Poker’s all-time money leader Justin Bonomo extended his lead early this morning when he took down $25,000 8-Handed at the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) for $574,529 after a three-handed ICM chop with chip leader Rui Ferreira (2nd -$664,820) and Isaac Haxton (3rd – $491,550), who was a few runouts away from winning his second trophy of the series after a victory in $100,000 PCA Super High Roller for $1,082,230.

Bonomo had $58.9 million in Hendon Mob-reported earnings before the six-figure haul that puts him at a historic $59.5 million. It will take a multi-million dollar score for anyone to pass the American as he sits comfortably ahead of Bryn Kenney ($57.2 million) and Erik Seidel ($42.4 million).

The victory marks Bonomo’s first tournament win outside of Las Vegas since 2019 and just his second cash out of Vegas since that time. The first came earlier this week when he finished 44th in the $10,000 PCA Main Event for $29,400.

“Just like any other tournament, you have to play your best, you have to get lucky, catch the right cards at the right time,” Bonomo said when asked what propelled him to his latest victory. “Just a combination of things coming together, really.”

While many of the high rollers so far at PCA have attracted intimate fields with just a few dozen runners, the $25,000 8-Handed ballooned into a massive field of 140 players, an astonishing number for an event at this buy-in, to generate $3,361,400 in prize money.

“It was a great field,” Bonomo told PokerNews in a winner’s interview. “I’m used to playing these high-roller tournaments against a lot of the best players in the world, a lot of the same people over and over. So it’s definitely exciting when I get to play with new people, people I don’t recognize.”

Other players who made deep runs in the event include Alex Kulev (9th – $108,450), Seth Davies (7th – $130,600) and Jean-Noel Thorel (5th – $220,700), who received a round of applause from Steve O’Dwyer and several others as he exited the final table.

2023 PCA $25,000 8-Handed Final Table Results

A Massive Field Dwindles

The tournament was already shaping to be a big one when 78 players registered on Day 1, but another 62 joined during the late-reg period on Day 2 to turn the high roller into the biggest of the series so far.

The field included all the normal high-stakes pros, including Stephen Chidwick, Michael Addamo, Mike Watson and Ben Heath, as well as some players who aren’t seen in any many PCA high rollers like Ethan “RampagePoker” Yau.

Only 20 places paid in the event and Tauan Naves bowed out on the money bubble in a three-way pot between himself, Bonomo and Dan Shak, who himself went out in 18th place when he moved in with ace-nine only to find himself dominated by the ace-queen of Haxton.

Several familiar faces fell after that, including Timothy Adams (17th – $43,050), Dan Smith (15th – $56,950) and Chad Eveslage (14th – $56,950) before Daniel Dvoress went out in tenth on the final table bubble.

Battle of Poker’s Greatest Minds

Kulev went out in eighth place when he open-jammed with pocket threes in the small blind, and Bonomo woke up with pocket queens in the big blind. Mario Mosboeck managed to double up through the Bonomo before Ferreira picked up jacks, and the Austrian couldn’t get ahead with his king-ten.

Bonomo and Ferreira, who took down €10,300 EPT High Roller at EPT Barcelona for €767,750 in August 2022, exchanged chip leads at the final table and both did their part to apply pressure on their shorter-stacked opponents.

“What you want to look for are spots where you can pressure them using only a small amount of chips and make them afraid that they’re going to lose their whole stack,” Bonomo explained. “Because you don’t just want to go all-in for heaps every hand, because then you can actually lose a bunch. But just by putting in small bets (or) small raises, every hand they’re afraid that they might go bust. They might end up in sixth instead of third place, or whatever.”

After Carlos Chadha went out in fourth as his pocket eights were pipped by the pocket nines of Haxton, the three high-stakes crushers agreed to chop and flip for the trophy.

Bonomo, who celebrated the victory with his girlfriend, told PokerNews he agreed to chop in part because he was playing against “playing against two great players.”

“Isaac and I go way back,” he said. “I think he’s one of the best players in the world, possibly the greatest poker mind in the world. And Rui is a tough player as well.”

That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting team’s coverage of the larger-than-anticipated $25,000 8-Handed. Be sure to check out the team’s coverage of other events here in The Bahamas.

There were 22 players who returned to the felt for the third and final day of the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty and it was Samuel Cobian who topped them all to take home the first-place prize of $239,658.

Cobian overcame a star-studded field of 763 entries to record his largest career poker score after defeating Andy Wilson in a heads-up match. He will also add 15 bounties to his total, all of which were of the $1,000 minimum variety, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face after capturing the illustrious PokerStars trophy.

