2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

$10,000 Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info

2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aq
Prize
$1,859,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$9,573,900
Entries
987
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000

Hundreds Fall On Day 2 Including Phelps; Godoy Leads Final 166

Level 14 : 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
Nicolas Godoy
Nicolas Godoy

Day 2 of the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event brought together the surviving 500 players from both Day 1a and 1b today for five more levels of action-packed fun. After 7.5 hours of play, that field was whittled down to just 166. All of them are looking to make the money at the top 144, but the man best positioned to make it is chip leader Nicolas Godoy, who finished Day 2 with 724,200. He is followed by Darren Elias with 558,900 and Michael Mizrachi with 540,700.

Goboy got some of those chips in a hand he played against Day 1a chip leader Maxim Lobzhanidze. It happened when a player in early position opened to 4,000, Lobzhanidze three-bet to 11,000 in the cutoff seat, and Godoy four-bet to 23,000 from the big blind. The original raiser folded, Lobzhanidze five-bet to 41,000, Godoy six-bet to 65,000, and Lobzhanidze called. Both players checked the {q-Hearts}{9-Diamonds}{a-Clubs} flop as well as the {K-Diamonds} turn, and then Godoy led for 75,000 on {J-Clubs} river. Lobzhanidze called and Godoy tabled {a-Diamonds}{10-Diamonds} for a straight. Lobzhanidze, who finished the day with 121,300, flashed {j-Spades}{j-Hearts} before mucking.

Long before that hand took place, Day 2 action kicked off as the sun passed over the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island at 12:00 PM EST. The biggest stack in the room belonged to Ashton Griffin, who actually joined the PokerNews Podcast prior to the start of play, but he had a rough go of it as he watched his stack dwindle to 123,900. Fortunately he was still able to make it through the day.

Among the hundreds of players eliminated were the legendary Phil Ivey; the woman who electrified last year's PCA by making the final table, Xuan Liu; 13-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth; European Poker Tour Prague champ Ramzi Jelassi; online legend Chris Moorman; 2012 WSOP champion Greg Merson; last year's runner-up Kyle Julius; and the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps.

The participation of the 18-time gold medalist was a special addition to an already prestigious tournament, but all good things come to an end as Phelps found out in the last level of the night. It was there that Phelps fell at the hands of Eddy Sabat.

It happened when Sabat, who informed PokerNews of the hand, opened for 4,800 and received a call from Phelps. The rest of the field got out of the way and it was heads-up action to the {K-Spades}{Q-Diamonds}{5-Diamonds} flop. Sabat led for 6,200, Phelps called, and then the dealer burned and turned the {6-Clubs}. Sabat checked, Phelps took the opportunity to bet 8,000, and Sabat called. When the {J-Clubs} completed the board on the river, Sabat moved all in and Phelps called off his stack with {6-Spades}{6-Diamonds}. Unfortunately for him, Sabat flipped {A-Clubs}{10-Clubs} for Broadway and Phelps' PCA came to an end.

Likewise, Day 2 was unkind to Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Alex Kravchenko, Richard Toth, Andre Akkari, Ville Wahlbeck, Joao Nunes, Boris Becker, Christian de Leon, Luca Pagano, Nacho Barbero, Liv Boeree, Ivan Demidov, Victor Ramdin, Pierre Neuville and Christophe de Meulder.

While many fell, an impressive contingent of notables managed to survive and punch their ticket to Day 3. They include Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov, Jake Cody, and George Lind III, as well as pros Shannon Shorr, Dwyte Pilgrim, Paul Volpe, Matt Waxman, Shawn Buchanan, Scott Clements, Owen Crowe, Fabian Quoss, Ty Reiman, Greg Mueller, Yann Dion and Mohsin Charania.

Day 3 will kick off at 12:00 EST, so stay tuned to PokerNews as the march to the money begins at the 2013 PCA Main Event!

Tags: Nicolas Godoy

Phelps PCA Run Comes To An End

Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps

The PCA 2013 Main Event has a special feel to it, but that was made all the more special with the participation of the most-decorated Olympian of all time in Michael Phelps. Unfortunately, Phelps just fell at the hands of Eddy Sabat.

