Poland's Dominik Panka Wins PCA Main Event For $1.42m

Dominik Panka has won the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event, after besting a field of 1,031 players over five days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $1,423,096 first place prize.
Following his impressive victory at Atlantis Resort & Casino in Paradise Island, the 22-year-old Pole, commented: “There a lot of very good poker players from Poland and I was expecting somebody else to be the first. But I was able to bring the glory to Poland and I am very, very proud to do it.”
The $10k PCA Main Event attracted a huge field of pros to create a prize pool worth $10,000,700, and amongst the notable players cashing in at the event was Jason Mercier in 142nd ($18,200),  Antonio Esfandiari in 140th ($18,200), Greg Merson in 98th ($20,300), Marcel Luske in 55th ($32,000), Liv Boeree in 50th ($32,000), and Max Silver in 9th ($135,400).
By the time the final table of eight had been reached, Madis Muur was the chip leader on a 6.205m stack, with Mike “timex” McDonald in 2nd place (5.605m), and Dominik Panka in 4th spot with 3.695m in chips. Other competing finalists included Isaac Baron, Daniel Gamez, Shyam Srinivasan, and Pascal Lefrancois.
McDonald (Q-Q) then proceeded to eliminate Argentina’s Fabian Ortiz (A-K) in 8th ($173,220), and after Panka (10-10) did likewise to Shyam Srinivasan (J-J) in 6th ($328,020), McDonald picked up pocket tens to send Daniel Gamez (Q-10) to the rail in 5th ($447,040).
Continuing their steam roll of the final table, Dominik Panka (A-K) saw Madis Muur (Q-10) off in 4th for $581,040, at which stage the three remaining players decided to split the prize pool as follows:
Dominik Panka – $1,323,096
Isaac Baron – $1,207,599
Mike McDonald – $1,064,000
During three-handed play, Dominik Panka (A-9) then took out Isaac Baron (K-Q) in 3rd ($1,207,599), to usher in the heads-up phase of the tournament against Mike “timex” McDonald. As the final battle commenced, Panka held a small chip over his last opponent, and after more than two hours of play the defining hand was played with McDonald shoving preflop holding 7-4, only to be called by Panka with A-2. The board subsequently rolled out J-5-2-7-A to consign Mike timex McDonald to a runner-up finish worth $1,064,865, while Dominik Panka was crowned the 2014 PCA main event champion.
Commenting on the final hand of the tournament, Panka, explained: When the hands were turned up, I was like, ‘If I win this pot, I win the tournament. If not, then we are going to battle once more.’ I was happy when the hand was over, but I didn’t feel particularly strong emotions during the hand. It is a little bit overwhelming. The amount of money and how large of a success this is, in a tournament like this, it has not hit me as of right now. But in a few days or few hours I will probably be like (screeches).”
Final Table Payouts
1. Dominik Panka – $1,423,096
2. Mike timex McDonald – $1,064,865
3. Isaac Baron – $1,207,599
4. Madis Muur – $581,040
5. Daniel Gamez – $447,040
6. Shyam Srinivasan – $328,020
7. Pascal Lefrancois – $242,020
8. Fabian Ortiz – $173,220