2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

Day 1a of the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $5,300 Main Event attracted 210 players to the felt. When it was all said and done — eight one-hour levels later — England's Toby Lewis topped the surviving pack of 131 with 188,000 in chips.

Lewis has won a European Poker Tour event before in his poker career. Back in 2010, he scooped up the title in the EPT Vilamoura €5,300 Main Event for €467,836. All told, Lewis boasts live career tournament earnings of $2,691,908, and he's got a good shot to pad that total with a very positive start.

The first of two starting flights was filled with plenty of big names and notable faces, but a few players stood out above the rest, and it wasn't necessarily for their poker exploits. While scanning the field at the start of the day, we spotted international soccer legend Ronaldo, Spanish professional golfer Sergio Garcia, and three-time Super Bowl champion Richard Seymour. Of that trio, only Garcia advanced through the day, bagging 63,900.

Ronaldo fell in Level 5 with the blinds at 150/300/25. He was all in preflop with the against the of Andrey Zaichenko and actually took the lead after the rolled out as the first three community cards. Unfortunately for Ronaldo, the hit on the turn to give Zaichenko a full house. Ronaldo couldn't find another lucky card on the river, and the sealed his fate.

Zaichenko went on to finish the day with 119,400 in chips.

Other notables to bust out on Day 1a were Maria Ho, Justin Bonomo, Paul Newey, Shaun Deeb, Mohsin Charania, and Celina Lin.

On the flip side of things, Boyuan Qu (149,800), Kathy Lehne (130,100), Anton Astapau (104,100), Taylor Paur (100,000), and Olivier Busquet (90,600) all had successful days on the felt, and we'll see them back in action on Sunday's Day 2.

While that wraps up the opening day of play in this marquee poker tournament, Day 1b is just a handful of hours away. It will kick off on Saturday at 12 p.m. local time with the same plan of attack as this one. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of the event as the quest to find the 13th PCA Main Event champion continues.

Dani Stern opened under the gun and called a three-bet to 3,300 from cutoff Rinat Lyapin. The flop came , and Stern checked. Lyapin put him all in for 13,900, and Stern called it off.

Stern:
Lyapin:

Stern had outflopped his unlucky opponent, but Lyapin had plenty of outs with a straight draw and a live overcard. The didn't help him on the turn, and neither did the river.

Remko Rinkema is joined by fellow Dutchman Rolf Slotboom to discuss his many published works, becoming the first Dutch poker champion, and much more.

You can subscribe to the entire PokerNews Podcast Network on iTunes here, or you can access the RSS feed here. The PokerNews family of podcasts is now available on Stitcher.

Vasken Demlakian just busted Maria Ho when the two players got all in on the turn. Demlakian had pocket twos, and Ho had . Demlakian had a set and Ho didn't catch up on the river and was eliminated.

Jeff Gross and PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker were heads up on a flop of . Gross checked and Moneymaker bet 5,000 into the 6,500 pot. Gross called and the two players saw the turn of . They both checked to the river.

The river was the and Gross bet 3,200. Moneymaker folded.

Kathy Lehne cashed in the $100,000 Super High Roller and she's looking for more in the Main Event. In one recent hand, she bet 10,000 on the river from the small blind on a board of , and her opponent under the gun called. Lehne showed and took the pot with the nut straight.

From under the gun, Jason Koon raised to 1,500. In the hijack seat, Rocco Palumbo reraised to 3,700, and then action folded back to Koon. He moved all in, and Palumbo called off for about 17,000. Koon had him covered.

Koon had the , and Palumbo was at risk with the . The board kept Koon's kings in the lead, and he sent Palumbo to the rail.