Portugal’s Filipe Oliveira Wins 2018 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event

Last weekend, the 2018 partypoker Caribbean Poker Party drew to a close following the conclusion of its $5,300 Main Event. A total of 1,815 players entered the tournament, with Filipe Oliveira ultimately triumphing over its field, including Craig Mason heads-up, to collect a huge top prize worth $1.5 million.

Prior to the tournament, the Portuguese player had just $138,036 in winnings from fourteen cashes. This included a victory in 2016 at the EPT Dublin €2,150 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty for €31,135 ($34,616). Following his impressive performance in the Bahamas, the player said that he had been “pretty lucky all the way.”

$5,300 Main Event.

The partypoker sponsored Caribbean Poker Party had been suffering from overlay issues. Its $5,300 Main Event subsequently proved no exception, with its prize pool falling $300,000 short of its $10 million guarantee.

A total of 223 players would then see a return on their buy-ins, including Ryan Riess in 122nd ($12,500), Cliff Josephy in 70th ($15,000), Vladimir Troyanovskiy in 56th ($15,000), Eric Baldwin in 28th ($25,000), Anthony Ruberto in 23rd ($35,000), Paul Tedeschi in 12th ($85,000), and Anton Wigg in 10th ($110,000).

On the eighth and last day of play, eleven players returned to the Baha Mar Resort. While Oliveira started out fifth overall in chips, six-handed action saw his stack dwindle to just 3.5 big blinds before he managed a much needed triple up to keep his hopes alive. Not long after, Craig Mason (5-5) sent Diogo Veiga (A-7) to the rail in sixth, while Marc MacDonnell (A-8) did likewise to Konstantin Maslak (7-7) in 5th.

Filipe Oliveira (K-J) then scored his first elimination after looking up Pascal Hartmann’s (9-9) all in shove, after which he took out a shortstacked Marc MacDonnell in 3rd to set up heads-up play for the title.

Heads-Up Recap

Oliveira and Mason were fairly even in chips as the final battle got underway. Oliveira soon managed to pull away, though, with the final hand seeing Oliveira (A-9) three-bet preflop and Mason (K-9) making the call. Mason subsequently moved all in on a Q-9-2 flop, and after Oliveira followed suit, a J and 4 on turn and river resulted in Mason exiting in a runner-up position worth $1.2 million.

Meanwhile, Oliveira secured the 2018 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event title, and recorded his first ever seven-figure score worth $1.5 million. Commenting later, Oliveira said:

“It’s very nice. I worked all these years for moments like that.”

Final Table Result

1: Filipe Oliveira $1,500,000
2: Craig Mason $1,200,000
3: Marc MacDonnell $1,000,000
4: Pascal Hartmann $800,000
5: Konstantin Maslak $600,000
6: Diogo Veiga $400,000
7: Alexander Turyansky $300,000
8: Joe Kuether $218,500
9: Alex Lynskey $155,000

Other Caribbean Poker Party Results

The $5,300 Main Event’s conclusion brings to a close this year’s Caribbean Poker Party. A number of events were featured during its run from November 9-17, many of which were won by some of the game’s most talented pros.

One of them was Steffen Sontheimer. The German pro entered the $250,000 Super High Roller Championships alongside a field of 34, and over three days proceeded to best the competition, including Sean Winter heads-up, to claim a massive top prize of $3,685,000.

US player Roger Teska also enjoyed a hugely successful series after more than tripling his lifetime earnings. Teska was one of 394 players to enter the $25,500 NLHE MILLIONS World event, and eventually managed to overcome his last opponent, Steve O’Dwyer, to secure a $2 million payday.

Meanwhile, Joey Couden won $1,650 H.O.R.S.E for $13,500, Roberto Romanello took down the$10,300 High Roller for $450,000, and Giuseppe Iadisernia emerged victorious at the $50,000 Super High Roller for $845,000.

While Sean Winter may not have come away with a title, the US pro did put in a fine performance at the series. On the 12th, he finished runner-up at the $50,000 Super High Roller for $550,000, before three days later also finishing second in the $250,000 Super High Roller Championships for $2,430,000. This summer, Winter narrowly missed out on winning a career first WSOP bracelet after finishing second to Benjamin Yu at the $50,000 High Roller event, but still earned $1,020,253 for his efforts. As a result of his recent results, Winter now boasts $10,661,750 in live winnings, around half of which has been amassed this year.