Fabian Quoss Wins Intense PCA Super High Rollers

German Fabian Quoss overcame an intense final table to win the first event of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure – the $100,000 buy-in PCA Super High Rollers.

The climax to the PCA Super High Rollers was as good a spectacle as we are likely to see at this year´s Caribbean Adventure series. It included spectacular knockouts, bad beats, cracked Aces and an engrossing period of three-handed play in which each of the protagonists at some time held the chip lead.

After a prolonged period of bubble play on Day 2, seven players returned to the Atlantis Resort on Bahamas´ Paradise Island to contest the Super High Rollers Final Table. The field was headed by Dan Shak – who had gone from being one card away from elimination to chip leader in a single hand just before the close of Monday´s action.

Also seated around the final table were Vanessa Selbst – who had been chip leader for most of Day 2 – the well-stacked Antonio Esfandiari and Fabian Quoss, and three short-stacked players – Matt Glantz, Tony Gregg and Ole Schemion – who had fewer than twenty big blinds between them.

Double Bust Out to Start the Day

When play resumed in the 2014 PCA Super High Rollers, there were just twelve minutes remaining in Level 19 (blinds 30,000/60,000 – ante 10,000), and all eyes were on the three short-stacked players to see how quickly they would make a move. However, whereas as on Day 2, a short-stack getting all-in virtually assured a double-up, the first all-in action of the day saw two short-stacked players bust from the tournament.

Ole Schemion was the first player to commit the remainder of his chips, and Tony Gregg (who had position on him) moved over the top with the last of his chips. Fabian Quoss called from the button, and the cards were on their backs:

• Schemion K♦ 4♦
• Gregg A♦ 9♣
• Quoss 10♣ 10♠

Fabian Quoss remained ahead in the hand after the flop of Q♦ 2♥ 2♠, and the 2♦ on the Turn left Schemion needing a King and Gregg requiring an Ace to stay alive in the PCA Super High Rollers event. Sadly for both, the 9♠ bricked on the River and both players were sent to the rail – Gregg in sixth and Schemion in seventh due to the relative size of their stacks when the hand began.

Glantz Busts Soon After – Esfandiari Crushed and Eliminated

Matt Glantz´s participation in the Super High Rollers event was only to last a few hands more. As level 20 began (blinds 40,000/80,000 – ante 10,000), Glantz moved all-in with J♠ 10♥. Vanessa Selbst (A♦ J♥) isolated Glantz with a raise from the blinds, and the board missed both players – sending Glantz to the rail in fifth place.

Matt Glantz´s KO seemed to put fire in Vanessa Selbst´s belly, and she moved back into the chip lead when forcing Antonio Esfandiari out of a ½ million chip pot in which Esfandiari was ahead. Victory in another major pot against Esfandiari when she A♥ 10♥ flopped a Broadway straight enabled Vanessa Selbst to move further ahead – while crippling Esfandiari, who was soon to be eliminated from the event.

Again it was to be Vanessa Selbst who was to be Antonio Esfandiari´s nemesis, as she called his 9♣ 9♥ shove with A♣ K♦. The flop of 2♥ 4♦ 5♦ kept Esfandiari ahead in the hand, but gave Selbst gutshot draw and backdoor flush options in addition to her overcards; and it was one of her overcards that was dealt on the Turn (A♦), eliminating Esfandiari from the PCA Super High Rollers and leaving Vanessa Selbst with half the chips in play as the tournament went three-handed.

The Tournament Still Up for Grabs as Lead Changes Hands

Victory in a couple of small pots enabled Dan Shak to close the gap on Vanessa Selbst and open up some space between himself and Fabian Quoss who, as the blinds increased to 50,000/100,000 (ante 10,000), found himself with just fifteen big blinds after paying Vanessa Selbst three streets of value on a flopped set of threes.

However, Fabian Quoss´s comeback was quite remarkable. He doubled-up against Dan Shak K♣ J♦ > A♣ A♥ with a runner-runner straight to crack Shak´s Aces, and then doubled-up against Vanessa Selbst Q♥ J♣> 9♦ 8♦ when Selbst missed her open-ended straight draw (after the flop of 10♠ A♣ 7♠) and Quoss rivered the Q♦ to pair his hand.

Dan Shak then took the chip advantage in the PCA Super High Rollers when turning a straight to best Vanessa Selbst´s paired A♥, before Selbst doubled-back into the lead A♦ 10♥ > A♣ 7♦ against Dan Shak, and Fabian Quoss then doubled-up Q♣ J♠ > Vanessa Selbst´s A♠ K♠ when turning a Broadway straight.

Selbst Busts – Quoss Uses Chip Advantage to Force Victory

Having seen her two pairs bust in the previously mentioned hand, Vanessa Selbst moved all-in from the button with K♥ 9♣ and received a call from Fabian Quoss in the Big Blind who had A♥ 4♥. The flop and Turn of 6♦ 2♣ 3♣/ 4♠ gave Selbst hope of pairing her Kind or chopping the pot with a Five, but the 3♠ on the River signalled the end of her participation in the PCA Super High Rollers.

Going into the heads-up, Fabian Quoss now had a 9.2 million -v- 4.8 million chip advantage against Dan Shak, and he made that advantage tell – forcing Shak of off a series of pots to build a 5:1 chip advantage. The final hand came deep into Level 24 (blinds 100,000/200,000 – ante 20,000) when Quoss (8♠ 6♦) completed from the Button and Shak (J♥ 10♣) checked in the Big Blind.

Shak check-called Quoss´s 200,000 chip bet after the flop of 10♦ 7♣ Q♠ (Shak ahead with a pair of Tens), but after the 9♦ on the Turn (Quoss ahead with a Ten-high straight) Shak responded to Quoss´s 425,000 bet by moving all-in. Quoss snap-called and the cards were on their backs. Shak needed a King or an Eight on the River to give him a better straight than Quoss, but the River card (A♣) did not oblige and Fabian Quoss was the PCA Super High Roller champion.

PCA Super High Roller Result

Eight players cashed in the PCA Super High Roller, Mike McDonald finishing eighth after he and Paul Newey were eliminated in the final hand of Day 2. Fabian Quoss picked up $1,629,940 for his victory ($300,000 of it donated by Daniel Negreanu, who entered three times), with the full list of payouts looking like this:

After collecting his winner´s cheque of $1,629,940, Fabian Quoss admitted in a post-tournament interview that the cards fell his way during the climax to the PCA Super High Rollers. He also stated that he had been happy with the decisions he had made throughout the game (although his face told a different story when Dan Shak rolled over two Aces against Quoss´s K♣ J♦ shove).