PCA Main Event Day 3 Sees Bubble Burst; Sergi Reixach in Charge at the Top

Day 3 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was a dramatic one, and with 151 players reduced to just 54 hopefuls, six tables of nine players remain in the hunt for the $1.5 million top prize. The money bubble burst at 127 players on Day 3 and there was excitement right up to the final card as Spain’s Sergi Reixach ended the day on top of the leaderboard.

Bubble Bursts at Baha Mar

The money bubble bursting was the big story of the day and with 151 players returning to their sets, only 24 exits needed to happen for everyone else to get paid a minimum cash amount of $17,600. As the bubble neared, one dramatic exit saw ‘Poker Bunny’, a.k.a. Paulina Loeliger bust with pocket threes when she made a hero call gone wrong on the river.

That drama aside, everyone was delighted when the bubble finally burst, putting the remaining 127 players into the money. Here’s how that went down.

Here is how the action went down!🫧 https://t.co/hvfWtF5XuY pic.twitter.com/TCG2yj8XVe

— PokerNews (@PokerNews) January 26, 2023

Once into the money places, the field reduced very quickly at first. One of the first players to bust was Isaac Haxton, who min-cashed for $17,600 just a week after winning the 2023 PokerGO Cup’s final event and a few days after taking down the PCA Super High Roller for an incredible $1 million . Haxton’s elimination came after Day 2 of this event had seen the Bulgarian player Alex Kulev lead the field with 151 remaining, but the Irish-based pro didn’t lead on consecutive days. He remains a major threat, however, his stack of 546,000 good for 18^th place on the current leaderboard from the 54 players who still chase the title.

Other Players Who Cashed

After Haxton’s bust out in 124^th place, many others of similar repute failed to make the penultimate day. Xuan Liu, who previously made the final table of this event, cashed for $19,300 in 118^th place. Seth Davies, who still had a chance of winning the PokerGO Cup until he was busted late in the final event, busted for the same amount in 112^th place.

Maria Ho’s hopes of a deep run were over inside the top 100 as she cashed for $19,300 as well, bowing out in 98^th place. That was before controversial player Martin Zamani busted for $22,300 in 95^th place. Robert Cowan (93^rd), Ben Lamb (91^st) and Joni Jouhkimainen (85^th) all won the same for their efforts.

When the defending champion Chino Rheem exited in 81^st place for $22,300, the play sped up towards the end of the day. Chance Kornuth lasted a little while longer but was still out in 76^th for the same amount. John Racener lasted until 70^th place for $25,600 and EPT retro legend John Juanda busted in 68^th for the same prize. After Mustapha Kanit (66^th), Andre Akkari (61^st) and David Peters (59^th) all bowed out, it was Balakrishna Patur who was the final player to exit before play concluded, busting in 55^th place for $29,400.

The Top 10 Stacks

After play was reduced to the requisite 54 players Sergi Reixach had the biggest stack of them on 1,719,000, the equivalent of 72 big blinds. Chris Csik (1,409,000) is his closest challenger overnight, with 141 bigs to his name. Elsewhere in the top five, Michael Rocco (1,260,000) and Ian Matakis (1,083,000) are the only other two players above a million chips, with James Tolbert (970,000) falling just short of the seven-figure mark.

Others to make the top ten include Swedish sensation Anton Wigg (903,000), Russian Super MILLION$ multiple winner Artur Martirosian (816,000) and Andrew Marques from Brazil (779,000). With Pedro Neves (768,000) and Evan Sparling (683,000) also making the top 10, the final day before the final table will be one where one in six players are going to bust if all goes to plan. That’s sure to leave some dissatisfied with their lot, but with a whole lot of money to be won in the final reckoning over the weekend.