PCA 2015 - Almost $1.5 Million for the Winner

It was a fun day in the Bahamas yesterday. Not only that the poker action was going strong, but extracurricular activities were also abundant. It is probably the sun and the smell of salt in the air that brings out the best from the people. Even Laura and Rikard were caught up in this euphoria as they joined MMA champion Tito Ortiz and PokerStars Team Pro Liv Boeree for some ‘light’ workout.

It seems that exercise has done wonders for Liv, as she finished the Day 2 yesterday with the stack of 247k, well above average and putting her in great to make a deep run when they return today. Boeree will be joining the other 180 odd players that made it through the day, led by Walter Fisher. Mr. Fisher (photo) bagged the stack of 497,000, giving him a lot of ammo to work with today.

When the cards went in the air yesterday the registration was finally over and not long after, the numbers were in. Total of 816 players took it to the tables, generating a prize pool of $7,915,200. The winner will take home $1,491,580 and the cool Steel SLYDE watch + the trophy. 119 players will get paid the minimum of $17,800, so the bubble will be bursting today.

Some players who will not be too concerned about the bubble include Pratyush Buddiga who bagged 358k at the end of the day, Daniel ‘KidPoker’ Negreanu who will return to the stack of 295,600, Liv Boeree with 247,100, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Andre Akkari.

Brazilian football star Ronaldo will be carrying the banner for the sports stars today. Ronaldo was able to finish the day with 146,000, which is above the average stack so he could be poised for a deep run. If he could somehow make the final table, it would be just legendary.

Naoyo Kihara, the most recent addition to the PokerStars Team Pro, is carrying the banner for this group of players, as he finished with the stack of $301,800. Rikard caught up with the first Team Pro member from Japan for a short chat.

Of course, not everybody was so lucky and quite a few were stopped half way through the dream. A number of Team Pro players, including Chris Moneymaker, Vanessa Selbst and Jake Cody, were sent to the rail. Another famous member of Team Sports Star, Fatima Moreira De Melo, also busted and so did Ike Haxton and Randy Lew.

The chase after the final table seats continues today and our team in the Bahamas will make sure to bring you some more great interviews, reports and shenanigans from the beautiful Atlantis resort in Bahamas.