The $2,200 PokerStars National Championship here in the Bahamas attracted 313 unique players. After a two-day battle, there are only eight players in contention for the title and a $131,680 first prize. The final table is featuring a star-studded field, including Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker. The 41-year-old poker icon, who revolutionalized the game after taking down the 2003 WSOP Main Event, will be accompanied by famous group of poker pros. Canadian player Marc-Andre Ladouceur bagged up the end-of-day chip lead on both Days 1 & 2, and will enter the finale with 2,925,000. Second in chips is New Zealand's wunderkind David Yan while other players aiming for the title include Maria Ho, Javier Gomez, Ben Philipps, Nicola Basile and Ramiro Petrone. The final day kicks of at noon today.
PokerStars Championship Bahamas $2k National Championship final table:
Seat 1: Nicola Basile, 56, Toronto, Ontario/Canada - 1,625,000
Seat 2: Marc-Andre "FrenchDawg" Ladouceur, 33, Montreal, Quebec/Canada - 2,925,000
Seat 3: Ramiro "ramastar88" Petrone, 28, Mar del Plata, Argentina - 640,000
Seat 4: Javier Gomez, 26, from Salamanca/Spain, now lives in the UK - 440,000
Seat 5: David "MissOracle" Yan, 23, Auckland, New Zealand - 2,600,000
Seat 6: Maria Ho, 33, born in Taiwan, lives in California/USA - 1,055,000
Seat 7: Chris Moneymaker, 41, Atlanta, Georgia/USA, Team PokerStars Pro - 595,000
Seat 8: Ben Philipps, 33, London, UK - 570,000
POKERSTARS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL TABLE PLAYER PROFILES:
Seat 1: Nicola Basile, 56, Toronto, Ontario/Canada - 1,625,000
Aged 56, Nicola Basile is the oldest player at the PokerStars National Championship final table. He hails from Downview, a small neighbourhood just outside of Toronto. Basile has racked up $184k in live cashes, mainly playing tournaments back home in Canada. His biggest payday was $23,355, earned along with the title in the 2013 WSOP Circuit Gatineau $580 NLH Event. Basile has several other five-figure results to his name and plenty of top ten finishes, according to his Hendon Mob profile. However, clashing with some of the great poker personalities in a major international event will undoubtedly be his toughest final table.
Seat 2: Marc-Andre "FrenchDawg" Ladouceur, 33, Montreal, Quebec/Canada - 2,925,000 Canadian pro Marc-Andre Ladouceur emerged as the chip leader at the end of Day 1, bagging up 600,000. He capitalized on his great start to the tournament and managed to make it to the final table, strengthening the star-studded line-up. Ladouceur is well-known for crushing the online cash games using the screen-name "FrenchDawg" on PokerStars. He has built his name in the live tournament arena too, earning more than $1.7 million in his career. Ladouceur's best payday was $465,159 for 13th place in the 2012 WSOP Main Event. He earned his biggest online tournament prize last month, after winning the PokerStars $700 Super-Sized Sunday for $83k. Ladouceur also made his mark on the inaugural season of the PokerStars-sponsored Global Poker League, as the team manager of the title-winning Montreal Nationals.
Seat 3: Ramiro "ramastar88" Petrone, 28, Mar del Plata, Argentina - 640,000
Ramiro Petrone comes from Mar del Plata, a small Argentinian coastal town located about 250 miles south of Buenos Aires. The 28-year-old poker pro has amassed more than $360k in live tournament cashes, good for 20th place on Argentina's all-time money list. Petrone's best result came last August when he took down the Circuito Argentino de Poker Main Event in Rosario for a $92,315 payday. He has another $90k cash to his name, from the 2014 Conrad Poker Tour Punta del Este tournament. He's notched up several big scores in the online realm too, using the moniker "ramastar88" on PokerStars. He was third in the WCOOP $215 NLH 1R1A Event back in 2015, earning more than $43k. Two months ago, Petrone secured another $40k+ cash when he finished second in a Sunday Warm-Up. His online accolades include a fourth place in a Super Tuesday as well as a victory in a MicroMillions Sunday Storm Special Edition where he beat a giant 48,694-player field.
Seat 4: Javier Gomez, 26, from Salamanca/Spain, now lives in the UK - 440,000
Originally from Salamanca, Javier Gomez belongs to the group of Spanish players who relocated to the UK to continue playing online poker in the shared liquidity pool. Gomez started playing freerolls on PokerStars during his Telecommunication Engineering studies at university in Madrid. He built a decent bankroll in first two years, and eventually became a professional player. He first earned the attention of the live poker reporters at EPT11 Malta, where he finished fifth in the Main Event, banking €205,300. Back in December 2015, Gomez won the WPT Prague Main Event for €175,000 and notched up another €56,950 in the following days, for 11th place in the EPT12 Prague Main Event. His total live tournament winnings combine for more than $600k.
