Chino Rheem Wins PCA Main Event For More Than $1.5 Million

Chino Rheem is a three-time World Poker Tour main event champion. The 38-year-old from Los Angeles also made the final table of the 2018 World Series of Poker main event. From 2008 through 2103 Rheem put together an impressive run, managing four seven-figure scores in that five-year time span. While he has found major success in the WSOP and WPT’s marquee tournaments, Rheem entered 2019 having yet to secure a signature score in an event outside of the United States. That all changed when he outlasted a field of 865 entries to win the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $10,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, taking home $1,567,100 as the newest PCA champion. This was the fifth seven-figure score of Rheem’s career, and it saw his lifetime live tournament earnings surpass the $10.2 million mark.

Rheem has been at the center of controversy in the tournament poker world in the past, and was even put on probation by the now-defunct Epic Poker League shortly after he won one of their main events for $1,000,000. The punishment was due to his alleged failure to repay debts owed to other poker players. While Rheem has himself admitted that he has had issues, as far as his performance on the felt is concerned, his record speaks for itself.

Rheem dominated the final table of this event. He came into the day as the chip leader with six players remaining and proceeded to eliminate each and every one of his opponents on the way to securing the title.

The first player to hit the rail was 2015 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open main event champion Brian Altman. He four-bet all-in over the top of a three-bet from Rheem holding the A3. Rheem had picked up QQ and made a quick call. Altman failed to improve and was sent home with $297,020 as the sixth-place finisher.

Rheem then dispatched Spain’s Vicent Bosca (5th – $396,880) and Ukraine’s Pavel Veksler (4th – $503,440) to enter three-handed action with just over 60 percent of the chips in play.

The next major showdown took place just eight hands after the field was narrowed to three. Rheem opened on the button holding the A10 and then called the all-in of Scott Wellenbach, who shoved for 1,790,000 with the KQ. The flop gave Wellenbach the lead as it brought the K87. The J turn gave Rheem a double gutshot, which came in when the 9 hit the river. With that the a 67-year-old from Halifox, Nova Scotia was eliminated in third place, earning $671,240. Wellenbach had finished 17th in the 2017 PokerStars Championship Barcelona main event for €61,400. He donated all of his winnings in that event to charity, and has said he plans to do the same with his earnings from his run in this event.

With that Rheem took just over a 4-to-1 lead into heads-up action against 2017 WPT L.A. Poker Classic main event champion Daniel Strelitz. The final showdown only lasted seven hands. With blinds of 80,000-160,000 and a big-blind ante of 160,000 Strelitz moved all-in for 3,590,000 from the button holding the A2. Rheem quickly called with the 55. The board ran out KJ10310, securing the pot and the title for Rheem.

Strelitz earned $951,480 as the second-place finisher, the second largest score of his career. Check out video of the final hand below, via a tweet from PokerStars LIVE:

Congratulations to Chino Rheem.#PCA2019 Main Event champion, winning $1,567,100! pic.twitter.com/dn8OtFohcn

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) January 17, 2019

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: Carlos Monti / PokerStars.

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