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.

Tue, 01/18/2011 – 05:22 – PokerPages Staff

Team PokerStars sponsored pro Viktor ‘Isildur1′ Blom’s meteoric rise to the top of the game was completed at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure when he was finally unveiled as the man behind the most exciting alias in high stakes cash game history.

The Scandinavian sensation recalled the moments that shaped his education in poker during an interview with a Swedish newspaper last week.

Blom admitted his interest in poker stemmed from a native episode of ‘The Poker Million’ which aired when he was a teenager.

“I started playing poker when I was 14 years old I think. With my friends and my brother. There was this program on TV, Pokermiljonen that made us pick up the game.”

“It always went well for me, but it was not until I was 18 that I realized that I could become really good.”

The 20 year-old began testing his skills online in European poker rooms before depositing his first bankroll with Full Tilt Poker in 2008.

Blom admits that he found it extremely difficult initially as he had not been prepared to face players who were more accomplished than himself.

“I started playing on American sites and there I was really stunned by how good the level was. I was not prepared, I did not know there were players even better than me.”

The Swede remains bullish about his Hold’em skills, proclaiming himself to be the finest player in the world in heads up play.

“In Hold’em Heads-Up I am probably the best of all and this experience I carry with me.”

Blom concluded by professing his love for the game and stating that money is not his primary motivation.

“Of course it is tough when you lose, but in the end it does not matter. It is just money. I play because I love it, it is that simple.”