Recession and economic turmoil has affected both USA and UK alike, but live poker has continued to flourish nonetheless with cardrooms on both side of the Atlantic seemingly heaving with poker fanatics. As the EPT made its unusual trip to rather less European shores, it became clear that the unrelenting assault of poker was a global phenomenon.
With poker titans such as Humberto Brenes, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Leigh and defending champion Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier making their way to Paradise Island, Bahamas, the PokerStars.com Caribbean Poker Adenture looked set to be another hotbed of poker action as a record-breaking 1,347 players locked horns. This made the event the biggest to be held outside of Vegas with an incredible 735 players having qualified online.
With $12,674,000 nestling in the pool and a circa $3,000,000 first prize up for grabs, it is Brazil's Felipe Ramos who leads the way with a gargantuan 360,100 stack, over 100,000 ahead of Russia's Sergey Rybachenko who lies in second with 250,100.
The full chip counts for the start of Day 2 are as follows:
Felipe Ramos Brazil 360,100
Sergey Rybachenvo Russia 250,100
Charles Furey USA 233,100
David Michell Baker USA 219,600
Ralf Westphal Germany 210,900
Christopher Fernandez Canada 210,700
Edward Sabat USA 209,000
Grant Hinkle USA 205,900
Jonathan Little USA 201,900
Christopher Brian Underwood USA 197,800
Benny Chen Canada 195,600
Daniel Heimiller USA 178,300
Scott Bateson USA 177,600
Eric Liu USA 168,500
Brian England USA 168,300
Keven M. Stammen USA 167,900
Marcin Horecki Poland 167,300
Nicholas Blumenthal USA 164,700
Anthony Gurtovoy Russia 163,200
Atigui Foued Belgium 161,700
Jeffrey Madsen USA 160,500
Alessandro Longobardi Italy 156,500
Brad Henry USA 153,000
Derek Kromm USA 147,800
Shane Schleger USA 146,900
Daniel Krätz Germany 140,100
Carlos Mortensen Spain 139,800
Isaac Haklm USA 139,700
Andrew Li USA 137,700
Massimiliano Pescatori USA 136,100
Louis Cohen USA 136,000
David Lorenz USA 135,500
Sergey Feklisov Russia 133,200
Farhad Sinaei USA 131,300
Behnam Patros Canada 129,000
Elliot Kincaid Smith Canada 128,600
Antonio Bueti USA 128,000
Joao Nunes Portugal 127,900
Mikael Norinder Sweden 127,700
Paul Greim USA 127,700
Patrick Carron USA 127,500
Courtland Twyman USA 127,000
Lars Are Holth Drabløs Norway 127,000
Asa Gregory Smith UK 126,600
Stephan Kjerstad Norway 126,500
Peter Busch USA 125,600
Leo Fernandez Argentina 125,500
Jason Glass USA 124,300
Alexandre Gomes Brazil 123,800
Andrew Lichtenberger USA 123,400
Jon Van Fleet USA 122,600
Jack Schanbacher USA 122,000
Daniel Kelly USA 121,900
Elizabeth Bennett-Martin Canada 121,800
Albert Minnullin Russia 121,200
Mike Rowe Canada 120,900
Arnaud Mattern France 120,500
Tyler Reiman USA 118,100
Jan Willem Van Der Wal Netherlands Antilles 117,600
Ylon Schwartz USA 114,500
Alejandro Sanchez Fernandez Spain 112,200
Rick Puleo USA 111,800
Matthew Giannerri USA 111,700
Sascha El-abiad Canada 111,000
