The first flight of the Caribbean Poker Party $5,300 MILLIONS Main Event has concluded. A total of 366 entrants tried their luck during Day 1A, but only 232 made it through all eight 60-minute levels, with Ronan Sweeney leading the way. He bagged up an impressive 5,856,000 to take through to Day 2, starting Wednesday the 22nd at noon local time.
Close on Sweeney's tail are Johnny Lodden (5,625,000), Carl Martel (5,115,000), Pavel Veksler (4,993,000) and, just behind him, Antoine Saout (4,922,000).
Alongside the chip leaders, other well-knowns advancing to Day 2 include 2017 WSOPE Main Event finalist Maria Ho (2,643,000), last year's partypoker Caribbean Main Event winner Niall Farrell (1,067,000), and partypoker sponsored pros Jan-Peter Jachtmann (1,948,000), Dzmitry Urbanovich (1,831,000), and Kristen Bicknell (404,000).
Not all the fan favorites survived the day, though, with partypoker sponsored pros Marcel Luske and Anatoly Filatov both falling short. Fortunately for them, another two flights are scheduled to start Tuesday: one at noon and another at 7 p.m.
Late registration and re-entry for this event will be available until the end of level 12, four hours into Day 2. We'll be with you the whole way to bring you updates throughout.
We join the action on a with a huge chunk of change in the middle, that looks to total around 700,000, with Johnny Lodden having set his opponent all-in for an effective stack of 450,000.
After a few minutes, it was clear that some players at the table were becoming somewhat impatient, but this was a huge pot with someone's tournament life at risk, deep into Day 1, so the table remained respectful and no clock was called.
Eventually, with a sigh, the chips cascaded over the line, prompting Lodden to whip over for the flopped straight.
"Can we see what you had?" came a curious enquiry from across the table. The dealer revealed the for trips, and a few whinces were seen around the table as Lodden dragged in a huge pot.
It's here! The $5million guaranteed 2017 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event! The first flight of the $5,300 buy-in MILLIONS Event is to be played out over eight 60-minute levels at The Level at Melia Caribe Tropical in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Day 1A starts at midday, with the later flight, Day 1B, starting at 7:00pm local time. There are two more Day 1's running tomorrow at the same times: noon and 7:00pm, before all survivors collaborate for Day 2, starting on Wednesday 22nd, with the eventual winner lifting the trophy on Saturday 25th after five days of poker.
Late registration and re-entry for this event will be available until the end of level 12, four hours into Day 2. We'll be with you the whole way to bring you updates throughout.