2015 PCA Main Event Day 3: Juan Etcheverry Leads; Ronaldo Still in Contention
The 175 players who returned for Day 3 of the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event started the day looking to accomplish one goal before moving on to bigger dreams. That goal was making the money, and in order to do so they would have to be one of the last 119 standing. The money bubble burst early in the evening and eventually it was Juan Etcheverry (pictured) who ended the day with the chip lead with 1,704,000.
Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Etcheverry | 1,704,000 |
| 2 | Chance Kornuth | 1,165,000 |
| 3 | Kevin Schulz | 1,165,000 |
| 4 | Juan Martin Pastor | 930,000 |
| 5 | Jim Collopy | 889,000 |
| 6 | Ambrose Ng | 877,000 |
| 7 | Emrah Cakmak | 815,000 |
| 8 | Diego Ventura | 815,000 |
| 9 | Rami Boukai | 625,000 |
| 10 | Eugenio Pacelli Mattar | 607,000 |
The tension was high as the money bubble approached and chips were flying as Connor Drinan five-bet shoved with A♠3♠ and was looked up by Chance Kornuth who held Q♥Q♣. Drinan didn't improve and finished in 121st place. Soon after a crazy hand would see the tournament hit the money when Arne Kern moved all in with A♣K♠ and take the lead against Ambrose Ng's 10♥10♦ when the flop came K♥8♥3♦. The turn gave Ng some flush outs as it was the 3♥. Ng would not hit the flush on the river but he would spike a set as it was the 10♣.
Etcheverry's key hand came late in the day when he doubled through Mario Puccini with the nut flush. Rounding out the top five are Kornuth (1,165,000), Kevin Schulz (1,165,000), Juan Martin Pastor (930,000), and Jim Collopy (889,000). Notables that advanced to Day 4 include Rami Boukai (625,000), Pratyush Buddiga (589,000), Naoya Kihara (509,000), JC Alvarado (490,000), Jason Mercier (447,000), Jonathan Duhamel (266,000), Ole Schemion (147,000), and Shannon Shorr (135,000). Another player who advanced was world-famous football star Ronaldo who ended the day with 512,000 in chips. He took down a huge pot at the end of the night when he won a race with 8♥8♣ against the A♦K♥ of Adam Reynolds.
Daniel Negreanu entered the day with a big stack but could never get anything going and would be eliminated in the money by Buddiga when his jacks were dominated by Buddiga's queens. There were plenty others joining Negreanu in coming up just short of achieving their PCA dreams including Pokerstars Team Pro's Leo Margets, Bertrand Grospellier, Andre Akkari and Liv Boeree. Others eliminated were Martin Finger, Jared Jaffee, Will Failla, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Mickey Petersen, Nenad Medic, Stephen Chidwick, Rep Porter and Alex Millar.
The remaining 57 players will return Monday looking to move themselves closer to the prestigious PCA Main Event title and the $1,491,580 that comes along with it. Play will resume at noon local time for Day 4, and PokerNews will be here to provide live coverage from the time they have cards in the air until they are bagging for the night. Make sure to tune in to find out who moves on to Day 5!
