Thinking back to yesterday’s Day 1 of the LAPT Bahamas Main Event, a frequently used word to describe the proceedings — perhaps the most used — was “staggering.” As in, “the turnout is simply staggering.” Or “that prize pool is staggering.” Or “can you please stop saying staggering?”
With 736 total entries, a $1,945,248 total prize pool, and a cash prize of $367,928 awaiting the winner, this inaugural visit of the LAPT to the Bahamas has proven quite a success, making for an exciting prelude to this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event that kicks off today.
By the time the dust settled following 12 fifty-minute levels yesterday, there were still 183 players left to bag chips, with Mukul Pahuja of the U.S. enjoying the overnight chip lead after spinning his stack up to a hefty 244,400 by night’s end.
There were five other players joining Pahuja in the 200,000-chip club last night: Roger Tondeur (228,600), Mustapha Kanit (228,500), Brahim Oubella (222,100), Jonathan Borenstein (221,900), and Victor Begara (212,700).
Marvin Rettenmaier just missed being part of that group, ending with 197,600, with Joao Simao (196,100), Robert Mizrachi (195,600), and Eduardo Cruz (194,600) rounding out the end-of-night top 10.
Others returning to big stacks today include Mike Leah (166,500), Martin Finger (155,300), Chris Klodnicki (125,500), Sam Chartier (122,100), Calvin Anderson (119,100), and Dani Stern (110,900).
Meanwhile there are still some Team PokerStars Pros in the hunt, with Victor Ramdin (109,000), Eugene Katchalov (101,100), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (66,000), Liv Boeree (53,000) all returning today as well. Click here for a look at the complete Day 2 seat draw with everyone’s counts.
The top 111 players will make the money, meaning the bubble will likely be bursting by mid-afternoon. After that expectations are we’re looking at a long, long day of poker as they’ll try to do what they can to carve down the still huge field to something manageable for tomorrow.
Play picks back up in a short while at 12 noon ET. Could be we’re using that word “staggering” again about 14 hours from now to describe ourselves and the players still left fighting for those coveted top spots in the payouts. We promise to employ some other words today, too, though, to describe the action as we march toward finding out who will be the first LAPT champion of Season 8.
Photography from LAPT8 Bahamas by Carlos Monti. Click here for live updates in Spanish, and here for live updates in Portuguese.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
Back to Top
