Day 1 Draws Nearly 200 Entries; Troyanovskiy Leads Final 80
The 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller kicked off on Saturday as pros from around the world packed the tournament room. While registration is open until the start of Day 2, the current number of entries stands at 198, well above last year��s field of 148. After 11 levels of play, Vladimir Troyanovskiy emerged as the chip leader with a stack of 349,000.
Troyanovskiy steadily chipped up throughout the day, and won some notable pots along the way. In the first, which occurred midway through the day, there was 13,100 in the pot on a board reading 
. Team PokerStars Pro Ville Wahlbeck bet 10,000 only to have Troyanovskiy move all in. Wahlbeck thought long and hard before calling off with 
, and he was ahead of Troyanovskiy, who was drawing with the 
. The 
ended up spiking on the river to give Troyanovskiy the flush and the win.
Speaking of flushes, it wouldn��t be Troyanovskiy��s last. In Level 10, with blinds at 800/1,600 and a 200 ante, there was 280,000 in the pot and a flop of 
. An unknown player was all in and at risk with 
and Troyanovskiy, who recently final tabled the $100,000 Super High Roller, had him at risk with 
. The 
on the turn was a brick, but the spiked on the river to flush him again. The unknown player slammed the table angrily, then exited. That gave the Russian nearly 350,000 in chips.
Unfortunately not everyone was as fortunate as Troyanovskiy. The $25,000 featured one optional reentry, and numerous pros took advantage. Unfortunately for many of them, it didn��t help. Steve O��Dwyer, Faraz Jaka, Antonio Esfandiari, David Peters, Igor Kurganov, Joseph Cheong, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Eugene Katchalov and Jonathan Jaffe.
Jaffe mixed it up early in a big hand against Brian Lemke. It happened just 20 minutes into the day with the blinds at 100/200 with a 25 ante. Somehow the two managed to get the chips in preflop with Lemke holding 
and Jaffe 
. The 
flop gave Lemke hit a set, and the turn left Jaffe drawing dead. The meaningless was put out on the river for good measure, and Lemke raked in the pot. Meanwhile, Jaffe was eliminated a few hands later for the first time, though it obviously wasn��t the last.
A couple other double buy-in casualties included recent PCA $100,000 Super High Roller champ Scott Seiver and PCA $25,000 High Roller star Will Molson, who finished runner-up two years in a row and then won it in the third. They were joined on the rail by a laundry list of players who bought in just once, meaning they could fire a second bullet at the start of Day 2 if they so choose. They include Chris Moorman, Will Failla, Larry Ormson, Matt Salsberg, Humberto Brenes, Huck Seed and Nacho Barbero, just to name a few.
One player we do know will be making an appearance on Day 2 is 13-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth who tweeted the following:
Time to rest, rest, rest and then buy into $25K High Roller at the beginning of Day 2 tomorrow. I need to MAN UP and bring my best game!January 12 2013Follow
On the flip side, a few players reentered and made the most of their second chance including David "Doc" Sands, Matt Glantz, Brandon Stevens, Ryan Julius and Jonathan Duhamel.
Duhamel took second in the $25,000 High Roller last year for $634,550, but things weren��t looking good for a repeat as the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event fell early. It happened in Level 8 with the blinds at 500/1,000 and a 100 ante when Duhamel found himself all in for 54,300 holding and behind the 
of Fabian Quoss. The 
flop pair both, but Quoss' jack kicker kept him out in front. Neither the 
turn nor 
river helped Duhamel, and he was left to reenter. He went on to finish the night with 109,600.
Some other players who��ll be returning to action on Day 2 are Mike Watson, Shaun Deeb, Jason Koon, Jason Somerville, Chris Klodnicki, Erik Seidel, Mohsin Charania, Marvin Rettenmaier, Jeff Gross and the defending champion, Alex Bilokur. They��ll be joined by Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst and Isaac Haxton.
The $25,000 High Roller is scheduled to recommence at 13:00 p.m. EST on Sunday. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as they bring you all the action from the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.