Welcome to Day 5 of PokerNews' coverage of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.
The starting field of 816 entrants is down to just 24 players, each with hopes of outlasting the field and capturing this prestigious title, as well as collecting the hefty first-place prize of $1,491,580. On top of the chip counts by a solid margin is Eugenio Mattar with 2,673,000. Rounding out the top five is Emrak Cakmak (2,037,000), Chance Kornuth (2,026,000), Andreas Samuelsson (1,628,000) and Pratyush Buddiga (1,624,000).
Others still in the field include last years sixth-place Main Event finisher Shyam Srinivasan (1,310,000), Maurice Hawkins (962,000), Jim Collopy (799,000), Rami Boukai (769,000), Dylan Linde (709,000), Scott Baumstein (543,000), Tim Reilly (511,000), Mayu Roca (303,000), Felipe Ramos (282,000) and Noah Schwartz (238,000), to name a few.
The plan for the day is to play down to the official final table of eight players. The cards will be in the air at noon local time, roughly 35 minutes from now.
Keep it here at PokerNews throughout the day for live updates on all of the exciting action as the final table for one of the most prestigous tournaments on the poker docket becomes set!
Uwe Ritter opened to 56,000 in the hijack and Mayu Roca called from the big blind.
The flop came down and Roca checked to Ritter who continued for 63,000. Roca tanked for a bit before he check-raised all in for 194,000. Ritter called with , leading Roca's .
Neither the turn not river saved Roca, ending his Main Event in 24th place.
Maurice Hawkins opened for 60,000 in middle position and then called the shove of fellow American Tim Reilly, who had 450,000.
Hawkins:
Reilly:
The board ran out , safe for Hawkins.
"This is like when you have Xbox, and you hit the reset button," Hawkins said, perhaps referring to the fact that he's back to about where he started the day after losing some early chips. "I hit reset."
Jim Collopy opened for a raise and saw Chance Kornuth make it 160,000. Collopy shipped all in for 800,000 and got snap-called by Kornuth holding . Collopy was completely crushed with , and he was drawing dead by the turn as the board ran out .
Kevin Schulz opened to 55,000 from early position, Benjamin Pollak three-bet to 125,000 in the cutoff and Andreas Samuelsson four-bet shipped from the big blind for 588,000. Schulz folded and Pollak tanked for a bit before he called for almost all of his chips as well.
Pollak:
Samuelsson:
The board ran out , no help to Samuelsson, ending his Main Event in 20th place.
Dylan Linde opened to 51,000 from early position, Maurice Hawkins called from the cutoff and Ambrose Ng three-bet shoved from the big blind for 627,000. Linde tanked for a good three minutes before he called for most of his stack and Hawkins called all in for 117,000 total.
Linde:
Hawkins:
Ng:
The board ran out , giving Hawkins queens and tens to win the main pot to triple up, while Linde won the side pot with a pair of queens to eliminate Ng in 19th place.
Chance Kornuth limped in, and Felipe Ramos checked his option in a blind battle. Kornuth check-called 45,000 on the flop, and a turn paired the board. Kornuth decided to lead out with 97,000, and Ramos called. An interesting river hit: , putting trips on board. Kornuth dropped a stack of T25,000 chips into the pot, enough to put Ramos all in. The latter called fairly quickly, and Kornuth instantly flipped for quads. Ramos showed for a losing boat and made his exit.
Juan Etcheverry opened for a raise to 60,000 and Rami Boukai moved all in for 555,000 total. It was folded back to Etcheverry who tanked for nearly a minute before calling with . Boukai was in excellent position to double up as he had Etcheverry dominated with his .
The board ran out and Boukai doubled up to 1,150,000 while a visibly frustrated Etcheverry was down to just over 120,000 in chips.
The very next hand would see Eugenio Mattar open for 65,000 and Etcheverry moving all in for 119,000 total. It was folded back to Mattar who made the call with . Etcheverry had and was racing for his tournament life. The board ran out and Etcheverry was eliminated in 17th place for $65,940.
Pratyush Buddiga raised to 65,000 in early position and got three-bet to 168,000 by Diego Ventura. Maurice Hawkins put in his last 48,000, and Buddiga called. The flop came , and Buddiga check-called 140,000. Checks ensued on the and , and Buddiga showed down for top pair. Neither Ventura () nor Hawkins () could beat it, though Hawkins commented that he wished Ventura had bluffed out Buddiga to ensure his own survival.
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and Roca checked to Ritter who continued for 63,000. Roca tanked for a bit before he check-raised all in for 194,000. Ritter called with 
, leading Roca's 
.
turn not 
river saved Roca, ending his Main Event in 24th place.
, safe for Hawkins.
.
turn ended things.
, and he was drawing dead by the turn as the board ran out 
.
, putting trips on board. Kornuth dropped a stack of T25,000 chips into the pot, enough to put Ramos all in. The latter called fairly quickly, and Kornuth instantly flipped 
for quads. Ramos showed 
) nor Hawkins (
) could beat it, though Hawkins commented that he wished Ventura had bluffed out Buddiga to ensure his own survival.