Kyle Brossia USA 111,000
Rafal Michalowski USA 110,900
Steven Joseph Levy USA 110,700
Brett Andrew Switzer USA 109,600
Laccminelli Riccardo Italy 109,400
Michael Jensen Denmark 108,500
Alberto Andres Font Rytzner Spain 108,400
Matthew Smith USA 107,100
Eric John Tomberlin USA 106,500
Nick Eisel USA 106,400
Lee Nelson New Zealand 103,500
Alan Sternberg USA 103,500
Peter Neff USA 103,000
James Obst Australia 102,400
Jan Collado Y Fernandez Germany 102,200
Jose Barbero Argentina 101,600
Olivier Busquet USA 101,200
Allan Bække Denmark 99,400
Alexander Kostritsyn Russia 99,000
Finn Arne Elnes Norway 98,900
Eli Perlman USA 98,800
Alex Keating USA 98,400
Joey Lawrence Australia 96,600
George Danzer Germany 96,300
Matt Stout USA 95,100
Adam Katz USA 95,000
David Benefield USA 93,400
Cero Zuccarello USA 93,200
Poorya Nazari Canada 93,100
Pieter Tielen Netherlands 92,900
Daniel Hirleman USA 92,900
Toomas Palover Estonia 92,900
Christopher Moore USA 90,900
Richard Adam Geyer USA 90,500
Christopher Bush Canada 90,100
Clayton Maguire USA 89,700
Evelind Ng Canada 89,100
Josh Weizer USA 88,300
Michael Durrer Germany 87,800
James Kilarjian USA 87,800
Nenad Medic Canada 87,500
Christian Pereira Argentina 86,500
Mike Chiappetta USA 86,400
Jason Dorfman USA 85,800
Kyle Wilson Canada 84,600
Joep Van Den Bijgaart Netherlands 84,100
James Akenhead UK 83,700
Erik Friberg Sweden 83,600
Jose Franco Guatemala 83,200
Christopher Buddington USA 82,600
Scott Freeman USA 82,200
Bill Brindise USA 82,100
Nidal Echaust Germany 82,000
Jonathan George Agular USA 81,800
Russell Carson Canada 81,800
Max Lohy Netherlands 81,700
Kevin Saul USA 81,300
Rubén Pérez Burrel Spain 80,600
Marius Heuser Germany 79,200
Javier Cal USA 78,400
Peter Steinlesberger Austria 78,200
John Theofilopoulos Canada 77,900
Dustin Dirksen USA 77,000
Edmund O'brien USA 76,700
Bryan Paris USA 76,700
Jason Schacter UK 75,600
James F. Collopy USA 75,400
Peter Eastgate Denmark 75,400
Jason Helder USA 75,300
Romica Mihailov Bermuda 75,100
Denes Kalo Hungary 74,500
Tomas Fionn Macnamara UK 74,400
Joao Barbosa Portugal 74,300
Joao Marcelo Farias De Andrade Lima Brazil 73,800
Francis Vizza USA 73,700
Niklas Sebastian Rejman Finland 73,600
Daniel Burke USA 72,600
Raffi Nahabedian Canada 72,400
Cheveau Benoit France 72,200
Michael Martin USA 72,000
Carl Philipp Beyl Germany 72,000
Julian Kaplan USA 71,500
Don Toporowski Canada 70,100
Justin Rollo USA 70,000
Robert Wisiak USA 70,000
Barry Paul Katz USA 69,900
Michael Risman Canada 69,800
Michael Michnik USA 69,700
Mario Silvestri USA 69,300
Howard Connell USA 69,100
Tyler Ryan Cornell USA 68,900
Daniel E Morris USA 68,800
Bryan Sapp USA 68,700
Ludovic Lacay France 68,600
Sean Nolan USA 68,500
Timothy J Barchie USA 68,400
Thomas Mclaughlin USA 67,800
Xibingyan Zhu New Zealand 67,600
Jim Geary USA 66,900
Markovits Adam Hungary 66,800
James Mackey USA 66,200
Tom Mcevoy USA 65,900
Dominic Tracy USA 65,900
Christian De Leon Angeles Mexican 65,900
Joseph Cassidy USA 65,800
