Faraz Jaka Takes Big Lead into PCA Main Event Day 5, 24 Left

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 12 January 2012 / Leave a Comment

Faraz Jaka spent Wednesday collecting knockouts and chips to lead with 24 left at the PCA (Photo: Joe Giron)

Jaka led with 544 left at the end of Day 2, and ended Day 3 in third place among the remaining 64. He reclaimed the lead midway through Day 4 and held onto it until play concluded, building a stack of more than 4 million.

After four days of play, just 24 players remain at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, with Faraz Jaka currently enjoying a big chip lead with a massive stack of 4.114 million, a little over 1.4 million ahead of his nearest challenger, Alex Fitzgerald.

This year's $10,300 buy-in PCA Main Event attracted a field of 1,072, with the top 160 finishers making the money. The cash bubble burst on Tuesday's Day 3, with just 64 survivors returning to chips on Wednesday. After three days of poker, Phil D'Auteuil led the way at the start of Day 4 with 1.472 million, followed closely by Sam Greenwood with 1.401 million and Jaka lurking not too far behind with 1.22 million.

Other storylines to start Day 4 included Alex Fitzgerald, Anthony Gregg, and Kyle Julius coming back to 1 million-plus chip stacks, Luca Pagano, David Peters, and Bill Chen returning to above-average chips, and last woman standing Xuan Liu also starting the day with a healthy 680,000.

Meanwhile, other notables coming back to below-average stacks included Barry Greenstein, Erik Cajelais, 2011 PCA Main Event champ Galen Hall, Epic Poker League Mix-Max Main Event winner Chris Klodnicki, Arnaud Mattern, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

Also surviving into Day 4 was professional golfer Sergio Garcia who began the day with a below par stack of 235,000.

Galen Hall was the first elimination of the day after losing the last of his short stack with 10d-10h versus Martin Jacobson's Kd-Qs. A queen flopped, Hall couldn't catch up, and he was out in 64th ($32,500).

Other early knockouts on Wednesday included Klodnicki (61st, $32,500), Mattern (58th, $32,500), and Timoshenko (52nd, $35,000). And Sergio Garcia's run ended early on Day 4 as well when his Ac-Jd failed to improve against against William Luciano's Qh-Qs, sending him away from the felt and back to the greens after an impressive 51st-place finish ($35,000).

Among the next group to go were Casey Kastle (50th, $35,000), Max Leohnard (49th, $35,000), and Cajelais (43rd, $37,500). Meanwhile Anthony Gregg chipped up to claim the top spot, then Alex Fitzgerald vaulted past him to become the first player to 2 million.

Jaka soon joined Fitzgerald in the 2-million club by busting Eddy Sabat in 40th ($41,000), then Jaka claimed a big one against Jacobson to move out in front with 2.8 million. Meanwhile, the march to the rail continued, with Jan Heitmann (38th, $41,000) and Bill Chen (37th, $41,000) among the eliminated.

Later on Jaka would grab another chunk of chips when knocking out Lawrence Greenburg in 31st ($46,000) in a hand in which all of the latter's chips went in on the turn with the board showing 10c-3d-5s-5h. Greenburg had Ad-10d for tens and fives against Jaka's open-ended straight draw with 4h-2h. But the 6d fell on the river, sending Greenburg out and pushing Jaka up close to 3.8 million.

Luca Pagano next went out in 30th ($46,000), and eventually the field dwindled to 25. That's when Barry Greenstein found himself all in for his last 235,000 with 10s-7s against the unstoppable Jaka who held Ad-3s. The flop brought Greenstein a seven, but the turn was an ace, and Jaka's hand held to send Greenstein out in 25th for a cash of $46,000 and bump Jaka up over 4 million to end the day.

Here's how the top 10 will look when play resumes on Thursday:

1. Faraz Jaka -- 4,114,000
2. Alex Fitzgerald -- 2,709,000
3. Phil D'Auteuil -- 2,280,000
4. Anthony Gregg -- 2,142,000
5. Byron Kaverman -- 2,136,000
6. Sam Greenwood -- 2,109,000
7. Kyle Julius -- 1,818,000
8. Lee Goldman -- 1,760,000
9. Martin Jacobson -- 1,627,000
10. Maksim Semisoshenko -- 1,446,000

Also still alive are Xian Liu in 15th (1.082 million), Ruben Visser in 20th (461,000), and David Peters in 21st (424,000).

Day 5 will see the last 24 play down to an eight-handed final table, and on Friday the 2012 PCA Main Event champion -- and winner of the $2 million first-prize -- will at last be determined.

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