According to Sabat, he opened for 4,800 and received a call from Phelps. The rest of the field got out of the way and it was heads-up action to the {K-Spades}{Q-Diamonds}{5-Diamonds} flop. Sabat led for 6,200, Phelps called, and then the dealer burned and turned the {6-Clubs}.

This time Sabat checked and Phelps took the opportunity to bet 8,000. Sabat called and the {J-Clubs} completed the board on the river. Surprisingly Sabat moved all in and Phelps called off his stack with {6-Spades}{6-Diamonds}. Unfortunately for him, Sabat flipped {A-Clubs}{10-Clubs} for Broadway and Phelps' PCA came to an end.

Player Chips Progress
Eddy Sabat us
Eddy Sabat
295,000 113,000
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Busted

Tags: Eddy SabatMichael Phelps

An Orbit With an Olympian

Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps

It's not every day that one can say that they played a major buy-in poker tournament with the most decorated Olympian in history. Michael Phelps' seven tablemates, however, can now say that they hold that distinction. While Phelps is the biggest name at the table, he is most certainly not among amateurs. Also found on the felt of Table 23 were 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Jesse Sylvia, Eddy Sabat, Guillaume Rivet, Byron Kaverman, and Matt Salsberg who has accolades in poker as well as being a writer/producer for the television program Weeds. We followed Phelps and those at his table for an entire orbit to track the action that goes on first hand. The following are our findings:

Major Stacks at Orbit's Start

PlayerChips
Guillaume Rivet242,000
Jesse Sylvia92,000
Matt Salsberg80,000
Eddy Sabat112,000
Byron Kaverman160,000
Michael Phelps82,000

Hand 1: Rivet had the button. Action folded around to him and he popped it up to 4,000. Sylvia and Salsberg released their blinds and Rivet took down the pot.

Hand 2: Sylvia had the button. Cristinel Dumitru raised to 4,100 from middle position and the rest of the table folded.

Hand 3: Salsberg had the button. Rivet opened to 4,100 from the hijack and was called by Sylvia from the cutoff, Salsberg on the button, and Kaverman from the big blind.

The flop came {6-Spades}{2-Clubs}{10-Hearts} and there were two checks to Sylvia. The Octo-Niner bet 7,300 which prompted quick folds from Salsberg and Kaverman. Rivet slid out a check raise to 20,000 and after tanking for about a minute, Sylvia called.

Fourth street was the {3-Clubs} and Rivet continued with 11,400. Sylvia opted to lay it down and Rivet took the pot.

Hand 4: Sabat had the button. Matt Salsberg opened to 5,000 from the cutoff only to have Sabat three-bet to 11,200 from the button. Kaverman looked at his cards and four-bet to 24,300 from the small blind which caused Phelps and Salsberg both to release their hands. Sabat called to see a flop.

The dealer fanned {J-Hearts}{7-Spades}{6-Diamonds} and Kaverman came out swinging with 19,300. Sabat called and the {2-Spades} fell on fourth. Kaverman slowed down on this street and Sabat shot out 15,000. Kaverman released and Sabat took down the pot.

"Trying to bluff for the cameras," said Kaverman with a laugh.

"I can't show you," replied Sabat. "You're a good player.

"You can show me!" chimed in Phelps from across the table. "I'm not!"

Phelps comment was received with laughter by Sabat as he stacked his new chips.

Hand 5: Kaverman had the button. Action folded around to him and he made it 5,000 to go. Phelps peeked at his cards and cut out a three-bet to 10,400. Dumitru would not go away easily from the big blind, though, as he moved out a four-bet to 24,600. Kaverman wasted little time plopping in a large stack of blue t5,000 chips into the middle, a bet that had both Phelps and Dumitru covered.

Phelps eventually released his hand, accidentally flashing the {A-Hearts} in the process. Dumitru tank folded as well, showing {9-Diamonds}{9-Hearts}. Phelps looked upset at the hand and confirmed to Kaverman and Sabat that he folded {A-Hearts}{K-Hearts}.

