$25,000 PokerStars NL Hold'em Players Championship Day 1 | 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

01-06-2019 20:59 UTC-4

Player	Chips	Progress
Kristen Bicknell	171,000	21,000
Gus Hansen	150,000	5,000
Eric Baldwin	121,300	61,300
James Rann	116,000
Isaac Haxton	103,000	15,000
Ole Schemion	97,200	44,400
Brian Rast	95,200	16,200
Toby Lewis	92,000	26,000
Chris Johnson	81,600	21,600
Mohsin Charania	79,000	24,000
Jeremy Ausmus	79,000	79,000
Jason Somerville	74,200	6,200
Joao Simao	56,100	9,100
Sam Greenwood	38,300	-17,200
Ryan Laplante	Busted

Hellmuth Enters The Tournament

Shirley Ang

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

Phil Hellmuth has just joined the field and has been seated at Table #16. Also seated at that table are familiar faces like Ivaylo Sivinov, Javier Zarco, and Matthew Wantman.

The table also has three Platinum Pass winners; John McCarthy, Christian Delacombaz, and Lionel Foulquier. And completing the seat draw are Alexander Venovski and Henry Strasser.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ivaylo Sivinov	140,000
Matthew Wantman	63,000
Phil Hellmuth	60,000
Javier Zarco	55,000	-25,000

Tags: Henry Strasser Ivaylo Sivinov Javier Zarco Matthew Wantman Phil Hellmuth Platinum Pass

01-06-2019 20:55 UTC-4

Simao Bet-Folds to Greenwood's Piling Raise

mnuwwarah

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

Joao Simao bet 7,000 from the big blind into about 11,000 on a completed board of . Sam Greenwood thought awhile and then put in what looked like 37,000, leaving 700 behind. Simao snap-folded.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Greenwood	55,500	-4,500
Joao Simao	47,000	9,000

Tags: Joao Simao Sam Greenwood

01-06-2019 20:53 UTC-4

Hansen Doubles Through Lodge

Christian Zetzsche

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

The cards of Harry Lodge were already in the muck and Gus Hansen, the first-ever PCA Main Event champion, had his still tabled. The Dane had hit top pair on a board of and doubled for more than the starting stack, while Lodge dropped to just under that.

Player	Chips	Progress
Gus Hansen	145,000	75,000
Harry Lodge	55,000	-82,000

Tags: Gus Hansen Harry Lodge

01-06-2019 20:49 UTC-4

Desilva Clashes With Andriamahefa

Christian Zetzsche

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

Kevin Andriamahefa raised in the cutoff and Upeshka Desilva three-bet the button to 5,300, which Andriamahefa called. The flop came and Andriamahefa check-called a bet of 4,200 before both players opted to check the turn. Andriamahefa then bet the river for 7,000 and Desilva folded after some consideration.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kevin Andriamahefa	108,000
Upeshka De Silva	35,000

Tags: Kevin Andriamahefa Upeshka Desilva

01-06-2019 20:44 UTC-4

Stewart Wins Some From Jattin

mnuwwarah

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

Farid Jattin bet 7,900 after neighbor Scott Stewart checked to him from early position on . Stewart called and the river was the . Both players checked and Jattin couldn't beat .

Player	Chips	Progress
Scott Stewart	145,000	45,000
Farid Jattin	106,000

Tags: Farid Jattin Scott Stewart

01-06-2019 20:43 UTC-4

Mid-Stakes Cash Game Vlogging to $25K High Roller: Andrew Neeme

Valerie.Cross

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

Andrew Neeme has quickly become a household name in poker, recently crossing the momentous 100,000 subscribers milestone on his YouTube channel after vlogging for just over two years. Now, the mid-stakes grinder vlogger extraordinaire and member of Team Run It Up finds himself in unfamiliar territory — playing in a $25,000 buy-in tournament.

Before the event, Neeme was getting dialed in.

“Feeling a big mix of excitement and nervousness," he told PokerNews. "I’m trying to not get too carried away because it’s Day 1 here and I expect today to go fairly slowly. It’s hard to not look too far ahead and just get too far ahead of yourself.”

While he's not a total stranger to bigger buy-in no-limit hold'em tournaments, having played the $10K WSOP Main Event, it's still a bit of a jump from his regular mid-stakes cash games.