Seat 5: David "MissOracle" Yan, 23, Auckland, New Zealand - 2,600,000
David Yan is one of the great young players from the Southern Hemisphere. At just 23 years old, he already leads New Zealand's all-time money list with more than $3.4 million in live cashes. The recent months have seen Yan dominating live tournaments, racking up over $1.6 million in the second half of 2016 alone. His fantastic run started in August at EPT13 Barcelona, where he received €704,755 for a runner-up finish in the €25k Single Re-Entry. Then he won the WSOP Circuit Main Event in Berlin, earning another €124,635. Yan didn't slow down at EPT13 Malta either, taking down the €25k Event for €465,800. And he wrapped up the year with yet another six-figure result, boosting his bankroll with €158,610 after finishing fifth in the EPT13 Prague €25k Event. Using the screen-name "MissOracle" on PokerStars, Yan is hardly stoppable online too.
Seat 6: Maria Ho, 33, born in Taiwan, lives in California/USA - 1,055,000
One of the top female poker players in the world, Maria Ho is also known for her performance in the award-winning TV show The Amazing Race. The 33-year-old was born in Taiwan but lives on the American west coast in Arcadia, California. Ho graduated from the University of California, San Diego back in 2005, and then started playing cash games and soon turned pro. Her first major cash was $237,865 for 38th place in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Ho's best result came four years later, again at the World Series, when she took $540,020 for second place in the $5k NLH Event. She has several other WSOP final tables to her name and her total live tournament winnings exceed $2 million. Ho is also active in the poker media sphere, working as a presenter and commentator. She is the team manager of the LA Sunset of the PokerStars-sponsored Global Poker League.
Seat 7: Chris Moneymaker, 41, Atlanta, Georgia/USA, Team PokerStars Pro - 595,000
Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker was the protagonist of the poker boom that transformed this game into a worldwide phenomenon in the previous decade. The 41-year-old from Atlanta is notorious for scooping the 2003 World Serious of Poker Main Event, turning just $86 into a $2,500,000 payday after winning his seat online on PokerStars. Moneymaker's fantastic achievement was witnessed by ESPN cameras and his success story pioneered the modern poker era, making him one of the most infuentional personalities in poker history. Since then, Moneymaker has added more than $1 million to his live tournament résumé, including four six-figure results. Moneymaker's best showing in the Bahamas dates back to 2011 when he fell just shy of the PCA Main Event final table, taking $130,000 for 11th place. He could top that prize today, should he emerge victorious in the PokerStars National Championship.
Seat 8: Ben Philipps, 33, London, UK - 570,000
Ben Philipps is best known for his deep run in the EPT12 Grand Final Main Event. The 33-year-old from London bubbled the official final table in May 2016, earning the €71,620 ninth-place prize. Philipps' total live cashes are worth just over $100k but he's even more prolific in the online realm. He has a PokerStars Sunday Million title to his name, in addition to another final table appearance in the most prestigious regular online poker tournament. While those results indicate Philipps' great NLH abilities, he's primarily considered a PL Omaha specialist.
NINE DAYS OF ACTION
PokerStars Championship Bahamas, which runs through January 14 at the sun-drenched Atlantis Resort in Nassau, is the first event of the all new PokerStars Championship tour. Poker players from around the world have been qualifying for as little as $10 at PokerStars.com. The event has an action-packed schedule of 92 tournaments, cash games, and non-poker activities, and attracts thousands of international players who will dust off the holiday cobwebs to play in the nine-day Bahamas poker extravaganza.
KEY EVENTS
- $100,000 Super High Roller (January 6-8, 2017)
- $2,200 PokerStars National Championship (January 7-9, 2017)
- $5,000 PokerStars Championship Main Event (January 8-14, 2017)
- $50,000 NL Hold'em Single Day Single Re-Entry
- $25,750 PL Omaha Single Re-Entry
- $220 PokerStars Open (January 10-12, 2017)
- $25,750 High Roller (January 12-14, 2017)
- $440 PokerStars Cup (January 12-14, 2017)
POKERSTARS TV MAIN EVENT BROADCAST
The ever popular PokerStars TV broadcast returns to the Bahamas with a five-day filming schedule. The stream will air daily from January 10, broadcasting the action from the PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event from Day 2 all the way through to the cards-up finale. The broadcast will be available in a wide number of languages, on desktop and mobile on PokerStars.tv, YouTube, Facebook and Twitch. For cards-up finals, please ensure you do not post ANY action until it has appeared on the live stream. No live streaming is allowed - on any channel (including Facebook, Periscope etc) - from any tournament.
HOST OF #STARSFUN ACTIVITIES AWAY FROM POKER TABLES
Along with the immense poker action, the players and visitors can choose from a host of activities away from the tables, provided by #StarsFun. Taking place at the event are NFL Play-offs tailgate & squares competitions for great prizes (Jan 7-8) as well as virtual reality gaming stations with a chance to win daily prizes and a special basketball 3-on-3 competition on the Atlantis courts, awarding members of the winning team with a $1,000 tournament credit apiece. The official players's party will take place at Aura Nightclub on January 13.
The PokerStars Championship Bahamas will also see the return of the popular "Breakfast with the Pros" Q&A sessions, with a variety of topics to chat through, such as strategy, regulation and future of the game. All players and media have the opportunity to come and ask our sponsored pros and celebrities a question. Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu will run a Q&A session before play starts for the $5,000 PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event. The Q&A, which will be open to all players, guests and media, will focus on adapting to and dominating live poker. For further information, please contact: press@pokerstarslive.com.
Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker made the final table of the PokerStars National Championship in the Bahamas
