Just 32 players remain in the PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event as the tournament heads into Day 4 on Thursday. Nick Maimone is the chip leader with 1.750 million chips; Maimone, who will celebrate his 30th birthday tomorrow, also led the field heading into Day 3.
A total of 699 players registered on Days 1A and 1B and another 39 signed up before the start of play on Day 2 to bring the grand total to 738 runners. Interestingly, there were 28 players who won seats via PokerStars Spin & Go’s who never actually showed up for the tournament. Their buy-ins were still added to the prize pool, as one would expect. That prize pool amounts to $3,376,712; payouts go down to 143rd place with $480,012 going to the winner and a min-cash being worth $7,260.
Maimone has had great success in the Bahamas. He won the $25,000 8-Handed High Roller event a year ago – picking up about $1 million – when this poker festival was called the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and placed second in another PCA event in 2015 for nearly $113,000. Maimone also finished 15th in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, winning $633,022.
Those three cashes comprise the bulk of his live tournament earnings, which total $1,880,865, according to TheHendonMob.com.
Maimone rose to the chip lead thanks in large part to winning the largest hand of the tournament so far. According to the PokerNews live reporting, Maimone raised to 27,000 pre-flop after seeing everyone fold around to him. Pascal Lefrancois raised him to 70,000 from the small blind. After the big blind folded, Maimone four-bet to 175,000, prompting Lefrancois to move all-in for 650,000. Maimone, obviously, made the call.
Maimone had Queens, Lefrancois held A-K. Maimone said he didn’t really prefer to be getting it in with that hand, but he couldn’t pass up the price he was getting. No real excitement once the cards came out – nothing higher than a Jack meant the end of the line for Lefrancois and the chip lead for Maimone.
Some of the “names” still remaining in the field include Jason Mercier (1.333 million chips), Christian Harder (856,000), 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Ryan Reiss (742,000), 2016 WSOP November Niner Cliff Josephy (528,000), Adrian Mateos, legendary poker streamer Jaime Staples, Byron Kaverman, Pratyush Buddiga, and Gaelle Baumann.
Day 4 will begin at noon at the Atlantis Resort. The plan for Thursday is to play just four 90-minute levels, so it will be a short day compared to most days in major live tournaments.
2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event – Day 3 Chip Leaders
1. Nick Maimone – 1,750,000
2. Jason Mercier – 1,333,000
3. John Dibella – 1,134,000
4. Rasmus Glaesel – 1,029,000
5. Michael Vela – 967,000
6. Scott Stewart – 952,000
7. Rodrigo Cordoba – 880,000
8. Damien Steel – 878,000
9. Christian Harder – 856,000
10. Pedro Baptista Martinho Cabeca – 829,000