2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

$10,300 PCA Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
55
Prize
$1,567,100
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,300
Prize Pool
$8,390,500
Entries
865
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
160,000

$10,300 PCA Main Event

Day 1a Completed

Kharkov Tops Strong 2019 PCA Main Event Day 1a; Simao and Altman Among Big Stacks

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Day 1a chip leader Alexander Kharkov
Day 1a chip leader Alexander Kharkov

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).

Joey Weissman
Joey Weissman

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.

Andre Akkari and Joao Simao
Joao Simao and Andre Akkari advance with big stacks

Tags: Alexander KharkovAndre AkkariAndreas EilerArsenii KarmatckiiBrian AltmanHarrison GimbelIsaac HaxtonJoao SimaoJoey WeissmanJohn DibellaJohn JuandaJustin BonomoLiv BoereeMaria KonnikovaMax SilverNoah BoekenOleksii KhorosheninPatrik AntoniusPaul Michaelis

End-Of-Day 1a Chip Counts (full)

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

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
Profile photo of Alexander Kharkov ru
Alexander Kharkov
350,000
68,000
68,000
Day 1A Chip Leader
Profile photo of Joey Weissman us
Joey Weissman
267,000
-3,000
-3,000
WSOP 1X Winner
StakeKings
Profile photo of Joao Simao br
Joao Simao
251,200
1,200
1,200
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Brian Altman us
Brian Altman
236,100
41,100
41,100
WPT 3X Winner
Profile photo of Markus Kuhnen de
Markus Kuhnen
196,000
6,000
6,000
Profile photo of Pavel Plesuv md
Pavel Plesuv
191,200
-8,800
-8,800
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Profile photo of Paul Vas Nunes gb
Paul Vas Nunes
187,800
17,800
17,800
Profile photo of Elliot Smith ca
Elliot Smith
180,400
5,400
5,400
Profile photo of Yang Zhang cn
Yang Zhang
164,300
34,300
34,300
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Pavel Veksler ua
Pavel Veksler
148,300
-16,700
-16,700
Profile photo of Francois Billard ca
Francois Billard
148,000
18,000
18,000
Profile photo of Jeremy Ausmus us
Jeremy Ausmus
145,800
-4,200
-4,200
WSOP 6X Winner
Run It Once
Profile photo of Andre Akkari br
Andre Akkari
143,200
43,200
43,200
Profile photo of Tommy Nguyen ca
Tommy Nguyen
138,300
Day 3 Chip Leader
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Kenny Hallaert be
Kenny Hallaert
135,700
5,700
5,700
Profile photo of Aleksandr Gofman ru
Aleksandr Gofman
135,600
5,600
5,600
Profile photo of Damien Le Goff fr
Damien Le Goff
132,000
87,000
87,000
Profile photo of Daniel Strelitz us
Daniel Strelitz
127,800
27,800
27,800
WSOP 2X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Profile photo of Sirzat Hissou de
Sirzat Hissou
126,500
91,500
91,500
Profile photo of Edward Hislop ca
Edward Hislop
124,500
Profile photo of Christopher Frank de
Christopher Frank
122,500
2,500
2,500
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Dzmitry Urbanovich pl
Dzmitry Urbanovich
120,100
20,100
20,100
EPT 1X Winner
Profile photo of Maxi Lehmanski de
Maxi Lehmanski
120,000
16,000
16,000
Profile photo of Ian Hunter gb
Ian Hunter
119,800
-200
-200
Profile photo of Shaun Deeb us
Shaun Deeb
115,200
15,200
15,200
Team Lucky
WSOP 6X Winner

Read full

Simao Busts Pardo in Last Hands

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

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 {Q-}{4-} and Simao rivered a straight with {8-}{6-} on a {Q-}{5-}{4-}{7-}{9-} board.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Joao Simao br
Joao Simao
250,000
150,000
150,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Juan Pardo es
Juan Pardo
Busted

Tags: Dietrich FastJoao SimaoJuan Pardo

Yan Falls to Chadha

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

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: {q-Spades}{q-Clubs}
David Yan: {8-Clubs}{8-Spades}

The board came {k-Diamonds}{j-Hearts}{a-Clubs}{3-Diamonds}{9-Spades} and Yan was eliminated.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Carlos Chadha ca
Carlos Chadha
88,000
-32,000
-32,000
Profile photo of Liv Boeree gb
Liv Boeree
66,000
16,000
16,000
Profile photo of David Yan nz
David Yan
Busted
WSOP 2X Winner

Tags: Carlos ChadhaDavid YanLiv Boeree

Ho Loses to Pardo

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Maria Ho
Maria Ho

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 {Q-Spades}{10-Spades} on a board of {K-Spades}{10-Diamonds}{3-Spades}{8-Spades}{7-Spades}.

Ho was left with around 11,000 and those chips vanished soon after.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Juan Pardo es
Juan Pardo
90,000
40,000
40,000
Profile photo of Maria Ho us
Maria Ho
Busted
Profile photo of Ivaylo Sivinov bg
Ivaylo Sivinov
Busted

Tags: Juan PardoMaria Ho

Weissman Wins a BIG Flip Against Silver

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Max Silver
Max Silver

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: {Q-Diamonds}{Q-Hearts}
Max Silver: {A-Spades}{K-Hearts}

Silver kept shaking his head during the run out of the board {10-Hearts}{6-Hearts}{3-Clubs}{5-Clubs}{5-Hearts} 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
Profile photo of Joey Weissman us
Joey Weissman
270,000
150,000
150,000
WSOP 1X Winner
StakeKings
Profile photo of Max Silver gb
Max Silver
Busted
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Joey WeissmanMax Silver

Check-Raise Takes It

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

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 {9-Spades}{5-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}. Enselme checked. Kenney bet 3,000. Grafton called. Enselme check-raised to 11,700. Both of his opponents quickly folded.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Arnaud Enselme fr
Arnaud Enselme
86,000
68,000
68,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Bryn Kenney us
Bryn Kenney
46,000
18,000
18,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Sam Grafton gb
Sam Grafton
16,000
-104,000
-104,000

Tags: Sam GraftonBryn KenneyArnaud Enselme

Deeb and Palma with Verbal Fireworks

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

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
Profile photo of Nicholas Palma us
Nicholas Palma
120,000
10,000
10,000
Profile photo of Shaun Deeb us
Shaun Deeb
100,000
42,000
42,000
Team Lucky
WSOP 6X Winner
Profile photo of Scott Seiver us
Scott Seiver
90,000
60,000
60,000
WSOP 7X Winner
WPT 1X Winner

Tags: Nicholas PalmaScott SeiverShaun Deeb