So far, his Hendon Mob page shows only three results - the biggest coming at the 2014 LAPT Vina del Mar High Roller. He was third there, winning $28,400.
Another Latin American poker player follows in third place with Argentinian Franco Spitale bagging 432,300 tonight. Only Agshin Rasulov (467,000) is between Pires and Spitale, who hails from Buenos Aires. The 26-year-old's live tournament results don't reveal much about him, showing only three cashes worth $17k. On PokerStars, Spitale's playing as "rojorulez" and his online resumé includes a six digit payday for a second place in a WCOOP 2nd Chance event, $68k for fifth place in the Thursday Thrill WCOOP Edition and third place in the Sunday 500.
Also, it was another great day in the office for Steve O'Dwyer, who's certainly not slowing down after crushing the $50k High Roller here. He didn't get much rest as he finished early in the morning, lifting up the trophy and collecting $945,495. However, when he sat back for the PCA Main Event at noon, O'Dwyer was ruling again. Soon, he climbed among top stacks and at the end of the day, he bagged 430,900.
Other notable players coming back for Day 3 with big stacks are 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event champ Ami Barer (353,000), IPT7 Malta1 winner Georgios Zisimopoulos (343,900), American pro Jonathan Jaffe (255,400), 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up John Racener (192,200) and EPT6 Berlin champion Kevin MacPhee (182,400).
Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier was playing on the feature table today and he survived with 78,100. Tomorrow will see the bubble burst on Day 3 as we're only 60 places out of the money.
There were 928 entries (including five no-shows) in to the flagship event of the festival, creating a $4,500,800 prize pool. The top 135 players will get paid and the last man standing is set to take $833,260, along with the title and coveted trophy.
PCA 2016 Main Event Day 2 top five chip counts:
1st - Leonardo Pires, Brazil, 524,000
2nd - Agshin Rasulov, Azerbaijan, PokerStars qualifier, 467,000
3rd - Franco Spitale, Argentina, PokerStars qualifier, 432,300
4th - Steve O'Dwyer, Ireland, PokerStars player, 430,900
5th - Siarhei Melianiuk, Belarus, PokerStars qualifier, 428,900
Source: EPT press
