Online poker player Chris “Gettin Daize” Oliver, a former #1 player in the PocketFives.com Rankings, leads the way after Day 3 of the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event. The tournament, emanating from the Atlantis Hotel and Casino in the Bahamas, will crown its champion on Saturday.
Oliver built a stack of 3.6 million on Tuesday to lead the way and has a 50% larger total than his next closest competitor, Max Lehmanski, who has 2.3 million. Oliver was a one-man wrecking crew on Day 2. One of his final victims was Japanese businessman Masa Kagawa, whom he sent home with K-6 of hearts against Kagawa’s A-10. Oliver turned a pair of sixes in the hand and never looked back.
Oliver also eliminated British pro Tom “hitthehole” Middleton after drawing out on pocket kings with pocket jacks. Oliver hit a set of jacks on the flop and a running 4-9 didn’t help Middleton’s chances of survival.
Oliver’s major hand came against Harry Kaczka. Oliver 6bet all-in pre-flop for 1.2 million in chips with just 7-5 of diamonds and Kaczka made the call with A-K. The flop came 5-5-K, giving Oliver trips and Kaczka a second best kings-up, and the turn and river changed nothing. The pot of two million was pushed towards Oliver, who remained perched atop the leaderboard for the rest of the day.
Also holding strong in the Bahamas is PokerStars pro and 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ Chris Moneymaker. “The Man Who Started it All” sent Redmond Lee to the rails late in the day after Lee ran pocket sevens into pocket queens. The door card was a queen and gave Moneymaker a boat on a flop of 10-10-Q. Lee needed running sevens to stay alive, but the turn was a four and he was drawing dead to the river. Moneymaker is in fifth place after Day 3 at 1.6 million.
Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka was flushed on Tuesday. His chips hit the middle with K-9 on a flop of 10-J-Q for a king-high straight and his opponent held Q-J for two pair. The turn was a blank, but a jack on the river gave his foe a full house and sent Jaka looking for a plumber.
Also departing on Tuesday were two big-name live pros, Eugene Katchalov and Dywte Pilgrim. The latter came out on the losing end of a coin flip with pocket tens against Timothy Finne’s A-Q when Finne flopped a pair of aces and then hit a flush. Katchalov committed his chips on the flop with an open-ended straight draw and added a flush draw on the turn, but the river bricked out and he was eliminated.
Forty-eight players remain in the 2011 PCA Main Event. Here’s how the top ten looks after three days of play:
1. Chris “Gettin Daize” Oliver – 3,675,000
2. Max Lehmanski – 2,324,000
3. John Andress – 1,985,000
4. Galen Hall – 1,677,000
5. Chris Moneymaker – 1,636,000
6. Philippe Plouffe – 1,566,000
7. Matt Lichtie – 1,463,000
8. Ilan Rouah – 1,349,000
9. Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers – 1,340,000
10. Dmitriy Stelmak – 1,303,000
Other notable names left in the field include:
12. Grayson Ramage – 1,290,000
15. Eric “EFro” Froehlich – 1,187,000
17. Bolivar “Ramux” Palacios – 1,023,000
20. Sam “KingKobeMVP” Stein – 970,000
23. Edward Sabat – 918,000
30. Josh “JBT449” Bergman – 743,000
34. Timothy Finne – 671,000
41. Adam “gray31” Geyer – 435,000
47. John Spadavecchia – 302,000
When play concluded on Tuesday, the blinds were at 10,000-20,000 with an ante of 2,000. The action picks back up today at Noon ET and continue until just 24 players remain. A top prize of $2.3 million is up for grabs and, to find out who wins, keep it tuned to Poker News Daily.
Image courtesy of PokerStars
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