Ilkin Garibli wins the $25,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller after beating Joe Kuether, in heads-up action, to take down the $1,105,050 first prize.

Poker is all about taking those chances when they come. Ilkin Garibli has just done that in spectacular fashion by winning the $25,000 High Roller event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). It was his first-ever live tournament score.

Garibli, a cash game player by trade, was on holiday when the PCA came to town. A few friends convinced him to throw his hat in the ring. He’ll be upgrading it now. The 26-year old from Azerbaijan topped the largest ever PCA $25k event, and the seventh largest $25k in poker’s history. 269 entrants (69 of them re-entries), once again showing the poker planners that the re-entry format is a popular concept.

The final day started with 11 souls: Dominik Nitsche, Bryn Kenney and Lee Markholt a sample of the talent to hit the rail before the final table was created. What a final table it was.

The Ukrainian Oleksii Khoroshenin – a former European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event champion – moved to fifth place in the Ukraine all-time money list after his third place finish, but it was the Americans that made most of the money.

The former PCA Super High Roller champion Scott Seiver had an impressive festival: making final table appearances in both high rollers for a combined score of $600k+; not a bad start to 2015 as he tries to make it three consecutive years with $4m+ annual hauls.

Seiver wasn’t the only one enjoying himself in the Bahamian heat. Nicholas Petrangelo added a sixth place finish to his $5k side-event victory, just a few days ago, and walks away from the PCA with over $400,000 in earnings.