Hand #7: Christian Harder raised to 140,000 from under the gun. Rasmus Glæsel moved all in from early position for his remaining 1,275,000 and Harder called.
Harder:
Glæsel:
Glæsel found himself in the midst of a classic race, hoping to hit one of six cards in the deck to stay alive.
The flop came , which was of no help to Glæsel.
The turn was the , and the river was the . Harder's pocket tens held, sending Glæsel to the rail in sixth place.
Hand #106: Christian Harder raised to 275,000. Cliff Josephy shoved for 1,785,000 with . Sitting in the small blind, Michael Gentili called all in with and big blind Michael Vela and initial raiser Christian Harder both folded.
"Such a good spot for me" Josephy said as he expressed he expected Harder to raise any two.
The flop paired both, but it wasn't enough for start of day chipleader Gentili. The on the turn and on the river weren't cards he was looking for either and Gentili said his goodbyes.
Hand #116: Cliff Josephy with raised to 240,000. Michael Vela three-bet to 1,000,000 with and Aleksei Opalikhin called all in for 295,000 with . Josephy was quick to fold.
The flop came making things really tough for Opalikhin. The on the turn and on the river were blanks and Opalikhin was heading for the exit.
The last Russian player, who was here on a holiday and won his seat in a live qualifier, took home $191,420. The remaining players are guaranteed $259,980.
Hand #142: Christian Harder found and raised his button to 350,000. Small blind Cliff Josephy called with before big blind Michael Vela shoved for 1,485,000 holding .
Harder tanked for a bit and called. Josephy thought about it for some minutes before he too called.
With now 4,515,000 in the middle, Vela could be back in it if he somehow would overcome his disadvantage.
"I'm checking dark for the first time in my life" Josephy said.
The flop came , pairing Vela. Harder checked behind and they both checked the on the turn and on the river as well.
"Somebody has to got have a diamond!" Vela said.
Vela got the bad news soon enough as Josephy showed the diamond he had to make his flush.
"What an ugly way to go" Vela said.
"It's going to be boring here now" Josephy said while shaking hands with the third place finisher. Michael Vela out in third place for $259,980. The two remaining players, Christian Harder (12 million) and Cliff Josephy (9 million) are guaranteed $353,100 and will battle for that first place prize of $480,012 when they return from the short impromptu break.
Hand #151: Josephy raised to 400,000 with . Harder paused for a moment and three-bet to 1,100,000 with . Josephy wasted no time and moved all in for 6,100,000. Harder asked for a count and eventually he called.
The flop came , keeping Harder well ahead with ace-jack high. "Back doors", said Harder.
The turn was the and now Josephy picked up outs to make a flush.
The river was the and Josephy was eliminated in second place.
Christian Harder has won the first ever PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event for $429,664 after striking a deal with his former backer Cliff Josephy heads-up.
Position
Player
Country
Prize
1
Christian Harder
United States
$429,664*
2
Cliff Josephy
United States
$403,448*
3
Michael Vela
United States
$259,980
4
Aleksei Opalikhin
Russia
$191,420
5
Michael Gentili
Canada
$140,940
6
Rasmus Glæsel
Norway
$103,780
*Denotes heads-up deal
The six-handed final table started at noon and would become five-handed quick enough. Rasmus Glæsel lost some chips early on and said his goodbyes in the seventh hand of the day after losing a flip with ace-king to Cliff Josephy's pocket tens. There was no ace, king or other escape outs for Glæsel and the Norwegian poker player hit the rail in sixth place, good for $103,780.
It would take another 99 hands and several hours before the next player had to go. The start of day chip leader, Michael Gentili saw things go sour in the 106th hand of the day as he doubled Aleksei Opalikhin with deuces to the Russian's aces. Gentili was extremely short after that and called all in the next hand with nine-seven to Cliff Josephy's king-ten suited. Both paired up but Josephy's hand remained the better one and Gentili went home with $140,940 for his fifth place finish.
While Aleksei Opalikhin had won most of Gentili's chips, he would be the next to go as he too lost a big flip to Josephy. This time Josephy had pocket nines while Opalikhin brought king-queen suited to battle. A board no higher than a ten left Opalikhin extremely short and he was gone the next hand. Vela had pocket kings and knocked out Opalikhin who did not connect enough with ten-nine off suit.
Again, the one responsible for a knockout was next to go. Michael Vela found himself short and squeezed all in with ace-six suited. He was called by both Christian Harder with ace-queen and Cliff Josephy with king-jack. Vela paired his six but four diamonds made a flush for Josephy who sent Vela packing in third position.
After the elimination of Vela, the two remaining players reached an agreement in their deal talks soon enough. Christian Harder secured himself $419,664 while Josephy had $403,448 locked up after the deal, with $10,000 still left to play for.
Christian Harder made the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure back in 2008 where he finished seventh for $200,000, only his second-ever live cash. Harder returned every year and now, on his 10th straight trip to The Bahamas, he was in a position to take it down. Across from him sat Cliff Josephy who was his backer in 2008 when he hit the spotlight here. Josephy, who finished third in the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event for $3,453,035 and won a side event at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $163,250 last December, started with nine million in chips to Harder's 12 million.
It didn't take long as Josephy lost chips at rapid pace getting outkicked by Harder on more than one occasion. Soon enough, it was all over as the two poker friends got it in with ace-eight for Josephy and ace-jack for Harder. The board bricked out for Josephy and he had to settle for second place. Christian Harder, after having finished seventh in this event in 2008, is now the winner of the PokerStars Championship Bahamas!
The first-ever PokerStars Championship is in the books, and the next one up is in two months when the elite PokerStars live tournament sets foot in Panama for the first time. PokerNews.com will be on the floor for that event too, so be sure to follow the live updates coming from Panama's capital March 11th.