2011 January 15, Chad Holloway

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller event continued Saturday with the remaining 90 players of the original 151 entrants. The players, staff, and media were settling in for a long day as the field was scheduled to play down to a final table. However, after more than 14 hours of play, tournament officials halted the action at 12 players, who will all return tomorrow to play down to a winner

Leading the way is chip leader and Team PokerStars Pro (USA) Jason Mercier with 1.023 million. He is followed closely by David “Bakes” Baker who has 853,000 and fellow Team Pros Max Lykov (Russia) with 835,000 and Leo Fernandez (Argentina) with 704,000. A couple other names who’ll be returning are Eric Seidel (632,000) and Tom Marchese (728,000).

Mercier made his way toward the top of the chip counts after a huge hand with Ryan “toetagU” Fair, the man who entered the day with the chip lead. In the hand, Mercier raised to 16,000 from early position and action folded all the way to Fair in the big blind. Fair reraised to 40,000, Mercier made it 93,000 to go, Fair moved all in, and Mercier called. With around 760,000 in the pot, the cards were turned up:

Fair:
Mercier:

The pot was huge and whoever won would be vaulted to the top of the chip counts. The flop gave Mercier two pair to take the lead, which he would hold onto as the hit the turn, followed by the on the river. Just like that, Mercier is back up over 750,000 while Fair, who started the day as the chip leader, was knocked down to just 83,000.

There were many trials and tribulations throughout the day. Along the way, a laundry list of poker pros hit the rail. Some Team PokerStars Pros who failed to survive the day were Alex Kravchenko (Russia), Joe Cada (USA), Sandra Naujoks (Germany), Alex Gomes (Brazil), Andre Akkari (Brazil), Humberto Brenes (Costa Rica), Joe Hachem (Australia), Juan Marceiras (Spain), Johnny Lodden (Norway) and Vanessa Rousso (USA).

Team PokerStars Pros weren’t the only names returning for Day 2. Chino Rheem, David Benyamine, David “Doc” Sands, Bryn Kenney, Faraz Jaka, John Racener, Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates, Daniel Alaei, and Freddy Deeb were just a few of the players who fell short of the money. In addition, Fair, who if you recall was the chip leader at the start of the day, was unable to make it to the money, falling just shy in 20th place.

Fair’s last hand came when action folded to Erik Seidel on the button and he moved all in with the . Fair, who was the shorter stack, called from the big blind with and it was off to the races. Unfortunately for Fair, Seidel pulled ahead on the flop. The turn changed nothing and neither did the river. Just like that, the chip leader at the start of the day was sent packing.

While the aforementioned players ultimately came up short, others navigated their way all the way to the money. They included last year’s PCA Main Event runner up, Ty Reiman (16th-$55,490); Brett Richey (15th-$55,490); Ravi Raghavan (14th-$73,990); and Rob Akery (13th-$73,990).

Here is how things will look when action resumes:

Table 1
Seat 1: Max Lykov (835,000)
Seat 2: Jason Mercier (1.023 million)
Seat 3: Matt Affleck (95,000)
Seat 4: Empty
Seat 5: Will Molson (526,000)
Seat 6: Govert Metaal (792,000)
Seat 7: Empty
Seat 8: Matt Marafioti (385,000)

Table 2
Seat 1: Shander de Vries (325,000)
Seat 2: David “Bakes” Baker (853,000)
Seat 3: Brandon Steven (571,000)
Seat 4: Leo Fernandez (704,000)
Seat 5: Erik Seidel (632,000)
Seat 6: Tom Marchese (728,000)

The $25,000 High Roller finale is set to resume at 12 P.M. EST on Sunday. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to capture all the action and eliminations, so sure to follow along and see who will win the $1,072,850 first-place prize.

You can keep tabs on the PCA $25,000 High Roller Tournament by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook. Don’t miss out . . . do it today.

