2010 PCA: Day 4, level 21 updates

Live updates from Day 4, level 21 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains, Brad Willis, and Simon Young.

Blinds: 8,000-16,000-2,000

1.20pm: Taking the double to the break
"Hey, I needed some chips," said Bernd Rygol as he stacked up a tower of them as the other players drifted off to the break. That was how he explained the reasoning behind an open shove under-the-gun with [ah][qh] that was looked up by Benjamin Zamani in the big blind. Zamani had [jd][jh] and Rygol's 199,000 was a mere fraction of his stack. The board came [3c][7s][qs][4s][7h], which was good for Rygol. He now has more than 400,000 as they enter level 22.

1.18pm: Don't mess with Mandy
Amanda Baker is closing in on the 2 million mark, and she's doing it without having to show her cards. Within one orbit of the table, she pushed players off two big pots. The first came when Darren Keyes came in for a raise and Alex Brenes re-popped it to 90,000 from the button. Baker moved all-in from the big blind with enough to cover both players. Both folded.

A few hands later, Baker led out on a [9h][[kc][qh] flop and then called a raise from Damien Rony. On the [8h] turn, Baker checked and Rony put out 200,000. Baker moved all-in and Rony folded.  

Baker is still stacking her chips...in the meantime, don't mess with her.

1.15pm: Duthie digs in
John Duthie opened on the button and saw a flop with Bryce Yockey in the small blind. It came [6s][9d][kd]. Yockey check-called Duthie's bet of 35,000 and both checked the [qc] on the turn. When the [7h] emerged on the river Yockey check-called again, 50,000 from Duthie this time who turned over [jh][qh] to take the pot.

1.05pm: Debut Duthie on top
On a flop of [th][2d][7c] Amit Makhija checked to Bryce Yockey who bet 43,000. Makhija called for a [qh] turn and checked again. Another 98,000 this time from Yockey, his cards protected by a sumo wrestler figurine. The 98k was enough weight to shove Makhija out of the way.

Yockey was in action again on the next hand, opening for 35,000 from under the gun. The action reached John Duthie in the big blind who raised another 51,000. Yockey called for a flop of [2d][4h][ah]. Now Duthie bet 95,000 which Yockey called. With a [3d] on the turn Duthie bet again, 300,000 this time. Yockey surrendered as new boy Duthie, playing his first ever EPT, moves beyond two million.

1pm: The Kenny Nguyen show
When it gets to this stage of a tournament, every table is an action table. But when it gets to this stage of a tournament and Kenny Nguyen is still involved, there is one action table with more action on it than the others.

Florian Langmann opened in early position to 37,000 and Bryn Kenney three-bet to 80,000 one seat to his left. Nguyen, in the big blind, moved all in for 260,000 and got the two aggressors to fold.

On the next hand, Benjamin Zamani opened for 34,000 and Nguyen called from the small blind. The flop came [7c][10h][4s] and as it was being dealt, Nguyen annouced: "Check blind to you!" Zamani checked blind right back at him, and so the dealer went all the way to the turn of [3d]. "Check blind to you," chirruped Nguyen again, but Zamani bet now, making it 46,000. Nguyen called. "Check blind to you," came the familiar refrain from Nguyen as the dealer exposed the [6h] on the river. Zamani checked too and Nguyen announced: "Ace king!" Zamani showed [jd][jh] to take it.

12:57pm: One of the best ROIs ever...
You know how we mentioned Darren Keyes just a moment ago? Well, even if he were to get knocked out right now, he would be cashing in one of the best returns ever.

For that story, we turn to special correspondent Bryan Slick, tournament guru for PokerStars.

The PCA Mega-Path was created as a way to give players an opportunity to get to an expensive event for a small buy-in, in some cases extremely small. This was accomplished by hosting a series of 4,300 MTTs which led to a final on December 20th, the direct buy-in cost for which was 321,000 FPP. A dozen players reached the PCA having started at a buy-in level of 200 FPP or less.

One of those, Darren 'Woodylord' Keyes, is still alive as I write this... having gotten in via a 75 FPP Round 1 satellite and working his way to and through the final. With 55 players remaining, he's guaranteed to win at least $45,000... a staggering ROI of 3.75 Million per cent.

Few things we do when setting up tournaments, especially satellites, are as thrilling as seeing players get the opportunity to live out a dream. Not only do tournaments like the PCA give players the chance to compete on an even playing field with the world's best, the satellites to the events provide an opportunity for just about anyone to make their way here.

How could you NOT be excited seeing someone like Darren with a mountain of chips in front of him deep into this event? I wish him the best of luck, especially after having met him.

12:55pm: Keyes loses a monster
Keyes lost a monster 1.4 million pot, doubling up French PokerStars qualifier Damien Rony in the process. On the [kd][js][6h][ks] board, Keyes checked, Rony made it 96,000 and Keyes re-raised to 300,000. Rony was having none of it, and pushed all in for around 500,000 more. Call!

Keyes: [ah][jc]
Rony: [kc][qh]

Trips were good, and the [3c] river did nothing to help

Keyes, who was left with around 410,000. "I just did not believe you," he told Rony, who was enjoying stacking up his new, sizeable stack.

