The “Battle in the Bahamas” raged onward yesterday as the Main Event of the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure moved into its Day Two action on Wednesday. For the first time, the field came together as one, a full 500 strong from the original 987 player field, with Ashton Griffin heading the pack. By the end of the action last night, less than a third of the Wednesday survivors would be able to say they would come back on Thursday.
Within moments of the starting gun on Wednesday, one of the top pros in the game would be out of the tournament. Phil Ivey, trying to get back into the game from a short stack, saw a Q-10-6 flop against Antonin Duda and moved his paltry remaining 4300 chips to the center of the felt. Duda would make the call, showing a K-J for the open ended straight draw, while Ivey had hit the flop with his Q-8. Ivey wouldn’t be able to fade the eleven outs (three Kings, any Ace or nine) that Duda held; the turn brought the crusher, a nine of spades, leaving Ivey drawing dead and out of the tournament mere minutes into the festivities.
Ivey wouldn’t be the only casualty in the early action. Corey Burbick, Allen Kessler, Hoyt Corkins, Jonathan Little and Will Jaffe would also find their way to the rail, while Daniel Negreanu was able to stick around a little longer after getting a double up; he, too, would eventually be eliminated from the tournament in the early going.
Griffin was active from the start of play on Wednesday, battling it out against an opponent on a 4-4-2-K-6 board. After checking his option, Griffin would make the call after his foe bet out 2500. Griffin’s “enemy” tabled a pair of threes for two pair, while Griffin calmly plopped his 6-3 on the table for a rivered better two pair. In winning the hand, Griffin shot above the 250K mark and continued in the lead.
As the action worked into the late afternoon, new challengers would emerge for Griffin. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi knocked out a player to make his move over the 200K mark, while Nicolas Godoy hovered right around that mark. The rail became crowded with notable names, including 2012 PCA Main Event final tablist Xuan Liu, reigning World Series of Poker Europe champion Phil Hellmuth (cruelly done in when his Kings met Aces) and Chris Moorman, as the sun slowly set in the western skies.
As darkness descended on the Atlantis Resort, one particular hand drew a great deal of attention. Eugene Katchalov, Sam Grafton and Andrej Nagy would get all their chips into the center before the flop and the hands they unveiled looked like any poker player’s worst nightmare. Grafton had pocket tens to look decent, but Nagy’s pocket Queens crushed him. Nagy, also feeling pretty good, had to be dismayed when Katchalov turned up pocket Aces for the ultimate cooler. Once the board ran out seven high, Katchalov had performed the “double knockout” to push his stack over the 270K level and into the upper reaches of the leaderboard.
While Griffin was slowly working his stack upwards, other players were passing him. Godoy and Mizrachi would be the major chargers from Wednesday’s play, with Godoy able to work his way to the lead after clashing with Maxim Lobzhanidze. Lobzhanidze, who had worked his way over the 400K mark, went into a pre-flop raising battle against Godoy which saw six bets hit the felt before the flop came. After the duo checked both the flop (Q-9-A) and the turn (a King), a Jack came on the river. Godoy led out for 75K and, after Lobzhanidze made the call, tabled A-10 for the rivered straight. Lobzhanidze showed the table pocket Jacks for a rivered set but a losing hand; the chips went to Godoy, who moved up to 450K and the top slot on the ladder with the win.
Godoy would build on that stack and, by the end of the evening, had opened up quite an advantage over the field:
1. Nicolas Godoy, 724,200
2. Darren Elias, 558,900
3. Michael Mizrachi, 540,700
4. Jose Quintas, 497,900
5. Joe Serock, 493,600
6. Jonathan Roy, 419,600
7. Eddy Sabat, 410,200
8. Ryan Carter, 374,700
9. Matt Waxman, 360,400
10. Ty Reiman, 359,100
Others bubbling just under the Top Ten include Max Silver, Shannon Shorr, Carlos Mortensen, Owen Crowe, Greg Mueller, Manig Loeser, Katchalov, Guillaume Rivet and former World Champion Joe Cada.
With 166 players coming back to the tables on Thursday, there are going to be some of them who will not be pleased to be in the Bahamas. The top 144 players will take home a payday from the 2013 PCA Main Event, meaning 22 of today’s returnees will be left with nothing to show for their visit to the Atlantis (not even a good tan!). The 166 players all have their eyes set on the big prize, however; the eventual champion this weekend will take down a $1.859 million payday, not a bad way to get the 2013 tournament poker season off to a start!
