Out of the 215 entries that took to the felt in the $5,300 MILLIONS Finale at the Caribbean Poker Party Festival, just 26 will return at noon local time for the final scheduled day of play. Pavel Plesuv currently sits atop the chip counts with a stack of 21,955,000, and the next-largest stack belongs to partypoker Head of Poker Tom Waters who will take 15,700,000 chips out of the bag when cards fly on Day 3.
The top stacks are joined by several more well-known players, including Kenny Hallaert (9,625,000), Manig Loeser (9,100,000), Day 1 chip leader Chris Hunichen (9,075,000), Koray Aldemir (8,675,000), partypoker Sponsored Pro Anatoly Filatov (7,900,000), Barny Boatman (6,000,000), partypoker Sponsored Pro Roberto Romanello (5,900,000), and partypoker Sponsored Pro Kristen Bicknell (2,550,000).
The remainder of the field is currently three spots away from the money and is scheduled to play down to a winner today.
Keep it here for coverage of the remainder of the Caribbean Poker Party Festival presented by the PokerNews Live Reporting team.
Kristen Bicknell got the last of her short stack in the middle from early position against Anatoly Filatov who was on the button.
Bicknell:
Filatov:
Filatov had the preflop advantage and Bicknell needed to improve in order to survive. The board ran out to pair Filatov's king, so he took the pot to eliminate Bicknell and break the bubble.
There was a massive pile of chips in the middle, the board read , and Anatoly Filatov had face-up in front of him when we got to the table. As the dealer counted down Filatov's stack, we were informed that after five players saw the flop, Plesuv and Filatov got all the chips in on the turn. Plesuv held but was trailing Filatov's set of fours and failed to improve on the river, so Filatov took the pot for a huge double-up and is now the chip leader.
Barny Boatman got his stack in from the cutoff against Pavel Plesuv in the big blind.
Boatman:
Plesuv:
Boatman had the preflop advantage with the better ace and Plesuv needed to improve in order to stack him. The board ran out to give Plesuv a royal flush, so he took the pot to end Boatman's run in this tournament.
Renato Nomura put his last 8,000,000 in the middle, running into Bartlomiej Machon.
Nomura had two outs to find with versus Machon's , but failed to do so on the runout. He left the tournament area, heading to the payout desk to collect his 12th-place money.
Action folded around to Bartlomiej Machon in the cutoff and he raised to 1 million. Tom Waters three-bet from the small blind to 3.5 million, Machon jammed, and Waters called.
Machon:
Waters:
Waters had the lead with his kings and Machon needed help from the deck in order to win the pot. The board ran out further improving Waters to top set, so he took the pot to double up.
Action folded around to Koray Aldemir on the button and he raised to 1,300,000. Kenny Hallaert jammed from the small blind for 14,175,000 and Aldemir called to put Hallaert at risk.
Aldemir:
Hallaert:
Hallaert had the preflop advantage and Aldemir needed to improve in order to win the pot. The board ran out which was no help to Aldemir, so Hallaert took the pot to double up.
Adrian Mateos had the button and raised before the flop and Koray Aldemir, who started the hand with less than 10 big blinds, defended.
The flop came and the two players got the rest of the chips in the middle.
Aldemir:
Mateos:
Mateos had the lead with king high and Aldemir needed to improve to survive. The turn and river changed nothing, so Mateos took the pot to end Aldemir's run in this event.
Pavel Plesuv opened to 1,200,000 from the cutoff, Kenny Hallaert three-bet to 3,400,000 from the button, Daniel Clark four-bet shoved from the small blind, and Marc-Oliver Carpentier-Perrault five-bet all-in from the big blind. Plesuv folded and after some consideration, Hallaert did the same.
Clark:
Carpentier-Perrault:
Carpentier-Perrault had the preflop advantage with the better ace and Clark needed to improve to preserve his tournament life. The board ran out and Carpentier-Perrault took the pot with the better kicker to end Clark's run in this tournament.
With Clark's elimination, the unofficial final table has been reached. The seat redraw will be posted shortly.
There was a massive pile of chips that looked like about 15 million already in the middle and the completed board read . Pavel Plesuv was under the gun and checked to his lone opponent, Adrian Mateos, who was next to act. Mateos shoved, putting Plesuv to a decision for the remainder of his stack. He had about 18 million behind and went into the tank for several minutes. Eventually, the clock was called, and after tournament staff began the countdown, Plesuv called and tabled . His pair of aces was no good, however, since Mateos held for a turned flush, so Mateos took the pot to end Plesuv's run in this event.