Sunday’s Day 5 at the European Poker Tour (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event was a short one, as only a dozen eliminations were needed to hit the next stopping point in the tournament, the final table. Entering the day, 20 players remained in the event, all with the immediate goal of being one of the eight left bagging chips when all was said and done. Just four and a half hours later, those eight had been determined, with Madis Muur leading the way with 6.205 million chips.
Before the final table even begins on Monday, this is already the tournament of Muur’s life. Already guaranteed a payout of $173,220, Muur is guaranteed to nearly triple his lifetime live tournament earnings of $102,363 (credit to TheHendonMob.com for the tournament data). He also has $140,575 in online tournament winnings, so he only needs to finish seventh to match his total combined career earnings in a single event. Muur’s best live cash was his last one, when he placed twelfth in the EPT Barcelona Main Event in September, winning nearly $80,000.
That Muur is on top of the leader board after Day 5 isn’t really that much of a surprise considering he was in the same position after Day 4. He stayed consistent throughout the afternoon, steadily growing his stack to where it is now. One of his bigger hands played out near the end of the day when he eliminated Tom Hall in tenth place. It was a simple all-in pre-flop hand, with Hall putting his final 800,000 chips in the pot with K-9, up against the A-8 of Muur. Muur paired his Ace on the flop and found another on the turn to ice the hand before the river card was even dealt.
Though Muur is the chip leader, all eyes will most likely be on Mike “timex” McDonald on Monday. Second in chips with 5.605 million, McDonald is gunning to become the first two-time EPT champion in the tour’s history. His first win had already set a record: he was the youngest winner in EPT history when he took the 2008 EPT Dortmund title at age 18. He came close to becoming the first double winner the following year when he finished fifth in that same event.
The final table is just about to get underway at its scheduled noon ET start time. It should be a great contest with the top three players all above 5.5 million and even the shortest stack within one double-up of getting right back into the thick of things.
2014 European Poker Tour (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
1. Madis Muur – 6,205,000
2. Mike McDonald – 5,605,000
3. Pascal Lefrancois – 5,595,000
4. Dominik Panka – 3,695,000
5. Fabian Ortiz – 3,040,000
6. Isaac Baron – 2,995,000
7. Daniel Gamez – 1,885,000
8. Shyam Srinivasan – 1,505,000