With only 38 entrants but a staggering €4.4 million prize pool Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo has outlasted a top notch field of players to scoop the €1.6 million ($2.1 million) first prize. At €100k per entry the prize pool was swelled as several players took the opportunity to rebuy into the event. In total five players rebought on Day 1 and two more on Day 2 (those two being Gus Hansen and Jason Mercier). Only one of them made any serious progress in the event - and that just happened to be the eventual winner, Bonomo.
The field really did boast some top talent as you would expect at such a price and when play reached the final table there were big names galore as Bonomo was to face off against the likes of Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu, Bertrand "elky" Grosspelier, Eugene Katchalov, Patrick Antonius, Jonathan Duhamel and Tobias Reinkemeier (the table of eight was completed by Masa Kagawa). Between them these players have accumulated over $50,000,000 in tournament winnings so there was no shortage of final table experience at this table!
When the final table started Bonomo already held a commanding lead with around 40% of the chips in play - and he was happy to use them to his advantage by taking out five of his seven opponents on his way to first place.
Unfortunately for two of our final eight they would have to suffer the frustration of making it to the final tables of a mega money event and walk away empty handed. The first to leave was former WPT, WSOP and PCA Super High Roller Champ Eugene Katchalov exiting in eighth place as his A6 was no match for Maga Kawaga's QQ. He was shortly followed by 2010 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel who was the unlucky bubble boy when his KsQs was looked up and in terrible shape against Elky's AA.
Once the bubble had burst Justin Bonomo eliminated every other player at the table. First he took out Daniel Negreanu as his 10 10 flopped a set against DN's AK to send him packing with 310k Euros. He had to share the elimination of Kawaga with Tobias Reinkemeier as both Bonomo and Reinkemeier tabled JJ up against Kawaga's KQ. As the board bricked Kawaga left in 5th place for 345k Euros. Next in Bonomo's firing line was Antonius who's top pair top kicker were ousted by Bonomo's rivered straight and the Finnish high stakes player left the table with a 443k Euro payday.
Down to the final three it was Grospellier who was next to fall as he got his money in with an open ended straight and flush draw but couldn't outdraw Bonomo's two pair. It's been a great week for Grospellier as he took down the 8 max $10k event earlier in the week for €231k and his third place finish here added another €612k to his tournament winnings, which now stand a shade under $10 million.
As you may have worked out, Bonomo went into heads up play with a considerable chip advantage and soon enough he had the scalp of Reinkemeier as his 44 was outflopped by Bonomo's AQ all in pre-flop. Reinkemeier's second place consolation was a none too shabby €1.06 million.
With his victory Bonomo now has $5.2 million in tournament winnings.