$5,000 Main Event
Day 6 Started
2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas
$5,000 Main Event
Day: 6
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas
Buy-in
$5,000
Prize Pool
$3,376,712
Entries
738
Level
31
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000
Seat 6: Michael Gentili, 24, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Michael Gentili is a 24-year-old professional poker player from Windsor, Ontario. His breakthrough result came this past summer at the WSOP, where he finished as the runner-up in a $5,000 event for nearly a half-million dollars. He’s also the owner of a WSOP Circuit ring, having won a C$365 event in his home country a few months prior. In total, Gentili has one live victory and close to $700,000 in career earnings, and he’s put himself in a good position to increase both of those numbers this week in The Bahamas.
Gentili's Main Event run:
| Start of Day | Chips | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | 40,200 | 216 / 361 |
| Day 3 | 190,000 | 44 / 125 |
| Day 4 | 688,000 | 18 / 32 |
| Day 5 | 3,708,000 | 1 / 16 |
| Day 6 | 6,175,000 | 1 / 6 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
6,175,000 |
Seat 5: Cliff Josephy, 51, Syosset, New York, USA
More commonly referred to by his online screen name, “JohnnyBax” is a 51-year-old pro who’s perhaps best known for being one of the original heroes of online poker, reaching PocketFives’ worldwide #1 ranking in 2005. His live record received a big boost this past summer, too, when he charged though the massive WSOP Main Event field and punched his ticket to November’s final table. Josephy went on to finish in third place, earning a career-best score of nearly $3.5 million. He has just over $10 million in combined live and online earnings, and he’ll be formidable force to contend with at the final table.
Josephy's Main Event run:
| Start of Day | Chips | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | 81,100 | 94 / 361 |
| Day 3 | 242,500 | 30 / 125 |
| Day 4 | 579,000 | 20 / 32 |
| Day 5 | 1,331,000 | 6 / 16 |
| Day 6 | 1,240,000 | 6 / 6 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,240,000 |
Seat 4: Aleksei Opalikhin, 28, St. Petersburg, Russia
Russian player Aleksei Opalikhin has made it to the first ever PokerStars Championship Main Event final table despite not even planning to compete in the tournament, initially. The 28-year-old from St. Petersburg used to play billiards on a competitive level, and he considers poker to be a similar discipline — mainly in regards to the psychological demands, such as concentration and patience. Opalikhin decided to travel, and chose The Bahamas as the first stop of his tour of Latin America. He intended to grind some of the smaller-buy-in events here at the Atlantis Resort, but ended up wining a seat to the Main Event in a $650 satellite.
Opalikhin's Main Event run:
| Start of Day | Chip Count | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | 88,400 | 69 / 361 |
| Day 3 | 387,500 | 8 / 125 |
| Day 4 | 478,000 | 21 / 32 |
| Day 5 | 2,084,000 | 2 / 16 |
| Day 6 | 4,590,000 | 3 / 6 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
4,590,000 |
Seat 3: Rasmus Glæsel, 33, born Copenhagen, lives in Oslo, Norway
Rasmus Glæsel hails from Copenhagen, but has been living in Oslo for 22 years. The 33-year-old former investment banker is a relative unknown on the live scene but has been regularly playing both tournaments and cash games online for several years. Glæsel just recently decided to start traveling around the live circuit, and he chose The Bahamas as his first stop. On his way here, he stopped in Cuba for five days and will return there with a little extra spending money once this PokerStars Championship is complete. "We arrived with a bunch of Norwegian friends,” he said. “There was seven of us playing the Main Event, and four of us cashed.” Rasmus' girlfriend, Ana, is supporting him from the rail.
| Start of Day | Chip Count | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | 88,000 | 70 / 361 |
| Day 3 | 322,000 | 12 / 125 |
| Day 4 | 1,029,000 | 4 / 32 |
| Day 5 | 1,319,000 | 7 / 16 |
| Day 6 | 1,560,000 | 5 / 6 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,560,000 |
Seat 2: Christian Harder, 29, Annapolis, Maryland, USA
Christian Harder is 29-year-old professional poker player from Annapolis, Maryland. As is the case for several others at the final table, his live and online results are both impressive, rivaling each other in magnitude. Playing under his screenname “charder30”, Harder has racked up more than $3.2 million in online winnings, and he’s added more than $3.7 million in live tournaments to bring his total career earnings to more than $7 million combined. He’s part of a young and talented Maryland poker community, ranking fourth on the state’s all-time money list behind his close friends Tony Gregg and Greg Merson.
Harder's Main Event run:
| Start of Day | Chip Count | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | 46,000 | 191 / 361 |
| Day 3 | 232,000 | 31 / 125 |
| Day 4 | 856,000 | 8 / 32 |
| Day 5 | 1,305,000 | 8 / 16 |
| Day 6 | 5,985,000 | 2 / 6 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
5,985,000 |
Seat 1: Michael Vela, 50, Newburgh, New York, USA
New York’s Michael "MVP" Vela has been playing poker for more than a decade. He's earned nearly $2 million in live tournaments, with the vast majority of that coming from his big win in the 2007 WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. On his way to that $1,704,986 payday, Vela outlasted a tough final table that included former WPT champs Nick Schulman and Nenad Medic, as well as a 21-year-old Tom Dwan, a nosebleed superstar in the making at the time. Vela, who's now 50 years old, has been active on the felt since then, but so far hasn't come close to repeating that breakthrough success. He’s doing his part to prove that his skills are still up to par here in The Bahamas, mounting an impressive run to this finale.
Vela's Main Event run:
| Start of Day | Chip Count | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | 65,100 | 129 / 361 |
| Day 3 | 440,500 | 3 / 125 |
| Day 4 | 676,000 | 13 / 32 |
| Day 5 | 1,811,000 | 4 / 16 |
| Day 6 | 1,560,000 | 4 / 6 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,560,000 | -195,000 |
The Final Day is About to Begin!
The PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event is down to the final six players and will kick off in a couple of hours.
Although the start time is Noon, it is important to note that the live stream will kick in at 1:00PM, meaning the live updates on PokerNews will begin then as well to avoid any spoilers and protect the integrity of the game.
After a long week of poker, Canada's Mike Gentili leads the remaining six players in their quest for the title and first place prize of $480,012. Everyone is guaranteed a six-figure payday of $103,780. Cliff Josephy is coming in as the short stack with Rasmus Glæsel not too far ahead of him. Here is a look at how the players stack up against each other today:
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Vela | United States | 1,755,000 |
| 2 | Christian Harder | United States | 5,985,000 |
| 3 | Rasmus Glæsel | Denmark | 1,560,000 |
| 4 | Aleksei Opalikhin | Russia | 4,590,000 |
| 5 | Cliff Josephy | United States | 1,240,000 |
| 6 | Michael Gentili | Canada | 6,175,000 |
Blinds will continue at 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante and the tournament will play down to a winner today.
Stay locked in on PokerNews for all of the coverage today as we crown the first-ever PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event winner!
The following players headline the final table today:
The Final Six
Level: 27
Blinds: 30,000/60,000
Ante: 10,000