Bryn Kenney Makes History, Aaron Paul Advances

The second of two starting flights for the 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event came to a close with 699 total entries on the board, but with registration open until the start of Day 2 that numver could move. James Martyn bagged up the Day 1A lead with 197,400 and James Juvancic finished with 271,800 for the overall lead Monday.

A combined 370 players return at noon to play six 75-minute levels. Returning from Flight 1A are Dan Colman, Jason Mercier, Cliff Josephy and Daniel Negreanu. Mohsin Charania, Mukul Pahuja, Pascal Lefrancois and Vanessa Selbst move on from the second flight.

Poker Central Ambassador Maria Ho bagged up chips after she began her day as the PokerStars National Championship. She finished in fifth place and found 71,100 chips to put in a bag for Tuesday. She’be joined by Aaron Paul and Chris Moneymaker on Day 2.

When registration is closed tournament officials will release all payout information.

Combined Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

1. James Juvancic – 271,800
2. Andrew Ryan – 224,300
3. James Martyn – 197,400
4. Brad Marsh – 173,200
5. Damian Steel – 165,000
6. Mattias Priolo – 160,800
7. Andre Crooks – 160,400
8. Felipe Ramos – 156,800
9. Rodrigo Cordoba – 156,400
10. Mikko Turtiainen – 155,100

Bryn Kenney Wins $50,000 High Roller, Extends History

A single day $50,000 High Roller event drew 69 entries kicked off at noon the day after Jason Koon and Charlie Carrel won seven-figures each. Players were eager for the turbo action and 15 hours later Bryn Kenney won $969,075 at a final that was a Who’s Who in high stakes action.

Kenney’s win pushed his total career earnings at Atlantis to past $5 million – the winningest player on the island and almost a full $1million lead on the next closest competitors.

It was a long march to the final table, but once Oleksii Khoroshenin bubbled the event, action picked up and the table flew from eight players to final pairing in just over an hour.

The field generated a prize pool of $3.3 million payout just the final table.

Final Table Payouts

1. Bryn Kenney – $969,075
2. Mustapha Kanit – $695,740
3. Byon Kaverman – $452,220
4. Daniel Colman – $341,240
5. Stephen Chidwick – $265,040
6. Ben Tollerene – $205,400
7. Sergi Reixach – $162,340
8. Daniel Dvoress – $125,900
9. Cary Katz – $96,080

Nicola Basile Wins Inaugural PokerStars National Championship

The first $2,200 National Championship kicked for the PokerStars Championship series and organizer had to be pleased with the final table results. Chris Moneymaker, Maria Ho, Marc-Andre Ledecoureur and Ben Philipps brought more than enough credit to the inaugural affair.

Canadian Nicola Basile took down the event which drew 421 entries, which should set a good standard for measure in future National Championship events.

“This is the big one,” he said. “This is my first big one, and hopefully there are more to come. This is just the beginning.”

Basile was very thankful to his tablemates to end an elimination short the previous night because he came down with food poisoning during play. “They were all pros, I know that, but I love playing with them,” he added.

Final Table Payouts

1. Nicola Basile – $131,680
2. David Yan – $96,880
3. Marc-Andre Ladouceur – $71,160
4. Javier Gomez – $52,260
5. Maria Ho – $38,380
6. Chris Moneymaker – $28,200
7. Ramiro Petrone – $20,700
8. Ben Philipps – $15,200