All but one tournament has concluded on the final day of the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the penultimate High Roller trophy was awarded to American poker pro Isaac Haxton. Out of 46 entries in Event #66: $100,000 7-Handed High Roller, he took home the biggest slice of the $4,508,460 prize pool after defeating German wunderkind Fedor Holz in heads-up play.
It was the second victory for Haxton during this very successful stop at the Baha Mar Resort on The Bahamas. He came out on top of a three-way deal with Seth Davies and Adrian Mateos in the opening $100,000 PCA Super High Roller before banking almost half a million in the $25,000 8-Handed High Roller, falling short of a victory to Justin Bonomo and Rui Neves Ferreira.
The third time was a charm again, and there were no deal discussions at all this time when Haxton and Holz battled for the victory. Coming into the duel with a slight lead, Haxton always remained on top to score a payday of $1,555,360, while Holz had to settle for a consolation prize of $1,014,400.
“Only second place, but I’ll take it … it was kind of a sad heads-up,” Holz told his German rail after he came up just shy of the win. The German has limited his live poker appearances in the last few years but hasn’t forgotten any of the skills that gave him the label of “wunderkind”.
Haxton, in the meanwhile, was delighted with the outcome of the trip to The Bahamas. “Wow, what a week, can’t complain,” he said immediately after the final hand.
Among those to cash were also Aleksejs Ponakovs, Steve O’Dwyer, Nick Petrangelo and David Peters. The aforementioned Mateos was eliminated by Haxton on the money bubble in rather cruel fashion.
Final Result Event #66: $100,000 7-Handed High Roller
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaac Haxton | United States | $1,555,360 |
| 2 | Fedor Holz | Germany | $1,014,400 |
| 3 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | $698,800 |
| 4 | Steve O’Dwyer | Ireland | $518,500 |
| 5 | Nick Petrangelo | United States | $405,800 |
| 6 | David Peters | United States | $315,600 |
The final day recommenced with 12 Day 1 survivors out of 21 entries returning to their seats, but the late registration and re-entry period were available for the first hour. During that time frame, the field size more than doubled in a frantic opening stage. Big names of the international poker scene arrived and departed without anything to show for but an expensive final day of the series.
Among the early casualties were the likes of Ben Heath, Mike Watson, Stephen Chidwick, and Timothy Adams. The $250,000 Super High Roller runner-up Jean-Noel Thorel was eliminated in a memorable three-way all-in in which David Yan pulled a rabbit out of the hat thanks to a runner-runner straight.
Several eliminations in quick succession brought the field down to the final three tables with Justin Bonomo and
Kannapong Thanarattrakul among those to depart. Chris Brewer, Michael Addamo, Bryn Kenney, and Cary Katz found no trip saver thereafter either while the exit of Day 1 chip leader Daniel Dvoress set up the final two tables.
Short-handed play close to the money bubble brought with it the eliminations of Seth Davies and Kathy Lehne, which created the seven-handed final table on the money bubble.
Haxton was responsible for bursting the bubble when he jammed ten-trey into the ace-king of Mateos and turned a wheel. It didn’t take long to lose three short stacks in quick succession after that, as Peters, Petrangelo and O’Dwyer were gone within half an hour.
Holz soared to the top of the leaderboard, and a pivotal hand then took place between Ponakovs and Haxton. The Latvian high-stakes crusher fired three barrels with the missed nut flush draw and was called by Haxton with just the middle pair.
“I have to look it up later but the computers probably won’t like it,” eventual champion Haxton remarked right after it happened.
Heads-up play between Holz and Haxton lasted for around an hour and small ball poker dictated the action right out of the gates. Eventually, Haxton established a commanding lead and ultimately prevailed with ten-eight suited versus king-nine suited to cap off the series in The Bahamas with a second trophy.
This concludes the PokerNews live coverage from the PokerStars flagship series in the Caribbean, but the first stop of the European Poker Tour in Paris is just around the corner.
