Ventura Leads From Start to Finish and Wins CPP Main Event

Anyone who knows about tournament poker will tell you it is a rarity for a tournament’s Day 1 chip leader to go all the way and claim the title. Peru’s Diego Ventura has done that. He’s done more, in fact.

Ventura finished Day 1B of the 2020 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event not only as the flight’s chip leader but as the man to catch overall. It was the same story on Day 1, then on the second and third day before starting the star-studded final table as the leader.

His amazing run didn’t end there because he got the job done at the final table and secured the title of 2020 CPP Main Event champion, an accolade that comes with $879,894.

Here’s how that final table went down.

CPP #02 Main Event Final Table Results

Place | Player | Country | Prize
1 | Diego Ventura | Peru | $879,894
2 | Grayson Ramage | Canada | $631,636
3 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | $417,807
4 | Philippe D’Auteuil | Canada | $283,101
5 | Isaac Haxton | Canada | $200,659
6 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Estonia | $142,069
7 | Enrico Camosci | Mexico | $99,552
8 | Jonathan Proudfoot | United Kingdom | $78,812
9 | Pavlo Kolinkovskyi | Ukraine | $65,331

Ukraine’s Pavlo Kolinkovskyi busted in ninth-place after a clash with Grayson Ramage didn’t go to plan. Kolinkovskyi min-raised to 6,000,000 with from late position and called off his remaining 70,623,118 when Ramage three-bet all-in from the big blind with , a move that surprised our Twitch commentary team. Ramage’s daring play was rewarded with a board. Game over for the Ukrainian.

Jonathan Proudfoot was the next player to crash out. The British pro was nursing a 10-12 big blind stack for a while and unable to find a spot to get his stack in. Such a spot came up when the action folded around to him in the small blind and he looked down at . Proudfoot jammed for 33,221,800 and Team partypoker’s Isaac Haxton called with the dominating . The final board read to reduce the player count by one.

Seventh-place and the last five-figure prize of the evening went to Mexico’s Enrico Camosci. The Mexican managed to double with when his ace-queen came from behind to beat the ace-king of Ventura, but any thoughts of victory were soon dashed thanks to a missed draw.

Ramage min-raised under the gun to 7,000,000 with and Aleksejs Ponakovs made a tight fold in the small blind with before Camosci called in the big blind with . Camosci check-called a 6,208,125 continuation bet on the flop, leading to the landing on the turn. The Mexican checked again, Ramage bet again, setting the price to play at 19,250,000. Team partypoker’s Jason Koon commented that Camosci should fold in this spot but he did the opposite and check-raised all-in for 81,568,907. Ramage thought after some deliberation and won the pot when the river came into view.

Short-Handed As First Break Arrives

Grayson Ramage was dominating proceedings

This left the CPP Main Event with only six players before the first scheduled break, quite the frantic pace.

It took another 45 minutes or so to lose another player, Estonian superstar Aleksejs Ponakovs being that player. Ponakovs was down to almost exactly 15 big blinds and he called them off with from the big blind when Ventura set him all-in from the small blind with what turned out to be . Ventura won the hand when the five community cards ran and everyone else locked in a six-figure prize.

Haxton busted a few hands later to leave only four players in the hunt for the title. Ramage opened the betting with a min-raise to 8,000,000 with and it folded to Haxton in the small blind who was laying in wait with . Haxton shipped in his 82,569,224 stack, Dominykas Mikolaitis folded in the big blind, meaning Haxton only had five outs when Ramage called. None of those outs appeared as the board came out .

Philippe D’Auteuil crashed out in fourth during the 2,000,000/4,000,000/500,000a level. He opened to 36,000,000 from under the gun with leaving himself 13,449,881 behind. Mikolaitis folded pocket sixes, Ventura called with and Ramage let his ace-trey go.

The flop came , Ventura checked before instantly calling when D’Auteuil committed the rest of his chip. The turn gave D’Auteuil more outs to a flush but the river was the and he was sent to the showers in fourth place.

Ramage Leads Going Into Heads-Up

Heads-up was set when Mikolaitis bowed out in third place. Ventura min-raised to 10,000,000 on the button with , Ramage folded a junk hand before Mikolaitis moved all-in for 20 big blinds with . The Lithuanian’s demise was confirmed with by the board.

This left Ventura with a 343,514,572 stack to Ramage’s 690,750,760 going into heads-up.

Ventura managed to draw level after 45-minutes of trading blows with Ramage. Neither player could pull away from the other and it was going to need something out of the ordinary to change that, which is what happened.

Ramage got the preflop betting round underway with a raise to 15,000,000 with and Ventura defended his big blind with . A cooler of a flop came down, one reading . Ventura checked, Ramage continued with a 10,395,000 bet and Ventura check-raised to 33,000,000 with his two pair. Ramage responded with a raise of his own to 75,000,000 which Ventura called.

The greeted the players on the turn which failed to alter the course of the hand; both players probably believed their hands were the best. Ventura was first to act and he checked. Ramage bet 111,000,000 into 181,500,000 and was called. The river card was met with another check from Ventura. Ramage moved all-in and Ventura made the call to become the 2020 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event champion!

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