2011 January 17, Chad Holloway

The PokerNews Live Reporting Teamwas in the Bahamas last week covering the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Our live blog reported all the action from the $100,000 Super High Roller Event, $5,000 NAPT Bounty Shootout, $25,000 High Roller Tournament, and of course the PCA Main Event. What many people may not realize is that these tournaments were just a sample of those offered throughout the 10 days of the PCA. Unfortunately, PokerNews wasn’t able to live-report each event, but we’ve put together a recap of the more popular side events.

THE PCA $1,000 LADIES EVENT

Hoping to duplicate Vanessa Rousso’s feat of winning the PCA Luxury Ladies Poker Event last year, 96 women entered the 2011 PCA $1k Ladies Event, including 28 who satellited online at PokerStars. Among the participants were Team PokerStars Pros Vicky Coren, Maridu Mayrinck, and Fatima Moreira de Melo; EPT Prague Ladies Event winner Hana Soljan, TV personality Ricki Lake, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier’s girlfriend Cathy Hong, recent WPT 14th-place finisher Lauren Kling; Argentine star Veronica Dabul; all-time female money winner Kathy Liebert, EPT London Ladies runner-up Megan Milburn, 10th-place PCA Main Event finisher Ana Marquez, Eat Play Love author Beth Gains, and Teija Halkosaari, a freeroll satellite winner playing her first live event.

In the end, Kristin “change100” Bihr was the last woman standing after defeating Kling in a tough heads-up battle. Bihr, who is widely recognized by her nickname, is a seasoned poker writer and one of the most respected professionals in the poker media. To give you an idea of just how popular she is, when Bihr made the final table, the “Twitterverse” exploded with updates on her progress; so much so that “change100” became the biggest Twitter trend out of Las Vegas on Saturday night. “I’m a poor poker writer, so this kind of money really means a lot to me,” Bihr told PokerStars after her $29,798 win.

The eight players paid in the event were:

1. Kristin “change100″ Bihr – $29,798
2. Lauren Kling – $18,624
3. Vicky Coren – $13,968
4. Victoria Lucenkova – $9,312
5. Deb Quailey – $7,450
6. Ricki Lake – $5,587
7. Kathy Jamison – $4,656
8. Lauren Fallia – $3,725

PCA $5,250 HEADS-UP CHAMPIONSHIP

Heads-up bracket courtesy of PokerStars.

The $5,250 Heads-Up Championship sold out on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2011, with a full 64-strong complement of players including Team PokerStars Pros John Duthie, Leo Fernandez, Alex Gomes, Vanessa Selbst, Joe Cada and Vicky Coren. They were joined by other tops pros such as Sorel Mizzi, Alexander Kostritsyn, Scott Seiver, Daniel Cates, John Racener, Nick Schulman and Justin Bonomo, to name a few.

The event and $120,000 first-place prize was ultimately won by Pieter de Vries, who defeated Daniel Colman in the final round of the tournament. Aside from Colman, de Vries’ path to victory was paved with some stiff competition. In Round 1, he bested Seiver and moved on to face Jach Schanbacher in Round 2. From there it was on to Dave Chouinard, Scott Baumstein, and Jamie Armstrong in successive order.

Here are the final standings and payouts of the PCA $5,250 Heads-Up Championship:

1. Pieter de Vries – $120,000
2. Daniel Colman – $60,000
3rd/4th – Jamie Armstrong & Jonathan Jaffe – $30,00 each
5th-8th – Scott Baumstein, Bryan Pellegrino, Benjamin Leblond, Tobias Kuder – $17,600 each

“Isildur1” vs. “OU THE NICK”

On Saturday, Jan. 8, PokerStars revealed the identity of the online superstar known as “Isildur1”. While no one was particularly shocked to learn the mystery player was the long-suspected Swede Viktor Blom, the announcement did vanquish the veil of anonymity and open the door for Isildur1 to play in the live-poker realm. As fate would have it, Blom’s first live match as Isildur1 occurred shortly after his identity was revealed. As part of a promotion, Blom faced off against German online qualifier Nick “OU THE NICK” Hahn.

Hahn, a 22-year-old from Frankfurt who bested a 424-player field to win the online promotion, was given $10,000 to play a heads-up match against Blom, who started with the same amount. Their table was surrounded by interested spectators who were anxious to catch a glimpse of the man who has won and lost millions. While everyone was fascinated with Blom, Hahn concentrated on defeating his opponent. Unfortunately, winning wasn’t in the cards.

In the last hand of the match, Hahn was slightly down in chips when he picked up . Isildur1 held , and all the money went in. While Hahn was a huge favorite, he was playing against an online legend. A on the flop, followed by another on the turn, gave Isildur1 the hand and match.

Side Event Summary

The above events were just a small sample of those offered at this year’s PCA. All told, the schedule boasted 48 highly successful events. Below is a summary of some of the other side events from the 2011 PCA:

Photo courtesy of PokerStars.

While the PCA is winding down, the Aussie Millions is just getting started. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for all the Down Under action.

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