Hurricane season in the Caribbean won’t begin for another six months, but tonight, a slow-moving storm named Fabian Quoss crept in from Germany and destroyed some of the most fabled landmarks in Super High Roller lore. With progress so slow it was hard to project any path, Quoss laid waste to poker’s biggest names and won $1.6 million in the 2014 PCA $100,000 Super High Roller event.

Quoss, part of an ever-evolving German cabal of high roller wrecking balls, scored two double eliminations in the early stages of the final table before dispatching high-rolling veterans Vanessa Selbst and Dan Shak for the first place win. It was the German’s fourth major title and moved his all-time winnings in the neighborhood of $5 million.

“I’m obviously very happy to be here right now,” Quoss said. “I feel after 2013–when the luck wasn’t on my side–I kind of deserved it.”

This $100,000 event started with 45 players and, after rebuys, 56 total entries. Eight players stood to get paid. The marathon Day 2 lasted into today’s early morning hours and only ended after Quoss scored a double-elimination on the bubble. It left the final table with only seven players who returned this afternoon with the following stacks.

Seat 1 – Ole Schemion, Austria, 280,000
Seat 2 – Tony Gregg, United States, 410,000
Seat 3 – Antonio Esfandiari, United States, 2,830,000
Seat 4 – Matt Glantz, United States, 480,000
Seat 5 – Fabian Quoss, Germany, 2,650,000
Seat 6 – Vanessa Selbst, United States, 3,645,000
Seat 7 – Dan Shak, United States, 3,700,000

$100,000 Super High Roller final table

When the final table began this afternoon, it took only two hands to see a three-way all in. Short-stacked Schemion shoved from under the gun for 260,000. Anthony Gregg over-shoved for 390,000. They both got calls from Fabian Quoss who woke up with 10♠ 10♣ on the button. The board stayed clean and Quoss–who had knocked out the final two players of Day 2 in the same hand–scored his second double elimination.

Dan Shak, still tired from the protracted bubble on Day 2 smiled. “Last night it was three hours for that,” he said.

Ole Schemion (7th–$277,080) and Anthony Gregg (6th–$347,720) on the same bus home

That double-knockout evened the top four stacks and left Glantz with only eight big blinds. He waited a few hands, but after Antonio Esfandiari opened to 160,000 with A♣ 7♥ , Glantz three-bet shoved for 320,000 with J♠ 10♥ . Betting moved to Selbst in the small blind, who four-bet her ace-jack to 605,000. Esfandiari got out of the way (he’d regret it) to see the board run out 3♠ 5♣ 7♣ 7♠ K♠ and Matt Glantz finish in fifth place.

Matt Glantz tops short-stacked survival game (5th–$445,520)

With Glantz gone, Shak made the first advance toward deal-making.

“I’m a business man,” he explained.

Everyone sat silent.

“My guess is I’m the fish, so there’s no deal,” Shak lamented.

There wasn’t, and that fact served Shak well, as it wasn’t too much later that Antonio Esfandiari and Vanessa Selbst went to war, the one-time magician holding pocket nines to Selbst’s ace-king. Esfandiari literally massaged the dealer’s shoulders and flopped clean, but Selbst turned an ace to send Esfandiari to the rail.

No magic fo Antonio Esfandiari (4th–$575,920)

It was this week last year when Vanessa Selbst topped the 2013 PCA $25,000 High Roller for $1.4 million. Today, she looked to be the first person to win both a PCA/EPT High Roller and Super High Roller. At many points it looked like she would do just that. Three-handed play slowed to a crawl, and Selbst looked like she was in complete control. Even after suffering a massive loss with two pair to Dan Shak’s turned straight, Selbst came back to double up and look good to go the distance.

It all fell apart some twenty minutes later. Fabian Quoss flopped a gutshot straight with queen-jack to Selbst’s ace-king. Quoss check-called the flop, and then made his straight when an ace fell on the turn. Quoss check-called again, and then check-raised the blank river. Handcuffed, Selbst made the crying call. The loss dropped her to her lowest stack of the day.

Short-stacked, Selbst never recovered. A few hands later, she shoved K♥ 9♣ from the button, and Quoss couldn’t fold with A♥ 4♥ . The board didn’t help, and Selbst left in third place.

Thanks for all the support. I'm happy with the finish, ran very well until 3 handed so no complaints. Happy for @daniel_shak and Fabian

— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst) January 8, 2014

Vanessa Selbst (3rd–$760,640)

Quoss entered the heads-up match with 9.2 million in chips, nearly double Shak’s 4.8 million.

This was not an unfamiliar position for Shak. He’s won a big buy-in tourney like this before (the 2010 Aussie Millions $100K event was the only other time he won more than $1 million in one event). That said, it’s only been a couple of years since Shak finished runner-up in this same PCA Super High Roller event. That year, he had to watch Viktor Blom hoist the trophy.

Now he was up against another young gun determined to claim the Super High Roller trophy for Europe.

With a quick handshake, the heads-up match was underway.

Quoss dominated for the next hour. Before long, he’d moved up over the 11-million mark. He didn’t falter after that.

Finally, Quoss limped the button with 8♠ 6♥ . Shak checked his option with J♥ 10♣ . The flop came 10♦ 7♣ Q♠ . Shak checked his second pair, and Quoss led for the minimum, 200,000. Shak only called, and that spelled his end. The 9♦ came on the turn and filled in Quoss’ gutshot. Shak checked his open-ender. Quoss thought for a few minutes before making it 425,000. Shak announced, “I’m all in.” Quoss snap-called,turned his eyes to the sky, and waited for the river. His friends pounded on the rail. The A♣ fell, and Quoss became the first champion of the 2014 PCA.

Dan Shak (2nd–$1,178,980)

Now an exhausted Quoss heads off to get some rest. He’s already got plans to play Day 1B of the Main Event tomorrow, so any celebration will have to wait until another night.

After a 2013 he’s happy to forget, Quoss is feeling good about the new date on the calendar.

“I said 2014 was going to be different,” Quoss said. “I hope it continues.”

PCA 2014 $100,000 Super High Roller
Date: January 5-7, 2014
Buy-in: $100,000
Entries:: 56 (45 unique)
Prize pool: $5,433,120

1st: Fabian Quoss (Germany) $1,629,940
2nd: Dan Shak (United States) $1,178,980
3rd: Vanessa Selbst (United States) $760,640
4th: Antonio Esfandiari (United States) $575,920
5th: Matt Glantz (United State) $445,520
6th: Tony Gregg (United States) $347,720
7th: Ole Schemion (Austria) $277,080
8th: Mike McDonald (Canada) $217,320

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging

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