The luxury cruiseship MS Westerdam has been the scene of high excitement this week as 528 top poker players competed on the high seas in the Party Poker Millions.
With a $10 000 buy-in and a wide selection of sponsored players who had battled through online qualifying tourneys it was a tough field to beat, with almost a hundred players making it into the money.
Among those seated at the final table was ace player Kenna James, but he was not to prevail this time around. James Schneider, a 22-year-old student at the University of Minnesota beat him down to second place, in the process taking down several other prominent names in the game, including the previous champ Michael Gracz.
For Schneider it was the pinnacle of a hard-fought campaign, and the rewards for his skill, perseverance and luck reflected that – the student took a whopping $700 000 away from the table.