The year 2006 marked the third installment of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Held for the second straight year at the gorgeous Atlantis Hotel on Paradise Island in The Bahamas, the PCA attracted some of the youngest poker players in the world to the white sandy beaches of Nassau to compete for millions of dollars. Many would enjoy a ride on a speed slide that actually goes through a shark tank. It’s quite an experience. There’s nothing like seeing multi-millionaire and PokerStars pro Joe Hachem running up the speed slide in earnest for his next crack at the Great Whites. Steven Paul Ambrose made his first major live tournament cash count, winning the 2006 PCA and its $1.3 million first place prize. He also captured a seat into the World Poker Tour Championship for Season Four, held several months later and a few thousand miles to the northwest in Las Vegas, Nevada. The tournament primarily consisted of the young guns of poker, many who have made their marks playing online. The Gold Strike’s World Poker Open, which kicked off nine days after the PCA ended, attracted the familiar names you’re used to reading about in the poker world. Nevertheless, the PCA delivered edge-of-your-seat action in the middle of paradise.
Ambrose entered the WPT’s televised final table second in chips with 1.7 million, about 800,000 less than chip leader David Singer. Young Ozzy Sheikh, who the WPT’s website notes had never played live poker before and was just 18 at the time, was eliminated by Ambrose on the very first hand. Sheikh’s pocket aces were busted by Ambrose’s pocket sevens when a seven hit the flop. He still finished with $177,000 and a heck of a story to tell. Ozzy is one of the toughest poker players you’ll find and was the victim of a bad beat.
The next combatant to fall was Anders Henriksson. In his final hand, pocket aces actually held, sending Henriksson to the rail after flopping top pair holding K-Q. He won nearly $240,000 for fifth place. Another 18 year-old, Michael Higgins, was eliminated in fourth place when he semi-bluffed with A-Q on a board of 10-J-9. His opponent, Brook Lyter, held K-9 and Higgins was sent packing $327,100 richer.
As fate would have it, the bad beats would continue to be dished out at the 2006 PCA. I remember watching this tournament on television and being awed by the number of premium hands to go down in flames. David Singer was eliminated in third place with pocket kings when the turn gave Ambrose two-pair, aces and queens. To add insult to injury, the river would fall another queen, giving Ambrose a full house. Singer, the lone veteran at the table, first cashed at the World Series of Poker before several of his final table opponents at the PCA were even born, in 1983. He made three final tables at the 2003 World Series.
Ambrose finally took down the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, as the WPT notes, fewer than 10 hands into heads up play. Lyter won nearly $700,000 for his efforts. Brian Green, who made the top three in WSOP events in 2002 and 2003, finished seventh at the PCA and bubbled the televised final table. Matt Matros, the third place finisher in the WPT Championship in Season Two, placed 22nd at the PCA and walked away with $23,500.