2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas

$5,000 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aj
Prize
$429,664
Event Info
Buy-in
$5,000
Prize Pool
$3,376,712
Entries
738
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000

$5,000 Main Event

Day 1a Completed

James Martyn Leads Day 1a of 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event; Kevin Hart & Mike Watson Among Eliminated

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante
James Martyn
James Martyn

Day 1a of the 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas $5,000 Main Event attracted 229 players – up from last year’s 210 in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure — but after eight 75-minute levels of play, more than 100 of them had went the way of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and New York Giants – they were eliminated!

That meant 112 players managed to find a bag on Sunday night, but none put more in it than 30-year-old James Martyn, who finished as chip leader with 197,400. Martyn got a lot of his chips when he picked up pocket rockets and doubled through Andrey Zaichenko, who picked an inopportune time to shove with king-ten.

Others who finished with healthy stacks were Brad Marsh (173,200), Andre Cooks (160,400), Mikko Turtiainen (155,100), Alan Schein (140,100), Daniel Colman (136,100) and Igor Kurganov (121,000). They were joined by the likes of Nick Petrangelo (104,000), Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier (92,200), Cliff Josephy (87,100), and Mike “Timex” McDonald (54,600).

Another player to advance was 84-year-old Morris Dadoun, who qualified for the Main Event by winning a charity event. Dadoun had an offer to sell his seat, but he decided to live out a dream and play in one of poker’s most prestigious events. It couldn’t have gone much better as he was responsible for the tournament’s first elimination, played against 2016 GPI Player of the Year David Peters, and even went toe-to-toe with PokerStars Team Pro Daniel Negreanu. Dadoun, who had his wife on the rail, survived the night with 112,800, while Peters and Negreanu bagged 29,300 and 58,200 respectively.

Among those to try and fall on Day 1a were 2015 World Series of Poker champ Joe McKeehen, Friend of PokerStars Sergio Garcia, Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, last year’s PCA champ Mike Watson, and Charlie Carrel, who busted just a couple hours after finishing runner-up to Jason Koon in the $100,000 Super High Roller for more than $1.1 million. Speaking of Koon, he went on to bag 22,900.

Another player to fall on Day 1a was big-time Hollywood actor and poker aficionado Kevin Hart.

"Tell them that I went down swinging," requested Hart, who busted after shoving his short stack with deuce-six offsuit. Aslan Tchechoev held pocket tens, and Hart watched helplessly as the board ran out dry. Hart said it best earlier in the day:

"My poker is like the felt, it's smooth... but if you push it back in the other direction, it gets rough."

While the field lost one celebrity, they’ll gain one tomorrow when Aaron Paul of The Path and Breaking Bad fame takes his shot at poker glory. Others who’ll be in action on Monday are Team PokerStars Pro and 2003 WSOP champ Chris Moneymaker, ESPT4 Marbella champ Ludovic Geilich, and World Poker Tour Amsterdam High Roller champ Jason Wheeler, just to name a few. Meanwhile, many who either advanced or busted – such as Dan Shak, Christoph Vogelsang, and Paul Newey – are expected to take their shots in the $50,000 High Roller.

Day 1b will kick off at 11 a.m. local time on Monday, and we’ll be here to bring you all the action. Until then, check out Sarah Herring’s video with Dadoun, who today got to live out his poker dream.

Tags: James Martyn

Assorted End-Of-Day Chip Counts

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

More to come.

Player Chips Progress
James Martyn ca
James Martyn
197,400 104,400
Brad Marsh ca
Brad Marsh
173,200 23,200
Andre Crooks us
Andre Crooks
160,400
Mikko Turtiainen fi
Mikko Turtiainen
155,100
Alan Schein us
Alan Schein
140,100 140,100
Daniel Colman us
Daniel Colman
136,100 75,100
WSOP 1X Winner
Igor Kurganov ru
Igor Kurganov
121,000 51,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Adrian Mateos es
Adrian Mateos
120,900 75,900
EPT Main Event Champion
WSOP 4X Winner
EPT 1X Winner
Gaelle Baumann fr
Gaelle Baumann
119,200 29,700
Winamax Team Pro
Morris Dadoun ca
Morris Dadoun
112,800 -7,200
Nick Petrangelo us
Nick Petrangelo
104,000 19,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Christoph Vogelsang de
Christoph Vogelsang
100,300 27,300
Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
92,200 7,200
Robert Mizrachi us
Robert Mizrachi
88,000 38,000
WSOP 4X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Cliff Josephy us
Cliff Josephy
87,100 57,500
WSOP 2X Winner
Byron Kaverman us
Byron Kaverman
83,000 63,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Justin Bonomo us
Justin Bonomo
74,500 44,500
WSOP 3X Winner
Mike Shin us
Mike Shin
59,600 19,600
Daniel Negreanu ca
Daniel Negreanu
58,200 32,200
Mike McDonald ca
Mike McDonald
54,600 9,600
EPT 1X Winner
Mitchell Towner us
Mitchell Towner
54,200 12,200
WSOP 1X Winner
Stephen Chidwick gb
Stephen Chidwick
53,800 3,800
WSOP 1X Winner
David Eldridge us
David Eldridge
44,100 2,100
Isaac Haxton us
Isaac Haxton
43,600 13,600
WSOP 1X Winner
Govert Metaal nl
Govert Metaal
33,400 -31,600

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Cordoba Shows Big Bluff Versus Dimmig

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

Big blind Rodrigo Cordoba bet about 3,000 on a {10-Spades}{5-Spades}{j-Hearts}{6-Spades} board, and Jonathan Dimmig raised to approximately 18,000 in the cutoff. Cordoba called, and the river was a {5-Diamonds}. Dimmig bet 22,000 when checked to, and Cordoba responded with an all-in shove. Dimmig folded after some thought, and Cordoba showed {9-Spades}{8-Hearts}.

