2018 Caribbean Poker Party

It was a quiet opening day at the 2018 Caribbean Poker Party that saw only one event on the schedule. That event happened to be the $25,500 MILLIONS World that boasts a $10 million guaranteed prizepool and attracted some of the biggest names in poker.

A day in which 77 players took to the felt, Chance Kornuth came out on top of the 49 players remaining after winding up with 3,840,000 chips. Kornuth tangled with Fedor Holz multiple times on the day and found himself on the winning side for many of the big pots. Their stacked table was moved to the live stream for the last two levels where Kornuth continued to accumulate chips.

Kornuth has been a force to be reckoned with in the live poker scene, amassing nearly $6 million in career tournament earnings. His largest career cash was for $641,000 but he will be looking to change that this week with all of the money up for grabs. Kornuth has also taken the online world as of late, and he has been giving his fans an insight into his style of play. The American has been streaming his online poker sessions on the ever-popular Twitch site and he's been racking up the results there, so it is no wonder he is finding success on the felt at the CPP as well.

The day began a few minutes late as most high roller tournaments do, but the action soon got under way with around 20 players taking their seats. Each player started with 1,000,000 in chips which translated to 200 big blinds in the opening level. It was standard to not see many chips flying around in the first couple of levels but it was partypoker pro Isaac Haxton who took the early lead heading into the first break.

Haxton lost a big pot with pocket kings against ace-king and pocket queens but still managed to coast through most of the day to bag up 3,660,000 chips, good enough for second on the leaderboard. Andreas Eiler also had a strong day picking up the majority of his chips with pocket aces against the pocket nines of Matthias Eibinger. Eiler finished the day with 3,645,000 chips which was good enough to round out the top three.

It should be considered a successful day for the partypoker team on the felt as eight of their members found a bag to move on to Day 2. Haxton led the way followed by Jason Koon (2,695,000), Joao Simao (2,275,000), Barny Boatman (2,075,000), Anatoly Filatov (1,650,000), Kristen Bicknell (1,570,000), Philipp Gruissem (1,130,000) and Fedor Holz (680,000).

Some of those that will be forced to try their luck again on Day 1B will be Martin Jacobson, Seth Davies, Brian Hastings and the Greenwood brothers as they were all eliminated on Day 1A.

The action will continue Saturday at 12 p.m. local time with Day 1B that should be just as exciting with an even bigger field. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on site again to bring you overall tournament coverage of the events going on.

The action folded to Andreas Eiler who raised it up on the button. Matthias Eibinger just called in the big blind and the flop fell . Eibinger checked to Eiler who checked it back to see the on the turn.

Eibinger led out for 104,000 and Eiler called. The river brought the and Eibinger fired in another bet of 312,000. Eiler thought for a minute and then made the call. Eibinger turned over but Eiler tabled for the superior pair and dragged in the pot.

With that pot, Eiler has moved his way into the chip lead with over 3,500,000 chips as play is about to wrap up on Day 1A. There were also a couple of late entries that saw Bryn Kenney and Brian Green join in the last level.

While the last couple of levels of the $25,500 MILLIONS World Day 1a are being contested, there's a much more relaxed atmosphere going on about a football field away. The opening party commenced at 7 p.m. local time and around 100 partygoers are enjoying food, drinks, music and a lovely night in The Bahamas.

There are certainly enough accomplished poker players out there that Day 1b should be a well-contested event. Legends of the game like Antanas "Tony G" Guoga are out there, joined by partypoker Ambassadors Mike Sexton, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Marcel Luske. Plus, of course, there are tons of the best players in the world, crushers like Adrian Mateos and Kenny Hallaert.

Sexton briefly took the microphone to welcome everyone and wish them good fortune over the coming days.

"Obviously, there's money to be made by somebody," he said. "Good luck everybody. Thank you for being here. We appreciate your support, and good luck."

After a raise on the button by Isaac Haxton, Brian Hastings shoved about 250,000 in the small blind. Steve O'Dwyer put him at risk from the big blind with and Hastings needed help with . It was the opposite of help arriving as the board ran out .

Thirty minutes remain in Level 8.

The field has been reduced to just 54 players with the latest elimination of Martin Jacobson, Seth Davies, and the Greenwood brothers, Sam and Luc. It appears as though most players will wait and take their chances again tomorrow on Day 1B instead of re-entering today as the entries have stayed still at 75 in total.

Some of the partypoker pros to keep an eye on heading into the last level of the night are Barny Boatman, Jason Koon, Kristen Bicknell, and Philipp Gruissem who have all been rising to the top of the leaderboard. Fedor Holz has been moved to the feature table on the live stream and has fallen to just 555,000 chips.

On a board reading , Jonathan Little was heads-up in a pot with Luc Greenwood. Little checked from middle position and Greenwood bet 150,000 on the button. Little just called and the completed the board.

Little checked again and Greenwood splashed in a bet of 300,000. Little quickly called and Greenwood tabled for a pair of jacks. Little, however, turned over for an overpair to the board and scooped the pot.

The field size has stabled with just 75 entries heading into the last 90-minutes of play. There are currently 57 players remaining and those who are lucky enough to make it to the end of level eight will bag up and return for Day 2. The first satellite of the day has almost concluded with 130 total entries, making 13 seats up for grabs. With just 15 players remaining in that one, those 13 seats have nearly been claimed.