PokerStars Player Championship creates US$26M Prize Pool, 6 Asian players remain

The 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure has been hotly anticipated for some time now. Of course, the event normally attracts plenty of attention but this time around there is a special event on the calendar. The inaugural US$25,000 PokerStars Player Championship (PSPC) is that event, and day 2 has now been completed.

PSPC numbers

The 2019 PSPC tournament attracted 1,039 entries, some of whom won their ticket (Platinum Pass) over the course of the year while others bought in directly for US$25,000. The grand total for the prize pool eventually rose to US$26,455,500. This generated a 1st place prize of US$5,100,000, due to the fact that an extra US$1,000,000 has been added by PokerStars. This makes it the 18th largest 1st prize ever recorded in the game. The field size of 1,039 is also by far the largest ever for a $25,000 buy-in event, with 181 players set to cash.

Day 2 notable stories

Talal Shakerchi was the unstoppable force of day 1, accumulating 425,300 chips. But now, as day 2 draws to a close with only 207 players still standing, there have been big changes at the top, with Farid Jattin now leading the way on 921,000. Jattin is a regular on the EPT and has close to US$3 million in live cashes to his name. Notable names follow closely behind, with Mustapha Kanit and Griffin Benger bagging up 888,000 and 885,000 respectively.

Shakerchi remains among the bigger stacks at the end of day 2, carrying 691,000 forwards. Other notable names such as Christoph Vogelsang and Ryan Riess are also still going strong. Vogelsang has 483,000 and former WSOP Main Event champion Riess has 354,000. Robert Mizrachi is still in the hunt with 208,000, as is Dan Shak with 450,000, Matt Affleck with 230,000, Jack Salter with 285,000, Benjamin Pollak with 299,000 and Tony Gregg with 301,000. Frank Kassela still has 267,000, and Marvin Rettenmaier is also still standing with 304,000. Notable fallers include Phil Hellmuth, Lex Veldhuis, Jennifer Shahade, Randy Lew, Chris Moneymaker and Jake Cody.

TOP 10

Asian players update

The Asian player with the biggest chip stack currently is China’s Tianle Wang who has 524,000. He is followed closely by Singapore’s Tzai Wei Phua who has 515,000. China’s Yan Li is also still going strong with 299,000, while his compatriot Haoxiang Wang also remains in the mix with 102,000. Philippines‘s hopes remain intact with Marc Rivera carrying 230,000chips. Celina Lin is currently on the critical list with 12,000 chips.

Just 6 players remain standing, with 26 having won a platinum pass and a few others having bought in directly.

Notable Asian fallers up to this point include Lester Edoc, James Chen, Chen An Lin, PokerStars ambassador Aditya Agarwal, Pete Chen, and Michael Soyza. The action resumes tomorrow, with the field set to play its way well into the money spots.

Article by Craig Bradshaw