Player Chips Progress
Rodrigo Cordoba ar
Rodrigo Cordoba
156,400
Jonathan Dimmig us
Jonathan Dimmig
34,000 -38,000
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Jonathan DimmigRodrigo Cordoba

Mercier and Mateos Win Pots but Marsh is Table Captain

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante
Jason Mercier
Jason Mercier

With two of the final five hands to play, a table stacked with chips took its time to play down to the end in dramatic style.

The penultimate hand of Day 1a saw Jason Mercier (pictured) three-bet pre-flop and get one caller to a flop of {4-Hearts}{2-Diamonds}{K-Hearts}. On that flop, the world-famous Floridian bet 5,700 and took the pot down. He took no part in the final hand, so stacked up a whopping 92,700 at the close of play.

In the final hand of the day, Adrian Mateos clashed with Aslan Tcechoev and the latter bet 2,000 preflop and got a call from Mateos and the big blind player. The flop of {6-Hearts}{J-Spades}{8-Clubs} saw all three players check, but Tcechoev bet 3,500 on the {3-Hearts} and only Mateos called. The river {J-Diamonds} saw Mateos checked to, and he bet 8,300. Tcechoev folded and Mateos bagged up an impressive stack of 120,900.

Both Mercier and Mateos did well in the final level of the day, but Brad Marsh from Canada sealed up 173,200 chips and that's one of the biggest stacks in the room on a day where 229 players pitched up to play the PokerStars Championship Main Event here in The Bahamas.

Player Chips Progress
Brad Marsh ca
Brad Marsh
173,200 173,200
Adrian Mateos es
Adrian Mateos
120,900 75,900
EPT Main Event Champion
WSOP 4X Winner
EPT 1X Winner
Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
92,700 7,700

Tags: Adrian MateosAslan TcechoevBradley MarshJason Mercier

Baumann Outflops Serge

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

Gaelle Baumann had a three-bet to 5,100 in front of her on the button, and Pouliot Serge in the big blind made it 15,300. Baumann called after the middle-position opener folded. The flop came {q-Hearts}{10-Clubs}{j-Hearts} and Serge checked. Baumann bet 10,000 and Serge called. On the {3-Hearts} turn, Serge checked again. Baumann moved all in, causing her opponent to sigh.

"I don't think I'm good," he said.

Nonetheless, he called for about 23,000.

Serge: {k-Hearts}{k-Spades}
Baumann: {a-Clubs}{k-Diamonds}

Serge's fears were warranted, and he needed an ace to chop or a heart to scoop on the river. The dealer brought forth the {3-Clubs} and Serge's tournament ended late on Day 1a.

Player Chips Progress
Gaelle Baumann fr
Gaelle Baumann
89,500 15,500
Winamax Team Pro
Pouliot Serge ca
Pouliot Serge
Busted

Tags: Gaelle BaumannPouliot Serge

Five More Hands

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

The clock has been paused at the 15-minute mark in Level 8 and the tournament director has announced that the remaining players will play five more hands before the night is over.

Stay tuned for a detailed recap and chip counts!

Bukovec Dominates Clausell

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

It was a complete and total domination for a late all-in and call with John Clausell all-in and at risk with {A-Spades}{Q-Spades} and up against Predrag Bukovec's {A-Clubs}{K-Spades} .

The flop brought a pair and Broadway draw for each man, as it came {K-Clubs}{10-Clubs}{Q-Hearts}. The {A-Diamonds} turn gave both men two pair, but it was Clausell who needed the help which never came in on the {9-Clubs} river.

Player Chips Progress
Predrag Bukovec hr
Predrag Bukovec
40,000
John Clausell us
John Clausell
Busted

Tags: John ClausellPredrag Bukovec

Choose Your Own Rail

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante
Breakfast Q&A with Daniel Negreanu earlier on Day 1a.
Breakfast Q&A with Daniel Negreanu earlier on Day 1a.

Presuming that you haven't got family and friends in the rafters because it's Day 1a of a Main Event, who would you like to see pitch up and lend their moral support to you on the rail at a live poker tournament?

Top of many people's list might be the super-cool Aaron Paul. Legend of the screen as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, he'll already be known to many of you as a poker player for L.A. Sunset, after winning his GPI game in 'The Cube' against Fabrice Soulier. Well, Aaron Paul is back to take part in tomorrow's Day 1b of the PokerStars Championships Bahamas Main Event and took the time to come and see how friend and PokerStars buddy Daniel Negreanu (pictured left) was getting on.

Negreanu was involved in a big hand, up against Bradley Snider on a board showing {2-Spades}{J-Hearts}{7-Hearts}{6-Clubs} and with 18,000 chips in the middle already, whoever won would be taking a great pot into the final stages.

All of a sudden, while Team PokerStars Pro Negreanu and Aaron Paul shot the breeze, Snider was all-in for around 80,000!

"Wow - OK, you can take it!" said Negreanu, folding quickly.

Negreanu has just 22,000 left, and while that's not a disaster, he's drifted from before well above starting stack earlier. By contrast, Snider is up to around 95,000 chips and that's sufficient for a top ten stack.