$3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty Final Table Results

Winner’s Reaction

“This feels great man,” Cobian told PokerNews in his post-win interview. “I never thought this could happen. But it does, and it did.”

The recreational poker player from Indianapolis said this isn’t often where he and his wife travel in the winter, but his wife convinced him to come to the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

“We usually go to Florida in the winter but my wife convinced me to come to The Bahamas and play some poker this year.”

Cobian can often be seen at the WSOP in Las Vegas where he’s cashed the Main Event on multiple occasions. He’s already won a seat for this upcoming summer trip.

Cobian was off to get his winner’s photo taken but said the chances of playing in the PSPC later this week is definitely a possibility.

“You’ll just have to buy in!” his wife shouted with exuberance on their way out of the tournament room.

Cobian has guaranteed this will be the most successful winter getaway that he’s experienced, and he plans to keep the run-good going.

Day 3 Action

With 22 players returning for Day 3, there was no shortage of action in the opening levels of the day. There were 10 eliminations in the first two hours of the day that included PokerStars ambassador Rafael Moraes, David Stamm and Kitty Kuo. During the rush of eliminations, Kayhan Mokri was busy at the “tickle trunk” redeeming his bounty tickets. A burst of excitement was overheard as Mokri managed to find the last $100,000 bounty prize, going along with Sebastien Aube, who pulled his six-figure prize last night.

When the field finally reached the final table, Wilson came in as the chip leader and extended his lead with the quick eliminations of Michael Uguccioni and David Peters. With seven players still remaining, Wilson had accumulated over one-third of the chips in play. The talkative Mokri was next on the chopping block as one of the short stacks and was forced to settle for just over $37,000 and seventh place. However, the $100,000 and change in bounties will no doubt keep his spirits high.

Justin Steinbrenner was down to less than four big blinds but managed to double up and then go on to eliminate the next two players in Rui Bouquet and Matthew Lambrecht. Steinbrenner went from 600,000 to 6,000,000 chips in the blink of an eye and was all of a sudden in the running. Yuliyan Kolev bowed out in fourth place which set up a dynamic three-handed battle.

Wilson started three-handed play with a huge chip lead and over half of the chips in play. He continued to grow his lead and looked poised to capture his first PokerStars title. However, the tide turned and not just once, but on multiple occasions. The three remaining players exchanged chip leads over the course of nearly two hours, with Cobian finding himself with just four big blinds after a failed bluff attempt. Cobian managed to double-up on three straight attempts and was right back in the match.

Steinbrenner also held the chip lead at one point but it didn’t last very long much to the dismay of the German rail cheering him on. Steinbrenner eventually shoved all in from the small blind and was called by Cobian’s ace-high in the big blind. An Ace on the flop spelled disaster for Steinbrenner who was kicked to the rail in third place.

Cobian took a healthy lead into the heads-up duel with Wilson and never looked back as he managed to finish the match in just a few hands. On the final hand of the day, Cobian’s king-high was ahead of Wilson’s jack-high with all of the chips getting in the middle preflop. Wilson was unable to find any help on the board and fell just short of the PCA title.

Click here for more on the 2023 PCA Live reporting hub

On January 25, Jeffrey Fogel passed away at the age of 51 after a 10-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

ALS affects the nervous system with the progressive degeneration of motor neurons, which in time painlessly shuts down the body. It’s the same disease theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has suffered from since 1963, which is when doctors gave him just two years to live. Fogel was initially given three to five, but proved those estimates wrong and used his time to advocate fighting against Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“Sending my condolences to the family and friends of Jeffrey Fogel. His love for sports, sports cards, and poker was a recipe of common interest that led to so many conversations over the past 15 years,” said former Director of Poker Marketing for Seminole Hard Rock Tony Burns.

“His short video ‘Who is Lou Gehrig?’ inspired so many during his over decade-long ALS fight. I’m sad that I will not be able to attend his funeral tomorrow, but will have him and his ‘1Luv’ motto on my mind. Rest in peace, my friend!”

Here’s a is the aforementioned film “Who Is Lou Gehrig?” that documented Fogel’s journey:

Poker Accomplishments

During the summer of 2015, Fogel made a cross-country journey to participate in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was there that PokerNews first learned of Fogel and profiled him in the feature article Jeff Fogel’s 2,513-Mile Journey: From 3-5 Years to Live with ALS to the 2015 WSOP.

Fogel had previously coached flag football and basketball, and during that time experienced trouble with his right arm.

“I thought maybe it’d go away, maybe I pulled something I wasn’t sure,” Fogel explained. “The muscle atrophy was increasing, and I started to go through some tests. The doctors diagnosed me with ALS. It started in my right arm.”

