Jake Schindler Wins 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final €101,000 Super High Roller (€1,750,000)
The most expensive tournament of the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona has determined it's champion and it was Jake Schindler that lifted the trophy and claimed a payday of €1,750,000, defeating Stephen Chidwick in heads-up. Given the current Euro to USD rate, it is still Chidwick's best ever score for €1,100,000, which equals more than $1.3 million.
Schindler started the day as the chip leader and was never really in danger to surrender this spot until the top three were reached. Before that plenty of work was needed, as only 11 players out of a 48-entry strong field were aiming to take home a portion of the €4,656,000 prize pool. The initial guarantee of €2 million was more than doubled with 15 players taking a second short at High Roller glory.
After doubling through Jean-Noel Thorel to enter heads-up with a narrow lead, Schindler had to battle for two hours and his flopped top pair and turned straight was enough to catch Chidwick bluffing with just queen-high.
Final Result €101,000 Super High Roller
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Schindler | United States | €1,750,000 |
| 2 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | €1,100,000 |
| 3 | Jean-Noel Thorel | France | €726,000 |
| 4 | Jason Koon | United States | €500,000 |
| 5 | Bryn Kenney | United States | €340,000 |
| 6 | Erik Seidel | United States | €240,000 |
Action of the final day
Only the top six spots were paid and Koray Aldemir was the shortest stack among the finalists with nine big blinds. Aldemir were the second player to bust, setting up the unofficial nine-handed final table, following into the footsteps of fellow German High Roller regular Dominik Nitsche. Over on the outer table, Nitsche had lost a flip with sevens against the ace-jack of team partypoker's Jason Koon.
Mikita Badziakouski ran with ace-king into the pocket aces of Bryn Kenney and fell in 9th place, followed by German Sontheimer, who lost a flip with ace-king against the pocket tens of Stephen Chidwick. Two tens on the flop gave Chidwick quads to immediately lock up the hand.
On the money bubble, it was Keith Tilston that had to leave empty-handed without anything to show for. Tilston raised out of the small blind with pocket sixes and called the shove of Koon, who turned over king-seven only. However, a seven appeared on the turn and that locked up the min-cash of €240,000.
One player to be particularly happy about the outcome of that hand was short-stacked Erik Seidel, who bowed out in 6th place. His Ace-five suited ended up second-best to the ace-ten of Chidwick. Kenney followed soon after in another "death by quads" situation when he got it in with an open-ended straight draw, Schindler snap-called with middle set and spiked the case six on the turn to reduce the field to four.
Chidwick took care of the next two seat open, first winning with sixes against the pocket treys of Koon, then finishing off the work of Schindler with king-ten suited against Thorel's queen-eight. The two hour battle with a seven-figure score guaranteed ended in favor of the American and that's all she wrote.
The main focus of the festival immediately jumps to the onoing €10,300 Main Event. In the first of four flights, 338 entries emerged and the final level of the night is underway with some 105 players still in contention. Day 1B is currently in level six with 104 entries out of 140 players left, and another two starting days are to follow the day after.