Instead the unheralded Jake Schindler busted Selbst and then cruised past former world champ Greg Merson heads-up. Schindler officially picked up $1.19 million for his victory.
“I’m pretty numb right now,” he said. “I don’t know what to think. I’m kind of speechless.”
Unofficially Schindler and Merson did a chip chop heads-up and Merson started going all-in blind on every hand.
“That was his idea,” explained Schindler. “At first I was going to wait for a good hand like Q-7 or better to call with but I didn’t feel like waiting anymore.”
In the final hand Schindler went all-in blind as well and happened to find king-ten while Merson called blind with 9-4. Schindler’s hand held up and that meant the tournament was over.
Selbst Picks Up Over $1.3 Million in 2014 PCA
It was a stunning end to an extremely competitive final table that also featured Robert Mizrachi, Mustapha Kanit, Ole Schemion, Aleksandr Denisov and Joao Vieira.
“I thought it was going to be pretty tough, which it definitely was,” Schindler said.
“It was really hard to put them on hands and assess their ranges and what not. It was definitely a really tough experience but a really awesome one.”
With the third-place finish Selbst moves to over $9.6 million in lifetime tournament earnings. The PokerStars pro made over $1.3 million at the 2014 PCA alone thanks to finishing third in this year’s $100k Super High Roller for $760,640 and 42nd in the Main Event for $32,000.
Here are the complete final-table payouts for the $25k High Roller, which drew 247 entrants:
1. Jake Schindler, USA, $1,192,624 2. Greg Merson, USA, $948,996 3. Vanessa Selbst, USA, $607,580 4. Mustapha Kanit, $492,600 5. Robert Mizrachi, USA, $389,720 6. Aleksandr Denisov, $295,920 7. Ole Schemion, Germany, $216,040 8. Joao Viera, $157,960Visit www.pokerlistings.com