EPT Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure — Day 4 Recap

The record field of 1,136 players has been whittled down to the final table of eight at the European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Play began at noon in the Bahamas, and action was set to continue while the final 40 players fought for a spot at the final table. The end came more than 10.5 hours later as the players fought hard, and 32 players were left asking what could have been after they were eliminated from the tournament. Three of those players included notable eliminations William Thorsson (9th place), Victor Ramdin (25th place), and Eric "Rizen" Lynch (26th place).

David “The Dragon” Pham started the day with the chip lead (2,003,000), and after a roller-coaster ride that saw his stack shrink to just over 1 million, he caught fire and ended the day as he began, at the top of the leader board with 7,390,000. This is the first EPT final table appearance for The Dragon, but he has the most tournament poker experience of anyone left in the event and is the most feared player heading into the final table. Pham is also the reigning Card Player Player of the Year, and it looks like he will stake his claim at the top of the POY leader board to defend his title in 2008 with a deep finish in the Bahamas.

Another familiar face at the final table will be Team PokerStars member, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. The Frenchman has become a force to be reckoned with on the EPT, and he has finished deep at EPT stops in Baden and Warsaw. He made the final table of the EPT Scandinavian Open in late January last year, where he finished second for the largest payday of his career ($399,389). Grospellier will top that mark tomorrow if he finishes in fifth place or better. He comes into the final table second in chips, and there could be a heads-up match featuring ElkY and The Dragon tomorrow. The final table will begin bright and early at the Atlantis Resort and Casino tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Eastern time. The winner will walk away with $2 million and begin the New Year on top of the poker world.

Final Table Chip Counts:

David Pham — 7,390,000
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier — 3,060,000
Joe "BigEgypt" Elpayaa — 2,755,000
Haffiz Khan — 2,560,000
Kris Kuykendall — 2,150,000
Richard Fohrenbach — 1,855,000
Craig Hopkins — 1,770,000
Christian Harder — 905,000