On Sunday, PokerStars will be dishing out 30 seats to its annual Caribbean Adventure (PCA), which takes place next month from the Atlantis Hotel and Casino on Paradise Island in The Bahamas. The luxurious hotel and its world-famous bridge suite set the stage for the $10,000 buy-in Main Event of the PCA, which begins on Monday, January 5th. Last-minute prize packages are available this weekend on the world’s largest online poker room.
On Sunday, a total of 30 PCA seats will be up for grabs. The massive satellite tournament takes place at 6:00pm ET and comes with a buy-in of $650. It’s actually the second of two PCA qualifying tournaments to be held this weekend, with ten seats having already been awarded on Saturday. Lower cost entries into the $650 satellite tournament can be found in the PokerStars lobby under “Events” and “PCA.” Both events represent some of the final chances for players to claim PCA seats before the tournament series kicks off in just a few days.
PokerStars will host several events during the PCA. Poker players flock annually to the Atlantis hotel for the European Poker Tour (EPT) sanctioned event, the only stop for the Tour on the west side of the Atlantic Ocean. Here is a look at the slate of tournaments that will take place in paradise:
Monday, January 5th: $10,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Main Event
Wednesday, January 7th: $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em
Wednesday January 7th: $25,000 buy-in High Roller No Limit Hold’em
Thursday, January 8th: $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em
Thursday, January 8th: $2,000 buy-in Battleship
Friday, January 9th: $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em
Last year was landmark for the PCA. A record 1,136 players turned out for the tournament in its first year as an EPT event. Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier emerged victorious from the pack and pocketed a healthy $2 million for his efforts. Joining him at the final table in the resort located just outside Nassau were Hafiz Khan (second place for $1,094,976), Kris Kuykendall (third place for $800,000), David Pham (fourth place for $600,000), Craig Hopkins (fifth place for $450,000), Joe Elpayaa (sixth place for $300,000), Christian Harder (seventh place for $200,000), and Richard Fohrenbach (eighth place for $150,000).
Ryan “Daut44” Daut captured the 2007 PCA Main Event, winning $1.5 million. The final table included several members of the online poker community, including Isaac Haxton, Robert Mizrachi, Robert Ford, Jonathan Little, and Frank Rusnak. Steven Paul Ambrose took home victory in 2006, besting David Singer and Ozzy Sheikh in the process. Ambrose won $1.3 million.
In 2005, Englishman John Gale gained notoriety by claiming victory at the PCA, winning $850,000. Full Tilt Poker pro Nenad Medic and “Miami” John Cernuto joined Gale at the final table and ultimately finished fifth and sixth, respectively. In 2004, the PCA was held on a cruise ship and ended with Gus Hansen defeating Hoyt Corkins heads-up. John D’Agostino and PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu also made the final table of the World Poker Tour event. The PCA has since become a favorite destination for younger poker players.
Players who have won satellites into the PCA were recently given an opportunity by PokerStars to win unique adventures with the site’s sponsored pros during their stay on the island. A luxury dinner with couple Chad Brown and Vanessa Rousso, dolphin swimming with Humberto Brenes, and golfing with Daniel Negreanu were the three prizes given out as part of the Team PokerStars Pro Bahamas Experience.
The event on Sunday will be one of several noteworthy promotional events taking place on PokerStars. The site’s Sunday Million, regularly the richest online poker tournament held every week, will see its guarantee raised to $2.5 million. In addition, an $11 buy-in tournament will a $500,000 guarantee may go down as the largest online poker event ever held. A series of $10,000 added tournaments as well as a Team PokerStars Pro Championship Match are also part of the festivities.