Michel Dattani Leads the 2023 PCA Main Event With 16 Remaining
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Only 15 players stand between Michel Dattani and the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event title after Day 4 of the $10,300 buy-in saw the returning 54 hopefuls whittled to a more manageable 16.
Everyone who returns for Day 5 does so having locked in at least $68,000 for their efforts, but none of them will want to collect that sum because $1,500,000 awaits the eventual champion.
2023 PCA Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michel Dattani | Portugal | 2,900,000 | 116 |
| 2 | Jamil Wakil | Canada | 2,840,000 | 114 |
| 3 | Christoph Csik | United States | 2,785,000 | 111 |
| 4 | Mitchell Halverson | United States | 2,650,000 | 106 |
| 5 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 2,285,000 | 91 |
| 6 | Clint Tolbert | United States | 1,950,000 | 78 |
| 7 | Sergi Reixach | Spain | 1,610,000 | 64 |
| 8 | Alexandre Raymond | Canada | 1,475,000 | 59 |
| 9 | Ian Matakis | United States | 1,200,000 | 48 |
| 10 | Taylor Paur | United States | 1,195,000 | 48 |
Dattani has more than $1 million in live poker tournament earnings, the largest weighing in at �108,350 ($123,966), which was his reward for a seventh place finish in the 2018 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona �25,000 High Roller. Should Dattani build on his Day 4 success and navigate his way to the final table, the Portuguese grinder will enjoy another career high. He sits down on the penultimate day armed with 2,900,000 chips (116 big blinds).
As you would expect from the PCA Main Event, there are some legitimate poker superstars among the final 16 players. Russia's Artur Martirosian (2,285,000) finds himself in the top five in chips, while Sergi Reixach (1,610,000), who was the chip leader on both Day 1b and Day 3, has a top 10 stack.
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Others to look out for in the PokerNews live updates include Taylor Paur (1,195,000), PokerNews strategy contributor Jonathan Little (1,195,000), and the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event champion Alexandros Theologis.
Cards are back in the air from 12:00 p.m. local time on January 29 and continues until only six players have chips in front of them.
David Peters Leads the Way in the $3,000 Mystery Bounty
An action-packed Day2 in the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty saw 372 players, including 140 late entrants, reduced to only 22. When the dust settled at the end of play, David Peters topped the chip counts with his 2,190,000 stack (55 big blinds).
British grinder Andy Wilson, known as "BowieEffect" in online poker circles, is second in chips with 1,930,000, while such luminaries as WSOP bracelet winners Yuliyan Kolev (1,585,000) and Sebastien Aube (1,440,000), Kitty Kuo (1,100,000), and Team PokerStars' Rafael Moraes (240,000) remain in contention.
$3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peters | United States | 2,190,000 | 55 |
| 2 | Andy Wilson | United Kingdom | 1,960,000 | 49 |
| 3 | Michael Uguccioni | Italy | 1,675,000 | 42 |
| 4 | Petar Kalev | Bulgaria | 1,675,000 | 42 |
| 5 | Yuliyan Kolev | Bulgaria | 1,585,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Sebastien Aube | Canada | 1,440,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Luc Lafontaine | Canada | 1,250,000 | 31 |
| 8 | Mauricio Sanchez | Colombia | 1,195,000 | 30 |
| 9 | Kitty Kuo | Taiwan | 1,100,000 | 28 |
| 10 | Samuel Cobian | United States | 1,010,000 | 25 |
Two large mystery bounties remain among the final 22 players; one worth $40,000 and a $100,000. On Day 2, Joey Weissman picked out a $40,000 bounty, Michael Jozoff pulled an envelope containing a PSPC Platinum Pass, while the aforementioned Aube banked a cool $100,000.
Join the PokerNews Live Reporting team on January 29 as the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty plays down to a winner.
All the $3,000 PCA Mystery Bounty updates are here
"Big Huni" Chris Hunichen Has a Big Stack in the $25,000 8-Handed
Chris Hunichen, affectionately known as "Big Huni," bagged a big stack after Day 1 of the $25,000 8-Handed event. Day 1 saw a field of 78 congregate at the Baha Mar Resort in The Bahamas, and 52 of those punched their Day 2 tickets at the first attempt.
Hunichen built a stack of 565,000 chips to finish second in chips when the curtain came down on the day's proceedings. Only Brian Kim (631,000) is ahead of Hunichen.
$25,000 high-roller events always draw in stellar names, and this event is no different. Timothy Adams (479,000), Joao Vieira (462,000), Orpen Kisacikoglu (316,000), and Matas Cimbolas (314,000) are in the top ten. Others safely through include Stephen Chidwick (265,000), PokerStars' Sam Grafton (249,000), Yuri Dzivielevski (205,000), Daniel Dvoress (185,000), Aussie superstar Michael Addamo (166,000), and Adrian Mateos (105,000) among many others.
$25,000 8-Handed Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Kim | United States | 631,000 | |
| 2 | Chris Hunichen | United States | 565,000 | |
| 3 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 479,000 | |
| 4 | Joao Vieira | Portugal | 462,000 | |
| 5 | Tauan Naves | Brazil | 418,000 | |
| 6 | Jean-Noel Thorel | France | 400,000 | |
| 7 | Eric Worre | United States | 391,000 | |
| 8 | Dylan Destefano | United States | 379,000 | |
| 9 | Orpen Kisacikoglu[ | Turkey | 316,000 | |
| 10 | Matas Cimbolas | Lithuania | 314,000 |
Day 2 commences at 2:00 p.m. local time, and PokerNews is the only place you will find live and exclusive updates, so check them out.
Click here for the $25,000 8-Handed updates
