PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event Day 2

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure hosted Day 2 of the Main Event yesterday. A total of 635 Day 1 qualifiers had seats, but only the top 235 would finish in the money. The PCA’s organizers didn’t actually expect the Day 2 players to reach the bubble, but several hours of hard and fast play resulted in numerous back-to-back eliminations. By the time the tournament had reached its stop time, only 173 players were left to compete on Day 3.

Despite faring well over the weekend in his exhibition heads-up game against Bertrand Grospellier, Viktor Blom – the newly unveiled face behind online legend Isildur1 – once again performed under expectations by finishing out of the money. Though Blom has gone so far as to call himself the best heads-up Hold’em player in the world, his two failed event entries at this year’s PCA have proven that the young pro still has a lot to learn about live MTTs. Blom was in good company, though, as other big names like Joe Cada and Phil Ivey also left the competition early.

By the end of Day 2, the chip leaderboard had undergone a serious shake-up. Of the 20 players that had finished their Day 1A and Day 1B competitions at the top, only Ilan Rouah and Chris Moneymaker managed to make a repeat appearance in the top ten stack count. At a quick glance, that top ten includes all men, six PokerStars sponsored players or qualifiers, and three different countries of origin. Here’s the Day 2 top ten by stack size: 

1. Adam Geyer – 909,000

1. Ilan Rouah – 795,000
2. Chris Oliver – 792,500
3. Harry Kaczka – 687,000
4. Chris Moneymaker – 650,500
5. Eric Buchman – 648,500
6. Oleg Perepletchikov – 641,500
7. David Sands – 617,000
8. Josh Bergman – 610,000
9. Bahbak Oboodi – 596,500

Dwyte Pilgrim is still hanging on with a pretty good stack while Bertrand Grospellier will come into Day 3 toward the bottom as will Saturday’s PCA Super High Roller champion Eugene Katchalov. It’s hard to believe that Katchalov is back for more, considering he already pocketed $1.5 million from his high roller win, but he’s now in position to cash again at the Main Event.

Obviously Day 2’s big news was the meteoric rise of American pro Adam Geyer. If you’ve been following the action, then Geyer’s lead no doubt comes as a surprise since his Day 1 and Day 2 showings weren’t noteworthy. A few key hands in yesterday’s competition helped to push him forward, and consistent play throughout the chaos propelled him to the top. Going into Day 3, Geyer has a very good chance of being the first player to crack the 1-million chip mark.

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