It was an expert performance that fans would have been buzzing about at the end of last week by Diego Ventura, who was dominant throughout the Caribbean Poker Party Main Event. Ventura led the leaderboard from the very first round until the bitter end, and not even a late attempt from Isaac Haxton could stop him from winning the jackpot prize of $879,894.
After the high stakes pro issued a heads-up challenge in November, the man known offline as Fernando Habegger was quick to accept. Sensing an opportunity to claim the scalp of a legend, he agreed to play 50,000 hands against Galfond. The popular festival previously featured a Super High Roller event, the $250,000 Challenge, which was won by some of the world’s best poker players, including Erik Seidel, Sam Trickett and Steve O’Dwyer. Poker legend Phil Ivey won the event thrice, in 2012, 2014, and 2015. The first-ever winner of the Aussie Millions Main Event was Alex.
It almost seemed as though the pressure was too great for Haxton, as there was an expectancy that he would have overcome the disadvantage going into the final table. However, he was unable to close the gap substantially enough, and was outlasted by Ventura on the final table.
Final Leaderboard Result
Haxton lost all momentum halfway through the event, as he crashed out in fifth place on the leaderboard. He was still able to claim returns of $200,659 for his performance. Philippe D’Auteuil finished a place above the American, and claimed $283,1010 in prize money. However, his finish was still outside the top three in the competition. Dominykas Mikolatis finished in third place on the leaderboard, and took home a cash prize of $414,807. It was an excellent showing, but he was still outlasted by Grayson Ramage, who finished in second place behind the Peruvian champion.
The slots machine, often known as Venturas Poker Challenge the “one armed bandit”, became an Venturas Poker Challenge icon of modern online gaming. At Slotomania, you can start playing Venturas Poker Challenge your favorite slot Venturas Poker Challenge games with crazy graphics, top of the line sound effects, and hundreds of variations to choose from. I have no doubt that Q/6/4 is the optimal strategy for three card poker. Stanley Ko independently came up with the same advice. This strategy is based on a computer program which analyzes all 22,100 possible combinations of the player’s three cards and for each one the remaining 18,424 possible combinations of the dealer's three cards.
Ramage took home $631,636 in returns for his performance, while Ventura was the man that they were all trying to track down. Ventura won the biggest portion of the pot, as he walked away with $879,894 in returns. It was no less than the Peruvian player deserved, as he was dominant throughout the event. Aleksejs Ponakovs and Enrico Camosci also finished on the final leaderboard, with those players finishing in sixth and seventh place respectively. Camosci walked away with $99,552 in returns from the event.
Huge Upcoming Event
Jonathan Proudfoot and Pavlo Kolinkovskyi rounded off the final leaderboard for the event. Proudfoot eventually finished in eighth place on the leaderboard, and walked away with returns of $78,812. Meanwhile, Kolinkovskyi finished at ninth on the leaderboard, but he would have still been pleased with his performance in the event. He claimed $65,331 in returns for his performance at the event. However, the acclaim was certainly for Ventura, who was the stand out player from start to finish in the event, and he will be looking to continue his momentum next time he settles down at a table.
There promises to be an exciting end to the poker year for fans, as there will be a wide selection of events taking place over the final 25 days of the year. It will be part of the Global Poker 25 Days of Christmas promotion. The action will be getting underway on the 1st December, and there will be various opportunities for players to get involved in the action over the coming weeks.
The Korn Ferry Tour’s two-week swing in San Antonio gets underway Thursday at the AT&T Canyons Course at TPC San Antonio. On paper, the par-72 track designed by Pete Dye is “easier” than its sister course, the Oaks, which will host next week’s event.
With temperatures soaring into the triple digits in this portion of the Lone Star State, expect nothing less than players to tear up the 7,106-yard layout.
Will Zalatoris — last week’s winner and by far the hottest player on the KFT — is taking the week off after a sizzling stretch since play resumed last month (6th-3rd-4th-1st). The Wake Forest alum’s absence has opened the door, so let’s take a look at who’s next to step through.
Before I make a TPC San Antonio Challenge prediction, take a peek at the Korn Ferry Tour odds.
A top-25 at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic has vaulted Kristoffer Ventura to the top of the betting sheet. I see what the top golf sportsbooks are doing, but it’s worth noting that the only reason the Oklahoma State product is here is because his original plans didn’t pan out.
The PGA Tour member shot 72 in the Monday qualifier (missed by 9 shots!) and was the fifth alternate in Dublin as of Tuesday afternoon, so here he is racing down to San Antonio.
The former standout at Georgia Tech won on the Korn Ferry Tour back in 2016, memorably rolling in an 18-footer in a playoff to defeat Collin Morikawa and J.J. Spaun at the Air Capital Classic. Nevertheless, disappointing play in 2019 landed Ollie back on the secondary circuit.
The good news is the KFT’s leader in putting average this year has settled into a nice groove since play resumed in mid-June.
Schniederjans followed up his T-32 at the King & Bear Classic with a top 5 in Utah and a top 20 in Colorado.
He’s long off the tee, he makes a ton of birdies, and it’s clear he’s strolling into the first leg of the TPC San Antonio Challenge with a boatload of confidence.
My Korn Ferry Tour Pick to Win
Venturas Poker Challenge Cheat
I like Chandler Blanchet (+6600) as a Korn Ferry Tour sleeper this week and almost picked him to win.
Ben Kohles is another guy I expect to play well in Texas.
However, I’m instead keying in on a guy who has played brilliant golf since the KFT started back up.
Vince India — a 31-year-old Chicago resident — is a combined 47-under-par over the 16 rounds that have been played. This includes a couple of top-10 finishes and nothing worse than 35th. The streaky putter sits 7th in total driving and 6th in all-around ranking this season on the KFT and seems to be on the verge of breaking through.
Remember, it was less than a month ago when Vince came bursting out of the gates in St. Augustine and slept on the 54-hole lead.
Venturas Poker Challenge Solitaire
- Vince India