In some cases the predictable becomes boring. As brilliant as he is, each Sebastian Vettel win gets a little less interesting than the previous one, and all those Lance Armstrong victories in the Tour de France soon lost their sheen.
But when Vanessa Selbst bags up something close to the chip lead, again, it is only ever treated with awe. Today came further proof as to why.
Selbst has been almost unstoppable this week. She looked set to win the Super High Roller, only for some reason she didn’t. She then picked up where she left off in the Main Event, cashing in 42nd place, and now, completing a remarkable trifecta, she’s guaranteed a cash finish in the High Roller. The only question remains — again — is how far she can go.
Chip leader, again, Vanessa Selbst
The answer to that question will come tomorrow, when the remaining 14 players return to wrap up the last major event of the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Selbst will be among the favourites, but the nature of the event means the opposite will not make it easy for her.
The High Rollers in action
That line-up is both strong and fiercely competitive. Joao Viera had a spirited second day that, almost taking the chip lead himself, bagging up 1,604,000.
Second in chips: Joao Vieira
Also returning tomorrow will be the likes of Mustapha Kanit, Robert Mizrachi, Andrew Chen, Dan Smith, Paul Newey and Daniel Negreanu. Not to mention those fearsome Germans, so regularly at the top of the pile come final day. Marvin Rettenmaier and Ole Schemion are still in this one.
Here’s how they stand:
Vanessa Selbst – 1,633,000
Jaoa Viera — 1,604,000
Myro Garcia – 1,181,000
Greg Merson — 1,112,000
Jacob Schindler – 1,109,000
Marvin Rettenmaier – 1,014,000
Robert Mizrachi — 856,000
Daniel Stern — 837,000
Daniel Negreanu — 723,000
Mustapha Kanit — 705,000
Aleksandr Denisov – 626,000
Dan Smith – 434,000
Ole Schemion — 357,000
Paul Newey – 162,000
Daniel Negreanu
The big field meant the list of names departing was chock full of notables. Shaun Deeb, Michael Mizrachi, Eugene Katchalov, Isaac Haxton, ElkY, Mickey Petersen, Scott Seiver, Tobias Reinkemeier and Jason Mercier were among those wrapping up their PCA today. They went before Kyle Julius exited on the bubble, freeing up the likes of Fabian Quoss, Jake Cody, Ana Marquez, Olivier Busquet, Jonathan Duhamel and Philipp Gruissem to crash out with the comfort of financial reward.
Bubble boy Kyle Julius, and the arm of Fabian Quoss
Perhaps most notable among the cash finishers was Englishman Paul Newey, who bubbled the Super High Roller, and who has sought for so long to secure that first cash. He did so, with a little encouragement from Daniel Negreanu along the way. He could well turn that into a first High Roller final.
Paul Newey
After the fun of yesterday, where it seemed impossible to eliminate anyone for several hours of play, we heard about a hand of poker from Chris Hunichen.
There was time to address the issue of Vanessa Selbst’s chip stack, again, while we also discovered why $1.3million is not always enough.
Not only that, we learnt a few ways to make an easy buck in the high roller, while one player, usually found in a bar league, this week lived the PCA dream.
There’s a party out there somewhere
It brings an end to the penultimate day of the PCA festival. Tomorrow it’ll be all about final tables, with the Main Event and the High Roller to play to an end. It might be a long one, but all the action will right here on the PokerStars Blog, with live coverage (with a one hour delay) on PCA Live, starting at 2pm.
We’ll see you then.
Stephen Bartley is a PokerStars Blog reporter.
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