Ladies and Gentlemen... It's Time! The Main Event Starts Today!
Day 1 a of the inaugural PokerStars Championship Bahamas awaits, players from all over the world will flock to the Grand Ballroom of the Atlantis Resort here on Paradise Island to play one of the biggest events of the year this morning.
Last year, Mike Watson won the event after striking a deal with Anthony Gregg who finished runner-up after finishing in that very same spot back in 2009 as well. Watson took home $728,325, a smaller prize than in recent years with the buy-in halved to $5,000.
Play begins at 11 AM sharp (in about two hours) with a total of eight levels on the schedule for the first day of play. The players all start with a stack of 30,000, worth 300 big blinds as the first level will be 50/100 with no ante. Levels, as always, will be 75 minutes long on the first two days of play, only to grow to 90 minutes long the following days.
PokerNews.com will be your one-stop shop with live updates, chip counts and photos today. There will be no live stream just yet, James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton will take up the microphones from Day 2 onwards. Suggestions? People you want us to follow? You know something we don't? Take to Twitter and send your tweets to our @PokerNews-account to reach us.
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 75 minutes | 50 | 100 | - |
| 2 | 75 minutes | 75 | 150 | - |
| 20-minute break | ||||
| 3 | 75 minutes | 100 | 200 | 25 |
| 4 | 75 minutes | 150 | 300 | 50 |
| 20-minute break | ||||
| 5 | 75 minutes | 200 | 400 | 50 |
| 6 | 75 minutes | 250 | 500 | 75 |
| 75-minute dinner break | ||||
| 7 | 75 minutes | 300 | 600 | 100 |
| 8 | 75 minutes | 400 | 800 | 100 |
