2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event Day 2: Phelps Falls, Godoy Leads & More
Day 2 of the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event brought together the surviving 500 players from both Day 1a and 1b for five more levels of action-packed fun. After seven and a half hours of play, the field was whittled down to just 172. All of them are looking to make the money in the top 144, but the man best positioned is chip leader Nicolas Godoy, who finished with 724,200 in chips.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicolas Godoy | 724,200 |
| 2 | Darren Elias | 558,900 |
| 3 | Michael Mizrachi | 540,700 |
| 4 | Anthony Borde | 500,100 |
| 5 | Pimentel Quintas | 497,900 |
| 6 | Joe Serock | 493,600 |
| 7 | Jonathan Roy | 419,600 |
| 8 | Antonio Matias | 418,000 |
| 9 | Eddy Sabat | 410,200 |
| 10 | [Removed:172] | 409,000 |
Goboy got some of those chips in a hand he played against Day 1a chip leader Maxim Lobzhanidze. It happened when a player in early position opened to 4,000, Lobzhanidze three-bet to 11,000 in the cutoff seat, and Godoy four-bet to 23,000 from the big blind. The original raiser folded, Lobzhanidze five-bet to 41,000, Godoy six-bet to 65,000, and Lobzhanidze called. Both players checked the Q♥9♦A♣ flop as well as the K♦ turn, and then Godoy led for 75,000 on J♣ river. Lobzhanidze called and Godoy tabled A♦10♦ for a straight. Lobzhanidze, who finished the day with 121,300, flashed J♠J♥ before mucking.
Long before that hand took place, Day 2 action kicked off as the sun passed over the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island at 12:00 p.m. EST. The biggest stack in the room belonged to Ashton Griffin, who actually joined the PokerNews Podcast prior to the start of play, but he had a rough go of it as he watched his stack dwindle to 123,900. Fortunately, he was still able to make it through the day.
With that said, the man who started the day third in chips, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, managed to shoot up the chip count on Day 2 and make it through with a big stack. Mizrachi's chip count is known to fluctuate wildly, but he ended on a strong note after scoring a double elimination late in the day. It happened on an 8♣7♥4♣ flop when a flurry of action resulted in Alex Bilokur being all in and Jeff Hakim (having committed 45,000 post flop) tank-calling off after Mizrachi had moved all in for 166,000. Hakim showed 10♥10♣ and was ahead of Mizrachi's A♣Q♣, but a 6♣ on the turn gave him the nut flush and the double knockout. Mizrachi finished the day with a healthy 540,700 in chips.
Of course not everyone was a fortunate as Mizrachi. Among the hundreds of players eliminated were the legendary Phil Ivey; the woman who electrified last year's PCA by making the final table, Xuan Liu; 13-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth; European Poker Tour Prague champion Ramzi Jelassi; online legend Chris Moorman; 2012 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Merson; last year's runner-up Kyle Julius; and the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps.
The participation of the 18-time gold medalist was a special addition to an already prestigious tournament, but all good things come to an end as Phelps found out in the last level of the night. It was there that Phelps fell at the hands of last year's Eddy Sabat.
It happened when Sabat, who informed PokerNews of the hand, opened for 4,800 and received a call from Phelps. The rest of the table got out of the way and it was heads-up action to the K♠Q♦5♦ flop. Sabat led for 6,200, Phelps called, and then the dealer burned and turned the 6♣. Sabat checked, Phelps took the opportunity to bet 8,000, and Sabat called. When the J♣ completed the board on the river, Sabat moved all in and Phelps called off his stack with the 6♠6♦. Unfortunately for him, Sabat flipped A♣10♣ for Broadway and Phelps' PCA came to an end.
Sabat advanced to Day 3 with 410,200 in chips. He always seems to perform very well at the PCA, finishing 140th in 2009 for $12,500, 30th in 2011 for $66,000 and 40th in 2012 for $41,000.
Likewise, Day 2 was unkind to Team PokerStars' Daniel Negreanu, Alex Kravchenko, Richard Toth, Andre Akkari, Ville Wahlbeck, Joao Nunes, Boris Becker, Christian de Leon, Luca Pagano, Nacho Barbero, Liv Boeree, Ivan Demidov, Victor Ramdin, Pierre Neuville and Christophe de Meulder.
While many fell, an impressive contingent of notables managed to survive and punch their ticket to Day 3. They include Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov, Jake Cody and George Lind III, as well as pros Shannon Shorr, Dwyte Pilgrim, Paul Volpe, Matt Waxman, Shawn Buchanan, Scott Clements, Owen Crowe, Fabian Quoss, Ty Reiman, Greg Mueller, Yann Dion and Mohsin Charania.
Charania was the winner of the 2012 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final in the EPT's last season and will move to Day 3 with 117,200 in chips.
Day 3 will kick off at 12:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, so stay tuned to PokerNews as the march to the money begins at the 2013 PCA Main Event. Follow the updates here.
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