Despite being confined to a motorized chair, Fogel was able to make the trip to the WSOP, thanks in no small part to his friends and a dedicated group of poker players from South Florida. It happened a few months before the WSOP when Fogel invited his friend, Mike Moed, and his wife over for a sneak peek at Who is Lou Gehrig?, a film that tells the story of Fogel’s ALS diagnosis. While not yet released, the film, which successfully raised $66,710 on Kickstarter, has garnered quite a bit of praise from the film festival scene.

Friends help Fogel raise $2,000 so that he could rent a van and make the trip out to Las Vegas. Not only that, many of them made the trip with him so they could assist in handling his cards during tournament play. From there, Fogel took over by verbalizing his action.

Fogel wound up finishing in 158th place out of 22,374 entries in Event #5: $565 Colossus for $8,155, which marked his first and only WSOP cash.

“It was a good feeling and a lot of fun,” Fogel said with a big smile. “I really didn’t expect to go that far. It was my first WSOP cash. It’s just exciting to go deep in such a prestigious tournament that I made history in. Very honored, and I’m blessed that I went that far.”

He continued: “I’m very blessed to have my friends, to have people like this in my life. It’s real easy for them to say no, but we all flew out together, we all planned the trip, and I’m just happy man, I couldn’t be in a better place right now.”

All told, Fogel had $81,920 in live tournament earnings according to the Hendon Mob. That included a career-high $30,019 for finishing fourth in the 2017 Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open Event #6: $570 NLH, and fittingly his last-ever tournament cash came a week later – a victory in Event #10: $360 NLH Big Stack Turbo for $3,939.

Fogel was well-known in the South Florida poker community, and it was no surprise to see many players share their condolences on social meda.

“God has taken another angel,” said Steve “Cuz” Buckner.

Robyn Levine Marshman offered: “I was just thinking about him a few days ago. He was such a fun guy to play with. Amazing person.”

Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood eight-time trophy winner Michael Newman said, “My condolences Jeff was a nice guy. I remember playing against him. RIP.”

Fogel’s family suggests donations in Jeffrey’s memory be made to ALS Recovery Fund. Chapel Service will be held at Noon on Sunday, January 29, 2023 at Levitt Weintein/Beth David Chapel in Hollywood, Florida.

read Jeff Fogel’s 2,513-Mile Journey: From 3-5 Years to Live with ALS to the 2015 WSOP

Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

The Merit Poker Western Series has reached its conclusion with the $5,300 High Roller coming to an end in the early morning after an exciting final day. Some 147 entries made for a $676,200 prize pool, which was more than double the guarantee. Only 17 players returned today to battle for the $170,000 grand prize.

Coming out on top with the grand prize victory to his name was Toni Kaukua of Finland who scored his biggest live poker result by a significant margin. The mainly online player has a plethora of big online results but had a much lighter live resume before this event, with his biggest live cash prior to this being for just over $29,000.

2023 Merit Western Poker Series Final Table Results

Winner’s Reaction

This victory nearly didn’t happen, as he explained afterward. He entered at the very end of registration on Day 2 to ride to the victory.

“I used three bullets, and I bought the last one and the very last moment that it was possible,” Kaukua said in his post-win interview.

Kaukua entered the day as one of the larger stacks.

“I think from the moment I sat down, I just felt good. I just felt that I had such a big edge that I could nail this thing down.”

And nail it down, he did indeed, as he was the steady force throughout the day, gathering chips from the onset of the day and continuing to rise. He would hold the advantage at the top for much of the day as the carnage would ensue among the shorter stacks below him.

Action of the Day

The day began with 17 players and would kick off quickly as the third largest stack, Jenya Gavrilovich shockingly went out in 16th place to start of day chip leader Fausto Tantillo to begin the day with some fireworks. After that, the eliminations would come very rapidly as half the field was lost in the ruckus and the final table was reached in under two hours.

After a break, the nine remaining players returned to battle at the final table, where things would not go according to chip count plan. The final table largely became a game of chicken with the multiple very short stacks waiting to see who would blink first.

Yauhen Kontush ran an unsuccessful three-barrel bluff to cut his stack from one of the large ones to the short stack where he would succumb in ninth place as the first exit from the final table. Iulian-Remus Blebea joined him to the rail shortly after in eighth place.

Turkish local player Osman Ihlamur started the final table as the big chip leader as he had a great start to the day. But things would not go as swimmingly at the final table as he lost multiple big pots and be ousted in seventh place. The same story would happen to Tantillo as his once big stack chip lead would not last and he was eliminated in sixth place.

