Yunis Leads after Day 1
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Day 1 of the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller is in the books, and after eleven levels of play, 56 players remain and Nick Yunis is our chip leader with 407,100 chips. There were 141 players and seven re-entries (Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Chris Moorman, Chance Kornuth, Eui Woong Kim, Joe Elpayaa, and Nick Yunis), making the total number of entries 148 – just ten less than last year. The total prize pool reached $3,626,000, and 16 players will cash for a minimum of $58,020. The lucky eight who make the final table are guaranteed $108,780, and the winner will receive $1,134,930 and the Shamballa bracelet.
Yunis, who leads by nearly 60,000 chips, busted during the first four levels, then re-entered. He steadily trended upwards with his second bullet, and in one key pot against Carlos Boyd, Yunis was faced with an all-in bet with the board reading 
. He had Boyd covered, but it was still a big decision, and he called, holding the 
. Boyd held 
– a monster draw – but the river was a blank, and Yunis secured the knockout. Yunis’ largest cash to date came late last year, where he finished fourth in a Partouche Poker Tour event for $47,763.
Businessman Bill Perkins stole the show today, playing seemingly every pot at his table. He was unafraid to get his chips in the middle, and his chip stack rocketed to 100,000 chips, then 200,000 chips, then 300,000 chips, and ended the day with 345,700 chips. Perkins recorded a few knockouts along the way, inclduding Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Ludovic Lacay and Carlos Mortensen. The businessman always seems to enjoy his time at the table, but poker’s always a little more fun when the chips are gravitating towards you.
Leading Team PokerStars Pro in the field today was 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel. Duhamel, who is having an amazing PCA, finished the day with 226,300 chips, and won several key pots, including one against fellow Team Pro Eugene Katchalov. In the hand, Duhamel opened to 1,300, and Katchalov three-bet on his direct left. The action folded back to Duhamel, he called, and the flop fell 
. Duhamel checked, Katchalov tossed out 2,500, and Duhamel check-raised to 7,700. Katchalov called. Duhamel led for 13,700 after the 
turned, Katchalov called, and the 
completed the board. Duhamel led again – this time for 28,400 – and Katchalov tank-called. Duhamel tabled 
for a straight, Katchalov mucked, and Duhamel pulled in a massive pot.
Katchalov survived the day though, and so too did Team Pros Pierre Neuville, Barry Greenstein, Joe Cada, and Ville Wahlbeck. Online Pro Randy Lew and Sports Star Gualter Salles also made it through to Day 2.
Will Molson will not reach heads-up play for the fourth straight year. Molson, who has cashed for over $1.6 million in this event in the past three years, was eliminated in the last level of the night, joining a long list of casualties including Pius Heinz, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst, Chance Kornuth (twice), Joseph Elpayaa (twice), Matt Waxman, Justin Smith, Erik Cajelais, and many more.
The tournament is scheduled to resume at noon local time tomorrow, but there have been some rumblings that the re-start may be delayed. If there are any developments between now and the start of play tomorrow, we will let you know as soon as possible. Until then, goodnight from The Bahamas!