“This is 2.5 times the biggest tournament I’ve ever played; normally I don’t play $25K events. Normally I play cash games and the occasional $1,500 and the [WSOP] Main Event is usually the biggest of the year for me.”

Vlogger Freeroll

Unlike many other mid-stakes players who had to dry fire the PSPC, Neeme was gifted one of the coveted $30K Platinum Passes from PokerStars after co-hosting the YouTube Vlogger in Paradise challenge with PokerStars Pro Jeff Gross. They gave out two passes to the winning vloggers, Oliver Biles and Matt Kiefer, and Stars rewarded the pros with an entry of their own.

“We got a bunch of people involved in the YouTube vlogging world, and we had an awesome turnout of people that made submissions all over the world. As a result for spreading the vlogger love, [PokerStars] gave me a pass as well, so here we are.”

In terms of preparing for the biggest tournament he's played, Neeme is mostly relying on his extensive live poker experience.

"I have so much live poker experience and I’m going to definitely bank on that to carry me through some of the way at least.”

“I got into the lab a little bit here and there but I’m trying not to cram my brain too full of new things," said Neeme. "I think it’s tough to expect to just unleash all these new tricks that you learned recently. I have so much live poker experience and I’m going to definitely bank on that to carry me through some of the way at least.”

When it comes to playing in events above your comfort level, most pros make a habit of selling pieces, and the PSPC is no exception, even if it's a freeroll.

Selling Action, Expectations

“I sold 20% on Stake Kings, I’m giving away 1% to each of the five finalists from the Vlogger in Paradise competition, and swapped an additional five percent; one percent pieces here and there.”

Neeme is prepared for the long tournament grind and expects an unprecedented mix of players.

“This is my first $25K so I expect there to be a really interesting mix of people in this event. We’re going to have a lot of people that have literally zero dollars on their Hendon Mob sitting next to people that have tens of millions of dollars on their Hendon Mob and I expect to just try to navigate my way through a table that looks like that, and hope for the best.”

So far it seems Neeme is following his game plan of taking it slow, hovering just under starting stack at the third break of the day. And his fans will surely be on the lookout a vlog or more on the experience.

Tags: Andrew Neeme Jeff Gross Oliver Biles Platinum Passes PokerStars Players Championship

01-06-2019 20:42 UTC-4

Updated Chip Counts

mnuwwarah

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Markus Durnegger	184,000	40,000
Blair Hinkle	178,000	85,500
Harry Lodge	137,000	22,000
Josh Kay	120,000
Justin Bonomo	98,000	33,500
Kelly Minkin	45,000	-5,000
Will Givens	41,000	-31,000
Maria Konnikova	40,000	-33,200
Matt Affleck	27,100	-14,900
Joe Serock	24,500	18,600
Chris Frank	14,300	-45,700

01-06-2019 20:39 UTC-4

Shakerchi Shoots to the Top

Shirley Ang

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

Julian Parm Ann raised to 1,800 from mid-position and was called by Talal Shakerchi in the cutoff. Eric Sfez was sitting in the big blind and decided to three-bet to 9,200 which both Parm Ann and Shakerchi called.

The flop came , Sfez bet 17,000 and Parm Ann quickly folded. Shakerchi made the call without much hesitation.

The turn brought them the , Sfez shoved for around 50,000 and Shakerchi snap-called.

Eric Sfez:
Talal Shakerchi:

Sfez held the overpair but Shakerchi had flopped a set. Only another jack could save Sfez but the on the river completed the board and meant the end of Sfez's tournament life.

Player	Chips	Progress
Talal Shakerchi	260,000	60,000
Eric Sfez	Busted

Tags: Eric Sfez Julian Parm Ann Talal Shakerchi

01-06-2019 20:32 UTC-4

Reilly Cracks Aces to Double

Christian Zetzsche

Level 7 : 400/800, 800 ante

On the turn, Tim Reilly ended up all in and at risk for 19,300 with the . Luigi Knoppers couldn't win the hand anymore with his as Reilly had flopped the nut straight and turned the winning nutflush, which made the river a formality.

Player	Chips	Progress
Tim Reilly	53,000	53,000
Luigi Knoppers	35,000	35,000

Tags: Luigi Knoppers Tim Reilly