Given a choice of poker tournaments to attend, most poker players would probably pick the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure as the most appealing.

Where else do you get warm Caribbean beaches, vertigo-inducing waterslides and some of the hottest poker action south of Florida?

Therefore it should come as no surprise that this year's tournament is looking to be the largest tournament ever held outside of the United States. A total of 660 players came out to play on Day 1a of the PCA, with organizers hoping to hit 1,400 when both Day 1's are combined.

Why we're all here.

For those who haven't ever attended the PCA, it's an absolute spectacle. The only thing comparable to the tournament is the WSOP, and even that series doesn't take place in a hotel modeled after the lost city of Atlantis.

PokerStars kicked the tournament off right with the biggest welcoming party we've attended - and we've been to more than a few. As usual the appetizers and beverages were flowing all night long, and the evening ended with a performance by some traditional Bahamian dancers. It was a great start to a truly epic tournament.

Daniel Negreanu's run-good didn't translate into much success at the PCA.

Day 1a began with the same mob of poker players that you'd expect to see at one of the larger events at the WSOP. Poker players flooded the halls of Atlantis and packed into the Imperial Ballroom at the gargantuan hotel.

You want big-time poker players? It would be easy to fill several pages with all the well-known poker pros who played on Day 1a. From Team PokerStars Pro there was Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, Alex Kravchenko, Vicky Coren, Lee Nelson, Joe Hachem, Gavin Griffin, Marcin Horecki, Luca Pagano, Barry Greenstein and Tom McEvoy.

New hat for the Lady Maverick.

PokerStars Six members Ylon Schwartz and Darus Suharto were playing, as well as fellow November Niner Scott Montgomery. In a weird coincidence, Schwartz and Montgomery were assigned to the same table, and once again it was the New Yorker who outlasted the Canadian by making it to Day 2.

Also playing on Day 1a were Chris Ferguson, Evelyn Ng, Edward Sabat, Bill Edler, Gavin Smith, Jeff Madsen, Mike "Timex" McDonald, Adam Junglen, Nick Binger, Michael Binger, Jason Mercier, Amnon Filippi, Kristian Kjondal, Antonio Esfandiari, Isaac Baron, Amanda Baker, Steve Zolotow and many, many more.

The actual play was reminiscent of most Day 1's at major tournaments. More than half the field was eliminated by the dinner break, and by the end of the night only 193 remained.

Still looking for that big score.

Most of the players mentioned above were eliminated, including Negreanu, who had some ups and downs but was eventually crippled and forced to shove with middle pair on a 9♣ 5♥ 4♥ board.

"Good luck winning this crapshoot," offered a cordial Negreanu as he left the table.

Ylon Schwartz once again outlasted Scott Montgomery as the Canadian was eliminated in the later stages of the day.

Among the players who managed to bust through the bad beat minefields were Brazilian Filipe Ramos, David Baker, Schwartz and Vicky Coren.

Although the official PokerStars chip counts won't be available until tomorrow, we know that Baker has in excess of $200,000 chips and Ramos has around $250,000.

Join us tomorrow for on-the-spot updates kicking off at approximately noon ET, compromised only by our crack reporting team's lingering waterslide-induced dizziness.