The Americans came, saw and conquered at the final table of the €101,000 buy-in high roller event at the PartyPoker Millions Grand Final in Barcelona. Forty-eight players put up the massive buyin making for a €4.8 million prize pool which went to the top six finishers with €1.75 million up top.
Day one ended with just nine players remaining and the money bubble broke not long into day 2 when Keith Tilston hit the rail in seventh place. Four of the remaining heavy weights, who made it into the money, were over on tourist visas from the US of A, including Erik Seidel, Bryn Kenney and Jason Koon.
Those three were also the first three out taking home €240k for 6th, €340k for 5th, and €500k for 4th respectively, leaving Jake Schindler to uphold the honour of the stars and stripes against Brit Stephen Chidwick and Frenchman Jean-Noel Thorel.
Three Way for €1.1 Million
Luckily for the colonial forces Schindler started the day as chip leader and had held onto that lead going into three-handed play. He continued to outplay and out-catch his Old World opponents to the end.
Unsurprisingly the Frenchman surrendered first, leaving in third place (€726,000). And Schindler was in a heads-up confrontation that soon went the way of the Revolutionary War.
Live Free or Bluff Hard
With blinds at 175k/300k, Chidwick opened hostilities by raising his big blind to 875k and was called by Schindler with A-3.
Schindler responded by betting out 500k into Chidwick’s check on the flop of A-4-2. Chidwick called and the turn came a 5 locking up Schindler’s straight. Chidwick check-raised Schindler’s bet of 1.8 million up to 5 million and was called.
The river came a 7 and Chidwick, who was sat on nothing but a Q-6, chose this ill-fated moment to run a bluff. In a reversal of history, it was the Englishman pushed all the tea into the river this time – the river being the seven of spades.
Schindler called Chidwick’s bluff and Chidwick withdrew to collect his runner-up prize of €1.1 million, while Schindler bathed in the light of the camera flashes and enjoyed his biggest win in his – now $17 million – tournament career of €1.75 million.
Final Table Results:
| 1 | Jake Schindler | €1,750,000 |
| 2 | Stephen Chidwick | €1,100,000 |
| 3 | Jean-Noel Thorel | €726,000 |
| 4 | Jason Koon | €500,000 |
| 5 | Bryn Kenney | €340,000 |
| 6 | Erik Seidel | €240,000 |