Mustapha Kanit, the only non-American at the final table, starts the day as the short stack. Kanit is already number one on Italy’s all-time money list with over $4 million in total earnings, but did you know a win here today will be the biggest cash of his career?
His previous biggest cash was $1,048,243 at EPT Monte Carlo where he won the Super High Roller. Most recently, he finished third in the World Series of Poker Europe High Roller and won the EPT Barcelona High Roller in August.
Kanit was on the verge of elimination yesterday and in danger of not cashing. However, he worked his short stack up to not only survive the money bubble, but to put himself in contention for the $1,687,800 first-place prize.
Ankush "pistons87" Mandavia starts the day second in chips with 3,360,000. Known primarily as an online high stakes player in both cash games and heads-up sit and gos, Mandavia, who has WCOOP and SCOOP titles under his belt, is making a name for himself in the live realm as well.
In December, Mandavia finished fifth in the WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas for $309,015, which is his best cash to date. Other highlights on his live résumé include fourth in the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open High Roller for $186,200, third in the Aria High Roller XIX for $141,000, and 13th in the 2011 EPT Grand Final Main Event for €60,000.
All told, Mandavia has $1,486,320 in career earnings, which puts him seventh on Georgia's all-time money list (though he's guaranteed to move up no matter where he finishes today).
By making the final six of the PCA $100k Super High Roller, Mandavia has secured his career's biggest live tournament payday as he's already guaranteed $360,060. With the second-biggest stack in play, there's a good chance it'll end up being much more than that.
Reigning World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Joe McKeehen sits third in chips entering play today. Mckeehen is also one of only two players at this final table with a WSOP bracelet, the other being chip leader Bryn Kenney.
Interestingly, McKeehen will crack $10 million in all time earnings no matter where he finishes today. Before he won the 2015 WSOP Main Event for $7,683,346, McKeehen's previous biggest cash was $820,863 for a second-place finish in the 2014 WSOP Monster Stack. If he wins today, McKeehen will notch his second seven-figure career cash, but either way the reigning WSOP champ is showing his win was no fluke.
"I've had an absolute blast playing these things," McKeehen said of playing Super High Rollers. "These dudes all know each other, they're friends. They're very funny."
Last weekend, he finished runner-up to Fedor Holz in the Triton Super High Roller Series $200,000 Cali Cup at WPT Philippines from Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila, a tournamen that attracted 52 entries and saw Peters take home $2.309 million.
Peters starts the day fourth in chips and a win would give him almost $4 million in earnings this month alone! Interestingly, Peters has earned more than half of his total career earnings of $9,663,103 since the start of 2015, evidence that he is one of the game's best at this point in time.
Peters last win came back in December in the Aria High Roller XXI for $426,240, and a win today would give him the tenth first-place finish of his career.
Isaac Haxton starts the day fifth in chips, and a win would be his fourth cash over a million dollars. His best cash to date came back in 2014 when he finished second in the Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge for $2,525,841.
Haxton currently sits 32nd on the all-time money list, but a win would put him in the top 20. More than that, a win would no doubt be even more of a personal accomplishment considering in his successful poker career, he still only has one first-place finish. It came way back in 2010 when he won a $2,500 buy in tournament for $127,069.
Haxton put out his best performance at the EPT tables in 2012 when he made two final tables in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. At first he final tabled the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 8 Max Turbo event and placed third taking home more than $35,000. Then just a couple of days later he did the same in the $25,000 High Roller event, only this time he collected ten times that, $380,730.
That means if Haxton isn't the first player out, he will earn his largest EPT cash to date. But what about his runner-up finish in the 2007 PCA Main Event to Ryan Daut? That was a nice $861,789 payday, but if you recall back then the PCA was part of the EPT.
Chip leader Bryn Kenney is looking for redemption after finishing third in this very event last year.
With $6,701,899 in live tournament earnings, numerous super high roller final tables, and a World Series of Poker gold bracelet, Kenney has plenty of experience to work his way to a victory. What's more, he's looking to continue his ascent in the poker world.
Back in 2014, Kenney had a career year when he amassed $1,281,367 in earnings, which included the aforementioned WSOP bracelet win, which came when he topped a field of 445 in Event #63: 10-Game Mix Six Handed to win $153,220.
As if things couldn't get any better, Kenney had an even better year in 2015 by amassing $2,099,904 in earnings, which included $468,997 for a third-place finish in the APPT Asia Championship of Poker Super High Roller; $287,870 for finishing runner-up in the WSOP Event #2: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em; and $112,980 for taking 11th in the PCA High Roller.
As you can see, Kenney's best year to date started with a hot start at the PCA, and it looks like history could very well repeat itself. All that said, Kenney is no doubt focused on the task at hand — using his chip lead to claim victory. Only time will tell if that comes to pass.
Welcome back to the third and final day of the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 Super High Roller!
This tournament began with 44 unique players who accounted for 14 reentries (including three from Bill Perkins), which brought the total field up to 58 entries and created a $5,626,000 prize pool. A portion of that was awarded yesterday as Kathy Lehne (8th - $225,040) and Daniel Dvoress (7th - $286,920) were both eliminated before play halted for the night.
Today, the final six players will return to compete for a $1,687,800 first-place prize. Leading the way is Bryn Kenney, who bagged up 3.82 million after eliminating Dvoress in the last hand of the night, the result of Dvoress running queens into kings.
The 29-year-old Kenney, who has previously finished third in this event twice before (back in 2011 and 2015 for $643,000 and $873,880 respectively) may hold the chip lead, but five other established players are nipping at his heels including SCOOP and WCOOP champ Ankush "pistons87" Mandavia (3.36 million), 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Joe McKeehen (2.805 million), David Peters (2.085 million), Isaac Haxton (1.395 million), and Mustapha Kanit (1.03 million).
All of those players are guaranteed a minimum $360,060 in prize money, but of course everyone has their eyes on taking home the trophy and adding their name to this prestigious list of champions:
PCA $100k Super High Roller History
Year
Entries
Prize Pool
Winner
Country
Prize
2011 (EPT7)
38 entries
$3,743,000
Eugene Katchalov
Ukraine
$1,500,000
2012 (EPT8)
32 entries
$3,136,000
Viktor Blom
Sweden
$1,254,400
2013 (EPT9)
59 entries
$5,724,180
Scott Seiver
USA
$2,003,480
2014 (EPT10)
56 entries
$5,433,120
Fabian Quoss
Germany
$1,629,940
2015 (EPT11)
66 entries
$6,402,000
Steve O'Dwyer
Ireland
$1,872,580
Day 3 will kick off at 1 p.m. local time, but updates won't start until an hour later to coincide with the cards-up live stream, which you can follow on PokerStars.tv, YouTube and Facebook. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Somerville will also be broadcasting live on Twitch.
