2017 Caribbean Poker Party Day 3: Preben Stokkan Wins High Roller

The first champion of the 2017 partypoker LIVE Caribbean Poker Party festival has been crowned and it is Norway’s Preben Stokkan who has got his hands on a title and $275,000 in cash.

MILLIONS High Roller

Nineteen players returned to the fray on Day 3 of the $10,300 MILLIONS High Roller, but only 11 of those received prize money. Dmitry Makarov was the first casualty of the afternoon before the likes of Felix Bleiker, Barry Hutter, Stephen Chidwick, Mike Watson and Team partypoker’s Roberto Romanello fell by the wayside.

Ronamello’s exit was particularly painful as he found himself all-in with against the ace-king’s of Stokkan and Mike Watson. Romanello turned a set of nines, but Stokkan rivered a flush to send Watson and Romanello to the showers in a 24.5 million chip pot.

Former World Series of Poker Main Event champion Ryan Riess fell in 13th place before Manig Loeser crashed out in 12th place to burst the bubble.

The first player to collect prize money was Spain’s Sergio Aido after his ace-ten lost to the pocket nines of Sam Greenwood. Stefan Schillhabel and Kenny Hallaert clashed in a carbon copy of Aido’s exit except Hallaert’s ace-ten prevailed against pocket nines.

Jonathan Little, the start of play chip leader, then bust Sean Winter and Felipe Ramos in the same hand to leave only seven players in the hunt for the title and the official final table was set.

Greenwood added to his stack by sending Steffan Sontheimer to the rail, his aces holding against Sontheimer’s king-queen, then the dangerous Pascal Lefrancois came unstuck in another hand against Greenwood to reduce the player count by one.

The final five became four when Hallaert bust at the hands of Little courtesy of a runner-runner straight and four became three when Greenwood again turned executioner to send Romania’s Alexandru Papazian to the cashier’s cage.

Greenwood’s impressive run ended in a third place finish courtesy of Stokkan. Greenwood limped with from the small blind and called when Stokkan raised to 2.1 million with . The flop saw Greenwood check, Stokkan bet 2.6 million, Greenwood move all-in for 20.7 million and Stokkan snap-call. A black ten and black five on the turn and river sealed Greenwood’s fate.

Stokkan and Little locked horns heads-up for the title and it was Little who was fastest out of the blocks, but the match started to sway in Stokkan’s favour. The final hand took place during the 600,000/1,200,000 level and saw Stokkan announce he was all-in with and Little call off his 33.3 million chips with . A final board reading gave Little a set of threes, but Stokkan a straight and the title of MILLIONS High Roller champion.

MILLIONS High Roller Final Table Results

Place | Player | Country | Prize
1 | Preben Stokkan | Norway | $275,000
2 | Jonathan Little | United States | $175,000
3 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | $124,100
4 | Alexandru Papazian | Romania | $100,000
5 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | $85,000
6 | Pascal Lefrancois | Canada | $70,000
7 | Steffen Sontheimer | Germany | $55,000
8 | Sean Winter | United States | $40,000

MILLIONS Open Day 2: Gerald Karlic Hold Narrow Lead

Day 2 of the $1,100 MILLIONS Open saw the player count reduce to a more manageable 135 with three players bagging more than 18 million chips each.

Austria’s Gerald Karlic is the official chip leader thanks to ending Day 2 with 18,605,000 chips, narrowly ahead of Barny Boatman on 18,400,000 and Vincent Tremblay on 18,035,000.

The list of players navigating their way through to Day 3 reads like a who’s who of world poker with such luminaries as Rainer Kempe (16,365,000), Mike Watson (10,530,000), Mike Leah (7,625,000), Sergio Aido (6,875,000), Benjamin Pollak (6,140,000), Kevin MacPhee (4,795,000) and Tom Marchese (3,640,000) all progressing.

Joining these stars on Day 3 are a host of Team partypoker members. Natalia Breviglieri is the best placed with 9,735,000 chips, but Head of Poker Tom Waters isn’t too far behind with 8,205,000 chips. Kristen Bicknell bagged up 7,075,000 and Louise Butler ended the night with 3,390,000.

It was the end of the road, however, for our Chairman Mike Sexton, Roberto Romanello, Anatoly Filatov, Joao Simao, Jason Koon, Johnny Lodden, Charlie Godwin and Marcel Luske.

Ninety-five places are to be paid with a min-cash worth $2,000 and the winner taking home $200,000.

MILLIONS Open Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

Place | Player | Country | Chips
1 | Gerald Karlic | Austria | 18,605,000
1 | Barny Boatman | United Kingdom | 18,400,000
1 | Vincent Tremblay | Canada | 18,035,000
1 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | 16,365,000
1 | Alexander Beresnev | Russia | 14,575,000
1 | Oskar Prehm | Germany | 13,850,000
1 | William Blais | Canada | 13,430,000
1 | Farid Jattin | Columbia | 13,225,000
1 | Walter Treccarichi | Italy | 12,585,000
1 | Julian Stuer | Germany | 12,200,000

Stay tuned to the partypoker blog throughout the 2017 partypoker LIVE Caribbean Poker Party and follow all of the live updates from all of the events with the PokerNews Live Reporting team’s updates.