PokerStars Caribbean Adventure


The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was an annual televised poker tournament. The event was first held in 2004 and was originally co-sponsored by PokerStars and the World Poker Tour. In 2008, the event moved from the WPT to the European Poker Tour. In 2010, the event was moved again and served as the inaugural event of the North American Poker Tour. In 2017 the tournament was the inaugural event of the new PokerStars Championship tour and renamed PokerStars Championship Bahamas. The name was changed back to the PCA for 2018 and the buy-in restored to $10,000.
In 2004, the event took place on the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas cruise ship. Since 2005 the event took place at the Atlantis Casino and Resort on Atlantis Paradise Island.
The 2011 PCA commenced on January 4, 2011. Over fifty events took place over ten days, including the main event with an estimated prize pool of $20 million. Players either buy into the main event directly for $10,300, or they may win their way into the event via satellites running on PokerStars and at the event. The main event final table was aired live on ESPN2, featuring commentary by James Hartigan and Daniel Negreanu.
John Dibella, a 43-year-old stock trader from New York, won the 2012 PCA for $1,775,000. Dibella won a live $1,000 satellite into the $10,000 Main Event and is the first amateur player to win the tournament.
In 2019, PokerStars announced that the PCA would be discontinued in 2020.

Main Event winners

YearWinnerPrizeEntriesTotal Prize Pool
2004 Gus Hansen$455,780221$1,657,500
2005 John Gale$890,600461$3,487,200
2006 Steve Paul-Ambrose$1,388,600724$5,647,200
2007 Ryan Daut$1,535,255937$7,063,842
2008 Bertrand Grospellier$2,000,0001,136$8,562,976
2009 Poorya Nazari$3,000,0001,347$12,674,000
2010 Harrison Gimbel$2,200,0001,529$14,831,300
2011 Galen Hall$2,300,0001,560$15,132,000
2012 John Dibella$1,775,0001,072$10,398,400
2013 Dimitar Danchev$1,859,000987$9,573,900
2014 Dominik Pańka$1,423,0961,031$10,070,000
2015 Kevin Schulz$1,491,580816$7,915,200
2016 Mike Watson$728,325928$4,500,800
2017 Christian Harder$429,664738$3,376,712
2018 Maria Lampropulos$1,081,100582$5,645,400
2019 David Rheem$1,567,100865$8,390,500

High Roller winners

YearWinnerPrizeEntriesTotal Prize Pool
2009 Bertrand Grospellier$433,50048$1,200,000
2010 William Reynolds$576,24084$2,058,000
2011 Will Molson$1,072,850151$3,775,500
2012 Leonid Bilokur$1,134,930141 + $3,626,000
2013 Vanessa Selbst$1,424,420161 + $4,998,000
2014 Jacob Schindler$1,279,880198 + $6,051,500
2015 Ilkin Garibli$1,105,040200 + $6,456,000
2016 Nick Maimone$996,480173 + $5,400,000
2017 Luc Greenwood$779,268121 + $3,895,500
2018 Christopher Kruk$836,350144$3,484,800
2019 Martin Zamani$895,110115 + $3,849,930

Super High Roller winners

YearWinnerPrizeEntriesTotal Prize Pool
2011 Eugene Katchalov$1,500,00038$3,743,000
2012 Viktor Blom$1,254,40030 + $3,136,000
2013 Scott Seiver$2,003,48043 + $5,724,180
2014 Fabian Quoss$1,629,94046 + $5,433,120
2015 Steve O'Dwyer$1,872,58050 + $6,402,000
2016 Bryn Kenney$1,687,80044 + $5,626,000
2017 Jason Koon$1,650,30041 + $5,239,080
2018 Cary Katz$1,492,34036 + $4,737,600
2019 Sam Greenwood$1,775,46043 + $5,918,220