Portugal's Michel Dattani and Pedro Neves chopped the 2023 PCA $10,300 Main Event during the epic return of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. Neves banked $1,183,037 for second place, and Dattani won $1,316,963 and the coveted trophy for first place after the two Portuguese players outlasted a field of 889 entrants.
PokerStars decided to shut down the popular PCA because it was one of those unpopular decisions that suits and beancounters have to make for budget concerns because the event in the Bahamas is pretty baller and requires a lot of time, money, and resources. Alas, someone at the Red Spade HQ came to their senses and decided to bring back the PCA along with the Main Event.
This year's PCA is tethered to the second-ever PokerStars Players Championship, which is currently underway. But the PCA had always been about their marquee Main Event. The highly-anticipated return of the PCA Main Event was hosted at the Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas. Yup, the old PCA said goodbye to Atlantis, but set up shop at the swanky new Baha Mar.
The 2023 PCA Main Event had a $10,300 price point, which attracted 889 runners over two opening flights. The total prize pool passed $8.6 million and the winner was set to bank a least seven figures. Only the top 127 places paid out in this top-heavy event.
The final table at the 2023 PCA Main Event included Canada's Jamil Wakil and Alexandre Raymond, American Christoph Csik, Russian pro Artur Martirosian, and Portugal's Michel Dattani and Pedro Neves.
Jamil Wakil was the first among the final six to bust out, which paid out a decent $307K to the Canadian. The only American among the final six, Christoph Csik, hit the bricks in fifth place, which paid out a little less than $400K.
Alexandre Raymond was the last North American and final Canadian left in the mix. Raymond earned a fourth-place payday worth $519K.
Russia's Artur Martirosian was eliminated in third place and he banked $677K. After his bustout, the final two players -- both from Portugal -- decided to chop up the final two money spots.
The two each locked up at least $1.18M and slugged it out for a little more in cash plus the trophy. When the dust settled, Pedro Neves was picked off in second place, and Michel Dattani was the final player standing.
Pedro Neves earned a runner-up payday of $1,183,037, which is not too shabby, eh?
Dattani won $1,316,963 for first place in the long-awaited PCA Main Event.
A trio of pros -- Alex Kolonias, Taylor Paur, Jonathan Little -- finished in the final nine but just missed the final six.
Among the notable players who went deep, but missed the final six included... Mitch Halverson, Sergi Reixach, Johan Guilbert, Mauricio Ferreira Pais, Scott Bohlman, Noah Boeken, Nick Petrangelo, Sylvian Loosli, Ramon Collias, Chad Eveslage, Anton Wigg, Maria Konnikova, Dylan Linde, Justin Bonomo, Alex Kulev, Jesse Lonis, Steve O'Dwyer, Mike Watson,Dietrich Fast, Colton Blomberg, Sam Grafton, Andre Akkari, Darren Rabinowitz, David Peters, Michael Gathy, John Racener, John Juanda, Mustapha Kanit, Gianluca Speranza, Chris Frank, Eric Afriat, Noah Schwartz, Chance Kornuth, Joni Jouhkimainen, Justin Daliba, Franck Makaci, Chino Rheem, Ben Lamb, Maria Ho, Rob Cowen, Martin Zamani, Thomas Muehloecker, Seth Davies, Fabian Quoss, Elio Fox, Roger Teska, Xuan Liu, Stefan Lehner, and Ike Haxton.
2023 PCA Main Event
Buy-in: $10,300
Entrants: 889
Prize Pool: $8,623,300
Payouts: 127
Final Table Results:
1. Michel Dattani (Portugal) $1,316,963**
2. Pedro Neves (Portugal) $1,183,037**
3. Artur Martirosian (Russia) $677,400
4. Alexandre Raymond (Canada) $519,600
5. Christoph Csik (USA) $399,800
6. Jamil Wakil (Canada) $307,500
7. Alex Kolonias (Greece) $236,500
8. Taylor Paur (USA) $181,900
9. Jonathan Little (USA) $139,900
** FInal 2 money chop
