Diego Ventura Becomes 2020 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event Champion

How often have you seen a play lead a tournament on Day 1 only for them to fade away? It is a common occurrence. Diego Ventura not only led the Caribbean Poker Party Main Event on Day 1B, Day 2, and Day 3 but went on to win the event and its $879,894 top prize.

The Caribbean Poker Party takes place annually in The Bahamas but COVID-19 restrictions put paid to the 2020 edition. partypoker stepped in and hosted the 11-event series, which had more than $10 million in combined guarantees.

Ventura was one of 1,037 players who paid $5,300 for the chance to become the Main Event’s champion. A combination of running hot and playing well saw him lead from start to finish and become a worthy champion. Here is how Ventura locked up the CPP Online Main Event title.

Final Table Set; Ventura Leads

The nine-handed final table started with Ventura as the overall chip leader and Alekses Ponakovs the short stack. Neither of those were involved in the first elimination of the night.

Pavlo Kolinkovskyi min-raised to 6,000,000 from late position with Ah-Kd. Grayson Ramage, from the big blind, moved all-in and Kolinkovskyi called off his lat 70.6 million chips. Ramage turned over Qd-Jh, flopped a jack and sent his Ukrainian opponent home.

Eighth place went to online poker grinder Jonathan Proudfoot despite him starting the final table third in chips. He was short-stacked with 12 big blinds and open-shoved with Ac-4h from the small blind. Isaac Haxton called in the big blind with Ah-9d, which held, to reduce the player count by one.

The third elimination in the space of 55-minutes was that of Enrico Camosci of Mexico. The Mexican turned an open-ended straight draw with 6h-5h and a 7h-3s-3d-8c board. He played his draw fast, check-raising all-in after Ramage led out on the flop and turn. Ramage called with Qc-Qh and Camosci missed the river.

Ventura sent Ponakovs home in sixth to claim his first scalp of the evening. Ventura raised enough from the small blind to put Ponakovs to the test for his last 15 big blinds. Ponakovs called all-in with Qh-Jh and was against the Ah-7d of Ventura. An ace on the river sealed the deal.

Massive Flip Busts Haxton

Haxton lost a huge coinflip against Ramage and fell in fifth-place for a shade over $200,000. Ramage opened with a min-raise to 8 million with 8d-8s. Haxton responded with an all-in bet of 82.5 million with Ad-Kc in the small blind. Ramage called and the five community cards ran 9c-7h-5d-2d-9s to send Haxton to the showers.

Ventura added to his stack by busting Philippe D’Auteuil in fourth. D’Auteuil raised to 36 million, leaving only 3.5 big blinds behind. Ventura called and the flop fell Kh-Ad-5h. The rest of D’Auteuil’s stack went into the middle and Ventura called. It was As-Qs for Ventura and Qd-Td for his opponent. The Kd turn gave D’Auteuil flush outs, but the 4c river wasn’t one of them.

Heads-up was set when Ventura’s As-Js was against Ah-9s of Dominykas Mikolaitis. A Qs-Kh-Th-3h-6s board sent Mikolaitis to the sidelines with $417,807 in prize money.

Ramage held a substantial chip lead going into heads-up but Ventura drew almost level. The talented duo butted heads for almost an hour before something finally gave and the champion was crowned.

A raise to 15 million from Ramage was called by Ventura. Ventura check-raised a 10.4 million bet on the 8s-3c-Th flop to 33 million. Ramage made it 75 million and was called. Ventura check-called a 111 million bet on the 2d turn before checking the arrival of the 7h river. Ramage moved all-in and Ventura called.

It was Qd-Qh for Ramage but Ts-8c for Ventura which was now two pair. Game over for Ramage and a $631,636 consolation prize, glory, the title and $879,894 for Ventura.

CPP #02 Main Event Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Diego Ventura	Peru	$879,894
2	Grayson Ramage	Canada	$631,636
3	Dominykas Mikolaitis	Lithuania	$417,807
4	Philippe D’Auteuil	Canada	$283,101
5	Isaac Haxton	Canada	$200,659
6	Aleksejs Ponakovs	Estonia	$142,069
7	Enrico Camosci	Mexico	$99,552
8	Jonathan Proudfoot	United Kingdom	$78,812
9	Pavlo Kolinkovskyi	Ukraine	$65,331

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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