Our latest High Stakes Adventure officially got underway on Sunday. In case you missed it, last month we awarded two $110,000 prize packages to the Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegroâand now weâre all here! Yes, our players and pros have not only landed but theyâre officially living large in the jewel of Southeast Europe and competing against the worldâs best players in this ultra high-stakes series.
Of course, the ACR team didnât waste any time. High Stakes Adventure package winner Brandon Matthew Hamlet of New York, NY and Brazilian ACR Stormer Gustavo -Bremp555-Carvalho dove right into the action, joining ACR Pros Chris Moneymaker and Jose âNachoâ Barbero for Day 1 of Event #1, the GG Million$ Live with a $25,000 buy-in. Thanks to a total of 163 entries, this opening tournament featured a $4,075,000 prize pool.
As any poker player will tell you, the Sunday grind is often a high variance, high buy-in affair with bullets being fired left and right in the pursuit of a profitable session and, potentially, life-changing money. This Sunday was no different for our players â except the buy-in was a jaw-dropping $25,000!
All the Triton series are a tough field to compete in, and this one in Montenegro is proving no different with 7 bullets fired between our 4 players for a combined $175,000.
Barbero, our ACR Pro, was an early casualty, losing a huge pot on the feature table to exit early before a more promising second bullet saw him rise into the top-3 stacks early in the day. Unable to continue his magic from his Triton title win at Jeju Island, he busted out late into Day 1, finishing 57th and not in the money.
Fellow ACR Pro, Moneymaker met the same fate as Barbero on bullet No. 1. A tough table draw saw him sit in between Phil Ivey and Stephen Chidwick with Barbero and Sam Grafton also present. No stranger to the bright lights and cameras, Moneymaker enjoyed extensive time on the feature table throughout Day 1, an arena in which he says he feels most comfortable.Â
Bullet No. 2 was the magic one for the former WSOP champion as Moneymaker managed to find a bag for 750,000 chips (25 big blinds), sitting 25th out of the remaining 32 players at the end of Day 1. With 27 places paid and a minimum cash of $41,000 fast approaching, Chris maintained that he had entered Day 2 to play for the ENTIRE 1st place prize of $903,000.Â
Our very own ACR Stormer did us proud on his maiden Triton voyage. Having won the ACR Stormer competition, Gustavoâs ABI before arriving in Montenegro sat at a modest $4. His first table featured some monster names in Adrian Mateos, Christoph Vogelsang, and Steve OâDwyer. In the early levels, the micro stakes grinder was flying and headed into the first break with a top-5 stack.Â
A frustrating few hours later, Gustavo exited at the expense of Henrik Heklen with a top pair on the flop, which was no good versus top-two pair. 94th was the finishing position. With 2 events left to play out of his $110,000 winnerâs package, heâll be back soon hungry for that first cash in Triton.
Hamlet stole the show on Day 1, but this wasnât his first triumph. Letâs not forget that he earned his place in our latest High Stakes Adventure by entering a $33 satellite to win a $2,650 ticket, which he used to secure his Montenegro prize package. A full time pro from the city that never sleeps, Brandon has been enjoying being a relative unknown in the field and is a favorite to make a big name for himself (and more importantly, a big score!). Â
Heading into Day 2, Hamlet was firmly seated in 16th place with 1,015,000 chips (34 big blinds), and in the end he finished in 11th place to win $77,500. But thatâs a footnote compared to what happened mere hours later. SPOILER ALERT! This is the biggest Triton news ever for ACR Poker:
Chris Moneymaker won the $25K NHL GG Million$ Live to the tune of $903,000. Read our Day 2 update for all the details. You can check out the article featuring an interview with Chris Moneymaker here.
