There’s a new king of the super-high rollers, and his name is Philipp Gruissem.
Just three weeks after winning the title at WPT Alpha8 London, Gruissem proved he’s a force to be reckoned with in super-high roller events by claiming his second A8 with a victory over Tom McDonald at WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts. The performance added another $1,086,400 to Gruissem’s fast-growing bankroll, bringing his total winnings in WPT Alpha8 events to $2,466,240 in less than a month.
Gruissem’s victory makes him the second player in WPT history to win back-to-back events, duplicating a feat first achieved by his countryman, Marvin Rettenmaier, who won the Season X WPT World Championship at Bellagio, followed by the first event of Season XI, the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic.
The $100,000 buy-in event attracted 28 entrants (23 individual players with five re-buys) to the beautiful community of Christophe Harbour on St. Kitts where they challenged each other both on and off the felt at this exciting, filmed-for-TV event. Event participants included tournament host Bill Perkins, businessmen Paul Newey and Michael Singh, and professional poker players Antonio Esfandiari, Jeff Gross, Tobias Reinkenmeier, and Erik Seidel.
Eight players reached Sunday’s televised final table, with just five of them making the money. Payouts are below:
- Philipp Gruissem – $1,086,400
- Tom McDonald – $679,000
- Mike McDonald – $434,560
- Jason Koon – $298,760
- Scott Seiver – $217,280
- Timothy Adams – $0
- Isaac Haxton – $0
- Fabian Quoss – $0
Not content to leave the fun in St. Kitts, a number of players who failed to reach Sunday’s final table organized a $20,000 re-buy tournament where 20% of the prize pool was donated to help aid victims of the recent typhoon that devastated much of the Philippines last week. Organized by Bill Perkins, the impromptu event raised more than $100,000 that will be used for disaster relief.
Visit our Live Updates for a full recap of the tournament action.