2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

Alex Millar raced out ahead of the field early on during Day 1a of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $10,300 Main Event and nobody was able to catch him after the eight levels of play wrapped up for the night. The British heads-up cash-game specialist known as "Kanu7" online finished with 169,100, good for a solid lead over the second-place stack of 145,200, held by another well-known online cash player, Dani "Ansky" Stern.

Millar and Stern led 139 survivors out of 220 registered players. Andrew Whitaker (108,700), Naoya Kihara (108,100), Jason Helder (99,500), Scott Seiver (86,500), Tony Gregg (84,800), Ankush Mandavia (80,000), Ole Schemion (74,300), Chris Moneymaker (65,000), Marco Johnson (54,000), Shannon Shorr (49,100), defending champ Dominik Panka (42,200), Daniel Colman (40,500), Vanessa Selbst (39,300), George Danzer (37,500), and Isaac Haxton (26,500) were also among those advancing to Saturday's Day 2.

Millar had the chip lead as early as Level 4 (100/200/25) when he was noted with about 65,000. He ran it up in part by torturing Sergey Pronin, first allowing Pronin to bet all three streets on a board with the only for Millar to show the . Then, during Level 7 (250/500/50), Millar fired 9,000 into a pot of about 11,000 on the end when Pronin checked to him on the board. Pronin called but couldn't beat his opponent's .

Stern grabbed an early double against Antonio Buonanno when Buonanno bet 2,500 from the small blind and saw Stern shove all in for 10,300 on the button. The board read , and Buonanno thought for a couple of minutes, counting out his stack. He appeared to have about 31,000 behind the bet, and he softly announced a call.

Stern tabled the for a flush on the river, and Buonanno let out a frustrated sigh before counting out the requisite chips to pay Stern, who kept climbing from there and was the only one who really threatened to take over the chip lead from Millar.

Some players who failed to bag stacks included Jeff Madsen, Jean-Robert Bellande, Hans Winzeler, Brian Yoon, Michael Mizrachi, Fabian Ortiz, Emil Patel, Cliff Josephy, and Keven Stammen.

The PCA Main Event will resume at noon local time on Friday, when cards will fly for Day 1b. PokerNews will once again be providing live coverage, so be sure to return to follow all the live action straight from the tournament floor.

While you wait, check out this fun-filled video with Remko Rinkema trying out some local Bahamian rum at the John Watling's distillery:

Zachary Gruneberg bet 2,250 from the button on a board of , and Naoya Kihara raised it to 7,800 from the big blind. Gruneberg called, and Kihara put him to the test for his last 22,000 or so on the river. Gruneberg shook his head and thought for about a minute before flicking the dealer his cards.

The tournament staff has announced that they will be dealing three more hands before play concludes for the night.

We didn't catch the hands but the seat formerly occupied by Jean-Robert Bellande has been filled by another player and Jeff Madsen just made a hurried exit from the table as the player to his immediate left stacked the rest of his chips.

We got to the table with approximately 7,000 already in the pot and the dealer putting out a flop of . Vanessa Selbst checked to Aaron Jones who tossed out a blue T5,000 chip while announcing a bet of 3,300. Selbst called.

The turn was the and both players checked leading to the on the river. Selbst checked a third time and Jones repeated his flop action by tossing out a blue chip while announcing a 3,300 bet.

"How much?" asked Selbst. The dealer told her the amount and she thought for nearly a minute before deciding to fold.

Jason Helder raised it up on the button and then called the shove of Hans Winzeler, who had about 11,000 in the small blind.

Helder:
Winzeler:

The flop gave Helder a big lead with nines, and he held it as the and hit the last two streets.

"Good call," Winzeler said before leaving.

We found Dani Stern with a three-bet of 4,600 in front of him in the big blind, and Gaelle Baumann made it 10,500 to go from under the gun. A third player mucked, and Stern announced all in. Baumann wasted no time sending her cards to the dealer, preserving her last 24,000 or so.

With the board showing , Antonio Da Silva checked to Scott Seiver who smiled and loudly said "I check."

The dealer put out the on the river and Da Silva deferred to Seiver who grabbed some chips and said "can I bet this much?" He grabbed a few more.

"This much?"

Da Silva let out a small laugh. "You're funny," he said.

Seiver took that as an invitation to make a bet and put out 2,500 which was instantly called by Da Silva. Seiver proudly turned over his hand, , knowing he had lost the pot. He had, as Da Silva had been ahead the entire time with his and hit a five-high straight on the river.

"Nice poker," acknowledged Seiver to his opponent. Despite the small hit, Seiver is still looking good with a stack of 73,500 as the tournament nears the end of play for the day.