Today, the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event enters its play down day, as the 24 remaining players will become eight when all is said and done. At stake is a $2.2 million first place prize and the title of 2010 PCA Champion.
Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo leads the field entering Sunday’s action at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. His chips number 7.5 million, while the next closest competitor, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie, owns just 5.3 million. D’Angelo scooped a blockbuster pot late in the day on Saturday after putting in a check-raise to 310,000 on a flop of 5-A-9. Dimitri Hefter called and the turn was a king. D’Angelo bet 500,000 and Hefter called to see a three hit on the river. The action slowed down, as both players checked, but the damage was done and D’Angelo’s A-Q was enough to rake in the chips.
Meanwhile, Duthie amassed a chunk of his chips after cracking Swedish poker player Kent Lundmark’s pocket aces. Duthie’s opponent led out for 100,000 on a flop of 7-2-8 with two spades. Duthie raised it up to 300,000 and Lundmark pushed all-in over the top for 2.2 million. Duthie called and showed 7-8 of diamonds for top two pair, while Lundmark turned over his wired pair of aces. The board ran out K-6 and Lundmark hit the rails in 29th place for $66,000.
Wayne Bentley, who held a commanding chip lead after the combined Day 1 field, continues to fly high in the 2010 PCA Main Event. Heading into Sunday’s play down day, Bentley owns a stack of 2.9 million, good for third overall. Three tables will accommodate the field this afternoon and Bentley heads to #1, where D’Angelo and Harrison Gimbel, who led the field entering Day 4, will join him. Bentley’s chip stack was chopped down to just 75,000 at one point on Saturday after his A-K could not withstand pocket queens. The board ran out five cards nine or lower and Bentley was crippled before mounting an epic comeback to land in third on the leaderboard entering today’s action.
Speaking of the leaderboard, here are the 24 players remaining in the 2010 PCA Main Event:
1. Ryan D’Angelo – 7,483,000
2. John Duthie – 5,304,000
3. Wayne Bentley – 2,878,000
4. Thomas Koral – 2,438,000
5. Barry Shulman – 2,433,000
6. Aage Floenes Ravn – 2,282,000
7. Zachary Goldberg – 2,195,000
8. James Tolbert – 2,016,000
9. Benjamin Zamani – 1,905,000
10. Robert Mizrachi – 1,823,000
11. Harrison Gimbel – 1,803,000
12. Tyler Reiman – 1,796,000
13. Darren Keyes – 1,614,000
14. Luc Greenwood – 1,528,000
15. Dimitri Hefter – 1,350,000
16. Matthew Haugen – 1,161,000
17. Jimmie Guinther – 932,000
18. Jeff Madsen – 896,000
19. Gijs Verheijen – 882,000
20. Bo Schultz – 720,000
21. Tamas Lendvai – 662,000
22. Praz Bansi – 542,000
23. Richard Toth – 488,000
24. Kenny Nguyen – 242,000
Eight nations are represented in the final 24. Duthie is the only member of Team PokerStars Pro remaining in the field after his comrades like 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Cada, 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer, 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker, and former PCA victor Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier busted in prior days.
The elimination of Amanda Baker in 38th place set up a male-only field on Day 5. Poker pro Praz Bansi sent her packing after Baker pushed all-in with Q-J and Bansi made the call with pocket rockets. The board came K-2-4-4-3 and the last woman standing in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament saw her title hopes evaporate.
Every one of the 24 remaining players is assured a payday of at least $75,000. The top four finishers will earn $1 million from the record-setting PCA Main Event field of 1,529 entrants. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 PCA coverage.
