John Dibella Wins the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main EventAmateur Turns $1k Satellite Win Into $1.775 Million |
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John Dibella got into the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event by winning a $1,000 buy-in satellite. He survived five days to enter the final table as one of three amateur players remaining, in the middle of the pack, with three big-stacked professionals directly on his left. He left as this year’s PCA champion, topping the 1,072-player field to earn $1,775,000 after a deal heads-up and 2,400 Card Player Player of the Year points.
Prior to winning this massive title, the New York stock-trader had just $69,896 in tournament earnings to his name. Dibella’s biggest score coming from a tenth-place finish in a 2006 WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold’em event.
Dibella survived to four handed play with a roughly 5.3 million in chips when this crucial hand arose. The incredibly active Faraz Jaka raised with the JJ
only to have Dibella move all-in with the 4
4
. Jaka had started the hand with around 10 million, and was an 80% favorite to eliminate Dibella and take a solid chip lead. The 4
had other plans, however, as it rolled off the deck on the flop to give Dibella a set and a dominating lead in the hand. Jaka did not improve, and took a massive blow to his stack as Dibella began his rise.
The rollercoaster ride continued, with Jaka mounting a comeback and eliminating Xuan Liu, the first female player to ever make the PCA final table, in fourth place. Jaka then played a massive pot against Kyle Julius, five betting all-in with K
J
and losing a roughly 20-million chip pot when he failed to beat Julius’ A
K
. Julius could not hold onto the lead for long, as he ran pocket aces into Dibella’s flopped set of sevens, sending a roughly 18-million chip pot Dibella’s way.
Eventually a short-stacked Faraz Jaka was all-in with AJ
against Julius’ K
10
, which promptly made two pair on a K
6
2
10
A
board to send the pro to the rail in third place for $755,000.
Heads-up play began with Dibella holding a solid chip lead over Julius. The prize pool still had $3.275 million left to be paid out, and the two players decided to take $1.5 million each and play for the remaining $275,000. Dibella won the majority of the hands heads-up, increasing his lead to more than three-to-one, at which point the final hand came up.
With blinds at 200,000-400,000 and a 50,000 ante, Julius raised to 825,000 on the button with the 9
6
. Dibella defended his blind with the 6
5
and flopped a flush draw after the A
Q
3
rolled off. Dibella checked-called a 725,000 bet from Julius and the turn brought the 8
.Both players checked, and the 10
hit the river filling Dibella’s flush. He lead out for a bet of 1 million, at which point Julius seemingly attempted to represent the flush himself by moving all-in with just nine-high. Dibella quickly called however, with his winning flush securing his first ever tournament title and a $1,775,000 first-place prize.
Here is the complete payout and Player of the Year points info from the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
1 | John Dibella | $1,775,000 | 2,400 |
2 | Kyle Julius | $1,500,000 | 2,000 |
3 | Faraz Jaka | $755,000 | 1,600 |
4 | Xuan Liu | $600,000 | 1,200 |
5 | Mark Drover | $468,000 | 1,000 |
6 | Anthony Gregg | $364,000 | 800 |
7 | David Bernstein | $260,000 | 600 |
8 | Ruben Visser | $156,400 | 400 |
Photos courtesy of PokerStars and Neil Stoddart.
Comments
agoramilio
9 years ago
the definition of a professional is someone who makes his or her living soely from playing poker