Hand 6: Phelps had the button. Rivet raised from early position to 4,100 only to have Patrick Devlin three-bet to 6,200 from the big blind. Rivet called and saw a flop of {10-Clubs}[2c}{6-Spades}. Devlin fired a c-bet of an unknown amount and Rivet released.

Hand 7: Dumitru had the button. Matt Salsberg opened the action with an early position raise to 4,500. Kevlin called and the duo looked at {10-Spades}{2-Clubs}{7-Spades}. Devlin bet 8,000 only to have Salsberg come over the top for 16,000. Devlin flat called and the {8-Spades} turned.

Devlin checked and Salsberg moved out 15,000. A call allowed the {6-Spades} to complete the board and both players checked. Devlin tabled {9-Diamonds}{9-Hearts} for a straight. A shaken Salsberg showed a {10-} for top pair but could not beat Devlin's straight.

Hand 8: Devlin had the button. Kaverman opened to 4,100 and the table folded.

So there you have it: One orbit around quite the stacked table. Kaverman seemed to be the action player of the table, especially during his bullying of Phelps and Dumitru in Hand 5. Phelps, on the other hand, seems to be nursing his stack and picking his spots wisely - as shown by when he admitted to folding {A-Hearts}{k-Hearts} against Kaverman.

Be sure to stay tuned here at PokerNews as we provide the latest updates as the action continues through this table and the rest of the room.

Player Chips Progress
Guillaume Rivet
Guillaume Rivet
268,000 68,000
Eddy Sabat us
Eddy Sabat
182,000 50,000
Byron Kaverman us
Byron Kaverman
WSOP 1X Winner
164,000 164,000
Patrick Devlin
Patrick Devlin
115,000 90,200
Cristinel Dumitru ro
Cristinel Dumitru
85,000 5,800
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
71,000 -62,000
Jesse Sylvia us
Jesse Sylvia
WPT 1X Winner
68,000 68,000
Matt Salsberg ca
Matt Salsberg
26,000 -39,500

Tags: Byron KavermanEddy SabatJesse SylviaMatt SalsbergMichael Phelps

Lobzhanidze Busts Merson

Greg Merson - Eliminated
Greg Merson - Eliminated

Day 1a chip leader Maxim Lobzhanidze has just busted 2012 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Merson. He explained the hand to us via a translation from his brother Andrey Lobzhanidze, who Merson happened to have busted earlier in the day.

According to Lobzhanidze, the chips got into the middle with the board reading {A-}{10-}{4-}{6-} with two spades. Merson was ahead with {A-}{K-} against Lobzhanidze's {Q-Spades}{J-Spades}, but the {2-Spades} river made Lobzhanidze a flush to end Merson's PCA Main Event.

Player Chips Progress
Maxim Lobzhanidze
Maxim Lobzhanidze
425,000 195,000
Greg Merson us
Greg Merson
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 2X Winner
Busted
Andrey Lobzhanidze ru
Andrey Lobzhanidze
Busted

Tags: Andrey LobzhanidzeGreg MersonMaxim Lobzhanidze

Becker & Bazeley Bust But Busquet Burgeoning

Boris Becker
Boris Becker

We noticed that Boris Becker was no longer with us and headed over to Table 18 to find out what happened. According to Olivier Busquet, a player in late position opened with a raise only to have Becker move all in for approximately 7,500 with {J-Hearts}{10-Hearts}. His opponent called with the lowly {6-Hearts}{3-Hearts} and ended up taking the lead on the {3-}{K-}{8-} flop, which contained one heart. Becker picked up a flush draw on the {5-Hearts} turn, but missed it as the river blanked.

Meanwhile, Busquet ended up picking up a big pot to eliminate Jacob Bazeley while we were nearby. A preflop raising war resulted in all the chips getting into the pot with the latter being all in for right around 80,000 with {10-Hearts}{10-Spades}. He was racing against the {A-Clubs}{K-Diamonds} of Busquet, but not after the flop fell {A-Diamonds}{7-Clubs}{K-Spades}. Busquet hit it hard by making two pair, and Bazeley was up out of his seat in preparation for a quick exit.

The {9-Hearts} turn brought him one step closer to the door, while the {8-Spades} river sent him out it. "Good luck, guys," Bazeley offered before taking his leave.

