When top poker players start their tournament day, they usually have a goal of multiplying their chips several times. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. For Faraz Jaka, Day 2 of the European Poker Tour (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure went just about as well as he could have imagined. Starting with 129,500 chips, Jaka ended the day as the overwhelming chip leader, having increased his stack to over 902,500. Only two other players – Cristian Folescu with 555,500 and Erik Cajelais with 528,000 – are even over half a million. It looks like Jaka is a virtual cinch to make the money, as the top 160 finishers will cash and there are just 183 remaining, but his eyes are on bigger things, like the $2,000,000 first prize.
Jaka made his run early on Monday, growing his chip stack to right around 700,000 within just the first level. He later scooped one of the most significant pots of the tournament to soar to over a million chips. He was up against Chino Rheem, who went into the day with the second largest chip stack. On each street – after the Ks-Js-6d flop, the 4d turn, and and Ad river – Jaka led out with a bet and every time Rheem called him. At showdown, Jaka turned over Ah-Kc for top two pair. Rheem mucked and found himself crippled. Jaka grabbed Rheem’s last few chips shortly thereafter and just like that, one of the toughest players in the tournament was gone.
Faraz Jaka, who goes by the colorful handle “The Toilet” in his online games, has developed the reputation of being one of the best young tournament players in the world and definitely one of the best without a World Series of Poker (WSOP) or World Poker Tour (WPT) title. The 26-year old has just shy of $2.4 million in lifetime earnings on the live tournament circuit, the bulk of which came in 2009 during a tremendous streak of three cashes. In June of that year, he placed 3rd in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event at the WSOP for $400,525, then finished 2nd the next month in the $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship Event at the Bellagio Cup V, winning $774,780. His next cash came in December in the $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a $571,374 score. All told, that’s $1,746,679 over the course of three cashes.
A number of well-known names, including Bertrand Grospellier, Dario Minieri, Christian Harder, Vanessa Selbst, John Racener, Michael Mizrachi, and Humberto Brenes, fell by the wayside on Monday. Several other players that people might recognize remain, though, including Arnaud Mattern, Galen Hall, Phil Collins, David Benefield, Barry Shulman, Adam Levy, Shane Schleger, Shawn Buchanan, Andrew Lichtenberger, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.
Day 3 picks up at noon local time as the remaining players head towards the money bubble.
2011 WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure – End of Day 2 Chip Leaders
Faraz Jaka – 902,500
Cristian Folescu – 555,500
Erik Cajelais – 528,000
Connor Drinan – 436,000
Alex Kuzmin – 425,500
Jens Patzner – 423,000
Phil D’Auteuil – 413,500
Ruben Visser – 372,000
Robin Van Gils – 360,500
Brian England – 354,000
Ashley Mason – 354,000
