https://www.liquidpoker.net/


LP international Poland    Contact            Users: 173 Active, 0 Logged in - Time: 07:19

Christian Harder breaks through to win Pokerstars Championship Bahamas Main Event

New to LiquidPoker? Register here for free!
Forum Index > Poker News
Garfed   Malta. Jan 18 2017 20:10. Posts 4818

Christian Harder is the champion of the inaugural PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event. Harder topped a field of 738 entries, winning the trophy and the top prize of $429,664 in a heads-up deal.

The champ is a 29-year-old professional poker player from Annapolis, Maryland. Like several others at the final table, he’s an accomplished player with impressive results both live and online. Harder has racked up more than $7 million in poker winnings, both live and online, but he was still looking for his breakthrough bricks-and-mortar victory. He got it today, outlasting a tough final table and defeating Cliff Josephy in the heads-up duel to take the first ever PokerStars Championship title. The next stops on the PokerStars Championship schedule are Panama and Macau in March.

Rasmus Glæsel was the first to fall on the final day. The pro from Norway three-bet shoved for about 20 big blinds behind a Harder open, and was flipping for his tournament life with ace-king against the American’s pocket tens. The board ran out eight-high which was good news for Harder but bad news for Glæsel, who was eliminated in sixth place ($103,780).

Michael Gentili began each of the final two days as chip leader but was unable to get anything going at the final table. The 24-year-old Canadian pro lost most of his stack three-bet shoving from the big blind behind a button open from Aleksei Opalikhin. The latter called instantly, and his pocket aces held strong against Gentili’s pocket deuces. One hand later, Gentili was relieved of his last few chips by Harder, eliminated in fifth place ($140,940).

With four players left, Aleksei Opalikhin lost a flip against Cliff Josephy, leaving himself with less than three big blinds. He committed that remainder with ten-nine offsuit on the next hand, only to find he was up against Michael Vela’s pocket kings. A flop full of aces left the former drawing dead to a chop, and a blank on the turn sealed Opalikhin’s fate as the fourth-place finisher ($191,420).

Vela was the next to fall, having gotten short in the orbits following the previous knockout pot. His final hand began with Harder opening the button and Josephy calling in the small blind. Vela squeezed all in for less than 10 big blinds with ace-six suited, and both opponents called to put him at risk. The two live players checked it all the way down, and Josephy revealed king-jack for a king-high flush at showdown. Vela, a former WPT Champion, exited in third place, collecting $259,980 to boost his career earnings past $2 million.

That left Harder and Josephy heads-up with not much between them. The two paused the clock to have a look at the numbers. After a few minutes, they agreed to a straight chip chop, securing most of the prize pool but leaving the trophy and $10,000 in the middle of the table for the winner. Josephy locked up $403,448 in the deal.

Harder went on to chip away at Josephy’s stack and the final hand played out half an hour into the duel. Both men were dealt an ace, but Harder’s ace-jack had his opponent’s ace-eight dominated as all the chips went in pre-flop. Five blanks later and it was all over, with Harder posing for his winner’s photographs alongside his brand new trophy.

The Main Event began the previous weekend with a pair of starting flights that drew a combined field of 738 entries. That turnout generated a prize pool worth $3,376,712, which was shared by the final 143 players. The bubble burst late on Day 2, and the field was whittled down to 125 players before night’s end. That number was further trimmed to 32 by the end of Day 3, then down to 16 as Day 4 concluded. Day 5 was a short run from that number down to the final six, and it took about nine hours of play on the final day to determine a winner.

PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event final table results:
1st - Christian Harder, USA, PokerStars player, $429,664
2nd - Cliff Josephy, USA, $403,448
3rd - Michael Vela, USA, $259,980
4th - Aleksei Opalikhin, Russia, $191,420
5th - Michael Gentili, Canada, $140,940
6th - Rasmus Glæsel, Norway, $103,780
7th - Brock Allison, Canada, $76,400
8th - John Dibella, USA, $56,260

Facebook Twitter

 



Poker Streams

















Copyright © 2024. LiquidPoker.net All Rights Reserved
Contact Advertise Sitemap