John Dibella wins $1.7m PCA 2012 Main Event
Stockbroker John Dibella has won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2012
| by Alligator Blood |  January, 16th 2012 |
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John Dibella has won the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, picking up $1,775,000.
The 43-year-old stockbroker from New York was only in the Bahamas to play a series of small side events.
But the married father-of-two unexpectedly won a live $1,000 satellite into the $10,000 Main Event last Saturday.
And a week later, he finds himself champion of one of the biggest poker tournaments in the world.
He said: “I make more money at poker than as a day trader but I’m not going to call myself a professional just yet.
"I’m a recreational player, but maybe I’ll take it a bit more seriously from now on. It’s definitely much safer than my day job!”
Dibella's best result previously had also come at the PCA in 2008, when he took 60th place for $16,000.
This year though he beat the entire 1,072-strong field despite tough competition on the final table from internet pro Kyle Julius, as well as Faraz Jaka, Xuan Liu, 2009 PCA runner-up Tony Gregg and Dutch pro Ruben Visser.
He finally won the trophy and coveted bracelet when, heads-up with Julius, his opponent bluff-shoved the river of a {Ac} {Qh} {3c} {8d} {Tc} with just {9d} {6s}. Dibella, though, had rivered the flush with {5c} {6c}.
This year’s $10,000 Main Event attracted a total of 1,072 players, creating a $10,398,400 prize pool. PokerStars-sponsored Spanish golf star Sergio Garcia was taking part at his second PCA and cashed in 51st place for $35,000.
This year’s PCA has featured more than 40 events and attracted thousands of poker players from all over the world.
Team PokerStars Pro Viktor “Isildur1” Blom won his first major live title when he took down the $100,000 Super High Roller at the start of the festival for $1,254,400. Jonathan Duhamel and Daniel Negreanu finished fourth and fifth.
Outside of the Main Event, the clear star of this year’s PCA has been 2010 World Champion Jonathan Duhamel. His phenomenal performances have already netted him more than $570,000 and he was on fire from the get-go, finishing fourth for $313,600 in the three-day $100k Super High Roller event, fifth in a $5k NL Turbo event for $17,990 and winning the $5k NL 8-Max event for $239,830.
PCA 2012
Main Event final table/payouts:
1 John Dibella USA $1,775,000
2 Kyle Julius USAs $1,500,000
3 Faraz Jaka USA $755,000
4 Xuan Liu Canada $600,000
5 Mark Drover Canada $468,000
6 Tony Gregg USA $364,000
7 David Bernstein Canada $260,000
8 Ruben Visser Netherlands $156,400
