The poker world has converged on Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, with the 2017 Caribbean Poker Party being hosted by Party Poker LIVE at the Melia Caribe Tropical hotel and resort. The poker festival features $10,000,000 in guaranteed prize pools spread across several huge events. Although the $5,000,000 guaranteed main event is ongoing, a number of early tournaments have already wrapped up. The latest winners are German star Rainer Kempe and American poker pro Chris Hunichen.
Kempe defeated a field of 812 entries to take down the Caribbean Poker Party Festival $1,100 MILLIONS Open event, capturing the title and the $200,000 first-place prize. Kempe also scored 912 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second title and 12th final table finish of the year. He has accumulated $2,651,132 in earnings so far in 2017, and with 4,139 POY points has climbed into 13th place on the overall 2017 Player of the Year leaderboard which is presented by the Commerce Casino and Hotel.
This was the largest field size of any of the five live tournament titles that Kempe has captured. All of his other wins came in small-field super high roller events, including the largest score of his career: the $5,000,000 he won by taking down the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl $300,000 buy-in event. The young poker pro now has more than $11.2 million in lifetime live tournament earnings.
A total of 43 entries were made in the $25,500 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed Caribbean Poker Party high roller event. In the end Chris Hunichen outlasted a stacked final table to secure the title and the $400,000 top prize. This was the largest cash of his career, bringing his lifetime live earnings to $2,595,552.
Sam Trickett began the final table as the chip leader, and he furthered his advantage by scoring the first two knockouts of the day. With Steffen Sontheimer sent to the rail in sixth place ($50,000) and Rafael Moraes eliminated in fifth place ($75,000) it seemed as if Trickett was positioned to run away with the event. Hunichen and Sam Greenwood were able to take some big chunks out of Trickett’s stack, though, and the momentum began to shift in Hunichen’s favor during four-handed play.
Hunichen then went on an elimination spree, knocking out Adrian Mateos (4th – $110,000), Sam Trickett (3rd – $165,000) and finally Sam Greenwood (2nd – $242,750) to lock up the title.
Hunichen scored 420 POY points for the win. This was his first title and eighth final table finish of 2017. As a result of the win, he has climbed into 23rd place in the overall standings. Hunichen was not the only player to make moves near the top of the POY leaderboard as a result of this event. Mateos earned 210 points for his fourth-place showing, overtaking Koray Aldemir to claim the third-place spot. He now has 16 final table finishes, with 5,102 points and $4,566,271 in year-to-date earnings.
Steffen Sontheimer added 140 POY points to his 2017 haul, bringing his total to 4,642 on the year. He has joined the top five in the POY standings as a result of this latest deep run. This was his 15th final table finish in 2017. He has won three titles and cashed for an impressive $6,725,332 so far this year.