For three days in a row, Leonardo Pires has bagged the biggest stack at the end of a PCA Main Event session. Leading for both Day 2 and Day 3, the 46-year-old Brazilian never lost the lead during today's five levels either. With 19 players left, he'll be back for the penultimate day with 4,566,000. Pires, a city councillor in Belo Horizonte, the Minas Gerais state capital, is bossing the PCA 2016 Main Event. It may be too early to talk about the title, but there hasn't been any Brazilian EPT winner to date.
Pires has been playing poker for nearly 30 years now and is already experiencing the best run of his life here at the PCA; this will also be his first ever EPT Main Event cash.
A stacked field remains in contention in the $5,300 tournament including American onlie pro TJ "1BigAceHole" Ulmer who is up some $820k in PokerStars tournaments. His best result came in the 2013 TCOOP Main Event when he finished third for $277k. In live tourneys, Ulmer's biggest payday came here in the Bahamas. Five years ago, he won a $1k 6-Handed event for $107k, which is his only six figure live tournament result so far. Ulmer bagged 2,200,000, entering Day 5 of the PCA Main Event fourth in chips.
British player Phillip McAllister looked set to keep the number #2 spot in the chip counts for Day 5, but lost a big pot to Randy Kritzer at the end of the day to eventually drop to fifth position. Playing as "Grindation" on PokerStars, the 22-year-old has two Sunday Million final tables under his belt as well as some juicy results in the SCOOP & WCOOP series. Prolific online, McAllister has $180k in live tournament winnings but is yet to make a breakthrough in the live arena to match his biggest online result of $350k. This deep run will be his first EPT cash and he's already guaranteed $32,360.
Among those who are still chasing the PCA 2016 Main Event title are double LAPT champion and former PCA finalist Fabian Ortiz, WSOP bracelet winner Matt Waxman, Canada's #5 in the all-time money list Mike Watson, 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event champ Ami Barer, EPT10 Prague third place finisher Stephen Chidwick, PCA 2009 Main Event runner-up Tony Gregg, PCA 2013 $25k High Roller runner-up Vladimir Troyanovskiy, 2014 WCOOP World Champion Fedor Holz and American pro Taylor Paur.
EPT7 Vilamoura champion Toby Lewis is the last remaining EPT winner in the field. He doubled up in the last hand of the night and will be back for Day 5 with xx. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier was eliminated in 20th place for $32,360 while Friend of PokerStars Felipe Ramos bust in 45th worth $14,900.
The flagship PCA Main Event attracted 928 entries overall creating a $4,500,800 prize pool. The top 135 players will get paid and the last man standing is set to take $833,260, along with the title and coveted trophy.
PCA 2016 Main Event Day 4 top five chip counts:
1st - Leonardo Pires, Brazil, 4,566,000
2nd - Randy Kritzer, USA, 2,385,000
3rd - Fabian Ortiz, Argentina, PokerStars player, 2,309,000
4th - Timothy Ulmer, USA, Live satellite winner, 2,200,000
5th - Phillip McAllister, UK, PokerStars player, 2,152,000
POKERSTARS CARIBBEAN ADVENTURE MAIN EVENT HISTORY:
2004: 221 players, $1,657,500 prize pool, Gus Hansen (Denmark) for $455,780
2005: 461 players, $3,487,200 prize pool, John Gale (UK) for $890,600
2006: 724 players, $5 647 200 prize pool, Steve Ambrose (Canada) for $1,388,600
2007: 937 players, $7,063,842 prize pool, Ryan Daut (USA) for $1,535,255
2008 (EPT4): 1,136 players, $8,562,976 prize pool, Bertrand Grospellier (France) for $2,000,000
2009 (EPT5): 1,347 players, $12,674,000 prize pool, Poorya Nazari (Canada) for $3,000,000
2010 (EPT6): 1,529 players, $14,831,300 prize pool, Harrison Gimbel (USA) for $2,200,000
2011 (EPT7): 1,560 players, $15,132,000 prize pool, Galen Hall (USA) for $2,300,000
2012 (EPT8): 1,072 players, $10,398,400 prize pool, John Dibella (USA) for $1,775,000
2013 (EPT9): 987 players, $9,573,900 prize pool, Dimitar Danchev (Bulgaria) for $1,859,000
2014 (EPT10): 1,031 players, $10,070,000 prize pool, Dominik Panka (Poland) for $1,423,096
2015 (EPT11): 816 players, $7,915,200 prize pool, Kevin Schulz (USA) for $1,491,580
2016 (EPT12): 928 players, $4,500,800 prize pool, $833,260 for the winner
TEAM JAFFEE WINS THE BASKETBALL SHOOTOUT TOURNAMENT
Some 32 competitors were up early at the Atlantis Resort this morning but it wasn't poker on their minds - instead they were taking part in the #StarsFun Basketball Shooutout tournament featuring Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier. There were eight four-a-side teams in the event and the line-up featuring Jared Jaffee, David Robinson, Kunal Patel and Wade Townsend emerged victorious. Each member of the winning team earned entry into a $1k PCA side event as their prize. "Team Jaffee" beat a squad comprising Tyler Hurman, Tyler Patterson, Evan Panesis and Jeff Burns in the finals. Among the others who entered were 2013 WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess, Nick Maimone and Elliot Smith.
MEDIA INFO
All media attending the PCA are prohibited from any kind of gaming anywhere in the Bahamas for the duration of the event. This includes off-property casinos, online or in your hotel room. You must credit PokerStars in the first instance of your event coverage and write PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in full, not just PCA. The PSLive guidelines provides further general information.
PCA 2016
A record 104 tourneys are taking place at Atlantis during the 2016 PCA festival. Aside from the Super High Roller, second LAPT Bahamas Main Event (unlimited re-entries, starts January 7, now with reduced $2,200 buy-in) and PCA 2016 Main Event, there is also a $50k One-Day High Roller Single Re-Entry on January 9. The three-day $25k High Roller starts Jan 12 and the $600 Ladies Event on Jan 14. Check out the PCA 2016 promo video here.
POKERSTARS BLOG / SOCIAL MEDIA
Full reports and updates can be found on the PokerStars blog. For social media, see @PokerStars_PCA - hashtag #PCA2016 and PCA facebook page.
PCA WEBCASTS
EPTLive is broadcasting live today with coverage of the PCA Invitational Charity tourney from 2pm (EST). Tomorrow the cameras switch to Day 2 of the PCA Main Event on January 10. Coverage continues daily until the January 14 cards-up final table.
Leonardo Pires has bagged the biggest stack in the last three days of the PCA Main Event. (Photo: Neil Stoddart)