The main beneficiary of the large stacks faltering was Viktor Ustimov, who was down as low as two big blinds at one point and was able to claw his way to several pay jumps with his small stack into a fifth-place finish.

The elder statesman of the final day by some distance was Joseph Mouwad of Lebanon, who showed his skills by having an impressive display on the stream, which was enough to earn him a fourth-place finish.

Roman Kolotiuk was one of the most interesting characters at the final table as he embraced the western theme with a cowboy hat and was often talking with his opponents. He had an up-and-down day that ended on a high as he gained momentum late to make it to third place.

Andreas Christoforou was one of the more entertaining players at the final table as he was often the driver of action with a wide opening range and showed multiple times that he was not afraid to put his chips to work. That style worked wonders against many of the short stacks, and Christoforou was able to make it into heads-up play against Kaukua.

Heads-up play would last for about 30 minutes as Kaukua’s advantage remained the same throughout with the trading of small pots before the Finn was able to end it for the title.

That wraps things up for PokerNews here on the glistening shores of North Cyprus after a successful Merit Poker Western Series.

Only 15 players stand between Michel Dattani and the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event title after Day 4 of the $10,300 buy-in saw the returning 54 hopefuls whittled to a more manageable 16.

Everyone who returns for Day 5 does so having locked in at least $68,000 for their efforts, but none of them will want to collect that sum because $1,500,000 awaits the eventual champion.

2023 PCA Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts

Dattani has more than $1 million in live poker tournament earnings, the largest weighing in at €108,350 ($123,966), which was his reward for a seventh place finish in the 2018 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona €25,000 High Roller. Should Dattani build on his Day 4 success and navigate his way to the final table, the Portuguese grinder will enjoy another career high. He sits down on the penultimate day armed with 2,900,000 chips (116 big blinds).

As you would expect from the PCA Main Event, there are some legitimate poker superstars among the final 16 players. Russia’s Artur Martirosian (2,285,000) finds himself in the top five in chips, while Sergi Reixach (1,610,000), who was the chip leader on both Day 1b and Day 3, has a top 10 stack.

Follow the PCA Main Event updates here

Others to look out for in the PokerNews live updates include Taylor Paur (1,195,000), PokerNews strategy contributor Jonathan Little (1,195,000), and the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champion Alexandros Theologis.

Cards are back in the air from 12:00 p.m. local time on January 29 and continues until only six players have chips in front of them.

David Peters Leads the Way in the $3,000 Mystery Bounty

An action-packed Day2 in the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty saw 372 players, including 140 late entrants, reduced to only 22. When the dust settled at the end of play, David Peters topped the chip counts with his 2,190,000 stack (55 big blinds).

British grinder Andy Wilson, known as “BowieEffect” in online poker circles, is second in chips with 1,930,000, while such luminaries as WSOP bracelet winners Yuliyan Kolev (1,585,000) and Sebastien Aube (1,440,000), Kitty Kuo (1,100,000), and Team PokerStars’ Rafael Moraes (240,000) remain in contention.

$3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty Top 10 Chip Counts

Two large mystery bounties remain among the final 22 players; one worth $40,000 and a $100,000. On Day 2, Joey Weissman picked out a $40,000 bounty, Michael Jozoff pulled an envelope containing a PSPC Platinum Pass, while the aforementioned Aube banked a cool $100,000.

Join the PokerNews Live Reporting team on January 29 as the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty plays down to a winner.

All the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty updates are here

“Big Huni” Chris Hunichen Has a Big Stack in the $25,000 8-Handed

Chris Hunichen, affectionately known as “Big Huni,” bagged a big stack after Day 1 of the $25,000 8-Handed event. Day 1 saw a field of 78 congregate at the Baha Mar Resort in The Bahamas, and 52 of those punched their Day 2 tickets at the first attempt.

Hunichen built a stack of 565,000 chips to finish second in chips when the curtain came down on the day’s proceedings. Only Brian Kim (631,000) is ahead of Hunichen.

$25,000 high-roller events always draw in stellar names, and this event is no different. Timothy Adams (479,000), Joao Vieira (462,000), Orpen Kisacikoglu (316,000), and Matas Cimbolas (314,000) are in the top ten. Others safely through include Stephen Chidwick (265,000), PokerStars’ Sam Grafton (249,000), Yuri Dzivielevski (205,000), Daniel Dvoress (185,000), Aussie superstar Michael Addamo (166,000), and Adrian Mateos (105,000) among many others.

$25,000 8-Handed Top 10 Chip Counts

Day 2 commences at 2:00 p.m. local time, and PokerNews is the only place you will find live and exclusive updates, so check them out.

Click here for the $25,000 8-Handed updates