Lock up the purple! Germans continue to dominate high rollers! After five high roller events at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas, we finally have a newly-crowned Poker Masters champion: Steffen Sontheimer. Young German pro Sontheimer shipped two events including the $100K freezeout finale and the second event. In all, he banked over $2.7M and got to slide on the coveted purple jacket that all future Poker Masters winners will receive.

File this one under: man bites dog. Yeah, the Germans won another high-stakes poker tournament. I guess the big shocker was that Fedor Holz did not win the Poker Masters. Instead, fellow German Steffen Sontheimer shipped not one, but two events at the Poker Masters. He easily won the purple jacket. Or as they'd say in German, "Lila Jacke."
Poker Masters Event #5, hosted at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas, had a $100K price tag and did not allow any re-entries. So it was an old school freezeout. Only 36 players took a shot at the finale. The top 6 places got a cut of the prize pool with Sontheimer taking home over $1.5M.
Four Germans cashed in the 100K including Christian Christner, Fedor Holz, and Stefan Schillhabel. The non-Germans who cashed included Seth Davies and ZeeJustin. Two Germans squared off for the final event title...and Sontheimer prevailed. On the final hand, Christner's pocket deuces ran into Sontheimer's Hilton Sisters.
You needed at least $300K to play in all five events, plus an extra 100K or so for additional bullets to re-enter one of the first four events. Sometimes, you have to start something new in order to create a long-term tradition. But it also takes time and dedication before something can truly become an integral part of the annual poker calendar. Will the Poker Masters become the next big thing in the poker community? Or is it too exclusive? I guess we'll find out in the coming years.
Poker Masters - Event #5
Buy-in: $100,000
Entrants: 36
Prize Pool: $3.6 million
Payouts: 6
Results:
1. Steffen Sontheimer (Germany) $1,512,000
2. Christian Christner (Germany) $864,000
3. Fedor Holz (Germany) $504,000
4. Seth Davies (USA) $324,000
5. Justin Bonomo (USA) $216,000
6. Stefan Schillhabel (Germany) $180,000
Steffen Sontheimer binked two events. The other events were won by all Americans: Bryn Kenney, Brandon Adams, and Nick Schulman.
Overall, Steffen Sontheimer played in all five events. He bubbled one event and cashed in the other four. He techinally made five final tables, but only 4 "TV" tables. The up and coming German pro won two events and cashed for a total of $2,733,000. No other person had more than two cashes. That elite group of multi-cashers included Bryn Kenney, Fedor Holz, Christian Christner, Doug Polk, Stefan Schillhabel, Adrian Mateos, Jack Schindler, ZeeJustin.
As expected, the Top 5 players in the overall standings played in all five events. Fedor Holz did not win any events, but he still finished third overall with a pair of cashes and one runner-up finish.
2017 Poker Masters - FINAL STANDINGS
1. Steffen Sontheimer (2) $2,733,000
2. Brun Kenney (1) $1,085,000
3. Fedor Holz (0) $1,054,000
4. Christian Christner (1) $1,039,000
5. Nick Schulman (1) $918,000
6. Erik Seidel (0) $576,000
7. Matt Hyman (0) $561,000
8. Stefan Schillhabel (0) $486,000
9. Jack Schnidler (0) $409,500
10. Justin Bonomo (0) $391,500