Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournaments

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@J_W_Stanton In PokerStars Championship

Information and Reviews about Atlantis Casino Poker Room in Reno, including Poker Tournaments, Games, Special Events and Promotions. Attention Poker Rooms: Get your Real-Time Live Action on PokerAtlas! Many professional poker players, members of the poker media, and amateur players who play for fun, will have similar family memories of the game growing up. Benjamin Wittams-Smith, one of over a hundred players who won a $10 Spin & Go on PokerStars to qualify for the first ever PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event, falls under the latter. PokerStars EPT Bahamas takes place in January 6th, 2015 at the beautiful Atlantis.This spectacular poker festival features a $5000 + $300 main event where the main event prize package winners gets free accommodation at the Atlantis resort for nine nights.

Growing up, I had an uncle who was heavily into poker. Back then though, I had no idea what poker was.

Whenever we'd visit, his dimly-lit study room had a large round table with what looked like snooker felt ironed over it. There were round coins resembling Pogs (how great were Pogs?), ashtrays waiting patiently to be prodded, and the same decks of cards we'd play gin rummy with scattered across the green. 'It's his weekly poker game tonight,' my parents would tell me.

'Whatever, let's play gin rummy,' is what I imagine my eight-year-old response was.

Six or seven years later, I had both discovered the game myself, and developed a love of writing. A whole lot of luck later and I now get to combine the two. But sadly my uncle - who probably would have got the biggest kick out of me being in the Bahamas to write about poker for the second year running - wasn't around long enough to see it.

Of course, this isn't a story unique to me. Far from it. Many professional poker players, members of the poker media, and amateur players who play for fun, will have similar family memories of the game growing up.

Benjamin Wittams-Smith, one of over a hundred players who won a $10 Spin & Go on PokerStars to qualify for the first ever PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event, falls under the latter category: an amateur player who plays for fun. He also remembers a family member loving poker growing up.

'My Granddad was very big on poker. There have been quite a few mad gambling wins in my family!' the young Brit told me.

He too would eventually discover the game on his own, and play online on PokerStars whenever he had a few spare hours. Firing up some Spin & Gos was a fun way to pass the time.

'I used to play a lot a while ago. Spin & Gos have been out for a while in the UK,' he said, and one night he decided to fire up a few $10 ones. Little did he know his plans for January 2017 were about change completely.

'I wasn't expecting it, y'know? I was just playing some Spin & Gos, as you do. And yeah...I won the package!'

That package included entry into the $5K PSC Championship Bahamas Main Event, accommodation at the incredible Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, and money for travel and expenses. But unfortunately for Wittams-Smith, his amazing win was bittersweet.

'My Granddad died two days prior to this happening. So when that came up [that he'd won the package] it was quite shocking.'

While his Grandad was sadly no longer with him to see him win the trip of a lifetime for any poker player, Wittams-Smith showed up here in the Bahamas ready to play.

It wasn't until Day 3 of the Main Event that he showed up on the PokerStars Blog radar, and it was mainly due to 2013 WSOP champ Ryan Riess. The man known as 'the beast' had been sitting next to Wittams-Smith for most of the day, and first informed us of his story. Even after Wittams-Smith had been moved to a different table, Riess would get out of his seat and rail him whenever he was involved in a significant hand.

'Yeah, Ryan was a nice guy. A great guy,' Wittams-Smith says. 'I'm glad to have met him.'

Ryan Riess, still in the Main Event at time of writing

But the dream story didn't quite work out the way Wittams-Smith was hoping.

'Unfortunately, I just made a bad call,' he says. 'I was aiming for a higher cash, but I couldn't hang around for too long.'

Wittams-Smith was short with just 36,000 and the blinds at 2K/5K when he'd meet his end. He opened to 12,000 and when it folded to Nenad Medic in the small blind he put him all-in. He thought for a minute or so, before deciding to call off his 36,000 with the K♦Q♠. Wittams-Smith explains the hand:

'I'd just spoken to Nenad, the guy who eventually took me out. I'd just spoke to him outside. I raised him in position just before the break, he went all in, and I folded. I spoke to him outside and asked him what he had. He told me he had ace-king off-suit.

'He then did it again, and I thought 'he's just expecting me to fold here.'

Wittams-Smith in action

Surely Medic couldn't have ace-king again right?

He did. Medic showed the A♦K♥ and the big slick held up. Wittams-Smith rode that $10 Spin & Go Caribbean wave all the way to a 95th place finish and $9,120. Luckily there's plenty to do here in Atlantis.

'I'm probably going to do some diving, then who knows? I'm just going to enjoy the sun! I've been inside most of the time.'

