Stephen Chidwick Wins PCS Panama High Roller for $366k

The PokerStars Championship Panama is currently underway at the Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino, with its $25,500 Single-Day High Roller attracting 33 players and 11 rebuys to create a prize pool of $1,078,000. At the end of 12 hours of intense competition, the title was eventually claimed by one of the UK’s most talented pros, Stephen Chidwick, who subsequently walked away with a first place prize of $366,500.
Following his victory in the Central American country, Chidwick now pushes his live tournament earnings to $7,295,054, placing him at number 2 on ‘England’s All Time Money’, behind Sam Trickett ($20,581,462) who in 2012 finished runner-up at the $1 million Big One for One Drop for $10,112,001. While Chidwick continues to be active on the tournament circuit, though, Trickett has cashed in just two tournaments since 2015 for a total of $38,217. Chidwick has also won a further $4,867,664 online playing under the screen name Stevie444.
Amongst the players entering the Single-Day High Roller event were such pros as Steve O’Dwyer, Isaac Haxton, Ben Tollerene, Adrian Mateos, Sergio Aido, and Jason Koon. None of them managed to earn a return on their money, though, and after Erik Seidel exited on the bubble, the final table of six was set.
Oliver Weis (8-8) then took care of Timothy Adams (A-J) in 6th, while Mustapha Kanit (A-A) sent his fellow countryman Dario Sammartino (K-K) to the rail in 5th. Joining in the fray, Stephen Chidwick (A-7) eliminated a short-stacked Oliver Weis (9-9) in 4th, and then Mustapha Kanit in 3rd to force heads-up play against Koray Aldemir for the title.
On the final hand of the brief affair, Chidwick’s pocket kings were good enough to see off the A-5 of his remaining opponent to claim the famous victory.
Final Table Results:
1: Stephen Chidwick (UK) $366,500
2: Koray Aldemir (Germany) $253,340
3: Mustapha Kanit (Italy) $161,700
4: Oliver Weis (Germany) $123,980
5: Dario Sammartino (Italy) $97,020
6: Timothy Adams (Canada) $75,460
In the meantime, the PokerStars Championship Panama Main Event is currently underway, and will run until the Series’ conclusion on March 20th.