The 2012 Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure main event champion is John Dibella, a player who won his seat in the event through a satellite tournament.

The 2012 Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure has finished playing out and the last man standing was one John Dibella. Besides being Dibella’s biggest poker win by far, this is also a noteworthy win in that Dibella didn’t pay the $10,000 to buy-in directly to the event. Rather he won his seat at a live poker satellite tournament with a $1,000 buy-in.

John Dibella is 43 years old and works as a day trader in New York City. This is not Dibella’s first cash win but it is the largest win of his poker career, netting him $1.775 million. Previously his highest cash was $16,000, coincidentally earned in the 2008 Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. Until the 2012 PCA win, Dibella’s career winnings amounted to $42,000.

The other top finishers at this year’s PCA main event were, in order of position, highest to lowest: Kyle Julius in second, for $1,500,000; Faraz Jaka in third, for $755,000; Xuan Liu in fourth, for $600,000; Mark Drover in fifth, for $468,000; Anthony Gregg in sixth, for $364,000; David Bernstein in seventh, for $260,000; and Ruben Visser in eighth, for $156,400.

Besides being the first big live poker event of the year on the Poker Stars calendar, the PCA is also the kickoff event of each year’s European Poker Tour season. Players at home interested in following in John Dibella’s footsteps can log on to their PokerStars real money player accounts and enter satellite tournaments now for the upcoming EPT main events.