Russian player Alexey Repik goes into Day 2 as chip leader with 220,100 in chips. Team PokerStars players returning include Arnaud Mattern, Luca Pagano, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Liv Boeree, Barry Greenstein and Team PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker.

The remaining players will be in action all this week, with the final table scheduled for Friday, January 13. Don’t miss the exclusive ‘as live’ (40-min delay) cards-up web stream of the Main Event final table on PokerStars.tv from 14.00 local time (20.00 CET).

Viktor Blom wins $1.25 million in the Super High Roller

The first big tournament of this year’s PCA has ended with Viktor Blom coming through a stellar field to win the $100k Super High Roller event for $1.25 million.

At the final table he defeated former EPT winner Mike McDonald, last year’s PCA Main Event winner Galen Hall, former World Champion Jonathan Duhamel, and fellow Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Blom’s final opponent was high stakes pro Dan Shak, who he saw off in the short heads-up battle, to win his first live tournament title.

It was only 12 months ago that Blom stood at the same spot at the PCA and finally revealed himself as the mysterious high stakes cash game player ‘Isuldur1’. The Swedish wunderkind has had a rollercoaster year at the online cash tables, but was frustrated in live tournaments. Now he’s finally put that ghost to rest, Blom could go on a tear in 2012.

After he won, Viktor had a few (Swedish) words to say to PokerStars Blog in an exclusive rare live interview.

Schwartz wins PCA $5k PLO 8 max

American pro Noah Schwartz won Event 5 – the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8-Max tourney for $97,780. A total of 56 players entered creating a $271,600 prize pool. Chino Rheem, who goes into Day 2 of the Main Event fifth in chips, came second for $62,470.

Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew sets new Guinness World Record

Team PokerStars Online member, Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew is now the official holder of the Guinness World Record for playing the most hands of poker in eight hours (while remaining profitable). When the clock stopped just after 9pm on Sunday, January 8, Lew had played 23,493 hands and ended up $7.65 in profit. At one point he was up a few hundred bucks. At his worst, he was down $1,200. To put his achievement into perspective, whoever wins the PCA Main Event on Friday won’t play even 10% of the hands that Randy played in eight hours, and after all that excitement, there’s still Day 2 of the Main Event to look forward to.

ElkY and Dario Minieri receive PokerStars VIP Club Lifetime Achievement Awards

Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Dario Minieri were presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards – stunning personalized TAG Heuer watches – by PokerStars’ VIP Club after both reached 5,000,000 lifetime VPPs (VIP Player Points).

ElkY said: “This means a lot to me. I was the first player to reach five million on PokerStars. Now I guess I’m looking to hit ten million.” ElkY was the first ever Supernova in 2006, and the first ever Supernova Elite in 2007 (the first years these VIP levels were offered). Dario was the first player to buy a Porsche from the VIP Store by using his FPPs (Frequent Player Points).