Koen De Bakker Holland 65,700
Carl-ivan Tommy Westerlund Sweden 65,100
Stephen Costello USA 65,100
Giovanni Battista Guzzo USA 63,700
Guy Bachar Israel 63,600
Todd Sisley Canada 63,400
Anthony Gregg USA 63,200
Mike Gorodinsky USA 62,900
David Hamilton USA 62,000
Jean-philippe Matte Canada 61,900
Christoph Niesert Germany 61,700
Nicholas Petrangelo USA 61,500
Adam Junglen USA 61,400
Alexander Deutsch USA 61,300
Jonathan Tamayo USA 61,300
Simon Muñoz Marin Spain 61,100
Alex Michaels USA 61,000
Ka Chun Yung Canada 60,900
Brian Hartner USA 60,300
Peter Jetten Canada 60,000
Chris Kolesnikoff Canada 59,700
Anthony Venturini USA 58,700
Brandon Adams USA 58,700
Johan Fredriksson Sweden 58,200
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman USA 58,100
Daniel S Smith USA 57,200
Desmond Portano USA 57,000
Martin Fournier-Gigurere Canada 56,400
Jesus Bertoli Venezuela 56,300
Justin Pechie USA 55,900
D Douglas Dicken USA 55,800
Jason Paster USA 55,800
John Cernuto USA 55,800
Kyle Schroeder USA 55,800
Shannon Shorr USA 55,500
Sabino Rosito Italy 55,400
Tom Franklin USA 55,300
Mark Defaria Canada 55,200
Greg Raymer USA 55,000
Kathy Liebert USA 54,800
Kelly Schultz Denmark 54,600
Niklas Heinecker Germany 54,500
Alexander Venovski USA 54,400
Jan-christoph Von Halle Germany 54,400
Zachary Clark USA 54,300
John Myung USA 54,200
David A Hilton USA 53,500
Thomas Foure France 53,200
Mark A Seif USA 53,000
Mark Vargas USA 52,900
Benny Spindler Germany 52,800
Tommy Nienchi Chen USA 52,500
Joseph Patrick USA 52,000
Guillaume De La Gorce France 52,000
Renier Philippe Belgium 51,900
Christian Jeppsson Sweden 51,500
Bryan Kerr USA 51,500
Sasidhar Bobba USA 51,500
Philip Cordano USA 51,300
Kim Johnny Hemmingsen Denmark 51,300
Robert Jonathan Ford USA 51,100
Ryan Karp USA 50,900
Victoria Coren UK 50,900
Ryan Madsen USA 50,900
Christopher S. Drake USA 50,600
James Benaily France 50,400
Jon Friedberg USA 50,200
Malte Strothmann Germany 49,900
Tal Atias Israel 49,600
John Michael Conkright USA 49,200
Patryk Slusarek Poland 48,800
Fabio Pilato Germany 48,700
Franz Bracher Switzerland 48,500
Daniel Didech USA 48,100
Jannick Wrang Denmark 47,900
Nathan Zimmerman Plotkin USA 47,900
Michael Borao USA 47,800
James Bucci USA 47,000
Douglas M. Protz Canada 46,700
Manuel Filipe Allen Revez Portugal 46,500
Jose Tavares USA 46,400
Lars Duch Denmark 46,400
Brady L Hinnegan Canada 46,200
Jan Heitmann Germany 45,800
Daniel Merphus Neverlands 45,000
James Ernest Slabon USA 45,000
Brad Huhtala Canada 44,500
Neehar Banerji USA 44,500
Paul Magriel 44,400
Brandon Hall USA 44,400
Taylor Paur USA 44,100
Rafael Alarcon Spain 44,100
Robert Shemko Canada 44,000
Gordon Vayo USA 43,400
Jesse Michael Kremer USA 43,100
Daniel Schlarmann Germany 42,000
Michael Landau USA 41,700
Rafael Golka Germany 41,700
Richard Toth Hungary 40,900
Marc Finne Müller Denmark 40,900
Stephen Devlin UK 40,800
Alexander Kravchenko Russia 40,500
Ralph Porter USA 40,400
David Burn UK 40,400
