PCA Update: Katchalov Wins Super High Roller, Isildur1’s Identity Revealed

The 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure kicked off its first official day in dramatic style with the conclusion of the very first Super High Roller event, the beginning of the first action in the tournament’s Main Event, and the announcement of online pro and new Team PokerStars member Isildur1’s true identity. Needless to say, it was an exciting day for poker fans the world over.

We’ll start our coverage with the conclusion of the Super High Roller event. At noon today, the final seven players took their seats. The final table was originally supposed to have eight competitors, but a double elimination in Friday night’s last hand left the table short a player. In order of stack size, the last seven pros competing were: Nick Schulman, Daniel Negreanu, Eugene Katchalov, Bryn Kenney, Humberto Brenes, Sandor Demjan and Andrew Lichtenberger. At stake was a prize pool of $3,743,000, but only the top five players would receive a payout.

In a first hand that really set the tone for the last day, Katchalov forced a fold from chip leader Schulman to take down a considerable opening pot. In the second hand of the day, short stack Lichtenberger went all in with Ace-10 and was eliminated by Negreanu with pocket Kings and a third on the river. Less than an hour later, the new short stack, Demjan, went all in with pocket Tens only to have Katchalov send him to the rail with pocket Jacks.

That last elimination meant the remaining players were all getting paid, but before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief Demjan’s elimination was immediately followed by Humberto Brenes’. Brenes pocketed $200,000 for outlasting Demjan by a single hand. After three rapid-fire eliminations early in the day, the final table tightened up considerably. Negreanu and Schulman jockeyed briefly for the lead, and ultimately Negreanu won out. It was all downhill from there for Schulman who finished the event in fourth.

Less than half an hour later, Kenney was out too, and it was on to the heads-up portion with just Negreanu and Katchalov. Ultimately it took three and a half hours for the two pros to settle the score. In the final hand, Katchalov shoved all in with Fours and Negreanu met him in the middle with Fives. When the dust settled, initial underdog Eugene Katchalov had tripped on the river making him the winner of the first historical Super High Roller tournament.

In other PCA news, during the Day 1a Main Event action, a special heads-up table was erected in the middle of the poker room. It was announced that at 7pm Isildur1 would arrive to compete in an exhibition game against a surprise competitor. A black curtain was set up behind the table. At 7pm, Bertrand Grospellier arrived to take the competitor’s seat, and moments later Viktor Blom pulled the curtain aside to reveal himself as Isildur1. While many have long speculated that Blom was the elusive online pro, it’s nice to know for certain.

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