There were 22 players who returned to the felt for the third and final day of the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty and it was Samuel Cobian who topped them all to take home the first-place prize of $239,658.
Cobian overcame a star-studded field of 763 entries to record his largest career poker score after defeating Andy Wilson in a heads-up match. He will also add 15 bounties to his total, all of which were of the $1,000 minimum variety, but he couldn't wipe the smile off his face after capturing the illustrious PokerStars trophy.
$3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Samuel Cobian | United States | $239,658 |
| 2nd | Andy Wilson | United Kingdom | $149,450 |
| 3rd | Justin Steinbrenner | Germany | $106,750 |
| 4th | Yuliyan Kolev | Bulgaria | $82,100 |
| 5th | Matthew Lambrecht | United States | $63,150 |
| 6th | Rui Bouquet | Portugal | $48,600 |
| 7th | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | $37,400 |
| 8th | David Peters | United States | $28,750 |
Winner's Reaction
"This feels great man," Cobian told PokerNews in his post-win interview. "I never thought this could happen. But it does, and it did."
The recreational poker player from Indianapolis said this isn't often where he and his wife travel in the winter, but his wife convinced him to come to the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
"We usually go to Florida in the winter but my wife convinced me to come to The Bahamas and play some poker this year."
Cobian can often be seen at the WSOP in Las Vegas where he's cashed the Main Event on multiple occasions. He's already won a seat for this upcoming summer trip.
Cobian was off to get his winner's photo taken but said the chances of playing in the PSPC later this week is definitely a possibility.
"You'll just have to buy in!" his wife shouted with exuberance on their way out of the tournament room.
Cobian has guaranteed this will be the most successful winter getaway that he's experienced, and he plans to keep the run-good going.
Day 3 Action
With 22 players returning for Day 3, there was no shortage of action in the opening levels of the day. There were 10 eliminations in the first two hours of the day that included PokerStars ambassador Rafael Moraes, David Stamm and Kitty Kuo. During the rush of eliminations, Kayhan Mokri was busy at the "tickle trunk" redeeming his bounty tickets. A burst of excitement was overheard as Mokri managed to find the last $100,000 bounty prize, going along with Sebastien Aube, who pulled his six-figure prize last night.
When the field finally reached the final table, Wilson came in as the chip leader and extended his lead with the quick eliminations of Michael Uguccioni and David Peters. With seven players still remaining, Wilson had accumulated over one-third of the chips in play. The talkative Mokri was next on the chopping block as one of the short stacks and was forced to settle for just over $37,000 and seventh place. However, the $100,000 and change in bounties will no doubt keep his spirits high.
Justin Steinbrenner was down to less than four big blinds but managed to double up and then go on to eliminate the next two players in Rui Bouquet and Matthew Lambrecht. Steinbrenner went from 600,000 to 6,000,000 chips in the blink of an eye and was all of a sudden in the running. Yuliyan Kolev bowed out in fourth place which set up a dynamic three-handed battle.
Wilson started three-handed play with a huge chip lead and over half of the chips in play. He continued to grow his lead and looked poised to capture his first PokerStars title. However, the tide turned and not just once, but on multiple occasions. The three remaining players exchanged chip leads over the course of nearly two hours, with Cobian finding himself with just four big blinds after a failed bluff attempt. Cobian managed to double-up on three straight attempts and was right back in the match.
Steinbrenner also held the chip lead at one point but it didn't last very long much to the dismay of the German rail cheering him on. Steinbrenner eventually shoved all in from the small blind and was called by Cobian's ace-high in the big blind. An Ace on the flop spelled disaster for Steinbrenner who was kicked to the rail in third place.
Cobian took a healthy lead into the heads-up duel with Wilson and never looked back as he managed to finish the match in just a few hands. On the final hand of the day, Cobian's king-high was ahead of Wilson's jack-high with all of the chips getting in the middle preflop. Wilson was unable to find any help on the board and fell just short of the PCA title.
