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It was a short Friday of play at the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event as the field took only six hours to whittle its way down to 21 players with Bulgaria’s Dimitar Danchev atop the table.

59 players came back yesterday, expecting to have a short day on the felt. PCA officials had decided that the field would either play five levels or – if players were eliminated at a more rapid pace – to stop play early. Leading the way when the survivors in the first major tournament of 2013 came together was Patrick Kelly, with Joe Serock, Darren Elias and Owen Crowe joining him in the million chip club.

Kelly would attempt to expand his lead just after the opening bell but was unsuccessful. In one of the first hands dealt Friday, Kelly saw a 7-7-J flop against Andrey Shatilov and, after a Shatilov check, Kelly continue to fire at the pot with a 75K bet. An eight on the turn brought about another Shatilov check and Kelly this time dropped 150K into the pot. Shatilov awoke at this point, moving all in for his remaining 243K, and Kelly made the call.

Kelly was already drawing dead as the cards would show; Shatilov had cagily hidden his pocket sevens for flopped quads and induced Kelly to fire away with only an A-K. After the river was dealt, Shatilov rocketed up the leaderboard and Kelly, although still in the lead, saw his chip stack cut to slightly under 1.4 million chips.

While Kelly was handing over his chips, Serock would move into the lead with the elimination of Gleb Tremzin and a short stacked Mohsin Charania would improve his condition by bumping off Chris Klodnicki. One of the players who has quietly been in the mix during the entirety of the PCA Main Event, Yann Dion, would eliminate Scott Clements when Clements’ pocket threes were caught by Dion’s A-8.

Danchev began to make his move up the leaderboard in eliminating Eli Berg from the tournament. After an opening bet from Danchev and a call from Kelly, Berg made his stand with his remaining chips. Danchev moved all in over the top to force Kelly from the hand and tabled a dominant A-K against Berg’s K-Q. The Jack high flop would provide no help for Berg, sending him into the sun of the Bahamas.

By the time the first break hit, there were only 45 players remaining, making the possibility of a short day a realistic goal. The players continued to drop rapidly, including Day Two chip leader Nicolas Godoy at the hands of Michael Lipman. He was joined in the parade to the payout desk by Greg Mueller and Carlos Mortensen as the field reached 35 men by the second break of the day.

Ryan Fair would take over the lead after heading to battle with Kelly in the late afternoon. On a 4♣ A Q flop, Kelly would check raise Fair to 77K and, after a Fair call, saw a K hit the turn. This time Kelly bet out and, after Fair called, a 3♠ came to complete the board. Kelly once again went on the attack and Fair immediately called. While Kelly mustered pocket fours for a flopped set, it wasn’t enough to best Fair’s 5 2 for the turned flush. With the hand, Fair assumed the lead with close to two million in chips while Kelly still had ample ammunition with his 1.6 million.

Undaunted, Kelly went back to work rebuilding his stack. He would knock out Griffin Benger and chop a sizeable amount of chips from Elias when his flopped set of fives held up, but Crowe would take down Eugene Katchalov to keep Kelly from moving any further up the ladder. Meanwhile, Danchev would devastate the stack of Serock when he turned a straight to put himself among the few players over the two million mark.

As the sun disappeared over the western horizon, what would prove to be the final elimination of the day would also provide the most drama. After Danchev put the price to play at 40K, Fair made the call and Kelly three-bet the pot to 202K. Danchev wouldn’t back down, making it 460K to go and, after Fair deposited his cards in the muck, Kelly made the call.

The 10-Q-7 flop brought the thunder, with Danchev pushing out a 360K bet. Kelly announced that he was all in and Danchev, agonizing over the decision, grudgingly made the call. Where the agony came from is unknown as Danchev revealed a pocket pair of Kings against Kelly’s dominated 7-6. After running deuces completed the board, Kelly was stunningly out of the tournament while Danchev assumed a commanding lead heading to today’s play:

1. Dimitar Danchev, 4.08 million
2. Owen Crowe, 2.5 million
3. Ryan Fair, 2.496 million
4. Yann Dion, 2.296 million
5. Robert Mizrachi, 1.99 million
6. Michael Lipman, 1.562 million
7. Andrey Shatilov, 1.494 million
8. Joel Micka, 1.409 million
9. Matthew Reed, 1.375 million
10. Jerry Wong, 1.37 million

Those remaining in the 21 player field that have their work cut out for them include Eddy Sabat, Manig Loeser, Olivier Busquet, Guillaume Rivet and Elias (all under the 714K chip mark), while Charania has the audacious task of coming from the short stack with his 140K in chips.

Saturday’s play will bring the field down to the final eight players who will determine the champion of the 2013 PCA Main Event. By Sunday evening, the “last man standing” will take down the tenth ever championship of this tournament, a historic achievement, but the $1.859 million for the winner will be a welcome addition to the bankroll.

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