Artur Martirosian headlines the final six players in the PCA Main Event, with the winner set to take home $1.5 million.
From 889 entries, just six players remain in the hunt to win the $10,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event. Wedding Party Folding Plastic Chairs
The chip dynamics should be fascinating entering Sunday’s final table, with the top three stacks – chip leader Pedro Neves, Alexandre Raymond, and Artur Martirosian– separated by just three big blinds. Just behind them sit Michael Dattani and Christoph Csik – separated by a single big blind, in fourth and fifth respectively. Rounding out the final table is Jamil Wakil, who will have to fight back from just 7.5 big blinds to start the day.
All six of them outlasted a $10K field filled with some of poker’s most accomplished players, and the final three eliminations of the night on Saturday included three players with serious resumes. Jonathan Little and Taylor Paur, both WPT Champions Club members, went down in ninth and eighth place, respectively, and have a hair shy of $13 million in combined career live tournament earnings. Alexandros Kolonias, the No. 1 lifetime tournament earner ever from Greece, fought along on a short stack for most of the second half of Day 5 and was unlucky to lose with – all-in preflop – against Pedro Neves’ to go out seventh.
$1.5 million and $1 million await the winner and runner-up of this event, which resumes at 12:30 p.m. local time. So who are these six players still in contention? Let’s dig in.
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $124,756, 3rd, 2022 UKIPT London £2,200 High Roller
Other Prominent Results: Won $400 WSOP Daily Deepstacks event in 2022; 13th in WSOP Closer in 2022
One of two players from Portugal at this PCA final table, Neves spent long stretches of this tournament on a shorter stack. In fact, he entered Day 5 on the shortest stack among 16 players. But after an early Day 5 double up and a buildup throughout the day Saturday, his elimination of Kolonias positioned Neves in the chip lead heading into the final day. With a fourth-place finish (or better), Neves would exceed the entirety of his lifetime tournament earnings.
End of Day 1 chip count: 57,200 (142/318) End of Day 2 chip count: 170,000 (60/151) End of Day 3 chip count: 768,000 (9/54) End of Day 4 chip count: 790,000 (16/16)
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $206,020, won 2015 WSOP Circuit Baltimore $1,675 Main Event
Other Prominent Results: 3rd, 2019 WPT Deepstacks Maryland $1,500 main event; 2nd, WPT World Championship at Wynn $600 5-Card PLO side event
The lone American still in contention, Csik is primarily a cash game player, but has still managed to accumulate over $1 million in lifetime earnings coming into the PCA main event. He’s one of three players, along with Neves and Raymond, who reached this point without requiring at least one re-entry. Csik has been at or near the top of the chip counts for most of this tournament, finishing among the top four stacks on three consecutive nights. Even though he’ll start the day in fifth, Csik is well within striking distance of the top stacks. Csik has already secured a career-best result by making the PCA final table.
End of Day 1 chip count: 92,700 (60/318) End of Day 2 chip count: 451,500 (4/151) End of Day 3 chip count: 1,409,000 (2/54) End of Day 4 chip count: 2,785,000 (3/16)
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $1.4 million, won 2021 Super High Roller Bowl $100,000 event
Other Prominent Results: Won 2022 €25,000 EPT Barcelona High Roller for $556,454; Won 2021 EPT Sochi main event for $325,316
Martirosyan is far and away the most accomplished and experienced player at this final table. With three major titles under his belt, including an EPT main event, along with some serious online results to his credit as well, it will be interesting to see if Martirosyan’s “big game” experience comes into play once action resumes. He’ll need to win the PCA main event outright to eclipse his career-best live result.
End of Day 1 chip count: 138,100 (15/318) End of Day 2 chip count: 82,500 (124/151) End of Day 3 chip count: 816,000 (7/54) End of Day 4 chip count: 2,285,000 (5/16)
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $60,379, won 2022 C$220 Grand Prix Canada
Other Prominent Results: 3rd, 2022 $1,500 Online WSOP Bracelet event for $71,786
Raymond walked head-first into a potential nightmare of a cooler situation, when his turned a full house on a board. Neves’ spiked a river, and after Raymond led out, a raise from Neves prompted an astonishingly quick fold from Raymond. He managed to quickly recoup those chips and sits in prime position to make a run at $1 million. Raymond has already clearly eclipsed the entirety of his lifetime live earnings with this PCA final table appearance.
End of Day 1 chip count: 50,000 (160/318) End of Day 2 chip count: 172,500 (57/151) End of Day 3 chip count: 298,000 (40/54) End of Day 4 chip count: 1,475,000 (8/16)
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $96,800, 2nd, 2022 $10,000 Aria High Roller
Other Prominent Results: 5th, 2012 WSOP Circuit West Palm Beach $1,600 main event for $52,924
For the second time in this tournament, Wakil bagged fewer chips than he started a day with – a fairly remarkable achievement in its own right. He’ll have to fight his way back from well behind all five of his competitors to record his first outright live tournament victory. After a dropoff in live results between 2014 and 2020, Wakil has put in some miles on tour post-COVID lockdown, and he recorded eight cashes in EPT events in the second half of 2022.
End of Day 1 chip count: 86,700 (74/318) End of Day 2 chip count: 313,000 (18/151) End of Day 3 chip count: 179,000 (49/54) End of Day 4 chip count: 2,840,000 (2/16)
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $123,966, 7th, 2018 €25,000 EPT Barcelona High Roller
Other Prominent Results: 2nd, 2011 WSOPE €1,620 6-Handed PLO, $102,837
Dattani’s PCA main event result will be the fourth six-figure cash of his career, and the largest no matter where he finishes. He started Day 5 with the chip lead and recorded three of the first seven eliminations on Saturday. But as other stacks continued to climb late into the night, Dattani dropped back a bit. With multiple career cashes in buy-ins of $25,000+, Dattani seems less likely than others at this final table to flinch when big-money ICM considerations come into play.
End of Day 1 chip count: 109,100 (34/318) End of Day 2 chip count: 194,500 (51/151) End of Day 3 chip count: 642,000 (13/54) End of Day 4 chip count: 2,900,000 (1/16)
Artur Martirosian headlines the final six players in the PCA Main Event, with the winner set to take home $1.5 million.
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