Day Four of the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event is in the books and, with 20 players remaining, Madis Muur has surged to the lead. There are several notables in contention behind him with one of those contenders looking to make European Poker Tour history.
Saturday’s action began with 72 players remaining and the United Kingdom’s Max Silver atop the ladder with his 1.453 million stack. There were only two other players, Roger Teska and Kyle Sorel, who were over the million chip mark with Silver and lurking down the leaderboard were such players as Vanessa Selbst, Antoine Saout and Jude Ainsworth.
While it might be thought that the players would want to take some time before clashing on poker’s version of “moving day,” that wasn’t the case yesterday. 2013 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Loni Harwood knocked off former World Poker Tour champion Bobby Oboodi when Harwood, holding deficient pocket nines against Oboodi’s pocket Queens, found a nine on the flop to take control to the river and win the hand. Chris Klodnicki also found his way to the rail, courtesy of Fabio Freitas, within minutes of the opening gun.
The chip lead changed during these first frantic minutes of play also. In a “clash of the titans,” the big stacks of Muur and Sam Greenwood decided to mix it up. Greenwood, after calling a three bet out of Muur pre-flop, powered out 33K on a 7-Q-A rainbow flop. Muur smooth-called that bet and the duo saw an eight come on the turn. Greenwood once again seized the initiative, putting up a bet of 74K and Muur called to see the river six. This time, Greenwood decided to just check but, following a 200K bet out of Muur, pushed his remaining chips to the center. Muur immediately made the call, showing a 10-9 for the rivered straight, while all Greenwood could do was show his A-Q (flopped top two pair) and head to the cash out desk. With that knockout, Muur soared over 1.6 million in chips and seized the lead.
Muur continued to push his opponents around, knocking out Felix Sides when Sides’ Big Slick couldn’t catch Muur’s pocket sixes, while the rest of the field looked to catch up with Muur’s 2+ million stack. Saout was the first to make a run at Muur, eliminating Liv Boeree when Saout’s A-K caught an Ace on the flop against Boeree’s pocket Queens, to reach 1.6 million in chips. Day Two leader Pascal Lefrancois was the next to make a charge, bumping off Vladimir Schemelev to also crack the 1.6 million mark. Another player, however, would mount an assault on Muur that should provide interest during Sunday’s Day Five action.
Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald had been hovering around the chip average at the start of the day, but a huge hand would catapult him into the lead. After McDonald opened up the betting pre-flop, Daniel Weinman pushed his stack to the center and Jason Helder made the call. With an all-in and a call in front of him, ‘Timex’ pondered his action and announced his own all in for about one million in chips. With the onus now on him, Helder decided to make the call with McDonald and Weinman’s tournament existences at risk.
The three hands were dramatic: McDonald’s pocket Aces held the edge, but Weinman had one of his Aces in his Big Slick and Helder sat with pocket Queens and a chance at the double knockout. Once the board came nine high, McDonald had earned a huge triple up to 2.35 million in chips while crippling Helder to 80K in chips and knocking Weinman out of the tournament.
McDonald and Muur would continue to swap the lead for the remainder of Saturday’s action while other contenders ascended the ladder. Using a couple of eliminations, McDonald would close in on four million chips, but Muur was eventually able to pass ‘Timex’ for the chip lead by the time action closed on Saturday night:
1. Madis Muur, 3.515 million
2. Mike McDonald, 3.432 million
3. Antoine Saout, 2.432 million
4. Pascal Lefrancois, 2.401 million
5. Max Silver, 2.359 million
6. Shyam Srinivasan, 2.129 million
7. Fabian Ortiz, 2.0 million
8. Isaac Baron, 1.556 million
9. Daniel Alcazar, 1.494 million
10. Dominik Panka, 1.474 million
McDonald’s run at the PCA Main Event title could mark a historic moment for the EPT circuit. In the ten years of its existence, no player has ever won a second EPT Main Event championship. McDonald, as the final former EPT champion still alive in the event, could become that historic first should he take the title.
With 20 players left in the tournament, it is still too early to make the call on the favorite, however. Only 1.5 million in chips separates Muur from Ortiz and an early double by anyone in the Top Ten would push them into contention. The plan on Sunday is to play to the eight-handed EPT final table, so it should be an entertaining day of poker in the Bahamas.
