Just three tables remain filled at the 2015 European Poker Tour (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event as Day 4 wrapped up last night. Three players – Eugenio Mattar, Emrah Cakmak, and Chance Komuth – have eclipsed the 2,000,000 chip mark, but it is Mattar who sits atop the field alone with 2,673,000.
One of the biggest stories of the tournament was the success of Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, best known by one name: Ronaldo. The legendary Brazilian soccer player made an improbable deep run in this Main Event, but that’s one of the great things about poker – anyone with a little skill and a little luck can compete with the best poker players in the world on any given day. The three-time FIFA World Player of the Year finally met his poker demise late in the day at the hands of our current chip leader. The two players got into a raising war pre-flop until Ronaldo was finally all-in with K-T suited against Mattar’s pocket Queens. The flop of 5-J-9 did not particularly help Ronaldo, but it did give him a couple extra outs to a straight. Neither the turn nor river, however, produced any of those outs and he was eliminated in 26th place.
Though Ronaldo was the player who got all the attention on that hand, it was Eugenio Mattar who saw his stack grow to over 2,000,000 chips, giving him the chip lead in the tournament.
For his part, Mattar does not have the experience going deep in major tournaments and, in fact, does not have any recorded live cashes. No matter, though, as the thought of winning the $1.5 million first prize probably won’t faze him. Eugenio Mattar is one of the founding members and the Chief Executive Officer of Localiza Rent a Car, the largest rental car company in Latin America and, naturally, one of the largest in the entire world. He is counted amongst the richest people in Brazil.
Also of note is the presence of Shyam Srinivasan near the top of the chip counts, currently sitting in eighth place with 1,310,000 chips. He is best known online by the screen name “s_dot111” and is one of the most successful online tournament players in history. He has won nearly $8 million in his online tournament career, a figure eclipsed by only a few players. He is currently ranked 58th in PocketFives’ worldwide rankings and was once ranked has high as fourth.
Day 5 of the EPT PCA is about to start in the Bahamas; the plan is to determine the eight-handed final table.
2015 EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event – Day 4 Chip Leaders
1. Eugenio Mattar – 2,673,000
2. Emrah Cakmak – 2,037,000
3. Chance Kornuth – 2,026,000
4. Andreas Samuelsson – 1,628,000
5. Pratyush Buddiga – 1,624,000
6. Ratharam Sivagnanam – 1,341,000
7. Niklas Hambitzer – 1,317,000
8. Shyam Srinivasan – 1,310,000
9. Diego Ventura – 1,154,000
10. Juan Martin Pastor – 1,085,000
