As the Poker Masters reaches its final event, the run in for the Purple Jacket is still wide open at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
The preliminaries are over.
It’s time for the big one.
On September 18, the very best poker players in the world (ok, Las Vegas, Germany and Spain), will sit down for the final event of the inaugural Poker Masters, the $100,000 Championship event.
The players have already breezed through four $50,000 events in double-quick time, and Steffen Sontheimer is the smart money favourite. The German star is the only player to make three of the four final tables and leads the way with $1,221,000 in cash.
To bring you up to speed, Nick Schulman won the opening event for $918,000 after beating 51 entrants, and Sontheimer finished fourth for $204,000.
1. Nick Schulman – $918,000
2. Matt Hyman – $561,000
3. Stefan Schillhabel – $306,000
4. Steffen Sontheimer – $204,000
5. Dominik Nitsche – £178,500
6. Koray Aldemir – $153,000
7. Adrian Mateos – $127,500
8. Daniel Negreanu – $102,000
Event #2 attracted 50 entrants, and this time Sontheimer rose to the top of the pile after an unbelievable heads-up comeback against Fedor Holz. Sontheimer began the matchup with an 810k v 5.1m chip deficit but turned it around to capture the $900,000 first prize.
ITM Cashes
1. Steffen Sontheimer – $900,000
2. Fedor Holz – $550,000
3. Tom Marchese – $300,000
4. Phil Hellmuth – $200,000
5. Christian Christner – $175,000
6. Adrian Mateos – $150,000
7. Bryn Kenney – $125,000
8. Dan Shak – $100,000
Event #3 saw 48 entrants stick around and the Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1 Bryn Kenney, beat Erik Seidel in a tumultuous heads-up battle to take the $960,000 first prize.
ITM Cashes
1. Bryn Kenney – $960,000
2. Erik Seidel – $576,000
3. Jake Schindler – $312,000
4. Dan Smith – $192,000
5. Doug Polk – $144,000
6. Cary Katz – $120,000
7. Sergio Aido – $96,000
Dominik Nitsche told me that he had no idea how difficult the Poker Masters schedule was going to be. He wasn’t alone. Only 39 entrants competed in the fourth event, and Brandon Adams beat Doug Polk in heads-up to win the $819,000 first prize.
Polk was making back-to-back final tables, finishing fifth and second, as was Jake Schindler who finished third and sixth. Sontheimer cashed for the third time finishing in fifth.
ITM Cashes
1. Brandon Adams – $819,000
2. Doug Polk $468,000
3. David Peters – $273,000
4. Justin Bonomo – $175,500
5. Steffen Sontheimer – $117,000
6. Jake Schindler – $97,500
And all that means a whole bunch of people are still in contention to win the Purple Jacket with only the $100,000 event remaining.
Here is the full rundown of cashes.
So who is going to win?
It’s a tough one to call.
Sontheimer has cashed in three events, it was recently his birthday, and he has the heat.
Kenney is the GPI #1.
Polk is playing out of his skin.
Seidel is Seidel.
Holz needs the perfect ending for his documentary.
They are all great choices, but I predicted Jake Schindler was going to win this thing from the very beginning and I’m not changing my mind. Schindler for the win, for me.
