Zona de Azar Bahamas – Chris Kruk Mounts Huge Comeback to Win PCA $25K High Rolller  for  u$s 836,350

Bahamas.- It took less than five hours of play on the final table to see the PCA 2018 $25k High Roller arise.

25-year-old Canadian online poker star Christopher Kruk remained the last man standing, walking away with the giant $836,350 first-place prize along with his first major live tournament title. Kruk lifted the coveted trophy after beating a field of 150 entries.

Click for: Results | Schedule | All Files from PCA 2018 | Photos

“I feel good. I feel happy with the decisions I made. And that’s all you can really do in tournament poker, just hope to run good and make good decisions. And today was my day,” Kruk said in the moments of his victory.

Remarkably, Kruk had to come from behind to reach the pinnacle. His fellow countryman Jonathan Jaffe held an overwhelming chip lead in their heads-up match, exceeding 10-1 advantage at one point.

Kruk, however, recovered and turned the battle around in a spectacular fashion.

“At the start, I was so short that it was just gonna come down to who happened to won a couple of all-ins and thankfully I got lucky to double up twice,” Kruk described his first steps back to contention.

When he narrowed the gap and escaped from shallow waters, Kruk was finally able to utilize his post flop strategy.

“At that point, there was some actual play and I felt I played pretty well.”

Kruk slowly worked his way up and eventually moved to a slight lead before Jaffe pulled off a huge bluff, firing an overbet on the river.

“I made a big call towards the end with ace-king. That gave me a huge stack and. within a couple of hands, he had ten big blinds and a pair of fours. I was lucky enough to get jacks so the hand was always gonna end in the exact same way. I’m happy that they held,” Kruk said.

Known as “Apotheosis92” online, Kruk has been an accomplished player for a few years. He started playing the highest buy-in live tournaments last year. Today’s payday pushed his career earnings over $2 million.

Second place finisher Jaffe banked $569,760. Jaffe came back for the final day with the chip lead and scored a couple of eliminations to keep his stack near the top.

He soared to a commanding lead after knocking out Justin Bonomo in fourth place. Jaffe’s straightforward run continued as he busted former NFL star Richard Seymour in third, controlling the vast majority of chips.

Seymour, a three-time Super Bowl Champion and seven-time All-Pro, claimed $376,360 for his effort. Seymour has been regularly coming to the PCA for a past few years and this is the best result of his poker career.

Bonomo, who’d notched a seven-figure prize earlier this week after finishing second in the $100k Super High Roller, added another $310,150 to his account.

Team PokerStars Pro Igor Kurganov was dispatched in fifth place, taking $249,160. The eight-handed final table also featured Mikita Badziakouski, Stefan Schillhabel and Felipe Ramos.

The 150-entry PCA 2018 $25k High Roller saw the top 20 finishers share pieces of a $3,484,800 prize pool.

PCA 2018 $25k High Roller final table results:
1st – Christopher Kruk, Canada, $836,350
2nd – Jonathan Jaffe, Canada, $569,760
3rd – Richard Seymour, USA, $376,360
4th – Justin Bonomo, USA, $310,150
5th – Igor Kurganov, Russia, Team PokerStars Pro, $249,160
6th – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus, $195,150
7th – Stefan Schillhabel, Germany, $146,360
8th – Felipe Ramos, Brazil, $108,030

PCA/PSC BAHAMAS $25K HIGH ROLLER HISTORY:
2009: 48 entries, $1,131,800 prize pool, Bertrand Grospellier from France for $433,500
2010: 48 entries, $2,057,998 prize pool, William Reynolds from the USA for $576,240
2011: 151 entries, $3,699,040 prize pool, Will Molson from the USA for $1,072,850
2012: 148 entries, $3,626,000 prize pool, Alex Bilokur from Russia for $1,134,930
2013: 204 entries, $4,998,000 prize pool, Vanessa Selbst from the USA for $1,424,420
2014: 247 entries, $6,051,500 prize pool, Jake Schindler from the USA for $1,192,624
2015: 269 entries, $6,456,000 prize pool, Ilkin Garibli from Azerbaijan for $1,105,040
2016: 225 entries, $5,400,000 prize pool, Nick Maimone from the USA for $996,480
2017: 159 entries, $3,895,500 prize pool, Luc Greenwood from Canada for $779,268
2018: 150 entries, $3,484,800 prize pool, Chris Kruk from Canada for $836,350
* (held as PokerStars Championship Bahamas in 2017)

ABOUT POKERSTARS CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE 2018
The iconic PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) returns to the Atlantis Resort, The Bahamas with the illustrious live poker festival running January 6-14, 2018.

Established in 2004, the PCA has quickly become one of the major annual events on the world’s poker map where the top players from North America and beyond meet with various celebrities and poker aficionados from all corners of the world, including first-time qualifiers who all get to experience the unique atmosphere in a stellar poker event held on the famous Paradise Island.

For more than a decade, PCA has played a spectacular host to some of the most remarkable moments in the history of the game, with dozens of millionaires emerging from the winners.

This year’s PCA features 31 tournaments across nine days of intense poker action. The schedule is filled with a handful of top-notch, unmissable events including the $10,300 Main Event (January 8-14), the $100,000 Super High Roller (January 6-8), the $25,000 High Roller (January 12-14) and the $1,650 PCA National (January 7-9).

To celebrate the return of the PCA, the 2018 event will also include a wide variety of promotions, additional rewards, and activities for players to enjoy both on and off the tables, such as a $50,000 Freeroll and a $50,000 Player Giveaway. Full details can be found here.

MAJOR TOURNAMENTS AT PCA 2018:
* $100,000 PCA Super High Roller: January 6-8, 2018
* $1,650 PCA National: January 7-9, 2018
* $10,300 PCA Main Event: January 8-14, 2018
* $50,000 High Roller: January 8-9, 2018
* $25,000 NL Hold’em Single Re-Entry: January 11, 2018
* $25,000 PCA High Roller: January 12-14, 2018

FURTHER POKERSTARS LIVE EVENTS
For full details on all live events, including the PokerStars NL Hold’em Players Championship, European Poker Tour (EPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), PokerStars Festival, and PokerStars MEGASTACK, visit PokerStarslive.com.

Future PokerStars LIVE events announced so far:
– PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2018 (January 6-14, 2018)
– Ulster MEGASTACK (January 12-14, 2018)
– PokerStars Festival London (January 22-28, 2018)
– Macau Poker Cup 28 (January 26-February 11, 2018)
– LAPT Chile (March 8-13, 2018)
– APPT Macau (March 14-25, 2018)
– EPT Sochi (March 20-29, 2018)
– PokerStars And Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT (April 24-May 4, 2018)
– EPT Barcelona (August 21-September 2, 2018)
– EPT Prague (December 6-17, 2018)

HOW TO APPLY FOR MEDIA CREDENTIALS FOR FUTURE STOPS
Media who wish to apply for any future PokerStars LIVE stops can do so via the PokerStars media application form: http://www.pokerstarslive.com/about/media-application/

BLOG REPORTS AND VIDEOS
Please see the PokerStars blog and video blogs on PokerStars.tv for full reports on the event, further updates can be found on the PokerStars LIVE Facebook page.

For social media see:
Twitter.com/PokerStarsLIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE)
Hashtag is #PCA2018
http://www.facebook.com/PokerStarsLIVE/

Editó: @_fonta   www.zonadeazar.com