Jan 12, 2019 Alexander Kharkov (lead photo) tops the counts with a massive stack of 350,500. The Russian only has three cashes to his name so far. Get the latest poker news, poker strategies, and special. 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event: Two Day Ones in the Books, Day 1A Leader Alexander Kharkov Holds Overall Lead As if being at the Atlantis Resort Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas wasn’t enough for the denizens of poker, Friday and Saturday saw the start of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.

As if being at the Atlantis Resort Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas wasn’t enough for the denizens of poker, Friday and Saturday saw the start of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. After two days of competition (and, for the first time ever, one reentry allowed per player), 842 entries have been received for the first major poker tournament of the year.

Day 1A – Fewer Entries, But Overall Chip Leader Emerges

As typical for multi-day poker tournaments, Day 1A was the smaller of the two starting flights, but it would also provide the overall chip leader for the tournament. It was much bigger than the 178 players who stepped up in 2018, leaving the players in the tournament excited about the potential overall field for the tournament. The players also showed they weren’t afraid to get the chips to the center of the table, perhaps because of the potential for reentry.

One big hand involved Joey Weissman and Max Silver, who clashed right before the end of the night. Holding pocket Queens, Weissman was able to get his chips to the center pre-flop and Silver, with A-K, went to the races. Once the board ran out ten-high, Silver was sent to the rail as Weissman scooped up the 270K chip pot to surge to the top of the leaderboard.

Weissman would have had the Day 1A lead save for Russia’s Alexander Kharkov. Battling against Justin Bonomo, Kharkov called a three-bet from Bonomo to see an 8♠ 7♦ 2♠ flop. Kharkov check-called a 5K bet from Bonomo and, on a 10♠ turn, Kharkov checked again. After Bonomo fired another bullet, Kharkov came alive with a check raise to 40K in chips. This didn’t faze Bonomo, however, who dropped his remaining chips in the center and Kharkov immediately called.

Bonomo’s pocket Aces (with the spade) were nice, but Kharkov’s K♠ Q♠ had turned the flush to take over the lead in the hand. Left looking for another spade to give him the nut flush and beat Kharkov, Bonomo instead saw an innocent 6♥ hit the river, ending his run in the Bahamas (for that moment) and rocketing Kharkov to the Day 1A (and, as it would turn out, the overall) lead over the 135 remaining players.

1. Alexander Kharkov, 350,000
2. Joey Weissman, 267,000
3. Joao Simao, 251,200
4. Brian Altman, 236,100
5. Markus Kuhnen, 196,000

Day 1B – Bigger Field but More Conservative Play

The second starting day of the 2019 PCA Main Event would see more entries show up but, because it was the last chance, the play was a bit more conservative. 486 entries flooded the Atlantis tournament floor to bring the total entry numbers to 842, vastly outpacing the 582 that came in for the tournament in 2018. With the $10,000 buy in, the prize pool will be the largest at the PCA Main Event since 2014.

There were a couple of players who emerged with nice days. David ‘Chino’ Rheem climbed to the top of the leaderboard throughout Saturday’s action, but he would fall back late in the day to “only” claim a Top Five slot for Day 1B. 2018 Women’s Player of the Year Kristen Bicknell, who has quietly had an outstanding PCA trip with an 11th place finish in the PokerStars Players’ Championship, also battled through the day before closing the day with more than double her starting stack at 67,500 in chips.

Defending champion Maria Lampropulos was able to make it through the Saturday carnage also with 59,600 in chips. But it was Rainer Kempe who reigned supreme through the day, ending up with 214,000 in chips to take the Day 1B chip lead honors:

1. Rainer Kempe, 214,200
2. Niall Farrell, 202,000
3. Charles Furey, 200,900
4. David ‘Chino’ Rheem, 197,900
5. Matthew Moss, 180,700

And Here’s Your (Unofficial) Leaderboard!

