2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller Day 2: Mercier's Heating Up
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller event continued Saturday with the remaining 90 players of the original 151 returning to action. The players, staff, and media were settling in for a long day as the field was scheduled to play down to a final table. However, after more than 14 hours of play, tournament officials halted the action at 12 players, who will all return tomorrow to play down to a winner.
Leading the way is chip leader and Team PokerStars Pro (USA) Jason Mercier with 1.023 million. He is followed closely by David "Bakes" Baker who has 853,000 and fellow Team Pros Max Lykov (Russia) with 835,000 and Leo Fernandez (Argentina) with 704,000. A couple other names who'll be returning are Eric Seidel (632,000) and Tom Marchese (728,000).
Mercier made his way toward the top of the chip counts after a huge hand with Ryan "toetagU" Fair, the man who entered the day with the chip lead. In the hand, Mercier raised to 16,000 from early position and action folded all the way to Fair in the big blind. Fair reraised to 40,000, Mercier made it 93,000 to go, Fair moved all in, and Mercier called. With around 760,000 in the pot, the cards were turned up:
Fair: 10♥10♦
Mercier: A♦K♦
The pot was huge and whoever won would be vaulted to the top of the chip counts. The K♠Q♥A♣ flop gave Mercier two pair to take the lead, which he would hold onto as the Q♠ hit the turn, followed by the 3♠ on the river. Just like that, Mercier was back up over 750,000 while Fair, who started the day as the chip leader, was knocked down to just 83,000.
There were many trials and tribulations throughout the day. Along the way, a laundry list of poker pros hit the rail. Some Team PokerStars Pros who failed to survive the day were Alex Kravchenko (Russia), Joe Cada (USA), Sandra Naujoks (Germany), Alex Gomes (Brazil), Andre Akkari (Brazil), Humberto Brenes (Costa Rica), Joe Hachem (Australia), Juan Marceiras (Spain), Johnny Lodden (Norway) and Vanessa Rousso (USA).
Team PokerStars Pros weren't the only names returning for Day 2. Chino Rheem, David Benyamine, David "Doc" Sands, Bryn Kenney,Faraz Jaka, John Racener, Daniel "jungleman12" Cates, Daniel Alaei, and Freddy Deeb were just a few of the players who fell short of the money. In addition, Fair, who if you recall was the chip leader at the start of the day, was unable to make it to the money, falling just shy in 20th place.
Fair’s last hand came when action folded to Seidel on the button and he moved all in with the A♦7♦. Fair, who was the shorter stack, called from the big blind with 4♠4♥ and it was off to the races. Unfortunately for Fair, Seidel pulled ahead on the A♥K♥3♦ flop. The Q♥ turn changed nothing and neither did the 6♣ river. Just like that, the chip leader at the start of the day was sent packing.
While the aforementioned players ultimately came up short, others navigated their way all the way to the money. They included last year's PCA Main Event runner up, Ty Reiman (16th-$55,490); Brett Richey (15th-$55,490); Ravi Raghavan (14th-$73,990); and Rob Akery (13th-$73,990).
Here is how things will look when action resumes:
Table 1
Seat 1: Max Lykov (835,000)
Seat 2: Jason Mercier (1.023 million)
Seat 3: Matt Affleck (95,000)
Seat 4: --empty--
Seat 5: Will Molson (526,000)
Seat 6: Govert Metaal (792,000)
Seat 7: --empty--
Seat 8: Matt Marafioti (385,000)
Table 2
Seat 1: Shander de Vries (325,000)
Seat 2: David "Bakes" Baker (853,000)
Seat 3: Brandon Steven (571,000)
Seat 4: Leo Fernandez (704,000)
Seat 5: Erik Seidel (632,000)
Seat 6: Tom Marchese (728,000)
Seat 7: --empty--
Seat 8: --empty--
The $25,000 High Roller finale is set to resume at 12 P.M. EST on Sunday. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to capture all the action and eliminations, so sure to follow along and see who will win the $1,072,850 first-place prize.
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