$10,300 PCA Main Event
Day 1a Completed
$10,300 PCA Main Event
Day 1a Completed
The first of two starting days of the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $10,300 Main Event is in the books and a strong turnout put the event well on track to easily surpass the 582 entries of the previous year at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. Back in 2018, 178 players took part on Day 1a and that number has been doubled, albeit with the help of 27 additional re-entries.
Out of the 356 entries, only 135 players bagged up chips after 10 hour-levels and Alexander Kharkov topped the counts with a massive stack of 350,000. The Russian only has three cashes to his name so far and the best result came from a deep run in a side event at the 2018 EPT Monte-Carlo festival. Kharkov was among the chip leaders after the dinner break and sent Justin Bonomo to the rail in a big pot when he turned a flush with king-queen suited, Bonomo had pocket aces with the spades redraw and failed to get there.
The biggest pot of the day went to Joey Weissman, who won an enormous flip in the final level of the night with pocket queens against the ace-king of Max Silver. Weissman bagged up 267,000, good enough for second place on Day 1a. Other big stacks and notables that finished strong on the first of two starting days include Joao Simao (251,200), Brian Altman (236,100), Pavel Plesuv (191,700), Paul Vas Nunes (187,800), Elliot Smith (180,400), Jeremy Ausmus (145,800) and Kenny Hallaert (135,700).
Among the PokerStars ambassadors, only Andre Akkari (143,200) and Liv Boeree (64,800) advanced to Day 2 thus far, Maria Konnikova was ousted by Christopher Frank when her kings ended up second-best to a turned set of tens.
With the upcoming $100,000 Single-Day High Roller, many of the top pros and high stakes specialists opted to jump into Day 1a and many of them bowed out without anything to show for including Isaac Haxton, Seth Davies, David Peters, Andras Nemeth, Joe Cada, Benjamin Pollak, Rainer Kempe and Patrik Antonius.
Michael Dyer was the first player to run out of chips two times, and several others would follow throughout the day. John Juanda ran with ace-queen into the pocket aces of Brian Altman in the first attempt and then lost a flip with pocket jacks against the ace-king of Carlos Chadha in the penultimate level of the night. Harrison Gimbel won't repeat his victory at the PCA Main Event in the current year either, as he was already eliminated twice on Day 1a.
Other former EPT champions such as Davidi Kitai, John Dibella, Paul Michaelis, Noah Boeken, Arsenii Karmatckii, and Oleksii Khoroshenin were among those to leave empty-handed. Michaelis, who was the last player to lift the EPT Main Event trophy just a few weeks ago in Prague, had a very short-lived day when his flopped set of treys and turned full house was crushed by the quads kings of Andreas Eiler at the end of level two.
Eventually, more than half of the field failed to bag up chips. All those that played just once are allowed to take another shot in the second starting day and a bumper field is expected for tomorrow's Day 1b as of noon local time. Another ten levels of 90 minutes are scheduled then, and the registration remains open until the start of day 2 on Sunday, January 13th, 2019. Make sure to tune back then, as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to cover all the action until a new EPT champion is crowned.
Only 135 players bagged up chips and assorted counts can be found below. The full counts will be published when PokerNews receives them, and a recap of today's action is to follow.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Alexander Kharkov |
350,000
68,000
|
68,000 |
|
||
Joey Weissman |
267,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |
|
||
Joao Simao |
251,200
1,200
|
1,200 |
|
||
Brian Altman |
236,100
41,100
|
41,100 |
|
||
Markus Kuhnen |
196,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
Pavel Plesuv |
191,200
-8,800
|
-8,800 |
|
||
Paul Vas Nunes |
187,800
17,800
|
17,800 |
Elliot Smith |
180,400
5,400
|
5,400 |
Yang Zhang |
164,300
34,300
|
34,300 |
|
||
Pavel Veksler |
148,300
-16,700
|
-16,700 |
Francois Billard |
148,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
Jeremy Ausmus |
145,800
-4,200
|
-4,200 |
|
||
Andre Akkari |
143,200
43,200
|
43,200 |
Tommy Nguyen | 138,300 | |
|
||
Kenny Hallaert |
135,700
5,700
|
5,700 |
Aleksandr Gofman |
135,600
5,600
|
5,600 |
Damien Le Goff |
132,000
87,000
|
87,000 |
Daniel Strelitz |
127,800
27,800
|
27,800 |
|
||
Sirzat Hissou |
126,500
91,500
|
91,500 |
Edward Hislop | 124,500 | |
Christopher Frank |
122,500
2,500
|
2,500 |
|
||
Dzmitry Urbanovich |
120,100
20,100
|
20,100 |
|
||
Maxi Lehmanski |
120,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
Ian Hunter |
119,800
-200
|
-200 |
Shaun Deeb |
115,200
15,200
|
15,200 |
|
The dealer announced a seat open on table one and Joao Simao was all smiles while he had just stacked up a ton further chips. Simao had already been a bigger stack and that became even more with the elimination of Juan Pardo.
According to Dietrich Fast, Pardo had flopped two pair with and Simao rivered a straight with on a board.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joao Simao |
250,000
150,000
|
150,000 |
|
||
Juan Pardo | Busted |
Six more hands will be played at each table before players bag and tag for the night.
Liv Boeree opened to 2,800 from middle position. David Yan, from one seat over, three-bet shoved for 23,400. Carlos Chadha, on the cutoff, called. Boeree folded.
Carlos Chadha:
David Yan:
The board came and Yan was eliminated.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Carlos Chadha
|
88,000
-32,000
|
-32,000 |
Liv Boeree |
66,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
David Yan | Busted | |
|
The cards of Maria Ho were already in the muck and she paid off the all in of Juan Pardo for 26,300. Pardo had flopped a pair and flush draw, then turned a flush with on a board of .
Ho was left with around 11,000 and those chips vanished soon after.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Juan Pardo |
90,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
Maria Ho | Busted | |
Ivaylo Sivinov | Busted |
Joey Weissman faced an open raise to 2,500 and a three-bet to 8,500 by Max Silver on the button and elected to four-bet out of the big blind, making it 23,200 to go. The initial raiser folded and Silver jammed all in, Weissman quickly called and there were some gasps at the table before the cards were turned over.
Joey Weissman:
Max Silver:
Silver kept shaking his head during the run out of the board and was left with just 2,000, as Weissman doubled for 134,100 and jumped into the top five in the last level of the night. Silver busted a few hands later and will likely be back for another shot on Day 1b.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joey Weissman |
270,000
150,000
|
150,000 |
|
||
Max Silver | Busted | |
|
Sam Grafton limped in the hijack, along with Arnaud Enselme in the small blind. Bryn Kenney, in the big blind, checked.
The dealer spread a flop of . Enselme checked. Kenney bet 3,000. Grafton called. Enselme check-raised to 11,700. Both of his opponents quickly folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Arnaud Enselme |
86,000
68,000
|
68,000 |
|
||
Bryn Kenney |
46,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
||
Sam Grafton |
16,000
-104,000
|
-104,000 |
For the past few hours, Nicholas Palma and Shaun Deeb have been sitting next to each other, trading words and needles back and forth. Not long ago, they were involved in a bigger pot in which Palma bet big on the river and called the clock on Deeb. A fold followed, but the bickering continued and Scott Seiver was seemingly enjoying the show from one table over.
All three have one more thing in common: An above-average stack.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Nicholas Palma |
120,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
Shaun Deeb |
100,000
42,000
|
42,000 |
|
||
Scott Seiver |
90,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|