The World Poker Tour has its Season 16 currently in progress as the gaming action commenced on 24th November at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The rich schedule of the poker festival includes a wide variety of poker tournaments and one of them is the recently concluded $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Bellagio High Roller #15 which took place on 2nd December. The single-day event gathered 39 entries ready to participate in the premium poker event and German poker player Rainer Kempe claimed the throne by defeating all of them.
The people responsible for the organization of the WPT festival have given their best to provide various types of poker tournaments suitable for all levels of proficiency. The High Roller event granted six poker players with a sweet payday, among which players from Spain, Canada, and the US. The big winner got his hands on the first-place prize amounting to $351,000 after advancing way ahead of his rivals in the tournament. Kempe is one of the most recognizable names in the poker industry, as he is a player from Berlin who has a long history in the poker industry. He is one of the many German poker players who are dominating the top positions in various tournaments in the recent months.
Highlights of Kempe’s Poker Career
His live poker career started back in 2011, when he participated in €300+30 No-Limit Hold’em event of the Triple A Series, and finished 10th, bagging some €1,572 for his excellent performance. Ever since then he has played in many tournaments, swelling his total live earnings to the impressive $11,245,463. Almost half of this sum was won at once when he participated in the $300,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Bowl with 888poker in 2016 and finished first. The event featured guaranteed prize pool amounting to $15,000,000, meaning that the payouts were also spectacular.
Kempe outplayed 49 entries in that event and this feat brought him $5,000,000 in cash for his premium performance. His most recent cash is also from a first place, this time at the $1,000+100 No-Limit Hold’em – #1 MILLIONS Open at the partypoker Caribbean Poker Party which took place in Punta Cana. He defeated all other players and bagged $200,000. This is almost as much as he amassed from this Saturday’s gaming action, where he was one of the six players being granted money for their poker skills. The High Roller was also the twelfth event in the schedule of the WPT, meaning we are halfway through Season 16.
The runner-up position on the leader board was reserved for Ben Tollerene from Fort Worth, Texas, who pocketed $234,000 as a consolation prize. The top three was concluded by Spanish player Adrian Mateos-Diaz receiving $156,000 at the end of the filled with a fast-paced game day. Fourth finished Justin Bonomo from Canada, who received a payout estimating to $97,500, marking a big gap between the top three positions and the rest of the players. Brian Green from Decatur, Texas climbed to the fifth position on the official leader board and for this pocketed $78,000 while local player Daniel Smith had the sixth place and a prize amounting to $58,500.
