2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

The final starting day of the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $10,300 Main Event has concluded and a field of 474 entries was reduced to just 238 after eight levels of play. Following a hiatus of three years, this series returned to The Bahamas and switched locations to the luxurious Baha Mar Resort, which has already been home to large live poker festivals throughout the last few years.

Sergi Reixach managed to bag big as he ended the day with 196,900, closely followed by Michael Rocco (195,400).

Other notables who managed to bag big include defending champion Chino Rheem (141,200) along with high rollers Chris Brewer (140,300), Artur Martirosian (138,100), and Sergio Aido (124,700).

2023 PCA Main Event Day 1b Top 10 Counts

Moreover, PokerStars ambassadors Benjamin Spragg (63,100) and Ramon Colillas (62,000) managed to bag two starting stacks each. They will each take their largest stack into play on Day 2.

Today's 239 survivors will join the 80 survivors from Day 1a at 12:00 p.m. local time Wednesday, January 25th, for Day 2. With the field attracting 640 entrants already this tournament has generated a huge prizepool of $6,246,800. That will continue to grow as players who have not yet made it to Day 2 can still register late in the first two levels of play until the start of Level 11.

Action of the Day

A big field started the day as players hoped to build a stack early. However, things didn’t go as planned for Chris Brewer, who busted in the first level of the day in a four-bet pot when he called off with overcards and a flush draw for his tournament life. Undeterred, Brewer fired another bullet and bagged a big stack at the end of eight levels of play, as mentioned above.

Meanwhile, Aido managed to get off to a good start after rivering an ace-high flush in early action.

Davidi Kitai enjoyed success in the middle of the day as he managed to win a big pot when he triple-barrelled with pocket jacks on a nine-high board. His opponent, Boris Kolev, went deep into the tank before calling off Kitai’s overbet with ace-queen for a bluff catcher.

Mauricio Pais found some run good towards the end of the day as he eliminated Yervand Boyadjian when the river gave Boyadjian top two pair while giving Pais a set of jacks. That allowed Pais to become one of the biggest stacks in the room.

2023 PCA $100,000 Super High Roller champion Isaac Haxton couldn’t carry forward his success into the Main Event as he was eliminated in the last level of the day as his overpair ran into the set of sevens from Samad Rashid. All the chips went in on the nine-high flop, and Haxton was eliminated when no jack came to his rescue.

High Roller Aido managed to double up through Taylor Paur in a five-bet pot in the last level of the day. Aido flopped top two pair with ace-jack to defeat Paur’s ace-queen. PokerStars Ambassador Alejandro Lococo was eliminated in the process, ensuring he would not advance to Day 2.

Stay tuned to PokerNews as the live reporting team will be giving full coverage of the $10,300 PCA Main Event until a champion is crowned on Sunday, January 29th, as well as coverage of the second edition of the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship which kicks off on Monday, January 30th.

According to the tournament info screens, a field of 474 entries has been cut down to around 239 survivors and they have all bagged up chips for the evening. Selected chip counts are to follow shortly, while the full counts, Day 1b recap and the Day 2 seat draw are to follow.

Sergey Sergeev was all in for 37,300 pre-flop and looked up by Gilles Simon, who held the far superior stack.

Sergey Sergeev:
Gilles Simon:

There was no upset on the board as Sergeev scored a very late double-up.

The tournament director has instructed the dealers to play three more hands. Upon their completion, Day 1b will close and the remaining players will bag and tag their stacks.

Taylor Paur opened to 2,200 from the hijack before Alejandro Lococo jammed for 6,400 from the button. Sergio Aido then four-bet to 10,800 from the big blind. Paur responded with another raise and made it 19,500 to go, which Aido called.

The flop checked through to the turn. Aido bet 25,000, leaving 14,200 behind. Paur, the bigger stack, then put Aido all in and was snap-called.

Alejandro Lococo:
Sergio Aido:
Taylor Paur:

Each player paired their ace, but Aido was ahead as he paired his jack as well for aces and jacks. The completed the board and Aido scooped in the massive pot while sending Lococo to the rail.

Benoit Galland got his short stack into the middle before the flop and was looked up by Christoph Csik, who held the far superior stack.

Benoit Galland:
Christoph Csik:

The overcards remained with some equity on the flop and the turn. However, no help came on the river and the pocket pair of Csik was good enough to deal the final blow.