2014 PCA Main Event Day 5: McDonald Looks to Become First Two-Time EPT Champion
It was a short day of poker on Day 5 of the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event as the final 20 players returned to the felt and played down to the official final table of eight. At the end of the day it was Madis Muur who bagged up the biggest chip stack at the table with 6,205,000. Right on Muur's heels is none other than European Poker Tour Season 4 Dortmund champion Mike "Timex" McDonald who bagged up 5,605,000 which is good for second in chips.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pascal Lefrancois | 5,595,000 |
| 2 | Dominik Panka | 3,695,000 |
| 3 | Shyam Srinivasan | 1,505,000 |
| 4 | Isaac Baron | 2,995,000 |
| 5 | Fabian Ortiz | 3,040,000 |
| 6 | Mike McDonald | 5,605,000 |
| 7 | Madis Muur | 6,205,000 |
| 8 | Daniel Gamez | 1,885,000 |
McDonald is looking not only to claim the $1,820,420 in first-place prize money, but also to become the first two-time Main Event winner in EPT history. While this feat has never been accomplished before, McDonald has come close in the past. During EPT Season 5 he scored a fifth-place finish in the Dortmund Main Event for �197,000 and followed that up in Season 6 with a third place in Deauville which netted him �295,000. McDonald is coming into this remarkably deep-stacked final table with the second biggest stack and has at the very least a one in eight chance of making history.
The day kicked off with a bang when none other than Roger Teska was the first runner eliminated from play. Teska has made headlines not only for being toward the top of the chip counts for the past few days, but also for his colorful behavior and his visible penchant for Bloody Marys. Teska was moved all in before the flop by Muur. Teska called and tabled 8?8? which was well ahead of Muur's 6?6?. Muur flopped an open-ended straight draw with the 3?4?5? flop and suddenly drama mounted around Teska's potential bust out. The 9? on the turn was a blank, but the 2? spiked the felt on the river, making Teska the first casualty of the day.
From there, Robert Auer and Kyle Sorel followed Teska out the door in 19th and 18th place respectively. Adrian Bussman fell in 17th place as a victim of unfortunate circumstances and Max Silver's jack-high.
Antoine Saout, November Niner of the 2009 World Series of Poker, fell in 15th place after a massive confrontation with [B]Pascal Lefrancois[/B]. With both players beginning the hand with right around 100 big blinds, Lefrancois six-bet shoved all in with pocket kings and Saout called for his tournament life with ace-king. Saout bricked out and he was eliminated from play.
Following Saout out of the door were Allon Allison (16th), Pal Zsibrita (14th), Jorgen Sandvoll Lindebo (13th), Fabio Freitas (12th), Grayson Ramage (11th), and Tom Hall (10th). The field then combined to the unofficial final table of nine where Silver entered as the short stack. Not too long into the final table, Silver became the final table bubble boy after the following confrontation.
At 20,000/40,000/5,000, Lefrancois raised to 85,000 in early position. Isaac Baron called from the hijack and Silver joined the party from the big blind. The flop came down Q?J?K? and all three players checked to the 8? turn. Silver instantly moved all in for 600,000 and Lefrancois called. Baron mucked and the hands were turned on their backs.
Silver: A?4?
Lefrancois: K?10?
Silver was looking for a diamond to stay alive but found nothing but felt in front of him after the K? finished the board and gave Lefrancois winning trip kings. Silver was eliminated from play and collected $135,400 in prize money.
Final table play will kick off on Monday at 12 p.m. local time and our live reports will be on a one hour delay as we will be reporting off of the cards-up live stream. Be sure to tune in on PokerNews at 1 p.m. as we conclude the quest to crown the champion of the 2014 PCA Main Event!
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