Frederic Morel-rigaud Switzerland 40,100
Ken Weiner USA 40,100
Leandro Vasconcelos Pimentel Brazil 39,800
Jan Arne Bjerke Norway 39,800
Eric Baldwin USA 39,000
Barry Greenstein USA 38,900
Christos Arvanitis Canada 38,500
Scott T Sitron USA 38,000
Rajendra Patel USA 37,200
Andy Philachack USA 37,000
Andreas Johansson Sweden 36,700
Shawn Buchanan Canada 36,100
Dustin Dorrance-bowman USA 35,900
Julius Malzanini Germany 35,700
Andrew J Glogowski USA 35,300
Matt Ross USA 34,400
Shane Tracy USA 34,300
Martin Frei Switzerland 34,300
Jim Giannoukos Australia 34,100
Katja Thater Germany 33,700
Steven Tabb USA 33,400
Scott Harris USA 33,400
Roger Pruzansky USA 33,100
Patrick Sacrispeyre France 32,900
Greg Kaplan USA 32,400
Kent Goulding USA 32,100
Marcus Tandler Germany 31,800
Geir Gundersen Norway 31,800
Sergio Fernando Braga Brazil 31,200
Scott Campbell USA 31,100
Zvi Shiff USA 31,000
Jani Johannes Lehtinen Finland 30,700
Benjamin Alcober USA 30,300
Lionel Lecaque France 29,800
Andreas Herrmann Germany 29,600
Ville Mattila Finland 29,200
Daniel Urbigkit USA 29,100
Adam Bennett Canada 29,000
Giuseppe Galluzzo Canada 28,500
Kris Kuykendall USA 28,400
Daniel Samson UK 28,300
Matthew Glantz USA 28,000
Timoleon Psiharis Canada 27,900
Jason Grad Canada 27,800
Andre Akkari Brazil 27,400
Hafiz Khan USA 27,400
James L Jewett USA 27,400
Eric Lynch USA 27,300
Jeremie Guez France 27,200
Yosef Bachar Israel 26,900
Douglas Dickey USA 26,800
Rory Cox USA 26,800
Aleksey Bobrov USA 26,600
Humberto Brenes Costa Rica 26,600
Thomas Kremser Austria 26,600
Jeffrey J Nelson USA 26,400
Jennifer Leigh Baker USA 26,300
Vanessa Rousso USA 26,000
Ross Webb Canada 26,000
Harm Eiting Holland 25,900
Frank Werder Germany 25,800
Victor Ramdin USA 25,500
Mark Truelsen Bech Denmark 25,300
Kenroy Martin Eddylee Cayman Island 25,200
Michael Watson Canada 25,200
Rob Coventry USA 24,900
Cliff D. Josephy USA 24,800
James Campbell USA 24,500
Matthew Reed USA 24,100
Alan Smurfit Ireland 23,800
Craig Boyd USA 23,800
Jean-baptiste Desvignes France 23,500
Alfredo Delgada Davila Mexico 23,300
Mark Johnson USA 23,200
Angel Manuel Guillen Pereda Mexico 23,000
Steven Schulman USA 23,000
Brent Wheeler USA 22,900
Robert Cezarescu Romania 22,800
Demetris Hailos Cyprus 22,500
Gunnar Zahl Norway 22,400
Chris Lastiwka Canada 22,000
Rodrigo Seiji Sirichuk Brazil 21,600
Lee Anderson UK 21,500
Paolo Giovanetti Italy 21,000
Charles Clark USA 20,800
Connor Drinan USA 20,600
Adam Ross USA 20,400
Thomas Callahan USA 20,300
Dominik Stopka Germany 20,200
Joe Gualtieri Canada 19,900
Rob Godfrey Canada 18,600
Alexander Duszat Germany 18,400
Matthew J Kelly USA 18,100
Ben Fineman USA 17,800
Dan Martin USA 17,700
Michel Dion Canada 17,100
Veronica Dabul Argentina 16,200
James Worth Canada 15,900
Roger Johnson USA 15,200
Charles Hicks-moore USA 14,800
Damon R. Sita USA 14,600
Friso Zwerver Holland 14,200
Thiago Nishijima Brazil 14,000
Mark Owens USA 12,900
Jeppe Nielsen Denmark 10,100
Travis J Smith USA 7,600
Vijayan Nagarajan Malaysia 1,700