PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Day 3: 'The Dragon' Roars

January 09 2008

Day 3 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure began with 153 players, only 120 of whom would walk away with any money. As play began, attention was focused on big-stacked Eric 'Rizen' Lynch; Lynch came out of Day 2 as the leader with a commanding 526,900 in chips. His nearest competitor was Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier at 435,000. While both players came from a feared subset of the poker tournament circuit, that of established online stars, it soon became clear that there were other people who were not prepared to hand over their chips.

Enter the Dragon.

David 'The Dragon' Pham is no wild, screaming, fire-breathing pro. To hear him make a noise or even break more than a small smile is an occasion. On Day 3, the well-known pro let his stack do the talking, rising above the two-million-chip mark and ending with a comfortable chip lead.

Elsewhere, members of Team PokerStars spent a good portion of the day beating each other into pieces. Barry Greenstein's kings couldn't outrun Hevad 'RainKhan' Khan's aces. Khan received a copy of Greenstein's Ace on the River, but he would not be able to finish the day either; ElkY put Khan out toward the end of play. Andre Akkari, among the Team PokerStars pros, was also among the players who didn't finish the day. Among those who did survive were ElkY and Victor Ramdin.

The end of play saw 40 players finish with chips, with the other notables still alive including William Thorson, Lynch, Eric Van der Berg, Rhett Butler, and Thierry Van Den Berg. Tournament director Mike Ward plans to play down to the final table of eight on Wednesday. For further coverage, visit the PokerStars blog at pokerstarsblog.com.

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