If you, like many, wonder whatever happened to poker of yesteryear, the kind with trash-talking, ridiculously bloated over-bet pots, and happy-to-cash amateurs, this was a day to watch the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Maybe it was the reduced Main Event buy-in. Maybe it was simply the fates granting us a nostalgic throwback to the old days. It’s hard to say. Regardless, from the bet-sizing to the banter, today’s PCA felt a bit like 2005 all over again.
It ends, however, back on 2016 form with four of poker’s best-known pros in the final six headed into the last day of the Main Event. Topping them all is Mike “SirWatts” Watson.
Seat 1: Mike Watson (Canada) 6,585,000
Seat 2: Vladimir Troyanovskiy (Russia) 5,025,000
Seat 3: Randy Kritzer (USA) 2,565,000
Seat 4: Tony Gregg (USA) 5,690,000
Seat 5: Phillip McAllister (UK) 3,040,000
Seat 6: Toby Lewis (UK) 4,665,000
Watson, Troyanovskiy, Gregg, and Lewis need no introduction to poker players. Gregg has made two previous PCA Main Event final tables. Lewis is an EPT champion. Watson is an WPT champion with millions in winnings and two SCOOP titles. Troyanovskiy is an EPT regular and one of Russia’s biggest poker winners. Any of them could win this and it would surprise no one.
Today, Ortiz started third in chips but couldn’t beat overnight chip leader Pires in any pot of significance. If Ortiz had a hand, Pires was bigger. If Pires was bluffing, he got there anyway. For Ortiz, it was a slow-motion horror show that ended with him getting disemboweled when Pires held an overpair of kings to his own flopped top pair of queens.
After that, the Brazilians had reason to believe they had a lock on the final table. Pires, the man folks started calling the Brazilian Jamie Gold, had run roughshod over the field on last three days of play. Until today, every night since Day 2 had finished with Pires in the lead.
“I used up all my good luck,” McCormick said.
Until then, goodnight from the Bahamas.
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Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging.
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