2016 WSOPC Caribbean: William Hicks Leads After Day 1a of Event 3
The inaugural World Series of Poker Circuit Caribbean at the iconic Casino Royale on Sint Maarten kicked off Nov. 3 and the very first satellite resulted in four entries to the $1,675 Main Event.
Nov. 5 saw another satellite scheduled with three entries being given away to the $365 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry Event #3. The first WSOPC ring event of the festival kicked off Day 1a and all players started with 10,000 in chips, which could be topped up by 2,000 for a $20 optional staff bonus. Registration remained open until the start of level 10 and a total of 69 entries were gathered to put the tournament on track to meet the guarantee of $50,000.
Among those to take part were Layne Flack, Peter Lawson, regulars, boss Peter Hajszan of Austria's Poker Royale and many familiar faces of the island. Robbie Bakker, who finished sixth in the 2013 WPT Caribbean at the very same venue and Canada's Arman Bosnakyan also took part and both were among 11 players to bag up chips for Day 2.
Flack's stack was gone after running into the flopped set of jacks of Frederic Maniez. The latter ran with kings into the aces of Julien Bonnel in the last few levels of the night while Bakker dodged a pair and flush draw to double through Dueval Fenton with kings at almost the same time.
However, it ultimately was Sint Maarten resident William Hicks who stormed into the lead in the last level of the night and claimed 202,900, well ahead of Bakker's 159,000 and Pierre Goetze's 89,000. Bonnel followed in fourth with 78,400, while Bosnakyan made it through with 48,300.
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | William Hicks | USA | 202,900 |
| 2 | Robbie Bakker | Netherlands | 159,000 |
| 3 | Pierre Goetz | Saint Martin | 89,000 |
| 4 | Julien Bonnel | France | 78,400 |
| 5 | T. Slamani | France | 55700 |
| 6 | Augusto Cavazzini | Italy | 52,600 |
| 7 | Arman Bosnakyan | Canada | 48,300 |
| 8 | Daniel Allafort | France | 43,600 |
| 9 | Donald Spence | USA | 42,300 |
| 10 | Dueval Fenton | Saint Martin | 41,800 |
| 11 | Erwin Hammer | Austria | 16,700 |
It was initially scheduled to play 15 levels of 30 minutes each on Day 1a; however, one level was cut off. Day 1b, which starts at 6 p.m. local time on Saturday, and Day 1c, at the same time on Sunday, will have as many levels.
The winner of the WSOP Circuit ring will be determined on Monday as of 3:30 p.m. and the level duration increases to 40 minutes for Day 2 and 50 minutes for the final table.
Besides the second starting day, Saturday will feature another $65 satellite for Event #3 at 4 p.m. and a $135 Rebuy Satellite for the WSOP Circuit Caribbean Main Event at 9 p.m. local time.
