We found Joaquin Walter all in from the button for about 150,000 with 
on a 
flop that featured two clubs. Michael Vela had put him at risk with 
.
"Why can't I make a flush?" he asked.
The turn was a brick but the river a 
, delivering the asked-for flush. Vela celebrated as Walter shot out of his chair and briskly walked to payouts.
James Martyn ended Day 1a with the chip lead but has now been eliminated from the Main Event.
Martyn moved all in for 75,000 from late position and was called by Kliment Tarmakov.
Tarmakov: 
Martyn: 
The flop came 
, keeping Martyn in the lead with a pair of nines.
The turn, however, was the 
and Tarmakov took the lead with a set of sevens.
The river was the 
and Martyn was eliminated, sending the pot Tarmakov's way.
Former PCA champion John Dibella raised to 11,000 and Benjamin Philipps called from the big blind. Philipps lead out for 13,000 on 
and Dibella called. Philipps bet another 20,000 on the turn and again Dibella called. The 
completed the board and Philipps bet 35,000.
"What, you got the black queens or something?" Philipps said as Dibella pondered. "Maybe it's a good run out and you save money" Philipps continued.
Dibella thought about it for a bit more before he folded his hand, claiming to have had top set.
Stig Moen checked from early position to Marius Cazacu on a board of 
. Cazacu thought a minute or so then announced all in. Moen got the count: 82,500. He decided to call in fairly short order, and Cazacu showed him 
for top set.
"That's a good hand," Moen said with a laugh, tabling 
when the dealer informed him he had to show.
Esther Taylor-Brady moved all in from early position for her remaining 48,000 and got a call from Pablo Mariz in middle position.
Mariz: 
Taylor-Brady:
The board ran out 
and Taylor-Brady was unable to catch up, sending her to the rail.
Michael Bills piled his remaining 54,500 in the middle from the small blind on a board reading 
. There was about 25,000 in the pot already.
Benjamin Philipps was on the button and asked for a count. After a moment he stood up and looked at the board. Eventually, Philipps called.
As he turned his cards over Bills stood up and exclaimed, "This is the most above-average hand I've seen in a while" as he tabled 
for bottom pair and a flush draw.
Philipps happily showed 
for second pair.
The turn was the 
and Bills locked up the hand with a flush. The river was the and Bills raked in the pot.
On an 
flop, Massimo De Mario checked from the big blind and former New England Patriot and Oakland Raider Richard Seymour checked behind in the hijack to see a 
turn.
De Mario led out for 15,000, Seymour raised to 35,000, and De Mario called, which brought about the on the river.
De Mario returned to checking and Seymour bet 33,000, which left him around 90,000 back. De Mario then woke up with an all-in check-raise, and the pressure was on Seymour as the cameras swarmed.
Seymour made some comments suggesting he thought De Mario was weak. "I might call with this hand," he said.
More than 90 seconds passed before Seymour tossed in a chip to call and then rolled over the 
for king high.
He was right that De Mario was weak, but unfortunately for him the Italian had actually paired up on the river with the 
.
The hero call didn't pay off for Seymour and he was officially eliminated from the 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas.
Byron Kaverman raised to 12,000 early and snap-called when Arnaud Mattern jammed for 55,000 on the button. That's because Kaverman held , and he was fading jacks since Mattern had . The flop came 
to give Kaverman a sweat but the turn and river were blanks.
We're not sure how the preflop action went down, but it resulted in Axat Tulsidas Mawji getting in for 87,000 against both Nacho Barbero and James Juvancic.
When the flop came down , Juvancic moved all in and Barbero, who had the shorter stack with 125,000 back, had to decide what to do. Eventually he folded the 
face up, and he quickly regretted it.
Juvancic: 
Mawji:
The
turn and river have Mawji the triple, though he would have been eliminated had Barbero seen the hand through.
"Wow, I can't believe you just played that hand like that," chirped Barbero to Juvancic. "So bad."
"I know you have queens or jacks and are folding," Juvancic explained. "If he has ace-king I win a big pot."
The two bickered back and forth for awhile before Mawji looked Barbero dead in the eyes and said, "He outplayed you."
"Yeah, you're right," Barbero responded.
Gaelle Baumann in the hijack position and Pratyush Buddiga in the cut-off had all their chips into the middle on their table and it was a race to see if Buddiga would be leaving the tournament.
Gaelle Baumann:
Pratyush Buddiga:
The board was a kind one for Buddiga, however, as it came 
and doubled Buddiga up to marginally less than Baumann now has to her name.
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