13 Jan 12

PCA Main Event: Final Table Set; Jaka, Julius and Liu Top Three

After an extended unofficial final table, Xuan Liu has now become the only female player ever to make it to the final table of the PCA Main Event. The final table is set for an explosive finale as the top three are separated by less than one big blind.

Don't be fooled by the cute smile,
Xuan Liu is a formidable poker pro
source: PokerStarsBlog

After an extended Day 5 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, which lasted for over 13 hours, the final 8 is set with Faraz Jaka still in the lead - albeit just barely with 6.47 million chips. Breathing down his neck is second placed Kyle 'KJulius10' Julius with 6.45 million and Xuan Liu with 6.355 million.

Highlights of Day 5

• Swingaments for Faraz Jaka : It was not plain sailing for Jaka as he took a huge hit midway through the day, as well as several smaller hits including running A-K into K-K in a huge pot. He was down to under 3 million chips. He fought back hard, kept up the aggression and reclaimed top spot at the end.

• Top lady Xuan Liu - The PCA Main Event final table has always been an all boys club but Canada's latest poker sensation, Xuan Liu, fought tooth and nail to make it and earned a deserved place in the final table.

Liu is no stranger to big tournament success as she finished third at the EPT San Remo for €360,000 a few months ago, on a final table which included the likes of Max Heinzelmann, Max Lykov and Rupert Elder.

• Kyle Julius turning his sights to live tournaments - While not yet a household name in the live poker circuit, American pro Kyle 'KJulius10' Julius has had plenty of tournament success with over $1 million in lifetime tournament winnings. He won an FTOPS $300 tourney, placed second in a $1 million guarantee tournament, and also came in second in the PokerStars Sunday 500 in January 2011.

• Other notable facts about the final tablists - Dutch pro Ruben Visser who cashed almost $200k in last year's WSOP Main Event is in 4th place and don't write off short-stacked Anthony Gregg, as he was in the same position in this same event in 2009, but managed to make it all the way heads-up before falling at the final hurdle. Gregg is also the only person ever to make a second PCA Main Event final table.

• The ones who just missed out - Phil 'takechip' D'Auteuil finished 11th as he ran into Jaka, who woke up with aces in the small blind after D'Auteuil opened from UTG and another player isolated him from the cut-off. Jaka won the three way hand that kick-started Jaka's run to reclaim the chip lead.

Lee Goldman, who was the unfortunate final table bubble boy, went out in the most unfortunate of circumstances as he got his chips all in preflop with K-K, but his opponent found one of the two river cards that would make a set of nines to bust Goldman and conclude the long Day 5.

• Final table live feed - There will be a 40-minute delayed coverage from PokerStars.tv which start at 1:40pm Bahamas time (6.40pm GMT).

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event Final Table Chip Counts
Place	Name	Chips
1st	Faraz 'The Toilet' Jaka	6,470,000
2nd	Kyle Julius	6,450,000
3rd	Xuan Liu	6,355,000
4th	Ruben Visser	4,400,000
5th	John Dibella	3,465,000
6th	David Bernstein	1,960,000
7th	Mark Drobver	1,430,000
8th	Anthony Gregg	1,160,000
Blinds 60,000/120,000/10,000 \| Player: 8 (654) \| Chip Average: 4,020,000 \| Prize Pool: $10,398,400