2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

$25,000 High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info

2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aq
Prize
$1,424,420
Event Info
Buy-in
$25,000
Prize Pool
$4,998,000
Entries
204
Level Info
Level
26
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
10,000

$25,000 High Roller

Day 1 Completed

Day 1 Draws Nearly 200 Entries; Troyanovskiy Leads Final 80

Level 11 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
Vladimir Troyanovskiy

The 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller kicked off on Saturday as pros from around the world packed the tournament room. While registration is open until the start of Day 2, the current number of entries stands at 198, well above last year’s field of 148. After 11 levels of play, Vladimir Troyanovskiy emerged as the chip leader with a stack of 349,000.

Troyanovskiy steadily chipped up throughout the day, and won some notable pots along the way. In the first, which occurred midway through the day, there was 13,100 in the pot on a board reading {7-Clubs}{6-Hearts}{5-Clubs}{4-Clubs}. Team PokerStars Pro Ville Wahlbeck bet 10,000 only to have Troyanovskiy move all in. Wahlbeck thought long and hard before calling off with {8-Hearts}{7-Spades}, and he was ahead of Troyanovskiy, who was drawing with the {A-Clubs}{10-Diamonds}. The {8-Clubs} ended up spiking on the river to give Troyanovskiy the flush and the win.

Speaking of flushes, it wouldn’t be Troyanovskiy’s last. In Level 10, with blinds at 800/1,600 and a 200 ante, there was 280,000 in the pot and a flop of {4-Clubs}{k-Clubs}{3-Spades}. An unknown player was all in and at risk with {k-Diamonds}{4-Spades} and Troyanovskiy, who recently final tabled the $100,000 Super High Roller, had him at risk with {j-Clubs}{9-Clubs}. The {6-Spades} on the turn was a brick, but the {7-Clubs} spiked on the river to flush him again. The unknown player slammed the table angrily, then exited. That gave the Russian nearly 350,000 in chips.

Unfortunately not everyone was as fortunate as Troyanovskiy. The $25,000 featured one optional reentry, and numerous pros took advantage. Unfortunately for many of them, it didn’t help. Steve O’Dwyer, Faraz Jaka, Antonio Esfandiari, David Peters, Igor Kurganov, Joseph Cheong, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Eugene Katchalov and Jonathan Jaffe.

Jaffe mixed it up early in a big hand against Brian Lemke. It happened just 20 minutes into the day with the blinds at 100/200 with a 25 ante. Somehow the two managed to get the chips in preflop with Lemke holding {A-Clubs}{A-Spades} and Jaffe {J-Clubs}{8-Spades}. The {A-Hearts}{J-Spades}{K-Hearts} flop gave Lemke hit a set, and the {6-Spades} turn left Jaffe drawing dead. The meaningless {5-Clubs} was put out on the river for good measure, and Lemke raked in the pot. Meanwhile, Jaffe was eliminated a few hands later for the first time, though it obviously wasn’t the last.

A couple other double buy-in casualties included recent PCA $100,000 Super High Roller champ Scott Seiver and PCA $25,000 High Roller star Will Molson, who finished runner-up two years in a row and then won it in the third. They were joined on the rail by a laundry list of players who bought in just once, meaning they could fire a second bullet at the start of Day 2 if they so choose. They include Chris Moorman, Will Failla, Larry Ormson, Matt Salsberg, Humberto Brenes, Huck Seed and Nacho Barbero, just to name a few.

One player we do know will be making an appearance on Day 2 is 13-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth who tweeted the following:

On the flip side, a few players reentered and made the most of their second chance including David "Doc" Sands, Matt Glantz, Brandon Stevens, Ryan Julius and Jonathan Duhamel.

Duhamel took second in the $25,000 High Roller last year for $634,550, but things weren’t looking good for a repeat as the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event fell early. It happened in Level 8 with the blinds at 500/1,000 and a 100 ante when Duhamel found himself all in for 54,300 holding {A-Hearts}{10-Diamonds} and behind the {A-Clubs}{J-Diamonds} of Fabian Quoss. The {A-Diamonds}{8-Spades}{5-Spades} flop pair both, but Quoss' jack kicker kept him out in front. Neither the {6-Clubs} turn nor {Q-Diamonds} river helped Duhamel, and he was left to reenter. He went on to finish the night with 109,600.

