Steve Paul-Ambrose Wins WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

After almost six hours of play, interrupted for fifty minutes by a power outage, Canada’s Steve Paul-Ambrose emerged victorious Tuesday at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, held at the Atlantis casino and resort in the Bahamas. For his efforts, he took home $1,363,100 and a $25,500 entry to the WPT Championship.

It was a wild ride at the final table for Paul-Ambrose, who started the day second in chips. On the very first hand, he laid a bad beat on Aurangzeb Sheikh, when his pocket sevens turned into a set against Sheikh’s pocket Aces, knocking Sheikh out, barely giving him to say, “Hi, mom!” to the cameras.

Shortly after the fifth place player was eliminated, Paul-Ambrose took the chip lead after one of his many tussles with David Singer. When the tournament was down to three players, he found himself back in second place, but with close to the same amount of chips he had when he was the leader. There were only $700,000 in chips separating the three competitors, and with a $50,000 big blind, that’s not a large gap to leap. Over the next eight hands, Paul-Ambrose dropped almost $700,000 in chips to fall into last place, and then swung back up $1.1 million to take the lead again.

Almost five hours into play, having increased his lead over second place to $1.8 million, Paul-Ambrose’s suckout match began with David Singer.

First, after a flop of 9-6-4, Singer bet $325,000, Paul-Ambrose moved all-in, and Singer called. Both had top pair, but Paul-Ambrose had Singer dominated, a King kicker versus a ten kicker. The 8 on the turn gave Singer a gut-shot straight draw, and the welcome 7 on the river completed that miracle runner-runner. All of a sudden, Singer was back where he started the day, as the chip leader, with almost twice the chips of Paul-Ambrose and five times as many as Brook Lyter.

Almost an hour later, the tables were turned. When the flop came A-8-7 with two diamonds, Paul-Ambrose bet $500,000, Singer raised to $1.5 million, Paul-Ambrose moved all-in for a tiny bit more, and Singer called. Singer was in the lead with A-9, for top pair, while Steve Paul-Ambrose held K-2, both diamonds, for a flush draw. The turn Ace gave David Singer an even stronger hand, but not as strong as the flush Paul-Ambrose made on the river. Now Paul-Ambrose was in the lead.

He fell back down again when he lost a big pot to Lyter, but eventually knocked Singer out of the match and went into heads-up play with Lyter just slightly behind.

It only took two hands for Paul-Ambrose to pull even with Lyter and four more to dispatch him.

On the final hand, Paul-Ambrose limped from the button and Lyter raised to $380,000, a bet which Paul-Ambrose called. The flop came J-9-2 and Lyter bet $300,000, which Paul-Ambrose raised to $1.5 million. Lyter thought for a long time (ten minutes according to reports) before finally pushing all-in for about $3 million. Paul-Ambrose called, showing Q-10 for an open-ended straight draw, versus K-J and top pair for Lyter. The turn was a Queen, now giving Paul-Ambrose top pair. Only a Ten or Jack could keep Lyter alive, but, unfortunately for him, a King hit on the river, giving Steve Paul-Ambrose the crown.

Brook Lyter still went home with a nice payday, though -- $681,500.


Final Table Results

(Place/Player/Prize Money)

1. Steve Paul-Ambrose -- $1,388,600
2. Brook Lyter -- $681,500
3. David Singer -- $436,200
4. Michael Higgins -- $327,100
5. Anders Henriksson -- $239,900
6. Aurangzeb Sheikh -- $177,200

Originally published January 11, 2006