2011 PCA
Introduction.
The 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was completed last weekend – resulting in a Main Event win for Galen Hall, a 24 year old from San Francisco. In the final game he managed to overturn a massive chip deficit held by Florida’s Chris Oliver to scoop the $2.3 million winner’s check.
The build up to the final table.
A very happy looking Galen Hall - 2011 PCA Main Event winner.
The build up to the final table really began on day 4 of the Main Event which decide who would be sitting at the last three tables. At that point a poker first could have been on the cards as Ana Marquez was in the lead with 3,805,000 chips – could the Caribbean Adventure be about to witness the first female Main Event winner? However, close by in third chip position was Chris Oliver on 3,275,000 with Chris Moneymaker (was PCA 2011 to be a money-spinner for him) in between them in second chip position. At this point Hall was somewhat behind on 2,305,000 chips. However, the first two players out on day 5 turned out to be Moneymaker quickly followed by Marquez. So, not even a first final table place for a woman poker player – let alone a Main Event winner. So, going in to the final table Oliver looked unassailable on nearly 20 million chips with his nearest rival, Galen Hall, on less than 6.5 million. The other finalists were Sam Stein, Anton Ionel (Romania), Mike Sowers, Max Weinberg, Bolivar Palacios (Panama) and Philippe Plouffe (Canada).
The final hand.
The winning final hand was played at 3:05 am on Sunday morning. In the hole Oliver must have been pleased with his Qh and Qc, while Hall held a useful Ac with 8c. As, Kd and 8s at the flop must have got Oliver thinking about a straight although 2h at the turn might have dampened those thoughts. The Ks at the river brought on a 600k raise from Hall, which saw Oliver re-raise. Needless to say Hall moved all-in to collect $2.3 million the 2011 PCA Main Event title.