Some other players who’ll be returning to action on Day 2 are Mike Watson, Shaun Deeb, Jason Koon, Jason Somerville, Chris Klodnicki, Erik Seidel, Mohsin Charania, Marvin Rettenmaier, Jeff Gross and the defending champion, Alex Bilokur. They’ll be joined by Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst and Isaac Haxton.

The $25,000 High Roller is scheduled to recommence at 13:00 p.m. EST on Sunday. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as they bring you all the action from the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

Tags: Vladimir Troyanovskiy

A Few End-of-Day Counts

Player Chips Progress
Vladimir Troyanovskiy ru
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
349,000 -22,000
Mike Watson ca
Mike Watson
WPT 1X Winner
EPT 2X Winner
282,500 14,500
Shawn Buchanan ca
Shawn Buchanan
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
240,000 73,000
Joey Weissman us
Joey Weissman
WSOP 1X Winner
237,200 -2,800
Shaun Deeb us
Shaun Deeb
WSOP 6X Winner
213,900 -28,100
Chris Hunichen us
Chris Hunichen
210,000 3,000
Jason Koon us
Jason Koon
204,000 -6,000
Nick Schulman us
Nick Schulman
WSOP 4X Winner
WPT 2X Winner
203,700 56,700
Matt Stout us
Matt Stout
198,000 -17,000
Vanessa Selbst us
Vanessa Selbst
186,300 119,300
Justin Bonomo us
Justin Bonomo
WSOP 3X Winner
160,700 20,700
Chris Klodnicki us
Chris Klodnicki
WSOP 2X Winner
157,700 -9,300
Isaac Haxton us
Isaac Haxton
151,300 11,300
Anthony Gregg us
Anthony Gregg
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
149,100 -20,900
Daniel Negreanu ca
Daniel Negreanu
119,300 -15,700
Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
96,000 -6,000

Play Done for the Night

Level 11 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

Play has wrapped up for the night on all tables, and the players are bagging up their chips. A day's recap will be posted shortly. Stay tuned.

Sands Doubles

Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier raised to 4,000 from middle position, and Anthony Gregg called in the cutoff seat. David "Doc" Sands reraised all in from the small blind for 20,200, and Erik Seidel called from the big blind. Mercier and Gregg both folded.

Sands held the {A-Clubs}{9-Clubs} and was dominated against the {A-Spades}{Q-Spades} for Seidel. After the board ran out {K-Hearts}{4-Clubs}{3-Diamonds}{Q-Clubs}{8-Clubs}, Sands made a flush to double up.

Player Chips Progress
Anthony Gregg us
Anthony Gregg
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
170,000 15,000
Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
102,000 -8,000
Erik Seidel us
Erik Seidel
WSOP 10X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
WPT 1X Winner
87,000 -53,000
David Sands us
David Sands
50,000

Tags: David "Doc" SandsDavid SandsErik SeidelAnthony GreggJason Mercier

Three More Hands

Level 11 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

The tournament staff has announced that each table will play three more hands before bagging and tagging for the night.

Haxton Doubles Through Defending Champ

Isaac Haxton opened for a raise in middle position, and Alex Bilokur, who won this event last year, three-bet to 11,100 from the small blind. Haxton called.

The flop fell {j-Clubs}{k-Diamonds}{10-Hearts}, and Bilokur checked. Haxton tossed out 15,500, and Bilokur pushed out all of his blue chips, check-raising to what looked like 80,000. Haxton announced all in, and Bilokur called.

Bilokur: {a-Clubs}{k-Hearts}
Haxton: {a-Spades}{a-Diamonds}

The turn and river came {j-Hearts}, {6-Hearts} respectively, and Haxton doubled to 140,000 chips. Bilokur is down to 31,100.

Player Chips Progress
Isaac Haxton us
Isaac Haxton
140,000 53,000
Alex Bilokur ru
Alex Bilokur
WSOP 1X Winner
31,100 10,100

Tags: Alex BilokurIsaac Haxton

Glantz Firing Away

Matt Glantz
Matt Glantz

Nick Grippo check-called a bet of 6,500 on the {Q-Clubs}{3-Diamonds}{2-Diamonds} flop from Matt Glantz before seeing the {K-Hearts} land on the turn. Grippo checked again, and Glantz bet 14,000. Grippo called.

After the {J-Spades} landed on the river to finish out the board, Grippo checked a third time. Glantz fired 21,500, and Grippo mucked his hand.

Player Chips Progress
Matt Glantz us
Matt Glantz
96,000 46,000
Nick Grippo us
Nick Grippo
56,000

Tags: Matt GlantzNick Grippo