Sergi Reixach Ends Day 3 of PCA Main Event in Pole Position; Just 54 Remain
Another day of the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) has come to an end at the fantastic Baha Mar Resort, with Day 3 of the festival’s headliner, the 2023 $10,300 PCA Main Event wrapping up just before 11 p.m.
Five more levels have been completed which has seen the field whittled down from 151 players to just 54. Those players have guaranteed themselves a payday of at least $29,400.
The big story of the day was that the money bubble burst. Juan Membreno was the last player to exit the Main Event without a return on his investment. His middle pair and flush draw were unable to improve against Day 1a chip leader Andre Marques, who flopped top pair and held to end the 90-minutes of bubble play.
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However, when all was said and done after the third stage of the Main Event, Sergi Reixach topped the leaderboard as he did on Day 1b. He ended the session with an impressive stack of 1,719,000 and comes into Day 4 in pole position. He will, of course, be dreaming of the $1.5 million prize set aside for the eventual champion.
Reixach added heaps to his stack after ousting the formidable David Peters and Leonard Maue. His pocket queens held in a three-way all-in to give him the overall chip lead.
Hot on his heels is Christoph Csik who ended up bagging 1,409,000. He ousted Joseph Drory to set up the stone bubble to get over the 800,000-mark and he continued to hoover up more chips as the day wore on.
The United States’ Michael Rocco also had a day to remember and ended up with the third biggest stack.
Rocco came into the day seventh in chips and continued to ascend throughout the day, notching notable eliminations and sending the likes of Mustapha Kanit, Ignacio Moron and Joni Jouhkimainen to the rail.
Rocco sent Jouhkiminainen packing when his ace-nine bested the Finn’s king-queen. Soon after, Rocco cracked the king’s held by Moron after rivering broadway and then he catapulted into the top spot for a brief moment after busting Kanit with a flush while the latter rivered a straight.
Other famous faces who advanced include Nick Petrangelo (550,000), Chris Brewer (506,000) and Maria Konnikova (312,000).
End of Day 3 Top Ten Chip Stacks
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergi Reixach | Spain | 1,719,000 | 172 |
| 2 | Christoph Csik | United States | 1,409,000 | 141 |
| 3 | Michael Rocco | United States | 1,260,000 | 126 |
| 4 | Ian Matakis | United States | 1,083,000 | 108 |
| 5 | James Tolbert | United States | 970,000 | 97 |
| 6 | Anton Wigg | Sweded | 903,000 | 90 |
| 7 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 816,000 | 82 |
| 8 | Andre Marques | Brazil | 779,000 | 78 |
| 9 | Pedro Neves | Portugal | 768,000 | 77 |
| 10 | Evan Sparling | Canada | 683,000 | 68 |
Action From Day 3
There were several PokerStars Ambassadors who were still in contention on Day 3, with Sam Grafton, Ramon Colillas and Andre Akkari representing the red spade brand. Grafton and Colillas managed to make it through to tomorrow, despite the duo tangling in a big pot early on.
Akkari wasn’t as fortunate and busted in 60th place after the Brazilian ran into the pocket aces of Anthony Hu.
That wasn’t the first time Hu looked down at aces on Day 3. During bubble play, he looked like he was going to be the player who was going to burst it.
In a five-bet pot against Justin Steinbrenner (108th - $19,300), Hu was the favorite to get a double-up with his pocket rockets, but Steinbrenner flopped a set of kings. Hu managed to find an ace on the turn to retake the lead and held on to survive.
There was also more drama as the bubble approached, as Paulina Loeliger had a notable exit which you can see below.
Read more about the Poker Bunny Hand here!
Defending champion Chino Rheem (81st - $22,300) was also one of the Day 3 casualties. His ace-nine could not connect on the runout and the pocket sevens of Evan Sparling held up.
While the final plan for Day 4 is yet to be fully confirmed, another five levels are due to play out with hopes that the tournament reaches the final 16 players.
One big change that Day 4 will bring is the implementation of the 30-second shot clock. Each player will start with five time bank cards, good for an extra 30 seconds each.
Action will begin on Friday, January 27 at 12 p.m. EST on Level 19, with blinds of 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante.
Stay tuned for all the upcoming action right here on PokerNews as the live reporting team will be on the floor to provide as many key hands as possible. The live stream action is also available on the PokerStars Twitch and YouTube channels with commentary and cards-up coverage on a 30-minute security delay.