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After the smoke cleared, here’s how the highly unofficial leaderboard stacks up:

1. Alexander Kharkov, 350,000
2. Joey Weissman, 267,000
3. Joao Simao, 251,200
4. Brian Altman, 236,100
5. Rainer Kempe, 214,200
6. Niall Farrell, 202,000
7. Charles Furey, 200,900
8. David ‘Chino’ Rheem, 197,900
9. Markus Kuhnen, 196,000
10. Pavel Plesuv, 191,200

Those players who won’t be a part of the PCA Main Event anymore include such names as Dario Sammartino, Sergio Aido, Aymon Hata, Brian Rast, Chris Moorman, Shawn Buchanan, Martin Jacobson, Maria Konnikova and Cliff Josephy. These players and many others will have to partake of some of the other side events at the PCA or, lacking that, the beautiful beaches of the Bahamas or the water park on the Atlantis grounds.

The PCA Main Event continues on through Sunday with 330 runners still in the mix for the title. As technically late registration/reentry is still open until the start of action on Day 2, the official field numbers aren’t set. Once those 330 players find out what they’re playing for, the intensity will ramp up in the Bahamas.

The first of two starting days of the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $10,300 Main Event is in the books and a strong turnout put the event on track to easily surpass the 582 entries of the previous year at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. Back in 2018, 178 players took part on Day 1a, and that number has been doubled, albeit with the help of 27 re-entries.

Out of the 356 entries, only 135 players bagged up chips after 10 one-hour-levels. Alexander Kharkov (lead photo) tops the counts with a massive stack of 350,500. The Russian only has three cashes to his name so far. His best result came from a deep run in a side event at the 2018 EPT Monte-Carlo festival. Kharkov was among the chip leaders after the dinner break and sent Justin Bonomo to the rail in a big pot when he turned a flush with king-queen suited against Bonomo' pocket aces with the spades redraw. Bonomo failed to get there on the river.

The biggest pot of the day went to Joey Weissman who won an enormous flip in the final level of the night with pocket queens against the ace-king of Max Silver. Weissman bagged up 267,000, good enough for second place on Day 1a.

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Other big stacks and notables that finished strong on the first of two starting days include Joao Simao (251,200), Brian Altman (236,100), Pavel Plesuv (191,700), Paul Vas Nunes (187,800), Elliot Smith (180,400), Jeremy Ausmus (145,800), and Kenny Hallaert (135,700).

Among the PokerStars ambassadors, only Andre Akkari (143,200) and Liv Boeree (64,800) advanced to Day 2 thus far. Maria Konnikova was ousted by Christopher Frank when her kings ended up second-best to a turned set of tens.

With the upcoming $100,000 Single-Day High Roller, many of the top pros and high stakes specialists opted to jump into Day 1a, and many of them bowed out without anything to show for including Isaac Haxton, Seth Davies, David Peters, Andras Nemeth, Joe Cada, Benjamin Pollak, Rainer Kempe, and Patrik Antonius.

Michael Dyer was the first player to run out of chips two times, and several others would follow throughout the day. John Juanda ran with ace-queen into the pocket aces of Brian Altman in the first attempt and then lost a flip with pocket jacks against the ace-king of Carlos Chadha in the penultimate level of the night. Harrison Gimbel won't repeat his victory at the PCA Main Event this year either, as he was already eliminated twice on Day 1a.

Other former EPT champions such as Davidi Kitai, John Dibella, Paul Michaelis, Noah Boeken, Arsenii Karmatckii, and Oleksii Khoroshenin were among those to leave empty-handed. Michaelis, who was the last player to lift the EPT Main Event trophy just a few weeks ago in Prague, had a very short-lived day when his flopped set of treys and turned full house was crushed by the quad kings of Andreas Eiler at the end of level two.

Eventually, more than half of the field failed to bag up chips. All those that played just once are allowed to take another shot in the second starting day, and a bumper field is expected for tomorrow's Day 1b as of noon local time.

Another ten levels of 90 minutes are scheduled then, and the registration remains open until the start of Day 2 on Sunday, January 13th, 2019.

Make sure to tune back then, as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to cover all the action until a new PCA champion is crowned.

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