Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournament 2019
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.
8 Indian embarked on the 14,000 Kilometer journey to the palatial Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas to take part in the 2019 edition of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. They were Sumit Sapra. All team members at Atlantis have been tested for Covid-19 before returning to work Offering the highest comps in town! Atlantis' non-smoking poker room offers the region's top tournaments and promotions coupled with texting for seat availability and state-of-the-art flat screen TVs visible from every poker table. The Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party in the Bahamas starting Nov. 9 is set to award at least $20 million in prize money. The tournament’s big draw is more than $22 million in guaranteed. 1 The action inside the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas at the 2019 PCA is as hot as it is outside on the beach. Chris Hunichen holds the chip lead at the $100,000 Super High Roller final table,.
Hundreds of the most accomplished poker players in the world flooded into Atlantis Resort to hunt the. The latest poker news, live reporting from tournaments.
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!
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.
ByAtlantis Bahamas Poker Tournament 2019 Leaderboard
Poker players from around the world spent much of today traveling to the airport in Nassau, Bahamas, then catching a cab or shuttle to Paradise Island, and exploring some of the massive Atlantis resort. Every January since 2004, players of varying bankrolls have been making the trek to the island for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure – or some variation thereof – for one of the most popular live poker tournament series of the year.
Attendance in the past few years has waned, primarily due to the inability of poker players in countries like the United States to play on PokerStars and win prize packages or tournament entries that make the trip less expensive.
PokerStars decided to fix that. For more than a year now, PokerStars has been awarding prize packages worth $30K to bring people to the PCA for a tournament that aims to make history. And many of the players getting settled into their rooms tonight at Atlantis have never played a $25K buy-in tournament in their lives or even dreamed it would be possible to do so.
There is excitement in the air in the Bahamas tonight, and it all revolves around a historic tournament that will get underway tomorrow, January 6.
Your first look at the 2019 PCA https://t.co/1pQdEPwxUB
— Kevin Mathers @ Atlantis (@Kevmath) January 5, 2019
PSPC Details
The major action will get underway at the PCA on January 6 with the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship, better known as the PSPC.
The buy-in is $25K, but there will be no rake taken or PokerStars or the resort/casino. No reentries will be allowed, and registration will only be open until the start of Day 2. Play will begin with 60-minute levels but reduced to 30 minutes per level once the final table reduces the field to just three players.
Even more, PokerStars is adding approximately $8 million to the total prize pool in the form of free entries. And the winner will receive an extra $1 million beyond what the prize pool dictates.
Best of all, those free entries mean that more than 300 of the players in the tournament won their seats – and entire PCA trips – over the course of the past year. Some high-stakes players won them by claiming victory in various large tournaments throughout the year, some by bubbling those tournaments, but the majority of players won their prize packages by winning small buy-in events held around the world. Others won key online poker events. Some competed in various challenges to win their way to the PCA. And some of them even won the trips through Twitter, general goodwill, and holiday generosity.
A winner will be crowned on January 10. And it promises to be a big deal.
Stars and PokerStars Pros
As expected, the roster of Team PokerStars Pros will be at the PCA, and it is assumed that most will be playing in the PSPC. Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Liv Boeree, Jason Somerville, Maria Konnikova, Jeff Gross, and Fatima Moreira de Melo are just some of the pros that are scheduled to play in many of the events.
PokerStars also announced that comedian Norm Macdonald will be at the PCA and headlining a comedy performance. Bruce Buffer will be playing and announcing the “shuffle up and deal” at the start of Day 1. Championship skateboarder Tony Hawk will play with any winnings going to his own charitable foundation. Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia will also be in the field, as will NBA star Paul Pierce.
Much More Poker
The PCA is all about a variety of poker action. There are 41 tournaments listed on the series schedule that got off to a soft start today and will continue through January 16. Cash games and satellites will be offered as well.
Besides the PSPC, other main attractions for players include the $10K Main Event set for January 11-16, $50K High Roller on January 9, $100K Super High Roller on January 12 and another from January 10-12, and a $25K High Roller from January 14-16.
Online PSPC?
Just this week, PokerStars announced an online tournament to accompany the PSPC, only on a much smaller scale.
Don't forget, the #MiniPSPC runs online on PokerStars at the same time as the #PSPC takes place in the Bahamas.
✅ $25 buy-in
✅ $9,000 added
✅ Five-day event, starting at 21.05 CET on January 6th (24hr late-reg)
✅ To register, search for tournament #2498943835 or 'Mini PSPC' pic.twitter.com/C4UFVgH0Ec
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) January 5, 2019
The MiniPSPC will begin online at PokerStars on January 6 and run through the 10th, just as the live event will take place in the Bahamas. But more people will be able to play because the buy-in is only $25. Like the live event, there will be no rake, and players can register for the first 24 hours of the tournament.
One major difference is that the online version will offer 20-minute levels, much shorter the live PSPC, and the final table will happen on January 11 with only six players.
There may be $9 million added to the live PSPC, but the MiniPSPC will have $9K added.
Stories Upon Stories
Poker will be played in the coming days. The PSPC guarantees serious action and five days of intense poker. But there is something else that everyone can follow: the stories.
ICMYI: It's been a year full of #Twitch thrills, winning moments, and hundreds of #PlatinumPass packages.
Join us as we look back over 2018.https://t.co/TOOlueDXmr
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) December 31, 2018
Approximately 320 of the people in the tournament won their way into the PSPC. PokerStars has chronicled their journeys and told many of their stories on its blog. Many of the industry’s best writers are also in the Bahamas to write from the scene, and there is no doubt that the blog will be overflowing with some of the best stories the game has to offer.
We will provide highlights of the action from afar, but watch the PokerStars blog for the player-focused articles. Many readers may remember all over again why they fell in love with poker in the first place.
What are the odds?? @Joeingram1@JHilsercop@Randi_heatlifer@pokerstarspic.twitter.com/nspoZjTaXf
— Chris Moneymaker (@CMONEYMAKER) January 5, 2019