were smiling, I’m sure."
Rheem started the heads-up against Strelitz with a 5-1 lead and in just seven hands he busted the fellow US pro with pocket fives against ace-deuce in a pre-flop all-in confrontation. Runner-up Daniel earned $951,480, while Chino took home the trophy and the $1.57 million coming with it.
