If you peer over the treetops and take a gander at partypoker’s MILLIONS World Bahamas, two stories emerged as the final embers of an incredible event blew into the sea.
We’ll begin with the story of Wai Leong Chan.
Chan is one of the stars of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series earning $7.5m through 12 in the money (ITM) finishes, and only Paul Phua and Jason Koon have cashed at a faster rate.
But he has had trouble crossing the finishing line.
His trophy cabinet remained damp, with his last recorded live tournament victory coming in 2011 when he took down a 92-entrant $215 No-Limit Hold’em event during the Asian Poker Tour (APT) in Manila, for $7,136.
How times have changed.
Chan has felt the plough blade to the head feeling of finishing runner-up in three major events:
2018 Triton Poker No-Limit Hold’em Main Event in Jeju – $3,252,348
2018 €25,000 at the European Poker Tour in Barcelona – €420,800
2019 $250,000 Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas – $2,677,500
But when it comes to holding the monopoly on the close but no cigar heartache of live tournament poker, then Chan doesn’t come close. Consider that his heads-up opponent, Ike Haxton, has racked up 14 runner-up finishes since opening up his account in that spot during the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event in the Bahamas.
It’s been an incredible series for Chan who also finished runner-up to Daniel Dvoress in the $250,000 Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) for $2,677,500. After winning the 52-entrant $25,000 Super High Roller Finale, Chan’s live tournament score shot up to $11,742,177, the vast majority of which came in the past 24-months. Haxton put in a decent performance at the Bahamas finishing 5th and 2nd in $25k events, and 88th and 21st in $10k games.
The former Poker Master, Ali Imsirovic, finished 4th in this one, and 7th in the $50k. Jason Koon finished 7th in the $250,000 SHRB and 5th in this one. And you don’t see Rob Hollink in these things often, but the Dutchman finished 6th in this one and 21st in the other $25k – his only two live tournament scores of the year.
Lastly, Kristen Bicknell continues to impress on the high roller circuit. Bicknell won a $25k event at the Poker Masters for a career-high $408,000 and also made the final table of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal Main Event finishing fifth. Bicknell finished 15th and 7th in the two $25k events here and also cashed in the Main Event finishing in 69th place.
ITM Results
- Wai Leong Chan – $380,000
- Isaac Haxton – $250,000
- Sean Winter – $191,000
- Ali Imsirovic – $150,000
- Jason Koon – $120,000
- Rob Hollink – $95,000
- Kristen Bicknell – $75,000
Kahle Burns Leads Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (POY) Race
Sean Winter has also had a cracking series, finishing 14th and 3rd in $25k events, and 5th in the $50k. Winter lost the GPI POY lead to Kahle Burns during MILLIONS World, so the 224.96 points earned for a third-place finish in the final $25k was worth its weight in gold. Winter picked up 427.62 GPI points during the trip, and he currently sits in the second position. Kahle Burns leads after picking up 482.2 points, Stephen Chidwick collected 238.27, Rainer Kempe 368.34, and Manig Loeser had to make do with the bagel.
GPI POY Race
- Kahle Burns – 3,548.08
- Sean Winter – 3,525.43
- Stephen Chidwick – 3,428.36
- Rainer Kempe – 3,421.86
- Manig Loeser – 3,327.95
You sense this will go down to the wire with the Master Classics of Poker (MCOP) in Amsterdam, the EPT in Prague and the WPT Five Diamond in the Bellagio key events.