Preben Stokkan Tops the Field in the Caribbean Poker Party High Roller For $275,000

Norwegian poker pro Preben “prebzzz” Stokkan came in first in the $10,300 PartyPoker MILLIONS High Roller and took down the $275,000 first prize after defeating Jonathan Little heads-up for the title. 

The PartyPoker LIVE Caribbean Poker Party kicked off on Friday, November 17th at the Meliá Caribe Tropical hotel resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with two $1 million GTD events, the  $1,100 buy-in MILLIONS Open and the $10,300 buy-in MILLIONS High Roller 8-max. 

Evidently, the high roller attracted the bigger names: the inaugural Poker Masters Purple Jacket winner Steffen Sontheimer, PartyPoker global ambassador Sam Trickett, well-known poker show host and commentator Maria Ho - who recently finished sixth in the WSOPE Main Event - and Jonathan Little, who produces popular poker strategy videos on the internet all bought in for the tournament.

Day1 started with 67 entries that grew to 103 by Day2 with late regs and re-entries. The first day ended with Francois Billard as the chip leader, largely thanks to a boat over boat hand he played against Sam Trickett that gained him 90 BBs. Trickett shoved his pocket 5’s on the river on a AA5 T 9 board, but unfortunately for him, Billard snapped him off holding A9.

Day2 was Jonathan Little’s big day who moved into the chip lead, amassing a huge 15 million-chip stack after starting the day with just 702,000. The biggest pot he won was against the chip leader at the time, Steffen Sontheimer - Little turned a set of kings against Sontheimer’s flopped set of deuces.

The tournament was concluded on Day3. The top 11 spots paid, the Spanish Sergio Aido managed to clinch the $20,000 eleventh place, while Manig Loeser had to the deal with the frustration of bubbling. After Stefan Schillhabel got knocked out by Kenny Hallaert in the 10th place, the final table was formed, with Preben Stokkan in the lead and Jonathan Little second in chips. 

You can watch the final table action with the last six players left in the tournament below.

The title was ultimately decided by the heads-up battle between the players who started the final table with the two largest stacks, Stokkan and Little. The one-on-one action started with Stokkan in the lead by a narrow 1.5 million (2.5 BB) chip margin, but Little quickly overtook him. Stokkan moved back into the lead after catching Little’s jack high bluff on the river.

After over 2 hours of heads-up play, Stokkan moved all-in from the button with A5 off which Little called with pocket threes. After K42 rainbow flop the ace of diamonds fell on the turn, then a 3 came on the river, giving Little a set, but at the same time, the wheel to Stokkan.

With that Preben “prebzzz” Stokkan took down the 2017 Caribbean Poker Party MILLIONS High Roller title along with the $275,000 first prize. This is the Norwegian cardplayer’s biggest live tournament cash to the date.

The final results: