PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Jumps to EPT
The holidays are complete and like clockwork that means once again it’s time for the PokerStars event in the Bahamas. This year however, there will be one major change. With PokerStars being the title sponsor of the European Poker Tour, that circuit will now be hosting the PCA. It is no longer a WPT event. Team PokerStars members that will be on hand include: Barry Greenstein, Danny Negreanu, Joe Hachem and Vanessa Rousso.
The $8,000 buy in event will take place January 5th through the 10th at the gorgeous Atlantis Resort & Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. With nearly 850 players already qualified online through PokerStars, this will be a massive field requiring two initial starting days to accommodate the entire field. Each player will begin with a stack of 20,000 and play 90-minute blind levels starting at the 50-100 mark. Also noteworthy, the final two days of the event will be played 8-handed as is the standard with all official EPT events.
Last year’s PCA drew a field of 937 professionals and internet players which created a prize pool of $7,063,842. The final 180 players were all guaranteed to take home at least $9,889 with the eventual champion receiving $1,535,255. After five days of grinding, we were down to the final nine. The final nine featured multiple WSOP bracelet winners in Robert Mizrachi, Jon Friedberg and Scott Clements. The WPT TV table was set when Antonio Ribeiro busted out in 7th place. The final six and their payouts were:
| 1. |
Ryan Daut |
$1,535,255 |
|
| 2. |
Isaac Haxto |
$861,789 |
|
| 3. |
Robert Ford |
$550,980 |
|
| 4. |
Robert Mizrachi |
$409,703 |
|
| 5. |
Jonathan Little |
$317,873 |
|
| 6. |
Frank Rusnak |
$247,234 |
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The main story of the week was the 21-year old rock star look-alike Isaac Haxton who dominated the event for most of the week. Haxton and his long, flowing locks entered the final table with a massive chip stack of 9,216,000 which was nearly five times that of his nearest competitor. However in the end, Ryan Daut who entered the final day with just over 2,300,000 was able to run down Haxton to claim the championship.
This is the first major event of the new calendar year and almost undoubtedly will springboard a couple players to huge results for 2008. Of last year’s final table, Mizrachi claimed a WSOP bracelet and over $1.3 million in earnings. Meanwhile, two other younger guys had breakout seasons. Jonathan Little and Scott Clements finished third and fourth respectively in the CardPlayer “Player of the Year” standings. Little amassed more than $2.5 million for the year including the Mirage Poker Showdown title and a runner-up finish at the North American Poker Championships. Clements parlayed his 8th place finish in the PCA into another WSOP bracelet and the NAPC title. He accumulated a shade over $2.2 million in ’07.
All of the action will commence on Saturday, the 5th at 12:00pm EST. We will be there covering all the excitement from the island with new videos and episodes of “PokerRoad Radio”.
Preview by LA Mike
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