After wading through a 738-player field to make the final table behind only the chip leader, Christian Harder continued his ferocious attack on his opposition on the way to earning the championship of the inaugural PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event on Saturday.
Harder started the run a couple of days previous, working his way into the Top Ten for the Day 5 action and making the final table off that run. The only player who had it better was Michael Gentili, who led the final two days of the tournament and came to the final table with a 6.175 million chip stack. Behind Harder (with 5.985 million chips) was an array of contenders that included 2016 World Series of Poker “November Niner” Cliff Josephy, who had to work from the short stack (1.24 million) if he were to get any further on Saturday.
Harder was the first to strike at the six-handed final table as, only seven hands in, he was responsible for the first elimination. After raising the action, Harder saw Rasmus Glaesel pop in the remainder of his stack. Harder hardly hesitated, however, in making the call and laying down pocket tens for action. Glaesel found himself in a race with his Big Slick but, after an eight-high rainbow flop, saw his objective move further out in front of him. Another six on the turn wasn’t helpful either, meaning the third six – improving Harder to a boat, eliminated Glaesel from the tournament in sixth place and shot Harder into the lead.
For his part, Gentili had a tough time getting anything going on the day. He would attempt to play with his tablemates but, pretty much every time, he would have to let decent hands go when they didn’t connect with the board or were beaten anyway. After a particularly big hand against Aleksei Opalikhin – which saw Gentili defend from the big blind and Opalikhin flop a top pair of Aces (and make Aces up by the river) to eventually send a big stack of chips to Opalikhin – Gentili saw his once-mighty stack shrunk to 3.355 million.
Gentili would try to get something going but, in the end, it wasn’t to be. Opalikhin was again the opposition when he raised a pot pre-flop and Gentili fired all in “over the top” for his remaining two million or so chips. Opalikhin, who pondered his action pre-flop for a rather lengthy time, got his calling chips in the pot before Gentili could cross the line with his all-in chip as Opalikhin showed pocket Aces. All Gentili could produce were pocket deuces and, once the King-high board didn’t have a deuce amongst it, Gentili was in trouble. After the chips were counted, Opalikhin scooped up the 1.76 million chip pot and Gentili was left with scraps (145,000); those would go to Josephy as Gentili departed in fourth.
Now it was Josephy’s turn to shift into overdrive as he picked up a huge double through Opalikhin to move into second and knock Opalikhin to the bottom of the table. After a Josephy raise and a three-bet from Michael Vela, Opalikhin put his final 300K (all he had left after doubling Josephy) on the line. Josephy didn’t have an interest in continuing but Vela was more than interested as he showed his pocket Kings to go against Opalikhin’s 10-9 off suit. The A-A-A flop was about as crushing as it gets, leaving Opalikhin looking for the case Ace and a King just to split the pot. When the turn brought neither of those options, Opalikhin was drawing dead and gone from the tournament in fourth place.
By the time the dinner break arrived, Harder had the tournament firmly in his grasp. With 13.24 million chips, his nearest two competitors – Josephy (5.71 million) and Vela (2.355 million) – could barely muster more than half of Harder’s stack. Still, it was a three-way clash after dinner that had the railbirds in the Bahamas and watching the live stream buzzing.
After Harder raised off the button and Josephy called, Vela would put his final chips on the line looking for a triple up. Both Harder and Josephy went in the tank over their decisions, but both would eventually call to see a monochrome 6♦ 7♦ 8♦ flop. Harder and Josephy chose to check their options there and after the 3♥ on the turn and the 4♦ on the river. “Somebody’s got to have a diamond!” exclaimed Vela over the live stream and, sure enough, someone did. Josephy showed K♦ J♥, good for the King-high flush, while Harder was blank with an A♣ Q♣. Vela’s squeeze didn’t do him any good as his A♥ 6♥ flopped a pair but was crushed by Josephy’s rivered flush as Vela left in third place.
With three million chips separating them, Harder and Josephy decided to make a deal. After the negotiations were successful, Harder secured himself a $419,664 payday and Josephy picked up a $403,448 chunk of change. The duo decided to leave out a $10,000 bonus and the inaugural championship to play for, which both players would vie for aggressively. With his larger stack, however, it was only a matter of time for Harder to take the title.
On the final hand, Josephy made the raise with an A-8 and, instead of making the call, Harder three-bet the action with his A-J. Josephy didn’t believe Harder’s raise, moving all in and getting a call from Harder. Although ahead in the hand, Harder didn’t like the 9-5-4 flop that hit the table nor the K♠ that now put backdoor flush options on the table (Josephy held the A♠). The nine on the river was black, but it was the 9♣ as Harder’s A-J held to win the inaugural PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event.
1. Christian Harder, $429,664*
2. Cliff Josephy, $403,448*
3. Michael Vela, $269,980
4. Aleksei Opalikhin, $191,420
5. Michael Gentili, $140,940
6. Rasmus Glaesel, $103,780
(* – deal brokered with two players remaining)
With the close of the Main Event, the PokerStars Championship will move into unknown territory. From March 10-20, the PokerStars Championship will have their second festival in Panama City, Panama, at the Casino Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino. This tournament will be important because, unlike the Bahamas event (which was basically the renamed PokerStars Caribbean Adventure), the Panama visit will be the first time the PokerStars Championship (basically the former European Poker Tour) has ventured outside of the European continent (in years previous, the Latin American Poker Tour had serviced Panama). It may be the first indicator as to how the new tournament circuit will be received by fans.
For right now, however, none of that matters. Congratulations to Christian Harder, who takes the early lead in the different Player of the Year races and banks one of the major championships in the poker world!
