Tenth Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure Atrracts Record Numbers, Creates Five Instant Millionaires and Awards More Prize Money Than Ever Before.

The tenth PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was always set to be a phenomenal event but this year’s festival, the “ten best days of poker on the planet”, exceeded all expectations.

From the very first event of the Festival – the $100,000 Super High Roller – to the very last event – the $25k High Roller won by Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst – the 2013 PCA was one of the most exciting poker events ever held.

Nearly 1,600 players took part in the 40 events held during the Festival at Atlantis from January 5-14. There were 6,101 tournament entries in all – 591 more than last year, with players hailing from 83 different countries. A total $28,239,728 was awarded in prize money (well up on the $22,415,560 awarded last year) with 786 cashes overall, compared to 642 last year.

In the $100k Super High Roller, American poker pro Scott Seiver won $2,003,480 - one of the biggest prizes in poker. The 59 entries made it the largest ever for a $100k tournament, dwarfing last year’s event, and generating a staggering $5,724,180 prize pool.

Seiver was just the first of five “instant millionaires” produced during the Festival. The Super High Roller runner-up David Sands also hit a $1.2 million payday and in the $10,000 Main Event, winner Dimitar Danchev and runner-up Joel Micka both claimed huge prizes - $1,859,000 and $1,190,000 respectively.

Selbst received $1,424,420 for her win in the $25k High Roller, which attracted 204 entries (63 more than last year) and generating a prize pool of $4,998,000 compared to $3,626,000 last year. Her victory ensured she became the highest-earning female poker player of all time and also jumped to 40th in the All Time Money List.

In the $10,0000 Main Event, champion Dimitar Danchev won $1,859,000 and became the first Bulgarian ever to win a major poker tournament. The 26-year-old, who was already top of the Bulgarian all-time money list, won his seat to the $10,000 event in a $700 qualifier on PokerStars. The Main Event field of 987 players featured 428 players who won their seats online including Joao Nogueira, a 21-year-old air conditioning engineer from a tiny town in northern Portugal, who won his seat via a $1.10 satellite.

Nogueira had only been playing poker eight months and was competing in his first live tournament – but still managed to make the final table, finishing eighth for $165,900. Numerous stars competed in the tournament including Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps, Seinfeld star Jason Alexander and golf champion Sergio Garcia.

The schedule also featured the world’s first major live Open Face Chinese poker tournament. The 41 players, that generated 77 entries, included high-profile fans such as Shaun Deeb and Team PokerStars Pros Jason Mercier and Daniel Negreanu. Other popular events included $1k, $2k and $5k NL tournaments, the $10k Turbo, Triple Stud, Bounty Turbos, PL Big "O" and $300 nightly turbo tournaments. One of the stars of this year’s PCA side events was Team PokerStars Pro Marcel Luske who, only a few weeks after winning PokerStars online Sunday Warm-Up event, took down both the H.O.R.S.E and 8-Game events. Cash games and Sit and Gos also attracted big numbers and ran daily until 4am.

As well as the 40 scheduled poker tournaments, there were also a wealth of other promotions and activities for people to get involved in – and not just for poker players! These included the #PhotoPimpOff Instagram competition which attracted 280 entries, the PokerStars Women Treasure Hunt and the Stress Star Tank competition. Poker-related activities were also a big hit including the four very well-attended Team PokerStars Pro Q&A sessions, the World Cup of Poker, the Canada Cup, the $1k Womens Event, high-stakes cash games, the Team Online Heads-Up contest, the World Championship of Online Poker Awards Ceremony and the $50,000 guaranteed Zoom Challenge, which was won by Team PokerStars Pro David Williams, which attracted 59 entries exceeding the guarantee.

The PCA Players Lounge was a massive hit – complete with a fully-stocked bar, free wifi, daily iPad competitions, the PokerStars Mobile Lounge, VIP store, VIP Concierge service, pool table, fussball and lots of sofas and bean bags for players to relax on. The Information Desk was manned 15 hours a day, dealing with thousands of player enquiries and handing out 1,000 coveted PCA player bags, 1,300 T-shirts, 750 PokerStars headphones and lots of other PokerStars merchandise.

PCA director David Carrion said: “Our goal for this tenth PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was to create an amazing poker experience that everyone would enjoy and no one would ever forget! Atlantis resort has been the perfect setting for this extraordinary and record-breaking tenth anniversary event.

We know from player feedback throughout the festival that we have truly exceeded people’s expectation and have delivered on our promise to provide the “best ten days of poker on the planet”! Our hundreds of staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that everyone, from qualifiers who have never played a live event before to high rollers competing in the biggest buy-in tournaments, all have a rich and rewarding experience. We thank all our players and look forward to 2014!”