Americans Start The New Year Strong In The Bahamas
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Two Gold Medals to start 2018
The $100,000 Super High Roller is one of the most sought-after high roller titles of the year. This year’s running brought in 48 entrants, down from the 54 who entered in 2017. Among those notably absent from the event were former final tablists, Dan Colman and Charlie Carrel.
Seven players made the money and four of them were from the United States. Canada made up two of the final tablists represented by Sam Greenwood and Daniel Negreanu. Argentina’s Ivan Luca started the final table as the chip leader and busted in fifth. The first American player eliminated was Isaac Haxton.
The final three players were all Americans. Bryn Kenney won the event in 2016 and cashed last year. Kenney bowed out in third and Justin Bonomo followed him out the door in second.
Kenney does well in the Bahamas and his third-place finish marks his fourth consecutive cash in the PCA Super High Roller.
Cary Katz is a staple of the high roller community and emerged victorious with over $1.492 million to show for his efforts. Katz has cashed twice in the Big One for One Drop and this win is his first in a major high roller event.
The $50,000 High Roller started up On January 8 and drew 46 runners. This number is down from 69 in 2017. The final table was a mixed bag of nationalities with dual-citizen Steve O’Dwyer taking down the title. He won the 2015 Super High Roller and added another title to his collection.O’Dwyer claimed his Irish citizenship in the months after Black Friday.
O’Dwyer defeated fellow American Byron Kaverman heads up. Erik Seidel stone bubbled the Super High Roller but recovered in time to place fourth in the $50,000 event.
High Rollers go down under
The next series on the high roller schedule is across the world in Australia. Aussie Millions starts on Wednesday, January 17 and players from the United States will flock there for all the high roller events. The A$25,000, A$50,000, and A$100,000 events return to the schedule. The Australian dollar to USD exchange rate gives American players a 20 percent discount on the buy-in.
Nick Petrangelo will likely be back in the field to defend his A$100,000 title from 2017. Petrangelo has a single PCA cash from a $25,000 single day High Roller event and will look to come away with more should he go to Australia.
Five Americans, including Petrangelo, cashed in 2017’s A$25,000 event out of the 14 who made the money. The highest placing finisher is Poker Masters event winner Brandon Adams, who took second.
There is still time for more Americans to add hardware and cash to their 2018 PCA haul. The three-day $25,000 High Roller starts Friday, January 12. The tournament expects to have a minimum of 100 entries. Based on entries so far in PCA, Americans will make up a large percentage of that total.
Other winter high rollers
There are other high rollers taking place outside of Australia. The Lucky Hearts Poker Open is underway in Hollywood, Florida and includes a $50,000 Super High Roller with a guarantee of $1 million. In addition, there is also a $25,500 two-day High Roller.
The U.S. Poker Open starts on February 1 and includes eight events with buy-in no lower than $10,000. All the high stakes action will stream on PokerGO.