Russian poker player bests Duhamel for PCA High-Roller title

Posted by Steve Ruddock on Jan 15, 2012 Posted in EPT News, Tournament News | No Comments »

Leonid Bilokur may not be a household name in the poker world, but with less than two years on the tournament trail he has already made some waves, none bigger than Saturday’s victory in the $25k High-Roller event at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).

The Russian’s path to the PCA High-Roller title went through several high-profile poker pros at the final table including Ike Haxton, Nicolas Fierro, Jason Koon, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, and 2010 WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel.

Duhamel has been on a tear at the 2012 PCA, finishing 4th in the $100k Super-High-Roller, 5th in a $5k NLHE side-event, 1st in another $5k NLHE side event, and by the end of Saturday night Duhamel added over $600k to his career tournament earnings with a runner-up finish in the $25k High-Roller. Over the course of the 2012 PCA Duhamel has won over $1.2 million, putting him on pace to be the 2012 version of Erik Seidel or Sam Trickett.

It looked as if Duhamel had the tournament all but won after eliminating Ike Haxton in 3rd place, considering he took a 2.5-to-1 chip advantage into heads-up play against Bilokur. Bilokur proved to be a very tough adversary, slowly chipping away at Duhamel to eventually take the chip-lead, and the finishing off the 24 year-old Canadian by making a Full-House on the final hand.

The win is Bilokur’s largest score to date, besting the $236k payday he received for winning a side event at the 2010 EPT Germany tournament series. The $1.1 million payday puts Bilokur’s career tournament earnings over the $1.5 million mark.

Duhamel’s impressive start to 2012 (made all the more impressive by the horrific robbery he was a victim off just before Christmas) has pushed his career tournament earnings over the $10 million mark, $10,809,913 according to thehendonmob.com, good enough for 12th place on the all-time tournament money list and quickly closing in on the #11 spot currently held by Peter Eastgate.

Here is a look at the complete final table payouts from the $25k buy-in High-Roller tournament at the PCA:

1. Leonid Bilokur — $1,134,930

2. Jonathan Duhamel — $634,550

3. Isaac Haxton — $380,730

4. Jason Koon — $271,950

5. Nicolas Fierro — $217,560

6. Govert Metaal — $181,300

7. Michael Telker — $145,040

8. Randy Lew — $108,780

With the High-Roller tournament now in the books, the 2012 PCA has officially come to a close. The tournament series started off with a bang, as Viktor “Isildur1” Blom won the $100k Super-High-Roller tournament, beating Duhamel and Daniel Negreanu among others at the final table. The next big moment at the PCA came when amateur poker player John Dibella captured the PCA Main Event against a stacked final table that included Faraz Jaka, Xuan Liu, and runner-up Kyle Julius. And Russian Leonid Bilokur capped off the eventful tournament series by becoming the fourth player to win a million-dollar prize at the 2012 PCA.