Player Chips Progress
Olivier Busquet us
Olivier Busquet
WPT 1X Winner
217,000 84,000
Boris Becker de
Boris Becker
Busted
Jacob Bazeley us
Jacob Bazeley
Busted

Tags: Boris BeckerJacob BazeleyOlivier Busquet

You Think You're A Funny Guy, Eh?

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 100 ante
Boris Becker being interviewed by Gerry Dee.
Boris Becker being interviewed by Gerry Dee.

Over at Table 1 Seat 4 is a man named Gerard Donoghue. That may not sounds familiar to the masses, but his alias of Gerry Dee might. Today he's a poker player, but by night he's a successful stand-up comedian from Canada who has appeared on the popular TV show Last Comic Standing.

Born on December 31, 1968 in Scarborough, Ontario, Dee was a physical education teacher and hockey coach at De La Salle College. Since moving into the realm of comedy, where he uses his past experiences as material, Dee has had a comedy special on The Comedy Network in Canada, performed at the Montreal Just for Laughs International Comedy Festival, appeared in television commercials and has graced the stage at prominent comedy clubs such as Just For Laughs and Yuk Yuks.

Even with an impressive comedy résumé, Dee is perhaps best known for finishing in third place on the fifth season of Last Comic Standing, where he missed the birth of his daughter while appearing on the show.

In January 2012, Dee premiered his sitcom, Mr. D, on CBC Television. Dee's comedy success inspired PokerStars.net to reach a sponsorship agreement with the comedian in which he agreed to appear in TV commercials and at live poker tournaments. In exchange, PokerStars.net and the site has signed on as the title sponsor of the Gerry Dee Comedy Tour.

"I'm better at math and statistics than the teacher you see on TV, so I'm not a bad poker player," Dee said in a PokerStars Press Release. "I'm no pro but I've always been a bit of a poker buff. I really admire the skill it takes to compete at the top level. I'm excited about this partnership and am looking forward to improving my game!"

Dee is attending the PCA and filming his experience in the Bahamas for a TV special.

"I've played poker with quite a few actors over the years and many are surprisingly good players," said Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu in the press release. "It will be interesting to see how Gerry does at the PCA. I'm happy to have him join the contingent of Canadian players representing PokerStars, but I think he'll need a bit of beginner's luck in the Bahamas!"

Tags: Gerry Dee

Griffin Leads Final 500 Into Day 2!

Ashton Griffin
Ashton Griffin

Day 2 of the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event is about to begin at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Between the two starting flights, the tournament attracted 987 entries—500 of which will be in action today.

The field was saturated with pros, so it’s no surprise to see a well-known pro leading the pack. Ashton Griffin emerged as the Day 1b chip leader with 253,700, which is slightly ahead the 248,900 of Day 1a chip leader Maxim Lobzhanidze, who begins today second in chips. Nipping on both their heels is the ever-dangerous Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who has the third biggest stack with 216,900.

Other notables who will be returning with decent stacks are Darren Elias (191,000), Paul Volpe (186,200), Greg Mueller (181,100), Ravi Raghavan (132,500), Shawn Buchanan (129,000), Olivier Busquet (128,600), Steve O’Dwyer (125,700), Joe Serock (124,900) and 18-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps (92,000).

Joining them are Team PokerStars Pros Christophe de Meulder (117,300), Tatiana Barausova (99,990), Jake Cody (84,400), Jose “Nacho” Barbero (79,600), Victor Ramdin (78,500), Angel Guillen (65,800), Andre Akkari (58,300), George Danzer (57,900), Luca Pagano (49,100), Richard Toth (48,200), Ville Wahlbeck (46,300) and Fatima Moreira de Melo (44,600), just to name a few.

The plan is to play six 90-minute levels with a 15-minute break after each. Throw in a dinner break after Level 13, and we’ll bag and tag at approximately 11:15 PM EST. We expect the field to whittled itself down drastically during that time. The question is—who will thrive and who’ll fail to survive.

Day 2 will kick off at 12:00 EST, so stay tuned to PokerNews throughout the rest of the day as we provide you with the latest coverage from the Main Event!

Tags: Ashton Griffin