It is all over! The WPT National Philippines has crowned its first-ever Triton Super High Roller Series Cali Cup champion and it was 22-year old Fedor Holz from Germany! Holz defeated American pro David Peters at the heads-up round to claim the massive first place cash prize of $3,072,748 (*After deal).
The rising stars of the live poker scene
This impressive young German is without a doubt the rising superstar of the live tournament poker scene. Holz was fresh off his biggest live tournament career win having seized the championship of the $100,000 WPT Alpha8 No Limit High Roller event in Las Vegas, Nevada last December, and earning over $1.5M. Tonight, he not only broke that record but he also doubled it up for a fantastic start to his new year.
52 entries and $10m prize pool
The task of getting to the top was not an easy one though. There were a total of 52 entries for the two-day event with a lot of top pros in attendance such as American poker legend Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Isaac Haxton, Dominic Nitsche, and Steve O’Dwyer. With a buy-in of $200K, the prize pool ballooned to a highly attractive $10M. For a first attempt at an event of this caliber in the Philippines, it was nothing short of successful. The final day began with 33 players on the roster, including late-comer Andrew Robl, however interestingly, a few of the Asian players were no shows despite having survived the first day.
Final Table
Returning as the overall chip leader was Ivey who held on to his high rank for most of the event and into the final table, but at five-handed, he took a crushing blow to his stack when his pocket queens was out-flopped by Holz’s king-queen. This sent his stack spiraling straight down into the danger zone. Two hands later, Holz finished the job and eliminated him. Holz continued with his momentum and earned more chips after putting the heat on O’Dwyer in a couple of hefty pots. He eventually eliminated O’Dwyer, and after Peters railed Devan Tang in third place, it was heads-up, with Holz close to a 2:1 chip lead.
The action was quick and fierce with Holz in full control. The final hand saw Holz all in with pocket sevens that held up against Peters’ ace-queen.
Fedor Holz
In the money
Other players who made it in the money were Daniel Coleman in 6th place, Malaysian businessman Paul Phua in 7th place, and Mike “Timex” McDonald in 8th place. For Phua, he announced at the start of the event that if he won, he would be donating 50% of his winnings to a charity in the Philippines and in Malaysia. That certainly is a very generous way to start the new year.
Final Table Results
1. Fedor Holz – $3,072,748*
2. David Peters – $ 2,699,752*
3. Devan Tang – $1,405,000
4. Steve O’Dwyer – $953,700
5. Phil Ivey – $656,500
6. Dan Colman – $502,000
7. Paul Phua – $401,600
8. Mike McDonald – $351,320
*Deal
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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