The 11th day of the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP APAC) was arguably the most exciting of the entire series. Not only did George Danzer become just the sixth person in history to win a third bracelet in a single year, he also took the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year. The $10,000 WSOP APAC Main Event also began just to cap things off!
The interesting aspect of Danzer’s win is that he came into the final day of the $5,000 8-Game Mixed Event with by far the shortest stack. It was a third of the next smallest stack and almost ten times less than final table chip leader Scott Clements.
Danzer started strong, doubling up in a hand of Stud Hi/Lo and from there built his way into the chip lead before the first player of the day was eliminated. Six-handed play dragged on for quite some time before the final table was down to the final two in the space of five hands.
The first player out, in 6th place, was Australian poker veteran Sam Khouiss. He lost his chips in a hand of Stud Hi/Lo to Scott Clements, with Khouiss making a pair and no low, while Clements had / / to scoop the pot.
The very next hand saw Tino Lechich fall in 5th place when he lost his chips to 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel. There was a lull in the action for just one hand before Ismael Bojang was sent home in 4th place to make it three eliminations in four hands. This result marked Bojang’s fourth cash of the WSOP APAC and his 13th WSOP cash of the year, which is a new record.
It was expected that the rate attrition would have to slow down eventually, but then Duhamel was sent home in 3rd place immediately after Bojang hit the rail. Duhamel was eliminated during a hand of 2-7 Triple Draw. He was short stacked and all-in before the draws. Duhamel drew three, two and two, while Danzer took three, two and one and showed 8x-6x-4x-3x-2x which was enough to send Duhamel’s cards into the muck.
Just like that, within five hands, six players had become two as it was Scott Clements and George Danzer heads-up for the title. Danzer began with quite a large chip lead, but it would take a long time before the final hand of the night played out.
Clements had been holding onto his tournament life through several game changes, but couldn’t continue to survive once No Limit Hold’em began. Clements moved all in preflop with and was up against Danzer’s . The [3d] board gave Danzer enough to send Clements home as the runner-up, while securing himself the title and the $84,600 top prize.
Danzer now joins Puggy Pearson, Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Phil Ivey and Jeff Lisandro as the only players to win three bracelets in a single year. He is also the front runner for the WSOP Player of the Year as he holds a handy lead over Brandon Shack-Harris heading into the final two events of the 2014 WSOP APAC.
Event #8 $5,000 8-Game Mixed - Results
1st: George Danzer- $84,600
2nd: Scott Clements -$52,340
3rd: Jonathan Duhamel - $34,291
4th: Ismael Bojang - $23,688
5th: Tino Lechich- $17,371
6th: Sam Khouiss - $13,310
There was only one tournament running while the 8-Game Mixed was drawing to a close but it happened to be the most prestigious event of the series – the $10,000 WSOP APAC Main Event.
The first of two Day 1 flights began with under 100 players, but there were 129 total runners by the time the last level began. Registration is open until two levels into Day 2, so that number will increase, and of course, there is still another Day 1 flight to play out.
Players started with 30,000 in chips and were treated to a great deep structure, but as usual, not everyone makes it through Day 1. Some of those who hit the rail during Day 1 include prominent North American players like Dan Shak, Mike Leah and reigning WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess.
The end of Riess’s tournament came at the hands of the $1,650 PLO champion Sam Higgs. Riess check-raised all in for 30,000 on the in a three-bet pot after Higgs had led for 12,000 on the flop. Higgs called with his ace-king, which was ahead of Riess’s ace queen. No help on the turn or river and Riess was on the rail, while Higgs was the chip leader heading into the late stages of the tournament.
Higgs wasn’t able to hold onto that chip lead until the end of the day though, that honour would go to none other than prominent international pro Tobias Reinkemeier. It was a very productive day at the felt for Reinkemeier as he ended up bagging a stack of 171,925. That’s well ahead of the 156,450 of the nearest competitor in Asa Smith.
WSOP APAC Main Event – Day 1a Top Ten
Tobias Reinkemeier -171,925
Asa Smith -156,450
Ivan Zhou -153,200
Craig Blight -144,950
Sean Winter -124,175
Chane Kampanatsanyakorn -123,175
Jesse Sylvia -123,050
Jack Salter -102,300
John Moffitt -93,075
Jackie Glazier – 98,500
Click here for WSOP APAC Main Event end-of-day 1a chip counts
Former November NIner Jesse Sylvia, WSOP braclet winner Jackie Glazier, 2011 Aussie Millions champ David Gorr and 13-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth are just a few of the 70 total survivors from the day.
All the survivors from Day 1a will return on Tuesday when they will combine with the eventual survivors from Day 1b. That second and final Day 1 flight takes place from 12:30pm on Monday.