Steffen Sontheimer Wins Poker Masters Purple Jacket and $2.73m

Germany's Steffen Sontheimer is the big winner of the inaugural Poker Masters event. He earned the Purple Jacket and $2,733,000 in total winnings.

Held at Vegas’ ARIA Resort, the 2017 Poker Masters consisted of four $50,000 buy-in tournaments and a $100,000 finale. Sontheimer final tabled four of the events and bubbled another tourney (eighth place).

Let's continue discussing Sontheimer's great performance and how much money he collected in each event.

Poker Masters $100k NLHE Final Table

The Event #5 finale drew 36 elite players. And Sontheimer beat Christian Christner heads-up to secure the Purple Jackpot and a $1,512,000 top prize.

After the 6-player final table was formed, it took five hours before the first player busted out. Stefan Schillhabel, a WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star winner, was the first one out as he three-bet a short stack with A-3 suited.

Justin Bonomo called and flipped over K-Q, making him a slight underdog. But Bonomo paired his king and sent Schillhabel to the rail with $180,000.

Bonomo didn't have long to celebrate because he was knocked out in fifth place, earning $216,000 for his efforts. The 31-year-old poker pro shoved with K-T, but was called by both Christner (A-K) and Sontheimer (A-T). Christner ended up taking the hand and ending Bonomo's run.

Christner also eliminated Seth Davies in fourth place ($324,000). Davies went all-in with A-7 against Christner's K-7. But the latter spiked a king on the flop to win the hand.

Fedor Holz, who's made his living through high rollers, was the next to bow out. Holz shoved with Q-J against Christner's pocket 7s and lost the hand. The German finished in third place and earned $504,000 for his finish. This gave Holz over $1.05 million in earnings during the Poker Masters series.

Sontheimer vs. Christner Heads-Up

Christner carried a chip advantage into heads-up play against Sontheimer. The latter had already won the Poker Masters Purple Jacket by this point thanks to four final table appearances. But Sontheimer wasn't satisfied and wanted to beat his friend to secure another victory.

It didn't take him long to grab the chip lead from Christner and eventually eliminated him to take first place.

“It was interesting to play against him, I know he’s the better heads-up play,” Christner said afterward. “He took it down like a champion.”

Poker Masters $100k NLHE 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

Sontheimer's Overall Poker Masters Performance

Here's a look at the results that earned Sontheimer the Poker Masters Purple Jacket:

Event #1 - 4th place, $306,000
Event #2 - 1st place, $900,000
Event #3 - 8th place, no cash
Event #4 - 5th place, $117,000

The 2017 Poker Masters featured many of the world's top poker players competing in high roller tournaments. And Sontheimer can certainly be happy because he finished eighth place or better in each one.

The German is a rising poker star who has 31 tournament cashes since 2015. Like Holz, he's had considerable success in high rollers with 18 total cashes.

Prior to the Poker Masters, Sontheimer had earned $3,551,390 in tourneys. His best cash before the Poker Masters was $1,223,264, which came when he took second place in the 2017 ARIA $100k Super High Roller 19 event.

Other big finishes by Sontheimer include taking first in the 2017 Poker EM €25k Super High Roller ($501,183), sixth in the 2017 PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo €100k Super High Roller ($415,348), and sixth in the 2017 Triton Super High Roller Series Budva ($313,423).