The inaugural PokerStars Championship Bahamas $100,000 Super High Roller started off with a bang and a tinge of comedy (more about that one later). The tournament and the festival, as a whole, kicked off on Friday to see some of the world’s best and deepest-pocketed high roller players clashing for the Super High Roller title.
The event attracted 39 unique players during its opening day. Being given the chance to re-enter unlimited times, several players, who got busted, decided to shoot additional $100,000 bullets. Thus, Day 1 of the Super High Roller was completed with 39 entries and 11 re-entries to get the prize pool rich. The (re-entry) window will remain open up until the start of Day 2. In other words, the prize pool and the places paid are to be announced today.
Nick Petrangelo is leading the remaining 36 survivors. The player managed to increase his initial stake of 250,000 in chips to 861,000. Steve O’Dwyer, who won the 2015 PCA $100,000 Super High Roller, positioned himself closely behind Petrangelo by the end of Day 1 with 801,000 in stock.
Players like Connor Drinan, Sam Greenwood, Jason Mercier, and Byron Kaverman also secured a place in the top 10 of the Day 1 chip counts chart. Others to have survived through the day included 2015 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe McKeehen, 2014 Big One for ONE DROP winner Dan Colman, eight-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Erik Seidel, and All-Time Money List leader Daniel Negreanu.
It could be said that the surprising appearance of American comedian Kevin Hart was one of the highlights of the day. Known for his successful acting career, Hart’s poker skills seem to have remained in shadow. Or at least until yesterday. The player decided to try his luck against poker’s best and bravely entered the $100,000 Super High Roller. He was eliminated in the last level of the night only to re-enter. Earlier in the day, he promised that he would shoot up to 22 $100,000 bullets, if needed. Hart will start Day 2 of the event with 130,000 in chips.
Play is set to resume at noon local time in the Imperial Ballroom of Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas Casino. Survivors will play down to the final table.
