The 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event has reached boiling point with only six of the original 889 players still in the hunt for the $1,500,000 top prize and the all-important winner’s trophy. The final six Main Event hopefuls return to their seats at the Baha Mar Resort in The Bahamas at 12:30 p.m. local time on January 29, with Portugal’s Pedro Neves leading the way.
Day 5 saw the field of 16 players whittled to only six. The final day should be an amazing spectacle because Jamil Wakil (755,000) aside, the finalists have at least 39 big blinds in their stacks, so have some wiggle room when play resumes.
$10,300 PCA Main Event Final Day Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pedro Neves | Portugal | 6,205,000 | 62 |
| 2 | Christoph Csik | United States | 3,905,000 | 39 |
| 3 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 5,855,000 | 59 |
| 4 | Alexandre Raymond | Canada | 5,955,000 | 60 |
| 5 | Jamil Wakil | Canada | 755,000 | 8 |
| 6 | Michel Dattani | Portugal | 4,000,000 | 40 |
Mario Ferreria Pais was the penultimate day’s first casualty. Pais was joined on the rail first by Giuseppe Iadisernia, then Clint Tolbert, Ian Matakis, and Spanish superstar Sergi Reixach.
Neves received a significant boost to his stack when his pocket kings prevailed against Mitchell Halverson‘s queens, resulting in Halverson crashing out in 11th. The elimination of Brazil’s Allan Mello reduced the field to nine, and those nine took their seats at the unofficial final table.
Jonathan Little busted on the first hand after the players sat down on a table of nine. Little’s ace-nine couldn’t get there against the dominating ace-queen of Alexandre Raymond. Raymond would later, correctly, fold a full house against Neves, showing his opponents that he is on top of his game.
Eighth place went to Taylor Paur after he lost a flip against Artur Martirosian before a short-stacked Alexandros Kolonias‘ ace-jack was outdrawn by the ace-seven of Neves to conclude Day 5.
Joining Neves under the spotlight on the PCA Main Event’s final day are the aforementioned Raymond (5,995,000), Martirosian (5,855,000), and Wakil (755,000), in addition to Michel Dattani (4,000,000) and Christoph Csik (3,905,000).
Fire up the PokerNews live reporting pages from 12:30 p.m. local time to discover who becomes the 2023 PCA Main Event champion.
Jeremy Ausmus Leads the Final 10 in the $25,000 PLO High Roller
Ten of the original 44 players are in the hunt for the title of 2023 PCA $25,000 PLO High Roller champion. Jeremy Ausmus (385,000) is the man taking the chip lead into the second and final day’s play, although he is flanked by some supremely talented pot-limit Omaha players.
Ausmus has form in high-stakes PLO tournaments, having won the $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller at the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP). He’s also fresh off the back of winning the $2,200 No-Limit Hold’em Deep Stack in The Bahamas, so is high on confidence; not that Ausmus lacks any in his game.
Finnish PLO specialist Joni Jouhkimainen (336,000) is Ausmus’ closest rival when play resumes at 2:00 p.m. local time on January 29. Others still in the mix to secure the $364,440 top prize from the $1,056,440 prize pool include Ukraine’s Andriy Lyubovetsky (274,000), Oliver Weis (246,000), Andrew Pantling (206,000), five-time WSOP champion Shaun Deeb (200,000), and short stack Adam Hendrix (41,000).
$25,000 PLO High Roller Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 385,000 | 64 | |
| 2 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | 336,000 | 56 | |
| 3 | Andriy Lyubovetskiy | Ukraine | 274,000 | 45 | |
| 4 | Oliver Weis | Germany | 246,000 | 41 | |
| 5 | Dylan Smith | United States | 239,000 | 40 | |
| 6 | Andrew Pantling | Canada | 206,000 | 34 | |
| 7 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 200,000 | 33 | |
| 8 | John Zable | United States | 190,000 | 31 | |
| 9 | Tom-Aksel Bedell | Norway | 83,000 | 14 | |
| 10 | Adam Hendrix | United States | 41,000 | 7 |
Bonomo and Cobian Capture PCA Titles
Two players became 2023 PCA champions while the Main Event and $25,000 PLO High Roller were taking place. Justin Bonomo won the $25,000 8-Handed for $574,529, which took his lifetime live poker tournament winnings to $59.5 million, extending his lead in the all-time money listings.
Samuel Cobian of Indianapolis took down the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty for $239,658 plus at least $15,000 worth of bounties along the way. Cobian defeated Andy “BowieEffect” Wilson heads-up and reeled in the largest live score of his career.