2011 January 15, Chad Holloway

This past week, I had the opportunity to work the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. While this was the eighth incarnation of the PCA, it was my first visit to Paradise Island. Needless to say, I was excited to blog about the various tournaments and being a part of a huge poker celebration. One particular event I was looking forward to was the Second Annual PCA/amfAR Celebrity Poker Tournament that took place on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011. I was curious to see how the PCA, as one of poker’s premiere events, would leverage its notoriety to raise money for charity.

For those who don’t know about amfAR, here is the description found on its website:

“Founded in 1985, amfAR is dedicated to ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research. With the freedom and flexibility to respond quickly to emerging areas of scientific promise, amfAR plays a catalytic role in accelerating the pace of HIV/AIDS research and achieving real breakthroughs. amfAR-funded research has increased our understanding of HIV and has helped lay the groundwork for major advances in the study and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $325 million in its mission and has awarded grants to more than 2,200 research teams worldwide.”

All of the prize pool went directly to the charity, and PokerStars matched all personal donations made by the tournament’s participants. In addition, players could make donations via PokerStars.net to benefit the Foundation’s innovative HIV/AIDS research programs. With such a great cause to play for, it is no surprise that celebrities, athletes and poker superstars came out to show their support.

Kenneth Cole, amfAR chairman, gave a brief speech before the event: “Tonight is a really big deal. Everyone gets to do what they enjoy doing and at the same time, will be part of something very important. We are flattered PokerStars has got involved for a second year. Five thousand people died every day from AIDS but it doesn’t need to be like that.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I certainly looked forward to watching the action. While the event drew a modest 58 players, I was impressed with the field. Among the players in the event were former NBA basketball star John Salley, pro golfer Sergio Garcia, former LA Dodgers pitchers Chad Billingsley and Orel Hershiser, Spanish football legend Poli Rincon, 2008 Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole, Entourage star Kevin Dillon, TV personality Ricki Lake, and Verne Troyer, who played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies. Based upon reactions from the rail, Troyer, who is seated next to Dillon in the photograph above, was the clear fan-favorite.

Joining these celebrities were some of poker’s biggest names such as 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel, 2009 WSOP Champ Joe Cada, 2004 WSOP winner Greg Raymer, and European Poker Tour San Remo Champion Liv Boeree. Joining them were 26 other Team PokerStars Pros, many of whom went on to do quite well. Here were the top seven finishers:

As you can see, Team Pros dominated the event; in fact, no celebrities or guest athletes were able to find their way to the final table; however, those who managed to make the top seven were rewarded handsomely. De Korver won $1,000 to donate to the charity of his choice and naturally chose amfAR. Moreira de Melo won a PokerStars luxury chip set; Marafioti was awarded signed celebrity merchandise; Duhamel won a fabulous Atlantis spa treatment, dolphin experience and dinner; Lowe won dinner and a poker training session with Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu; Hruby got tickets for the France vs. England rugby match in London next month; and Nguyen won the first-place prize of two tickets to any sporting match in the U.S., travel costs and one night in a hotel included. Not a bad reward for helping out a charity.

In addition to the money generated by the players, PokerStars donated $50,000 to amfAR. Also of note, the amfAR welcome desk near the tournament area accepted donations from spectators, which was reported to be quite successful. All in all, everyone had an entertaining time, and money was raised for a great cause. Generally, if those two criteria are met, it is hard for a charity tournament not to be a success. The Second Annual PCA/amfAR Celebrity Poker Tournament was no exception. I, for one, hope the PCA/amfAR Celebrity Poker Tournament will be on the schedule for years to come.

To learn more on amfAR and to learn how you can help, visit its website at www.amfar.org.

Photo courtesy of PokerStars.net.

Want to keep on top of all the action from the PCA? Be sure to keep up with our Live Reporting Team who is in the Bahamas capturing all the action. Also, you can always follow us on Twitter for up-to-the minute updates.