The Caribbean Poker Party Main Event had already seen 490 players put up the $5,300 buy-in on Day 1a of the tournament, but on Day 1b, that total got even higher, with 547 players paying the entry fee and pitting their poker wits against the rest of the world.

The partypoker CPP 2020 Online Series has been very successful so far, and those numbers meant that the $5 million guarantee, with the prizepool set at $5,185,000… for now. Players will have until a few minutes before 7pm GMT tonight to enter on Day 2 as play then goes down to a winner. 

With 18 levels in the can on Day 1b, it was Peruvian superstar Diego Ventura who led the 86 players who emerged claiming a Day 2 seat. With a chip-stack of 18.7 million chips, Ventura was clear of other big names such as  Ramiro Petrone (15,372,144), Daniel Colpoys (15,261,296), and EPT regular Anton Wigg (14,536,280). With partypoker ambassadors Anatoly Filatov (12,991,576) and Ludovic Geilich (3,431,076) both going through with differing stack sizes, Australia’s current in-form high roller Kahle Burns  stacking up 10,732,793 and 2020 crusher Timothy Adams sneaking into the counts, there are plenty of luminaries who will be scrapping it out for the big money in the Main Event as the tournament progresses.

The presence of Ventura is an exciting one on its own merits, with the Peruvian the #1 player in the country of his birth and a South American poker hero. We’ve seen him in live action ourselves, and he makes for a fearsome opponent, with a dead-eye stare and all the skills to pay the poker bills. Ventura will be a tough nut to crack when Day 2 does finally commence.