A subtle brag there; if you're inside a lot, that means the poker is going well!

'I'm here on my own, but I've made a few friends. It's been a great experience, and I'd love to do it again.'

As I said earlier, Wittams-Smith wasn't the only $10 Spin & Go winner here in the Bahamas. This lot also won the dream package and turned $10 into thousands:

Massimo De Mario - 22nd for $24,640
Stig Moen - 43rd for $14,760
Lucian Voigt - 57th for $11,560
Jan Kralik - 68th for $11,560
Mattias Priolo - 77th for $9,120
Thomas Muehlemann - 106th for $7,260
Jeremey Grayson - 125th for $7,260

Maybe next time it could be you who spins and goes somewhere exciting...

For players like Ben Wittams-Smith, and writers like me, these poker trips allow you to create memories that will last a lifetime. In the future, they'll sit happily alongside those memories of your granddad or uncle. And eventually, who knows? Maybe they'll all blend into one.

For live updates from the $25K High Roller, visit PokerNews. And follow the coverage of the PSC Bahamas Main Event here.

Take a look at the official website of PokerStars LIVE, with tournament schedule, news, results and accommodation details for the PokerStars Championship Bahamas and all other Festival and Championship events.

Also all the information is on the PokerStars LIVE App, which is available on both Android or IOS.

Jack Stanton is a freelance contributor to the Pokerstars Blog.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is no more.

After 16 years, most of it spent being one of the premier live stops on the international poker scene, PokerStars has opted to discontinue the event, according to reporting from PocketFives.

The relevant sentence comes at the bottom of the linked piece, in a quote from PokerStars Marketing Director Eric Hollreiser.

'It’s no secret that after 15 successful years, the PCA [prior to last year’s PSPC] has been losing momentum and there’s been increasing player criticism of the location,” Hollreiser said. “As such, we will not be returning to Paradise Island in 2020.'

History of the PCA

PCA began as a partnership with the World Poker Tour, taking place on a cruise ship in 2004 and hosting a field of 221 players. Poker legend Gus Hansen would ship the inaugural event, then a $7,500 buy-in, for $455,780.

The next year the PCA moved to its famous home at Atlantis Resort, the sprawling and opulent set-up that occupies almost half of Paradise Island.

Over the years there, the series would eventually evolve into becoming part of PokerStars' European Poker Tour, with the buy-in goosed up to $10,300. It would eventually stand as one of just a few remaining $10K main events on the overall live schedule, although the buy-in was dropped to $5,300 for a couple of years, including the one year the event was rebranded as PokerStars Championship Bahamas in 2017.

The PCA peaked in terms of prizes awarded in 2009, when little-known Canadian Poorya Nazari won a monstrous official first-place of $3 million, although it was widely reported thata deal had been struck at some point before the finish. In terms of entries, the PCA Main Event peaked during the two following years when 1,529 and 1,560 turned up, respectively.

The Main Event was far from the only big draw at PCA. It also hosted some of the first and biggest $100K events in poker before that was just another tournament in the procession of high rollers. The $25K High Roller was also usually one of the most well-attended on the calendar.

Declining Attendance

While the PCA for years could count itself a premier live poker stop, it had fallen on somewhat hard times in recent years.

After attendance peaked in 2011, the lack of online satellites available to North American players contributed to a large attendance drop back to 1,072 in 2012 — about two-thirds of the previous year's total. As the poker environment became tougher and edges shrank, the attractiveness of an expensive stay on an island resort went down as well.

A further drop of about 20 percent — from 1,031 to 816 — in 2015 convinced PokerStars brass to try lowering the buy-in to the aforementioned $5,300. The move did little, as a bump of about 100 entries just meant the prize pool dropped massively, awarding its first winner's prize below seven figures since 2005.

Things only got worse the following year, and 2018's return to $10,300 saw attendance drop in the number of entries to 582, a level not seen since 2005 as well.

The PCA received a major shot in the arm in 2019 when the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold'em Championship was announced. While the landmark event would run alongside the PCA Main Event, the lure of the most lucrative $25K in history was enough to bring out plenty of grinders and push Main Event attendance back up to 865 for Chino Rheem's victory.

However, that always looked to be temporary fix given that the PSPC was thought to be a one-off and certainly looked unlikely to be repeated every year. With the news that the event will move to Barcelona for 2020, it was confirmed that there would be no similar life raft to keep the 2020 PCA afloat, and PokerStars opted to end the long-running event rather than risk continued decline.

Barring a reboot some time down the road, that means Rheem will go down as the final PCA Main Event champion, closing the books on one of poker's longest-running and most lucrative tournament series.