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Day 4 of the PokerStars Championship Panama Main Event was an abbreviated day of play, trimming the field from 30 down to a dozen. It was moving day as half of the survivors chipped up to seven-figure counts, with Denis Timofeev leading the field with 2.07 million in the bag.

Day 3 chip leader James Salmon held onto his stack and ended the night second in chips with 2017 Super High Roller Bowl player Byron Kaverman finishing the day in third place. Kenneth Smaron and Michael Lech are the other two Americans remaining.

Igor Yaroshevskyy remains in the field with the dubious distinction of trending downwards over the last three days. He finished Day 2 as chip leader with 745,000, bagged up 506,000 on Day 3 and was near the bottom of the counts for Day 4 with 422,000.

JC Alvarado bowed out in 13th place, Mark Radoja in 14th and Tito Ortiz finished in 22nd place. The UFC Hall of Famer was eliminated after he shoved with ace queen and ran into Kaverman’s pocket tens. 

Ortiz earned his first Hendon Mob cash with his deep run. “I gave it my best,” Ortiz said to PokerStars. “It’s been amazing, Felipe (Ramos) has showed me a lot of things – he’s a great coach. I still feel like an amateur; this was only my second tournament.”

Caufman Talley (24th), Jason Koon (29th) and Jason Wheeler (30th) also were felted on Day 3.

Play resumes at noon local time (1 pm ET) and they’ll play down to final table of six players before ending play.

Day Five Chip Counts

1. Denis Timofeev – 2,070,000
2. James Salmon – 1,612,000
3. Byron Kaverman – 1,236,000
4. Robin Luca Wozniczek – 1,194,000
5. Kenneth Smaron – 1,104,000
6. Harpreet Gill – 1,080,000
7. Jonathan Abdellatif – 670,000
8. Anthony Diotte – 558,000
9. Michael Lech – 457,000
10. Igor Yaroshevskyy – 422,000
11. Vincent Allevato – 420,000
12. Luis Alejandro Mata – 162,000