2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas

$5,000 Main Event
Day: 5
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 5 Completed

Michael Gentili Leads Final Six into PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event Final Table

Level 27 : 30,000/60,000, 10,000 ante
Michael Gentili
Michael Gentili

After five levels of play, the final six players were reached in the inaugural PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event, with Canadian player Michael Gentili going into the final day holding a marginal chip lead over Christian Harder.

With 16 players starting Day 5, every player was keen to challenge for a final table stack. There were inevitable casualties, and two of the first three players to be eliminated were probably the best known in the room. Former WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess was desperately unlucky to bust to Michael Vela when his dominating ace was outrun post-flop and then missed a flush draw on the river.

PokerStars Team Pro Jason Mercier was out in 14th when he was all in and dominated. Not the ideal situation, even for one of the best, and Mercier couldn’t catch up, joining the rail only an hour after sitting down. He was quickly followed by Alan Schein, Marcin Kapkowski and Michael Bartholomew, who ran pocket nines into Harder’s pocket aces preflop to bust.

Harder, who finished seventh at the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $200,000 in what was his first major live cash, could yet outdo that result with a win here in the Bahamas nine years on. In that time, he has added another $3.5 million of live cashes to his name and built a reputation as consistent performer on the live circuit.

It was Harder who took over following Bartholomew’s bust out. Pocket aces gave him a crucial pot against Argentinian player Rodrigo Cordoba, who then fell in tenth and sent the players to a single table when he lost a race to Harder. That gave him over 5.2 million chips and the overall lead when the tables combined.

Having reached the WSOP final table in 2016, Cliff Josephy had largely enjoyed a quiet day of survival rather than any dramatic confrontations, but he managed to climb off the bottom of the leaderboard each time he looked in trouble. The same couldn’t be said for the other two short stacks.

Nadya Magnus finished in ninth place when she lost a race against Michael Vela, and she was followed out of the card room shortly afterwards when former PCA Main Event winner John Dibella, whose victory in 2012 was marked by a $1,775,000 payday, left the tournament. Dibella lost a race when his pocket nines couldn’t hold against Harder’s aces.

Seven players remained in the tournament for a long time before the lower four players became a little marooned in terms of stack sizes. Someone needed to make a move from the bottom section to try and work their way back into the reckoning, and that someone was Brock Allison. Allison picked the wrong time to do it, however, with his pocket fours running into the pocket nines of Gentili, who in winning the hand became chip leader for the final table.

Can Gentili become the first PokerStars Championship Main Event winner? Every other player at the final table believes they can stop him, but he has a crucial lead when the players return.

Here's how things stack up when play resumes on Saturday:

SeatPlayerCountryChip Count
1Michael VelaUnited States1,755,000
2Christian HarderUnited States5,985,000
3Rasmus GlæselDenmark1,560,000
4Aleksei OpalikhinRussia4,590,000
5Cliff JosephyUnited States1,240,000
6Michael GentiliCanada6,175,000

Play begins at Noon local time, but our coverage will be spoiler-free, so check in with us right here on PokerNews for live coverage and the live stream beginning at 1 p.m. local time (7pm CET).

Tags: Alan ScheinAleksei OpalikhinAllon AllisonChristian HarderCliff JosephyJason MercierJohn DibellaMarcin KapkowskiMichael BartholomewMichael GentiliMichael VelaNadezhda MagnusNadya MagnusRodrigo CordobaRyan Riess

Brock Allison Eliminated in 7th Place ($76,400)

Level 27 : 30,000/60,000, 10,000 ante
Brock Allison
Brock Allison

Brock Allison moved all-in preflop for his final 1,065,000 chips and he was called by Michael Gentili, Once the cards were on their backs, Allison was in horrible shape to win the hand.

Brock Allison: {4-Clubs}{4-Spades}
Michael Gentili: {9-Spades}{9-Hearts}

The flop of {9-Clubs}{7-Clubs}{K-Hearts} saw Gentili move to 95% favorite to win the hand, and the turn of {2-Hearts} saw that become 100%. Allison (pictured) was shaking hands by the river of {7-Diamonds} ending play for the night.

Player Chips Progress
Michael Gentili ca
Michael Gentili
5,045,000 600,000
Brock Allison ca
Brock Allison
Busted

Tags: Allon AllisonMichael Gentili

Level: 27

Blinds: 30,000/60,000

Ante: 10,000

Players Now on 30-Minute Break

Level 26 : 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante

The final seven players have been sent on a 30-minute break.

Check out what Cliff Josephy had to say.

Player Chips Progress
Christian Harder us
Christian Harder
6,305,000 610,000
Aleksei Opalikhin ru
Aleksei Opalikhin
4,810,000 220,000
Michael Gentili ca
Michael Gentili
4,445,000 -155,000
Brock Allison ca
Brock Allison
1,400,000 -890,000
Rasmus Glæsel no
Rasmus Glæsel
1,335,000 305,000
Michael Vela us
Michael Vela
1,215,000 -60,000
WPT 1X Winner
Cliff Josephy us
Cliff Josephy
1,195,000 -225,000
WSOP 2X Winner

Tags: Cliff Josephy

Harder and Gentili Getting the Chips

Level 26 : 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante
Christian Harder
Christian Harder

The pace of the final table has slowed considerably in the last level, but the two biggest chip stacks continue to grow.

Michael Gentili improved his stack when he bet the turn on a board of {6-Hearts}{5-Hearts}{6-Clubs}{A-Clubs} to steal around 250,000 from Aleksei Opalikhin.

Christian Harder (pictured) maintained his chip lead, however, when shortly afterwards, he won at showdown after he, Cliff Josephy and Gentili had all checked down a board of {8-Clubs}{4-Spades}{K-Clubs}{3-Spades}{2-Clubs}. Harder had {5-Spades}{5-Clubs} and took it down.

Tags: Aleksei OpalikhinChristian HarderCliff JosephyMichael Gentili

Rasmus Glæsel Doubles Through Aleksei Opalikhin

Level 26 : 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante

Action folded to a short-stacked Rasmus Glæsel in the small blind and he moved all in for 500,000, which Aleksei Opalikhin snap-called from the big.

Opalikhin: {q-Spades}{4-Diamonds}
Glæsel: {a-Diamonds}{k-Spades}

Glæsel was ahead, but Opalikhin was drawing to two live cards. Fortunately for Glæsel, the board ran out a clean {6-Diamonds}{7-Hearts}{8-Clubs}{10-Diamonds}{a-Spades} and he shipped the double.

Player Chips Progress
Aleksei Opalikhin ru
Aleksei Opalikhin
4,590,000 -550,000
Rasmus Glæsel no
Rasmus Glæsel
1,030,000 455,000

Tags: Rasmus Glæsel

Rasmus Glæsel Getting Shorter

Level 26 : 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante

Rasmus Glæsel raised to 115,000 from the cutoff and Michael Gentili called from the big blind. Gentili then check-called a bet of 100,000 on the {j-Hearts}{a-Diamonds}{j-Clubs} flop before both players checked the {8} turn.

When the {3-Clubs} appeared on the river, Gentili led out for 285,000 and Glæsel folded.

Player Chips Progress
Michael Gentili ca
Michael Gentili
4,600,000 380,000
Rasmus Glæsel no
Rasmus Glæsel
575,000 -335,000

Tags: Michael GentiliRasmus Glæsel