Danchev Wins PCA, Kara Hosts, Negreanu Designs

Danchev Wins PCA Main Event

From an original field of 987 players, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $10K Main Event was reduced to a single winner on Sunday. Dimitar Danchev claimed the trophy and more than $1.8 million.

Two starting days brought those 987 players into action, reducing it to 500 for Day 2 and 166 for Day 3. That day decreased the number to 59 after bursting the money bubble to pay the top 144 competitors, and only 21 were left by the end of Day 4. Players like Mohsin Charania, Olivier Busquet, Eddy Sabat, Darren Elias, and Robert Mizrachi ran deep but exited on Day 5, and Ryan Fair bubbled the official final table.

January 13 provided exciting final table action, as many double-ups occurs before Joao Nogueira left in eighth place, followed by Yann Dion, Andrey Shatilov, Owen Crowe, and Jonathan Roy. After Jerry Wong took third, heads-up play started with Joel Micka in the lead over Dimitar Danchev, but the latter made a tremendous comeback, ultimately winning with A-Q over pocket fours when an ace fell on the flop.

The final table payouts and finishers were:

1^st place: Dimitar Danchev ($1,859,000)

2^nd place: Joel Micka ($1,190,000)

3^rd place: Jerry Wong ($725,000)

4^th place: Jonathan Roy ($560,000)

5^th place: Owen Crowe ($435,000)

6^th place: Andrey Shatilov ($325,000)

7^th place: Yann Dion ($230,000)

8^th place: Joao Nogueira ($165,900)

Other PCA side events showed that Alexis Gilbard won a $300 turbo tournament, and John Racener won the PLO Big O8 event. And Corina Lupascu took down the $1K Women’s Event on Sunday for more than $22,000.

All PCA reports courtesy of the PokerStars Blog.

Kara Scott to Host GPI European Poker Awards

PartyPoker pro and WSOP host Kara Scott has been named the emcee of the upcoming GPI European Poker Awards at the Aviation Club de France. Hosted by the Club, Poker52 Europa, and Global Poker Index, the awards will honor the best and brightest of the European poker industry.

The live awards ceremony is set to take place on January 22 with many of the nominees in attendance.

Negreanu Designs HPT Structure

With Season 9 of the Heartland Poker Tour about a week away, HPT announced that a new structure will be in place for the Main Event at each stop on the tour. Daniel Negreanu was approached to better the tournaments and designed one specifically for HPT. “I think the final result is a smoother structure with slightly more play,” Negreanu said.

The new structure caters to the player base, which is a mix of casual and pro players. The Main Event will feature common tournament structures found in major events with antes starting in Level 4 and playing out in about 25 hours, which appeals to many players who can only compete on weekends. Structures for side events and satellites will mimic that same new structure.