If you’ve listened to the latest installment of the PocketFives.com Podcast,then you’ve heard PokerStarsCaribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event winner Harrison gibler123Gimbel break down his run through the $10,000 buy-in tournament. Heads-up in the marquee European Poker Tour (EPT) event, Gimbel bested fellow online poker player Tyler dabears87Reiman (pictured at right), who goes by the name puffinmypurp on the world’s largest site. PocketFives.com caught up with Reiman to get his side of the story.

In one of the key hands of the 2010 PCA Main Event, Reiman raised to 520,000 pre-flop with 7-8 and Gimbel called with A-4. The flop came 4-5-6 with two hearts, giving Reiman the proverbial nuts, and Gimbel check-called a bet of 630,000. The turn was a 10 and Gimbel check-called a bet of 1.8 million from Reiman. The river was the seven of hearts, putting a flush possibility on the board, and Gimbel check-raised all-in. Reiman promptly folded, turning over his hand for the crowd to see. We asked Reiman to walk us through the game-changing pot from his perspective.
Reiman explained, “I flopped the nuts and he check-called the turn, which was a black ten. At this point, we were so deep that I didn’t expect him to get a flush draw in on the flop, so I thought that he either had an A-7 or A-8 type hand or some type of flush draw. The river brought the seven of hearts, the worst possible card. I figured that he would check-call with an eight in his hand since the flush hit. I didn’t think he’d check-raise me with a naked straight, so when I made the bet, I already had made up in my mind that if he check-shoved, he had to have the flush. I was wrong and shouldn't have snap-folded. Regardless, I still would have made the fold, but it’s frustrating that all I had to do was call to win.”

Despite the speed bump, Reiman added $1.75 million to his bankroll. However, the $2.2 million top prize was nearly within his reach. He told PocketFives.com, “It will always be in my mind. The money helps, but the competitive part of the game is what keeps me always wanting more.” Last July, Reiman won the $1K Monday on Full Tilt Pokerfor $100,000. His laundry list of accolades also includes wins in the PokerStars $100 rebuy and the site’s challenging Nightly Hundred Grand. Reiman won the opening event of the fourth Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) for $65,000.

Speaking of wins, Reiman came into the PCA Main Event at Atlantis (pictured at left) having taken down the $30K Super Turbo Knockout on Full Tilt Poker for $12,000 and the $150,000 Guaranteed on UB.com for $40,000 in December. Fittingly, his confidence has been sky high: “My confidence has always been high. In the past few years, I’ve always tried to make my game better and, thanks to the help of numerous people, I have gotten to the level where I always feel like I’m going to play well. There are, of course, always hands that I wish I could have replayed, but that is just part of the game. It’s what makes people always evolve as poker players.”

When PocketFives.com sat down with Reiman, he was busy multi-tabling online, up to the same grinding that took place prior to his runner-up showing in the Bahamas. He revealed his poker plans for the 2010 calendar year: “I'm going to be playing a big list of live events, but as we speak now, I'm playing online tournaments. I don't feel like much has changed. I love the game as much as I ever have, I’m as hungry as I’ve ever been, and I guess there are just fewer stresses in my life right now.” Since the beginning of October, Reiman has banked $130,000 in tournaments that are tracked for the Online Poker Rankings.

Finally, we asked the PCA Main Event runner-up to assess his competition. What are his thoughts on Gimbel (pictured at left), you ask? Reiman told us, “He has come a really long way and is a big threat at the tables. I have a whole different outlook on his game.” Gimbel earned $2.2 million by virtue of defeating the 1,529-player field in the PCA Main Event and, during a one-week period in November, final tabled the PokerStars Sunday Million, won the Nightly Hundred Grand, and took down the Full Tilt Poker $100 Cubed. The three scores combined surpassed $90,000.

Congratulations to Reiman and Gimbel for dominating in the 2010 PCA Main Event. Listen to the PocketFives.com Podcast to get Gimbel’s take on the high-dollar poker tournament.