2017 Caribbean Poker Party Day 7: Jason Koon Bags Massive Stack

Day 7 of the partypoker LIVE 2017 Caribbean Poker Party saw the $5,300 MILLIONS Main Event complete its third day of play and the $5,300 MILLIONS Finale kick off in Punta Cana.

MILLIONS Main Event

Two-hundred and 22 players sat down at the start of Day 3 of the $5 million guaranteed MILLIONS Main Event and by the time the tournament director called time on proceedings, all but 43 of those hopefuls had fallen by the wayside.

Among those returning to the fray were an army of Team partypoker players all sporting the famous partypoker patch and hoping to navigate their way through the shark-infested waters of the Main Event.

Johnny Lodden, Jan-Peter Jachtmann and Roberto Romanello crashed out before the money places, but at least their exits were not as harsh as Kevin Eyster’s because he was the unfortunate soul to burst the bubble. With blinds at 100,000/200,000 and a button ante of 200,000, Eyster moved all-in for 1,405,000 with from the cutoff and Graham Ivany called on the button with . The final board read to bust Eyster in 112th place and lock up $10,000 for anyone who still had chips in front of them.

Dozens of the world’s top players fell in the money places, including Niall Farrell, Dylan Wilkerson, former World Series of Poker Main Event champion Martin Jacobson, Stephen Chidwick, our very own Padraig Parkinson, Andrey Pateychuk, Joseph Cheong, Seth Davies, Pascal Lefrancois and Matt Glantz.

With only 43 players remaining, partypoker has five of our team flying the flag. Best placed of our players is Jason Koon who goes into Day 4 with a 71,975,000 stack. Koon’s chip stack is that large that only the United Kingdom’s Michael Zhang has more chips at his disposal, namely 83,100,000. Koon, who has almost $10.5 million in live tournament winnings, is going to take some stopping now.

Also in the top 10 chip counts is the partypoker Ladies Projects and Events Manager Charlie Godwin with 39,850,000 chips. Godwin had an awful table draw for Day 3 yet she not only came through unscathed, she came through with just shy of 40 million chips and now has a real shot at a $1 million prize.

The other partypoker members safely through to Day 4 are our Chairman Mike Sexton (29,825,000), Richard Dubini (12,850,000), and Joao Simao (10,000,000).

Play resumes at 12:00 p.m. local time on Friday with blinds at 250,000/500,000 and a button ante of 500,000. The plan is to play down to the official eight-handed final table, but that all depends on how quickly the players bust from the MILLIONS Main Event because the average stack is still hovering around the 50 big blind mark.

MILLIONS Main Event Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts

Place | Player | Country | Chips
1 | Michael Zhang | United Kingdom | 83,100,000
2 | Jason Koon | United States | 71,975,000
3 | Dan Dizenzo | United States | 53,525,000
4 | Francois Billard | Canada | 52,150,000
5 | Preben Stokkan | Norway | 47,800,000
6 | Felipe Ramos | Brazil | 41,775,000
7 | Josef Snejberg | Czech Republic | 41,325,000
8 | Roberto Vahlis | Columbia | 40,375,000
9 | Charlie Godwin | United Kingdom | 39,850,000
10 | Maduka Meragal | Canada | 39,400,000

MILLIONS Finale

Roberto Romanello

Day 1 of the $5,300 MILLIONS Finale, a $1 million guaranteed tournament, saw 106 entries processed and 65 survivors. That number should increase because late registration is open until the end of the 12th level, meaning players can re-enter or even buy in for the first time. Currently, there is $470,000 of overlay, so expect a flurry of late registrations.

Topping the chip counts at the end of Day 1 is the familiar face of Chris Hunichen. Having won the $25,500 Super High Roller earlier in the week, Hunichen has now turned his attention to the MILLONS Finale and has got off to a flying start, ending Day 1 with 3,897,000 chips.

Four other players bagged up more than three millions chips: Diego Ventura (3,462,000), Ming Zhe Zhang (3,431,000), Vojtech Ruzicka (3,361,000) and Conor Beresford (3,155,000).

Among the 65 survivors are a handful of Team partypoker members. Roberto Romanello (2,900,000) is the best placed of them going into Day 2 and the “Welsh Wizard” will be joined by Natalia Breviglieri (2,582,000), John Duthie (2,361,000), Kristen Bicknell (2,299,000), Marcel Luske (1,953,000), Tom Waters (1,937,000), Anatoly Filatov (1,530,000), and Jan-Peter Jachtmann (516,000).

MILLIONS Finale Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

Place | Player | Country | Chips
1 | Chris Hunichen | United States | 3,897,000
2 | Diego Ventura | Brazil | 3,462,000
3 | Ming Zhe Zhang | United Kingdom | 3,431,000
4 | Vojtech Ruzicka | Czech Republic | 3,361,000
5 | Conor Beresford | United Kingdom | 3,155,000
6 | Roberto Romanello | United Kingdom | 2,900,000
7 | Steve O’Dwyer | Ireland | 2,820,000
8 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 2,642,000
9 | Natalia Breviglieri | United Kingdom | 2,582,000
10 | Koray Aldemir | Germany | 2,534,000

How many Team partypoker players will still be in the mix at the end of Day 2? Tune into the partypoker blog on November 25 to find out, and don’t forget to follow the live updates from the PokerNews Live Reporting team.