12:41pm: Gimbel's gamble
It was three ways to a flop of [3d][7s][qh] that saw Eric Froelich and Damien Rony check to chip leader Harrison Gimbel's button. Gimbel bet somewhere in the neighborhood of 65,000. Froelich and Rony both called. All three players checked the [kc] on the turn. When the [3s] came on the river, Froelich and Rony checked again. This time, Gimbel bet 300,000. Froelich didn't think long before calling. Rony folded and Gimbel showed [Ad][3c]. Froelich's cards went into the muck--and not nicely--and Gimbel stacked a pot worth nearly 800,000.

12.40pm: News from the front
Danny Suied is out, victim of a kings against queens crash. He had the queens, Mike Chappus had the kings.

Praz Bansi, still assembling his stack, just pushed Matthew Haugen off an under-the-gun raise from his spot on the button. Haugen came out firing again on the next hand, opening for 40,000 before Bo Schultz pushed all-in from the small blind. Haugen called showing [ac][js]. Schultz had [7d][7s]. The board ran [3d][2d][kd][ks][5h] to double Schultz up.

12.38pm: Bansi has nothing to Karp about
Praz Bansi loses a quarter of a million, doubling up Ryan Karp in the process. We only caught the action at the end on a board of [ah][3h][as][8c][4s]. Bansi - still stacking his overnight chips into some sort of order - had the respectable [ah][qc] but PokerStars qualifier Karp, from the US, had better of it with [ac][ks]. He's up to more than 500,000 now.

12:36pm: Shulman shaking his head
Barry Shulman started the day sixth in chips. Now the winner of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe is muttering and unhappy.

On the first hand and looking at a [ac][qh][qc][10s][4s] board, Schulman bet 200,000, but was met with a re-raise to 500,000 from Paul Knebel, who left just a 100,000 or so behind. That was too much for Schulman, and he let it go.

Seconds later, Richard Toth came in for a raise from the button and Shulman three-bet from the small blind. Toth shoved for a total bet of 531,000 and Shulman called. It was [2][2h] for Toth and big slick for Shulman. The board ran out [4d][6s][9d][qd][4c].  

Shulman shoved three stacks of red 10,000 denomination chips forward.

"I lost a million in two hands," he said. "Unbelievable."

12.35pm: Duthie moving along
Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie, the EPT founder who is playing his first EPT event here, open raised on the button to 37,000. It's folded around to Hafiz Khan on the big blind, who gives Duthie a knowing look before folding.

"I promise I won't do that again," Duthie says, certainly telling a fib.

"Sure," Khan replied. "Next time it will be 38,000."

12.30pm: Playing out of the bag
Praz Bansi has arrived late again, which is especially problematic when you have such an absolute monster pile of chips. It's now about half an hour into the first level and he still hasn't yet managed to get them into anything resembling an order. In fact, he was playing a hand almost the minute he sat down, at which point his chips were still in their bag. On a flop of [qc][8h][ks][kc][9h] Aaron Jones bet 85,000 and Bansi folded. One wonders what might have happened had he had a handful with which to raise.

12.25pm: Lodden joins the rush of eliminations
Johnny Lodden shoved with [kc][qh] on the button and was called by Peter Feldman's big stack and his [4d][4h]. There was nothing to help the Team PokerStars Pro on the flop and he departs.

12.20pm: Out, out, out
This is officially a flurry. Of eliminations. Alexsey Timashkov is the latest to take the walk, getting it all in pre-flop against Jeff Madsen. The only problem for Timashkov was that his [as][jd] was not nearly good enough to beat Madsen's [kd][kh]. The Romanian departs.

Also already on their way to the cash out table are Sergey Serafimov and Roger Teska. They can't get there soon enough.

12.18pm: Bentley battered
Wayne Bentley looks to be on the verge of elimination after two consecutive hands. He opened for 38,000 on the button but was pushed off it by Tamas Lendvai re-raising all in on the button. Bentley took some time but had to fold.

On the next hand Tyler Reiman opened for 37,000 under the gun. When the action reached Bentley he announced raise from the cut off, another 100k more. 208 then moved all in and Bentley called, turning over [as][ks] and saying "I can't fold that." Reiman had [qd][qc].

The board ran [5c][6c][8d][9c][3s].

"He's got me 'ant he?" asked Bentley to no one in particular. The answer was no but the Englishman, who led the event after day 1a, is left with less than 80,000.

12:14pm: Henning Gunby eliminated
Just a couple of minutes into the first level of the day, Henning Gunby ran into Mike Chappus' pocket tens, which were apparently good enough on a jack-high board for whatever Gunby put in the muck.

12.05pm: Seed germinates
Huck Seed got his entire stack in pre-flop with [qc][kh] against the [9h][9s] of Kent Lundmark. Seed shook his head, but liked the flop: [10d][3c][jd], which gave him plenty of extra outs. He didn't have to wait long until one of them appeared. The [as] on the turn was good enough to double him up early to 450,000. That's enough to keep growing.

12pm: No one knows
Apologies for the lack of updates on the prizewinners page. The tournament staff did not collate a master list of winners yesterday, meaning we're still chasing full, official information on who finished where. We will have it today. I hope.

11.45pm: Before we start
Consider it the programme before the show, an introduction to today is right here.

11.35pm: Pick you winner
Get the current scores now and all day on the chip count page which is updated relentlessly throughout the day.

11.30am: Back for day four
We're here early and if you're reading this you are too. Good job. It's 62 to 24 today, however long it takes. It could be a short one but this kind of day has a tendency to bite back when you least expect it. Joe Cada and Peter Eastgate have just concluded their sumo match, the wreckage from last night's amFAR final table has been swept away. We're ready to play.