It was a long battle for the title in the 69-entry PokerStars Championship Bahamas $50k Single-Day Single Re-Entry Event. Just after the clock hit 3am, Bryn Kenney finally emerged victorious, scooping a whopping $969,075 first prize.
The 30-year-old from New York used the benefit of a re-entry bullet and rejoined the field in the eighth level. Kenney later survived the bubble with the shortest stack among the nine remaining players. However, he managed to ladder up, and navigated to the heads-up with a 2-to-1 lead over Mustapha Kanit. The Italian pro fought back and took the lead for a while but all the chips eventually went Kenney's way.
Kenney had already made a huge final table here at the PokerStars Championship Bahamas, finishing seventh in the $100k Super High Roller for a $275,060 paday. That result marked Kenney's fourth cash in the highest buy-in tournament annually held in the Bahamas. Last year, he took it down for nearly $1.7 million.
Today's payday brought Kenney's live tournament winnings up to more than $13 million, moving him to 15th place on the USA's all-time money list. He was busy with the high buy-in events final tables in the past two days, and is yet to enter the Main Event.
Kanit banked $695,740 for his runner-up finish. The 25-year-old is the top-earning Italian poker player, with close to $8.5 million in live cashes - double the amount won by Max Pescatori, his nearest Italian rival. Known as "lasagnaaammm", Kanit has also made a huge profit online on PokerStars. His biggest online prize was $1,304,720 for capturing the 2015 SCOOP-H Main Event title.
Byron Kaverman, Dan Colman and Daniel Dvoress had competed against Kenney on yesterday's $100k Super High Roller final table and they all met in today's finale too. Kaverman departed in third place, earning $695,740 while Colman pushed his live tournament winnings over a $27-million mark, finishing fourth for $341,240. Dvoress' tournament run was halted in eighth place, good for a $125,900 payday.
The final table also featured Stephen Chidwick (fifth for $265,040), Ben Tollerene (sixth for $205,400). Cary Katz walked away with $96,080 after busting in ninth place.
EPT10 Vienna champion Oleksii Khoroshenin was knocked out on the bubble, less then a month after bubbling the €25k Single-Day Single Re-Entry at EPT13 Prague.
Famous comedian and actor Kevin Hart joined the field but his appearance didn't last very long. Hart lost two bullets early into the tournament and was eliminated from the contention.
PokerStars Championship Bahamas $50k Single Re-Entry results:
1st - Bryn Kenney, USA, $969,075
2nd - Mustapha Kanit, Italy, $695,740
3rd - Byron Kaverman, USA, $452,220
4th - Dan Colman, USA, $341,240
5th - Stephen Chidwick, UK, $265,040
6th - Ben Tollerene, USA, $205,400
7th - Sergi Reixach, Spain, $162,340
8th - Daniel Dvoress, Canada, $125,900
9th - Cary Katz, USA, $96,080
There were 69 entries to the PokerStars Championship Bahamas $50k Single Re-Entry Event, made by 49 unique players. The top nine finishers shared the $3,313,035 prize pool.
NINE DAYS OF ACTION
PokerStars Championship Bahamas, which runs through January 14 at the sun-drenched Atlantis Resort in Nassau, is the first event of the all new PokerStars Championship tour. Poker players from around the world have been qualifying for as little as $10 at PokerStars.com. The event has an action-packed schedule of 92 tournaments, cash games, and non-poker activities, and attracts thousands of international players who will dust off the holiday cobwebs to play in the nine-day Bahamas poker extravaganza.
KEY EVENTS
- $100,000 Super High Roller (January 6-8, 2017)
- $2,200 PokerStars National Championship (January 7-9, 2017)
- $5,000 PokerStars Championship Main Event (January 8-14, 2017)
- $50,000 NL Hold'em Single Day Single Re-Entry
- $25,750 PL Omaha Single Re-Entry
- $220 PokerStars Open (January 10-12, 2017)
- $25,750 High Roller (January 12-14, 2017)
- $440 PokerStars Cup (January 12-14, 2017)
