Hecklen and Kurganov Top Day 1 of the 2019 PCA $100k Super High Roller
Day 1 of the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $100,000 Super High Roller is in the books and the third-biggest field at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island has emerged after eight levels of 60 minutes each. A total of 43 unique players and 13 re-entries created a field of 56 entries, trailing only the 58 entries of 2016 and the 66 entries of 2015.
At least $5,433,120 in prizes will be distributed, however, that amount may still increase as the registration remains open until the start of Day 2 on Friday, January 11th, 2019, as of 12.30 p.m. local time. All new entries will receive 250,000 in chips at blinds of 3,000/6,000 with a big blind ante of 6,000.
Of the 33 players that bagged up chips, only two crossed one million in chips. Henrik Hecklen, who comes fresh off a victory in the €10,300 High Roller at the 2018 EPT Prague festival, claimed 1,264,000 and PokerStars Team Pro Igor Kurganov follows in second place with 1,050,000. For Kurganov, it had been a rocky start as he dropped down all the way to 44,000 before running up a big stack in the late stages of the day.
Steve O'Dwyer, who won this very event in 2015, made it to Day 2 with 889,000 and Sam Greenwood advanced with 792,000. In a field filled with some of the biggest names of the international poker circuit, the top 10 also features such superstars as Dominik Nitsche (679,000), Mustapha Kanit (558,000) and Justin Bonomo (548,000).
Among those to bust throughout the event levels were Kathy Lehne, Joe Cada, defending champion Cary Katz, Luc Greenwood, Jason Koon, Daniel Negreanu, Byron Kaverman, and Stephen Chidwick. Koray Aldemir and David Peters entered two times, but both attempts were not crowned with success.
Lehne busted in the second level of the day when her flopped top pair with ace-king was no good, as Steve O'Dwyer flopped middle set with pocket nines. The chips went in after the turn and Lehne needed one of the two remaining aces on a paired board, but found no help on a blank river.
Dominik Nitsche and Igor Kurganov had a rough start on their table and quickly dropped to a fraction of the starting stack. Nitsche had to re-enter, while Kurganov scored two doubles and ran up a stack from there. Fellow PokerStars Team Pro Daniel Negreanu appeared in the fifth level and quickly lost a big chunk of his stack to Daniel Dvoress with flush under flush. Negreanu doubled once but ran out of steam soon after.
Defending champion Cary Katz was ousted by Jean-Noel Thorel when he three-bet with ace-queen suited and jammed a king-queen high flop with second pair. Thorel snap-called with king-queen for top two pair and remained ahead on blank turn and river. At almost the same time, Koray Aldemir ran with queens into the aces of Henrik Hecklen and Steffen Sontheimer also departed. Aldemir bought back in, but lost almost all chips with ace-six against pocket queens to bust once more.
In the final two levels of the night, several players were eliminated and just 33 participants bagged up. They will return half past noon and the registration closes as soon as the cards go back in the air. Day 2 is scheduled to play down to an eight-handed final table and the PokerNews team will be on the floor to cover all the action.
PCA Super High Roller Events at a glance
| Year | Entries | Total Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 38 | $3,743,000 | Eugene Katchalov | $1,500,000 |
| 2012 | 32 | $3,136,000 | Viktor Blom | $1,254,400 |
| 2013 | 55 | $5,724,180 | Scott Seiver | $2,003,480 |
| 2014 | 56 | $5,433,120 | Fabian Quoss | $1,629,940 |
| 2015 | 66 | $6,402,000 | Steve O'Dwyer | $1,872,580 |
| 2016 | 58 | $5,626,000 | Bryn Kenney | $1,687,800 |
| 2017 | 54 | $5,239,080 | Jason Koon | $1,650,300 |
| 2018 | 48 | $4,737,600 | Cary Katz | $1,492,340 |
| 2019 | 56+ | tba | tba |
, Kurganov bet 25,000 which Badziakouski called.
, Kurganov shoved which seemed to pain Badziakouski.
.
flop. Once the action folded to Katz, he bet 40,000 and Thorel raised to 80,000, O'Dwyer got out of the way. One time bank was used by Katz before he moved all in and Thorel called in a heartbeat.
turn and 
river, ending Katz's run on the first bullet.
flop, Sontheimer checked and called a bet of 20,000 before the 
on the turn was checked through. Sonthemier then bet the 
river for 78,000 with 500 behind.
by Sontheimer, which he had beat with 
for a set.
turn was checked through. Kanit check-called 12,000 on the 
river and mucked when Kaverman showed 
for a flush with the nine.
, Dvoress quickly check-called the 8,000 continuation-bet of Negreanu.
.
which was the higher club.
and Negreanu showed that his second hole card was the 
for them to confirm that Dvoress was really the winner of the hand and would double up.
, Jensen checked for the last time. Petrangelo tanked and then decided to bet 156,000. O'Dwyer took some time to consider his options and when the timer was ticking down, O'Dwyer folded. Jensen looked at the board, sighed, and then made the call. Petrangelo tabled 
turn and the 
river brought no help and Nitsche was eliminated on his first bullet. However, he may be back soon as the tournament offers unlimited re-entries until the start of Day 2.
turn brought another check by O'Dwyer and Lehne moved all in, a snap-call by O'Dwyer followed.
flop, followed by another barrel worth 40,000 on the 
turn.