Day 1b of the PokerStars Championship Bahamas is set to kick off at 11 a.m. on the dot! The field on Day 1a attracted 229 players, up from 210 at 2016’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Last year, Day 1b brought in 700 players, meaning if that number is also surpassed, the field could very well cross 1,000 players.
Defending champion Mike Watson, was eliminated early on in the day, opening up a spot for a new winner to claim the title. Other notable players to hit the rail included Friend of PokerStars and pro golfer, Sergio Garcia, actor and comedian, Kevin Hart, 2015 WSOP Main Event Champion, Joe McKeehen, and Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier.
While many familiar faces fell on Day 1a, some new ones will emerge today. This includes actor Aaron Paul, 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion and Team PokerStars Pro, Chris Moneymaker and 2016 EPT Prague High Roller Champion, William Kassouf, to name a few.
Play begins at 11 a.m. and players will complete a total of eight levels. Everyone will begin with a stack of 30,000 and will begin at 50/100 with no ante. Levels will be a total of 75 minutes long.
Stay locked in on PokerNews for live updates, chip counts and photos! The live stream will begin on Day 2 with James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton leading the way. Feel free to follow us on Twitter and send us a message at @PokerNews if you have any comments, questions and/or suggestions!
Kou Vang, a poker pro and family man from Maplewood, Minnesota, has just entered the field.
Vang has been playing poker full time for the better part of a decade, and in that time he’s developed a reputation as one of the Midwest’s most feared players. He even won an award for “Most Intimidating” at the Minnesota Poker Awards a few years back.
All told, Vang has $1,152,038 in live tournament earnings including first in the 2010 Fall Poker Classic $1,000 Championship Event for $78,421; a win in the 2008 World Series of Poker Circuit Council Bluffs $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em for $51,383; runner-up in the 2013 Running Aces Tournament of Champions $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em for $50,846; and first in the Midwest Poker Classic $2,500 High Roller for $32,500.
PokerNews previously did a feature interview with Vang, which you can read by clicking here.
Canada's Tyler Bonkowski has had a great career so far, with a WSOP bracelet in the 2011 $3,000 Limit Hold'em event and another close call this past summer at the 2016 WSOP with a third place finish in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em event. Bonkowski rounded out the year by making the final table of the WPT Deepstacks Championship event, finishing in fourth place for just shy of $100,000. His total career earnings are just shy of a million dollars, with his biggest score of $220,000 attached to his bracelet win.
The hijack raised to 550 and Tyler Bonkowski called from the cutoff. The player on the button three-bet to 2,300 and the decision was back on to the hijack who decided to let his hand go. Bonkowski thought about it and opted to call.
The flop came and Bonkowski checked to his opponent. The button bet 2,500 and Bonkowski called.
The turn was the . Bonkowski checked for a second time and his opponent bet again. This time he made it 4,400 to go. Bonkowski stared at the board for a few seconds and tossed in some chips for a call.
The river was the . Bonkowski was the one to take charge this time and led out for 13,500. The button immediately released his hand, sending the pot Bonkowski's way.
Chino Rheem bet 1,675 from the big blind on a board of , and Aaron Paul made it 4,000 to go in the cutoff. Rheem came back with 10,000, and Paul peeled to see the river. Rheem shoved all in for about 11,000 and got snap-called.
"You got fives full?" Rheem asked.
Instead, it was queens full as the famed actor showed . The dealer indicated Rheem had to show, per tournament rules.
"Why?" Rheem asked. "He fucked me."
The three-time World Poker Tour champ flashed what looked like for a straight that had been crushed on the river and then grabbed his belongings.
Richard Seymour was facing a bet for most of his stack when we got to his table, with on the felt. Vincent Moscati had bet a little over 13,000 from the cutoff, and Seymour only had around 18,000 total.
"Will you show me?" he asked Moscati.
Moscati didn't respond, and after about 30 more seconds Seymour mucked face-up. Moscati obliged: , and the players at the table complimented Seymour on his laydown.
Anthony Zinno and Matthew Wantman got stacks in with the latter holding under the gun and the former in the big blind. The board ran out , no help to Zinno. Wantman had been the one all in, and he had 31,200. The dealer counted Zinno's chips and determined Wantman had him covered, so Zinno collected his belongings.
2013 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Ryan Riess moved all in for 8,900 and action folded all the way around to Dan Høidahl, who opted to call from the big blind.
Riess:
Høidahl:
The kicker of Riess had him way out in front, but Høidahl picked up chop outs on the flop. Unfortunately for him, neither the turn nor river helped him, and he sent some chips over to Riess.
Le Jour 1B du Main Event PokerStars Championship Bahamas à 5300$ a eu le droit à ses stars lui aussi. Après Kevin Hart lors de la journée d'ouverture, on a pu observer l'acteur de Breaking Bad Aaron Paul en action mais aussi le triple champion NFL Richard Seymour.
Si Kevin Hart a amusé la galerie, il n'a pas franchi le Jour 1. Les deux participants du Jour 1B ont eu plus de succès, Paul éliminant rapidement le triple vainqueur WPT Chino Rheem pour emballer 74 700 jetons. L'ancien joueur des New England Patriot et des Oakland Raider a terminé 18e du WPT 5 Diamond le mois dernier à Las Vegas, il a ensaché 28 jetons à l'issue de 8 niveaux de 75 minutes à l'Atlantis Resort. Seymour a réalisé un gros fold, jetant les dames sur un tableau alors qu'on lui demandait une très large partie de son tapis. Moscati lui a ensuite montré gentiment ...
Ce sont finalement 470 joueurs qui se sont montrés pour cette deuxième journée de départ, portant l'affluence à 699 participants alors que les inscriptions sont ouvertes jusqu'à l'entame du Jour 2, mardi à 17 heures, heure française. Parmi les 260 joueurs qui ont passé le Jour 1b, on retrouve encore trois tricolores : le vainqueur EPT Prague Arnaud Mattern (41 000), le vainqueur EPT Malta Jean Montury (124 000) et le joueur PokerStars Valentin Messina (139 900).
James Juvancic a pris la tête du classement général en multipliant son tapis de départ par 9 (271 800 jetons). Il a devancé Andrew Ryan (224,300), Jan Kralik (164,900), Mattias Priolo (160,800) et le Brésilien Felipe Ramos (156,800). Mohsin Charania, Sam Chartier, Mukul Pahuja, Maria Ho, Vanessa Selbst et Chris Moneymaker ont aussi passé l'obstacle.
C'est en revanche terminé pour Jason Wheeler, Faraz Jaka, Jennifer Tilly, Anthony Zinno, Calvin Anderson, Mike Gorodinsky, ou encore Liv Boeree et Celina Lin.
Le jour 2 sera à suivre en direct sur PokerNews et en streaming.