2019 partypoker MILLIONS World Recap

The MILLIONS World Bahamas Main Event has concluded from the Baha Mar Casino in Nassau, Bahamas, as part of the partypoker LIVE Caribbean Poker Party with Spain’s Adrian Mateos collecting the title and the $1,162,805 first-place prize.

The 25-year old Spaniard has been regarded as one of the most accomplished poker players in the world by his peers, as he has sat atop Spain’s All Time Money List since late in 2017. On the back of his victory in the MILLIONS World Bahamas Main Event – along with a victory in the MILLIONS Super High Roller earlier this week for $520,464 – Mateos now sees his career tournament earnings push over $19.4 million which includes three WSOP bracelets, a plethora of High Roller results, and now a MILLIONS World title.

“That one is special,” Mateos said. “Before this I was on the biggest downswing of my career. So this is huge to recover the confidence.”

Mateos topped a field of 948 entrants that saw players take part across multiple starting flights both live at Baha Mar, and online at partypoker. Following a few short days of play, the final day of play at the MILLIONS World Bahamas would see a total of 24 players return to play down to the eventual champion. It would be partypoker pro Ludovic Geilich leading the charge, and immediately the field was quickly reduced to two tables before two levels of play had elapsed as WPT champion and current WPT Player of the Year leader Aaron Van Blarcum had ascended into the chip lead.

Unfortunately for Geilich, his rise to the top would soon end after he had his aces cracked by a four-flush before being eliminated in 14th place. Ryan Riess (13th) and Alex Foxen (12th) would see their runs end just shy of the final table, and as the final nine redrew to one table it would be Van Blarcum continuing his control at the top of the leaderboard.

Immediately, Van Blarcum would relinquish his lead when he folded a set on the river to a shove from second-in-chips’ Chris Hunichen who held top pair. Although managing to catch a double, it would be partypoker pro Philipp Gruissem becoming the official final table bubble boy when he was eliminated in ninth place when his aces were cracked by Hunichen’s pocket sixes to leave the final eight.

Gregory Baird would be the first to fall at the hands of another pair of sixes that belonged to Hunichen. Baird held pocket sevens, but a six on the flop would end his run in eighth place for a $180,000 payday. Peter Jetten would be eliminated the next hand in seventh place when he ran into the queens of Scott Wellenbach to leave the final table down to six players.

With Van Blarcum sliding down the leaderboard, he would find himself as the short stack, but a double put him back in the middle of the pack. Following an unfortunate misclick, Oleg Mandzjuk would be eliminated in sixth place by Wellenbach for a $350,000 payday. He would be followed quickly by William Blais who took a stand with an ace preflop but would be outdrawn by Hunichen to be eliminated in fifth place.

Hunichen would see himself sitting with half the chips in play four-handed, and he immediately began to extend his lead over his three opponents before Wellenbach would be eliminated in fourth place by Van Blarcum for a $650,000 payday – which is just shy of his biggest score earlier this year here in the Bahamas where he collected $671,240 for his third-place finish in the PCA Main Event.

Continuing to pressure his two opponents, Hunichen crossed the 700 million chip mark to hold nearly 75% of the chips in play. However, the tides would turn for Hunichen as Van Blarcum picked up some chips from him, then Mateos scored a double with a turned set against Hunichen’s top pair to move into the chip lead with over half the chips in play. Van Blarcum then found his own double through Mateos when he won a race as players headed to break.

Once play resumed, it was announced that a ICM deal was struck between the three; Hunichen would take home the lion’s share of the prize pool with a $1,097,195 pay day, while Mateos collected $1,062,805, and Van Blarcum collected $970,000. Whoever was the eventual winner, they would receive an additional $100,000 along with the MILLIONS World Bahamas title.

Hunichen began sliding, and once he was down to his lowest point since the final table began, he would take a stand with a small ace but run into the ace-king of Van Blarcum. Unfortunately for Hunichen, his two pair would be inferior to Van Blarcum’s, and he would be eliminated in third place leaving Mateos holding a slight lead over Van Blarcum entering heads-up play.

Van Blarcum jumped out to the early lead, but Mateos would snatch it back when he rivered trips. Mateos continued to pull away, and on the final hand, he limp-called Van Blarcum’s 13 big blind jam and would flop a pair to eliminate Van Blarcum in second place, while simultaneously being crowned the MILLIONS World Bahamas Main Event champion.

Congratulations to Adrian Mateos, winner of the MILLIONS World Bahamas Main Event for $1,162,805 for his second partypokerLIVE title of the Caribbean Poker Party.

Thank you for following along with the Poker Central coverage from the Caribbean Poker Party, and make sure to head to PokerCentral.com to find all the poker news from this event, and other events around the world.

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