At the start of Day 5 of the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event, there were only 22 players of an original 1,560 with chips still in the field, and the two with the biggest stacks, World Series of Poker Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker and Ana Marquez, both appeared not only to be virtual locks for the final table but favored as well to get most of the media attention when they got there. 

Unfortunately for all those reporters who had already begun writing their stories about former champs returning to glory, or maybe about the filly beating the boys, the tournament poker gods often prove themselves fickle, and despite their dominant chip stacks neither Moneymaker nor Marquez will find themselves with chips waiting for them at Saturday’s final table, busting in 11th and 10th place respectively yesterday.

And so just like that the story shifts from theirs to one even older, David versus Goliath, as the new chip leader of the final eight, Chris Oliver, has nearly 13 million in tournament chips over his nearest rival. 

Oliver, a 21-year old online tournament grinder, has already won over a million dollars online, not exactly who you’d want to have as the huge chip leader at your table, however his path to the $2.3 million top prize is still not a given, with numerous other top players still in the hunt as well.   Just some of the recognizable pros that will be flinging rocks at young Oliver via chips and cards include Sam Stein, Bolivar Palacios and Mike Sowers.

The current chip counts for the 2011 PCA main event final table are as follows:

Chris Oliver- 19,670,000

Galen Hall- 6,435,000

Sam Stein- 5,855,000

Mike Sowers- 3,685,000

Anton Ionel- 3,530,000

Max Weinberg- 3,350,000

Bolivar Palacios- 2,445,000

Philippe Plouffe- 1,555,000

With the final table now set, PCA attentions turn elsewhere till tomorrow (1/15/2011) when the event resumes not only in front of the good folks from the PokerStars blog, PokerNews and all the other regular poker media, but also in front of an internet audience (including hole cards) on ESPN 3, and for the first time, a slightly delayed but significantly larger television audience on ESPN 2. 

The PCA main event final table kicks off at 4:00 pm EST., with the ESPN 3 coverage beginning at 5:00 pm, and the ESPN 2 coverage five hours later at 10:00.  For more information check local listings or visit the PokerStars blog.