Oh Yes, It's PCA Time!
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In 2004, PokerStars and the World Poker Tour took to the high seas on board Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas. The $7,500 tournament afloat drew a population of 221 players looking to satisfy their cold-weather poker bug. Gus Hansen bested all who came against him that week to claim a WPT title and launch the Caribbean Adventure into instant respectability.
The event moved indoors to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island the following year, and it’s been right here ever since. Live cash games were added in 2005, and John Gale became the second PCA champion that January. If you’re familiar with Battleship Poker (heads-up online matches where the players sit face-to-face), that is an invention of the third PCA in 2006. Steve Paul-Ambrose won the Main Event that year, and he would be followed by Ryan Daut in 2007. The WPT branding was dropped the following year in favor of PokerStars own EPT logos, and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier won the 2008 edition of the PCA. Last year, a record 1,347 players turned up for the event, and Poorya Nazari emerged as the champion. The buy-in was raised to $9,700, and Nazari collected an impressive $3,000,000 in loot.
Fast forward one year, and you’ll find us once again in the luxurious confines of the Atlantis Grand Ballroom. And once again, all signs point to a record-breaking PCA. This year’s schedule will see fifty events crammed into eleven days; that’s like condensing the seven weeks of the WSOP into less than two. There is a soft cap at 1,600 players for the Main Event, and despite the buy-in being increased to $10,300, the staff is optimistic of breaching that cap number.
The Day 1a flight is set to roll at high noon local time, just about a half hour from now. Players are just beginning to make their way back from breakfast and beach, and somewhere around 700 of them will begin to file into the room shortly.
Sit tight, we'll be right back with the shuffle up and deal!
. Smith led out with a bet of 750, and his opponent raised it up to 2,250. Smith paused and called, and both men would check the 
on the turn. The 
filled out the board, and Smith fired 3,800 more chips. Without too much hesitation, his opponent folded.
, an opponent led out with a 3,000 bet and Brent Roberts kicked it up to 8,000 holding 
. 
, a player fired out 650 into Justin "BoostedJ" Smith. Smith then raised to 2,350. His opponent wasted little time in reraising to 6,650. Smith tanked, but let his hand go after a few minutes. He's down to around 23,000.
. Filippi took some time and then fired out a hefty bet of 5,200. His opponent counted his chips before tossing in the call. Filippi tabled 
having made a flush after flopping top set. He scooped in the pot and moved to around 42,000.