Kevin Hart Survives Day 1 of PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo €100K
World-famous comedy star Kevin Hart took his first crack at a major high roller when he played the $100,000 Super High Roller at PokerStars Championship Bahamas in January.
He fired a couple shells without any luck, but he may have at least learned something from the experience, as he improved his results already on his second try by advancing to Day 2 above the starting stack of the same event at PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®.
After eight one-hour levels of Day 1, 38 players bagged up chips, with Daniel Dvoress (907,000) first among them, followed by PokerStars Team Pro and fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu (864,000). Hart's 396,000 puts him just outside the top 10 at 13th.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 907,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 864,000 |
| 3 | Viacheslav Buldygin | Russia | 827,000 |
| 4 | Ali Reza Fatehi | Iran | 770,000 |
| 5 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | 676,000 |
| 6 | Steffen Sontheimer | Germany | 661,000 |
| 7 | David Peters | United States | 591,000 |
| 8 | Igor Kurganov | Russia | 516,000 |
| 9 | Stefan Schillhabel | Germany | 505,000 |
| 10 | Charlie Carrel | United Kingdom | 443,000 |
The tournament logged 47 unique entrants and 56 entries total, and there's still time for that number to grow until registration for the event closes at the start of Day 2.
Hart busted his first bullet and looked like he might log another fun but fruitless day at the felt, at least in terms of actual poker results — he may have fared better with a couple of physical strength and endurance prop bets he worked on organizing with Dan Colman.
Attempt No. 2 went better for the diminutive, boisterous movie star
However, attempt No. 2 went better for the diminutive, boisterous movie star. Pocket aces proved to be the ticket, twice over.
First, he got value from Ali Reza Fatehi when he made a boat after three queens hit the felt, Then, during the final level of the night, Hart limped under the gun with the bullets and saw Nick Petrangelo shove in 13 big blinds, followed by another shove from Dietrich Fast for 20. They had queen-ten and ace-eight respectively, and neither stood a chance against Hart.
Negreanu also made the most of a membership in the two-bullet club, despite having little time to work with since he busted late in the day. He made his own aces count for an early double through Dan Smith, who had tens, and then finished Smith off in a flip to instantly move way up the counts. Add in making a straight against Christoph Vogelsang, and Negreanu cooked up quite the climb.
Other players bagging included high roller ace Steve O'Dwyer (676,000), David Peters (591,000), Fedor Holz (366,000), Ike Haxton (287,000) and Ole Schemion (310,000) who locked up a trophy earlier in the day by winning the €10,300 Opening Event for about €275,000.
Soon-to-be dad and PokerStars Team Pro Jason Mercier also nurtured through a stack of 356,000.
Players will return Friday at 12:30 p.m. local time to play out Day 2 starting at 3,000/6,000/1,000. A final prize pool has yet to be determined as eliminated players and fresh entrants may still register until things kick off then. Head on over to the PokerStars Blog for live updates, and tune back in to PokerNews for more feature coverage.
