2016 PCA Main Event Day 1a: Soccer Star Ronaldo, Super Bowl Champ Richard Seymour Bust
Day 1a of the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $5,300 Main Event attracted 210 players to the felt. When it was all said and done — eight one-hour levels later — England's Toby Lewis topped the surviving pack with 188,000 in chips.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toby Lewis | 188,000 |
| 2 | Boyuan Qu | 149,800 |
| 3 | Kathy Lehne | 130,100 |
| 4 | Andrey Zaichenko | 119,500 |
| 5 | Ryan Blank | 114,400 |
| 6 | Nikolay Panchenko | 107,200 |
| 7 | Mike Watson | 106,700 |
| 8 | Anton Astapau | 104,100 |
| 9 | Dejan Boskovic | 102,000 |
| 10 | Taylor Paur | 100,000 |
Lewis has won a European Poker Tour event before in his poker career. Back in 2010, he scooped up the title in the EPT Vilamoura €5,300 Main Event for €467,836. All told, Lewis boasts live career tournament earnings of $2,691,908, and he's got a good shot to pad that total with a very positive start.
The first of two starting flights was filled with plenty of big names and notable faces, but a few players stood out above the rest, and it wasn't necessarily for their poker exploits. While scanning the field at the start of the day, we spotted international soccer legend Ronaldo, Spanish professional golfer Sergio Garcia, and three-time Super Bowl champion Richard Seymour. Of that trio, only Garcia advanced through the day, bagging 63,900.
Ronaldo fell in Level 5 with the blinds at 150/300/25. He was all in preflop with the A♥Q♠ against the 9♦9♥ of Andrey Zaichenko and actually took the lead after the A♦5♣5♠ rolled out as the first three community cards. Unfortunately for Ronaldo, the 9♠ hit on the turn to give Zaichenko a full house. Ronaldo couldn't find another lucky card on the river, and the J♥ sealed his fate.
Zaichenko went on to finish the day with 119,400 in chips.
Other notables to bust out on Day 1a were Maria Ho, Justin Bonomo, Paul Newey, Shaun Deeb, Mohsin Charania, and Celina Lin.
On the flip side of things, Boyuan Qu (149,800), Kathy Lehne (130,100), Anton Astapau (104,100), Taylor Paur (100,000), and Olivier Busquet (90,600) all had successful days on the felt, and we'll see them back in action on Sunday's Day 2.
While that wraps up the opening day of play in this marquee poker tournament, Day 1b is just a handful of hours away. It will kick off on Saturday at 12 p.m. local time with the same plan of attack as this one. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of the event as the quest to find the 13th PCA Main Event champion continues.
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