Day 2 of the 2015 European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is in the books as several lesser-known players in the tournament poker world ascended to the top of the leaderboard.
507 players stepped back to the felt on Paradise Island in the Bahamas on Saturday with a great deal of work yet to be done. The 816-player field generated a prize pool of $7,915,200, with 119 of those players earning a cash in the first major tournament of 2015 and the eventual champion walking away with $1,491,580. Alas, that 119 player level was quite a distance away as the survivors headed back to the grind.
At the start of action, Day 1B chip leader Dietrich Fast held court over the field with his 208,200 in chips. He was the only player over the 200K plateau as Konstantinos Pantaridis (184,000), Day 1A chip leader Alex Millar (169,100), German Sakavichyus (152,000) and Dani Stern (145,200) rounded out the Top Five. Lurking further down the ladder were such names as Andrey Shatilov (136,500), Owen Crowe (121,000), Naoya Kihara (108,100) and Stephen Chidwick (101,000).
Looking to get into the tournament, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst was faced with an early decision. After an all-in bet from Nick Grippo, Selbst (in the big blind) pondered her action for quite some time. Eventually Selbst would toss in the call and found herself way behind Grippo’s A-Q with her A-2. As the board ran out King-high, Selbst sighed and said to the table, “What time is the Pot Limit Omaha tournament?” drawing a chuckle from her tablemates (the hand left her with only 4K in chips; Selbst would depart soon afterwards).
Selbst wasn’t the only player to endure the walk away from the PCA Main Event tournament room. Faraz Jaka saw his A-Q defeated by Ami Alibay’s Q-J on a K-Q-2-J-J, a board that ended Jaka’s stay in the PCA; golfer Sergio Garcia, Dan Heimiller, Joe Kuether, Eugene Katchalov, Jake Cody and defending PCA champion Dominik Panka would also find their way to the rail throughout the afternoon’s festivities. Perhaps the most painful elimination, however, would have to go to Anthony Gregg in a battle against Ole Schemion.
After seeing a flop of 6-8-6, Gregg was able to get his remaining chips into the center against Schemion. Gregg turned up his pocket eights for the flopped boat and Schemion revealed his trailing pocket Jacks, but that would be a momentary situation. On the turn, a Jack hit to push Schemion into the lead in the hand and, following the unnecessary case Jack on the river, Schemion had made quads to knock Gregg’s boat out of the water and Gregg out of the tournament.
As the end of the day’s action drew to a close, several unknown players began to rise to the top of the leaderboard. By the time the call was made to “bag and tag,” California cash game player Walter Fisher (who traveled to the PCA with some good company: Bill Perkins, Jeff Gross and Sorel Mizzi) came up just short of the 500K mark in chips but was still in good enough shape to take the Day 2 chip lead:
1. Walter Fisher, 497,000
2. Hugh Drummond, 456,800
3. Juan Martin Pastor, 446,000
4. Adam Reynolds, 378,500
5. Diego Ventura, 362,800
6. Jesse Rockowitz, 359,700
7. Pratyush Buddiga, 357,900
8. Jim Collopy, 342,000
9. Carlos Chadha, 322,800
10. Tim Reilly, 322,400
Lurking under the Top Ten are such players as Kihara (13th place, 301,800 in chips), Daniel Negreanu (14th, 295,600), Liv Boeree (22nd, 247,100), Benjamin Pollak (26th, 243,600), Thomas Muhlocker (28th, 225,800) and Crowe (32nd, 215,000), who all have a shot at a deep run in the PCA Main Event.
Instead of enjoying the pristine beaches on Paradise Island, 175 players will be back for another taste of the PCA Main Event. Day 3 will begin in just a few hours and, as soon as the midpoint of the afternoon, the money bubble will pop, awarding the minimum payday of $17,800 to the competitors.
