Ilkin Garibli went to the Bahamas for vacation but ended up registering to his first ever tournament, the PCA $25,000 High Roler, which turned out to be a great decision as the young player from Azerbaijan won the $1.105.040 first prize after defeating a tough final table that included Faraz Jaka, Scott Seiver, Lee Markholt and Joe Kuether.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller was a record breaking event, there were a total of 269 entries which created a prizepool of $6,456,000.
11 players returned on Wednesday to play for the title and the huge prizes, the chipleader was Jean-Pascal Savard with 2.43 million chips.
Bryn Kenney finished in 11th place and Dominik Nitsche finished in 10th place, after this play continued on one table.
Seat 1. Jean-Pascal Savard – 1.920.000
Seat 2. Scott Seiver – 832.000
Seat 3. Nick Petrangelo – 1.700.000
Seat 4. Ilkin Garibli – 1.915.000
Seat 5. Dan Heimiller – 730.000
Seat 6. Lee Markholt – 684.000
Seat 7. Faraz Jaka – 755.000
Seat 8. Joe Kuether – 2.230.000
Seat 9. Oleksii Khoroshenin – 2.580.000
Lee Markholt finished in 9th place after his K-K couldn’t hold up against Scott Seiver’s 9-9. Dan Heimiller finished in 8th place then Faraz Jaka busted in 7th after his A-6 failed to improve against Savard’s A-K.
The next player to bust was Petrangelo, he shoved 900,000 chips with K-J on Level 27 (40,000-80,000-10,000 ante) from early position, Joe Kuether shoved from the small blind with A-A and managed to hold up.
On Level 28 (50,000-100,000-10,000 ante) Scott Seiver opened to 200,000 from UTG, Garibli re-raised to 510,000 from the cutoff, and Seiver called. On the 3-7-8 two diamond flop Seiver checked, Garibli bet 630,000. Seiver thought for a long time then shoved for 2.89 million. Garibli thought for a minute then called.
Showdown:
Seiver: 7-7
Garibli: T-T
Garibli was way behind with his set of tens but managed to make a runner-runner flush when the Ace and King of diamonds hit the turn and river, and won a huge, 8.45 million pot to eliminate Seiver.
Savard finished in fourth after losing with A-9 against Khoroshenin’s A-K, but the Ukranian player busted not much later after losing A-T vs A-3 and A-7 vs KQ preflop all-ins, both against Kuether.
At the start of the heads-up Garibli had 9.28 million while Kuether had 4.17 million and the two players decided to make a deal. Garibli got $1.105.040 while Kuether won $1.050.000, they continued playing for a SLYDE watch and the title.
Kuether managed to take the lead but Garibli doubled soon after, he called his opponents flop bluff shove with top pair. On Level 35 (250,000-500,000-50,000 ante) Kuether limped on the button, Garibli shoved and Kuether called all-in for 6.55 million.
Showdown:
Garibli: K-8
Kuether: J-J
Garibli managed to improve to top pair on the K-7-4-A-3 board and won the first ever live tournament he has entered for $1.105 million.
Garibli has told the media that he came to the Bahamas for vacation and that this is the first time he has entered a live tournament. He usually plays cash games with his friends which he prefers because tournaments are too long and he doesn’t have patiance for them. He was happy to even cash but once he did he had his sights on the big money. He has stated that he feels like the field didn’t have a big edge on him but that he knows his opponents are ten times better then him and attributes his success to a good run of cards. Garibli studies finance in London and was advised by his friends competing in the High Roller to enter the tournament.
Final table results:
1. Ilkin Garibli – $1.105.040*
2. Joe Kuether – $1.050.000*
3. Oleksii Khoroshenin – $629.460
4. Jean-Pascal Savard – $508.080
5. Scott Seiver – $398.340
6. Nick Petrangelo – $301.500
7. Faraz Jaka – $221.440
8. Dan Heimiller – $162.700
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