Ana Marquez Dominates PCA Main Event Day 4

Day 4 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event produced the most unpredictable and exciting action yet. Once again, a new chip leader emerged seemingly from nowhere, though Chris Moneymaker continues to be a force to be reckoned with, putting him in good position to post his largest cash in years.

At the beginning of Day 4, only 48 players returned, and among them only one female pro remained. Proving that it’s about quality, not quantity, Ana Marquez did an exceptional job of representing the fairer sex on the felt; so much so that by the end of the day it was woman on top with Marquez leading the Day 5 field of 22 players with a little more than 3.8 million chips. Moneymaker’s just a small pot away with the second stack of 3,765,000 chips.

Day 2 chip leader Adam Geyer was a surprising casualty as was Day 3 runner-up Max Lehmanski and third place stack John Andress. Mike Sowers, fresh off a six-month break in the beginning of 2010, lead for a large part of the most important Day 4 action, and yet Wednesday’s competition had a dramatic finish that left him out of the top four going into Day 5. By that of course we’re referring to the triple elimination that occurred during three tables’ last hands. Josh Bergman, Timothy Finne and Nicholas Kamen were only moments away from qualifying for Day 5 when each was sent to the rail in the last seconds of the day.

One of those eliminations (that of Timothy Finne) was enough to put Chris Moneymaker back in second. Since every one of tomorrow’s 22 competitors is guaranteed a payout of at least $75,000, the Main Event promises to be Moneymaker’s biggest cash since 2004 and quite possibly since his career-defining WSOP Main Event win back in 2003. The most newsworthy Day 4 finish, though, still belongs to dark horse Ana Marquez. To date, Marquez has only posted one $5,932 live tournament cash, and no statistics are available on her online play. It’ll be a lot harder for her to slip under the radar at the next tournament, though, with the outstanding play we’ve seen from her today. On that note, here’s the top ten chip tally going into Day 5:

1. Ana Marquez – 3,805,000
2. Chris Moneymaker – 3,765,000
3. Dmitriy Stelmak – 3,340,000
4. Chris Oliver – 3,275,000
5. Mike Sowers – 3,180,000
6. Sam Stein – 3,085,000
7. Bolivar Palacios – 2,875,000
8. Phillippe Plouffe – 2,480,000
9. Martin Mathis – 2,385,000
10. Galen Hall – 2,305,000

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