PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller: Minieri On Top of Final 24
The second day of play in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller Event ended with just over 20 minutes left in Level 12 and 24 players remaining in the field. Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri may be the smallest player in the field, but he was in control the largest stack when the clock stopped.
Minieri began the day second in chips, barely behind fellow Team PokerStars Pro member Lex Veldhuis. The two drew the same table and everyone in the area knew an explosion could happen at any moment. Like an amazing finale at a fireworks show, the two players waited until the end of the day to go to war with one another. Minutes before the day ended, Minieri took his pocket kings up against Veldhuis' A♠ K♠ and came out on top. Veldhuis was the shorter-stacked player and was sent to the rail while Minieri moved to the chip lead.
Dutch player Michiel Brummelhuis is the other player who finished up. He has more than 400,000 chips and sits in second place. Brummelhuis was one of the most aggressive players on the felt all day, constantly attacking and applying pressure to his opponents.
Out of the 17 Team PokerStars Pros who entered the event, four remain. Minieri is joined by teammates Sandra Naujoks, Greg Raymer and Joe Cada. Cada won the World Series of Poker Main Event last November, so winning this event as well could prove to be one of the best starts in live poker.
Some of the notable bustouts on the day were Andre Akkari, William Thorson, Justin "BoostedJ" Smith and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow. Matusow was the last player to be eliminated on the day, finishing in 25th place. He called all-in against Carter Phillips who held K♥ 8♦. Matusow held A♠ Q♦. Phillips flopped two pair and went on to win the hand, sending the long-time professional to the sidelines.
Here's the seating chart for the final three tables, complete with chip counts.
(Table 1)
Seat 1: Carter Phillips - 139,400
Seat 2: Sandra Naujoks - 180,500
Seat 3: Joe Cada - 135,700
Seat 4: Nick Schulman - 143,400
Seat 5: Vivek Rajkumar - 301,700
Seat 6: Brett Richey - 106,400
Seat 7: Alex Brenes - 253,600
Seat 8: Michiel Brummelhuis - 403,800
(Table 2)
Seat 1: Adolfo Vaeza - 92,600
Seat 2: Isaac Baron - 76,200
Seat 3: Bijan Zahmat - 198,200
Seat 4: Paul Berende - 104,400
Seat 5: William Reynolds - 89,100
Seat 6: Dario Minieri - 430,700
Seat 7: James Calderaro - 89,100
Seat 8: Christian Kruel - 103,800
(Table 3)
Seat 1: Lisa Hamilton - 153,900
Seat 2: Shawn Buchanan - 171,700
Seat 3: Will Molson - 60,000
Seat 4: Greg Raymer - 206,600
Seat 5: Dmitry Stelmak - 264,000
Seat 6: Tobias Reinkemeier - 279,500
Seat 7: Matt Marafioti - 121,000
Seat 8: Bill Edler - 94,700
Play will resume tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. local time. The day will last until the final table is reached, with the money bubble breaking at 16 players. We'll see you then right here at PokerNews.com for all the live updates!
