Cary Katz takes down PCA SHR for $1,492,340

6 years ago
Cary Katz takes down PCA SHR for $1,492,340
14:06
09 Jan

(Photo: WSOP.com)

It took Cary Katz only 14 hours from start to finish to bag the $1,492,340 top prize in the $100,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller, seeing off a final table which featured 5 fellow USA pros and 1 Argentinian – with not a single German in sight!

Katz is hardly an unknown among the high-rollers who frequent the biggest buy-in tournaments around the globe, but compared to the likes of Justin Bonomo, Bryn Kenney and Daniel Negreanu who filled out the top 4 in the Bahamas, Katz is a self-confessed part-timer nowadays.

"I still consider myself a recreational player," the 47-year-old CEO of College Loan Corporation, told reporters. "I'm a businessman and a family man, that's it."



The tournament started with 48 entries, meaning a $4,737,600 prizefund was up for grabs – almost $1.5million up top – but despite fighting his way to the final table of seven it looked unlikely that Katz would be the man to lift the title, coming in short-stacked from his day 2 buy-in.

Poker is a funny old game at times though, and if you hang tough as others are trading blows all around you, the unexpected can, and will, occur. As the PokerStars blog said, ‘Katz needed all of his nine lives today, as well as the patience of a saint to outlast one of the toughest fields ever assembled’

First up Katz watched on as Kenney took care of Sam Greenwood, the Canadian’s pocket kings falling foul of Kenney’s aces, then laddered up when Ike Haxton hit the rails courtesy of Ivan Luca, the Argentinian himself falling in 5th when he crossed swords with a rampant Kenney.

Daniel Negreanu, fresh from sharing his New Year Goals, was, like Katz, hanging on grimly – turning 2 big blinds into 33 in the space of three hands, but his luck finally ran out when Bonomo flopped one of the two remaining aces, the ‘Poker Kid’s’ kings cracked…

When Bonomo disposed of long-time chip leader Kenney, it meant Katz had somehow survived to the heads-up finale – and with only a 4:5 chip deficit to overcome. Two big hand settled matters quickly, Katz’s quad sevens outgunning a full house and then the classic race to end the fight – pocket 8’s holding up against Bonomo’s big slick and Katz could celebrate one of the biggest wins of his career.


Final Table Results:

1Cary Katz
$1,492,340
2Justin Bonomo
$1,077,800
3Bryn Kenney
$686,960
4Daniel Negreanu
$521,140
5Ivan Luca
$402,700
6Ike Haxton
$307,940
7Sam Greenwood
$248,720

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Andrew from Edinburgh, Scotland, is a professional journalist, international-titled chess master, and avid poker player.Read more

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