Saturday, April 6, 2013 6:00 PM Local Time
Haibo Chu started the hand off by opening to 400 and finding a caller from the big blind. The flop came as the player in the big blind checked. Chu bet out 300, before being met with an instant re-raise to 900. Chu called, as both saw the fall on the turn. Both checked their options as the completed the board. Chu’s opponent didn’t hesitate, betting out 675, bringing a confused look from Chu. He sat there for a minute, contemplating his decision, before finally making the call.
His opponent tabled for a bluff, as Chu tabled to win the hand. Chu now sits on 8,500 in chips.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:47 PM Local Time
With the flop reading Oliver Gill picked up a handful of 500-chips, and threw them into the middle of the table. Dominik Nitsche was in the hand, and made the call, for his remaining 3,500 in chips. Gill confidently tabled his which was in front of Nitsche’s The turn and river produced the and to miss Nitsche, as he was sent to the rail.
Gill now has 11,425 in chips.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:45 PM Local Time
Things aren’t going so well for Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov. His stack has been hovering around the low mark and is now down to 4400 after this hand.
He lost a good chunk of it when he called a UTG min raise as the next player to act. This elicited a call fest as two more players came into the pot before a short stack in the cutoff moved all in for 2350.
The UTG player stepped out of the way before Katchalov announced all in and the other two players folded. Katchalov’s were in trouble against the short stack's and were in even more pain with the dealer tabling the window card and the rest of the board of to give his opponent a full book and the pot.
Meanwhile, Katchalov’s buddy, Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand Grospellier, is also on the same table with a similar stack and they’ll both need some magic to happen shortly.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:39 PM Local Time
We just watched Demtrios Tremmos land back-to-back killer blows to soar up the chip count leaderboard here on Day 1c.
The first hand saw Tremmos min-raise from middle position before a short-stacked player in the small blind moved all in. Mike Watson was in the big blind and he announced himself all in but Tremmos wasn’t going anywhere as he made the call with Watson was gutted as he showed with the short stack needing help holding
The board ran out to see Tremmos more than double up, leaving Watson crippled with just few thousand in chips as the shorty was eliminated.
The very next hand Tremmos called a preflop raise from the under-the-gun player, and two others came along to see a flop of The UTG-player led for 650 and Tremmos was the lone caller to the turn card. Check, check, and the river fell the The UTG-player tossed out a hefty 2,000, leaving just 1,500 more behind, but Tremmos wasn’t worried as he plonked enough purple chips into the middle to put his opponent all in. The player obliged and proudly opened for a full house, but incredibly Tremmos tabled for a bigger boat, thanks to a two-outer on the river!
Tremmos is now flying with over 25,000 chips.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:38 PM Local Time
Wandering around the Crown Poker Room and there arent too many huge chip stacks at this stage of Day 1c. There are however, a few very recognisable faces with some handy chip stacks. One of these players in Aussie online crusher James "andy McLEOD" Obst, another is a fellow online crusher in Dan "djk123" Kelly and the third notable big stack is Octavian Voegele.
Kelly already made it through to Day 2 when he finished as the Day 1a chip leader with 66,250, while Obst and Voegele have yet to progress. For readers who aren't aware of Voegele, he has plenty of results from events all around Australia, including a victory in the 2011 ANZPT Adelaide Main Event, which netted him $148,900. All three of these players are hovering on stacks of around 20,000.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:29 PM Local Time
There has been a bit of debate in the back offices of the Crown Poker Room this afternoon as the powers that be have come together to decide on the prize pool breakdown for this event. The Accumulator format is new to the WSOP and many international players, so the debate was whether to pay the number of unique entrants (580) or the total number of entries which came in at 1,085 after a total of 419 players registered for Day 1c today.
Fortunately the Crown staff are no strangers to this format, and they’ve found a nice compromise that has worked well in the past. The half way point between the two numbers falls within the 811-900 range, which means that the top 10% of that range pays the top 90 players. Seems like a pretty fair solution.
Therefore a min-cash for 90th place is worth $2,452 which means that anyone who fired two bullets will still make a few hundred Aussie dollars profit. Those who fired three bullets will need to reach the top 54 before they see a profit, while a final table berth will be worth a very nice $20,138.
However the prize they are all gunning for is the top prize which is the WSOP gold bracelet along with $211,575 in prize money.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:27 PM Local Time
Lawrence Hall recently approached one of the live reporting team members and informed them of Phil Hellmuth’s elimination hand. The hand started with Nick Morales opening the pot, before Hellmuth moved all in for his remaining 1,150. Another player called, as well as Morales, to see the flop come T-J-Q. With Hellmuth patiently sitting back in his chair, Morales went to war against his opponent, before both players eventually committed the remainder of their chips in, totalling 30,000 in chips.
With all the chips in the middle, each of the players tabled their cards. Hellmuth tabled pocket tens for a flopped set of tens, Morales showed A-K for the nut straight, and the other player in the hand showed for top-two pair. The turn came a diamond, giving the third player in the hand a flush draw, but when the river fell a six, Morales would scoop the entire pot, totalling 36,000 in chips.
Hellmuth survived Day 1a, so we’ll be seeing more of him during tomorrow’s play.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:26 PM Local Time
Germany’s Dominik Nitsche must have a new found love for nines. After all, he did recently have his tournament life on the line holding against an opponent’s and managed to flop what can only be aptly described as the “nuts” - The turn and river changed nothing and just like that, Nitsche had doubled up.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:04 PM Local Time
Shortly after returning from the break, Team PokerStars Team Pro Celina Lin, was eliminated from the tournament.
We were told that a player sitting under the gun opened with a min-raise, before Lin moved all in for her remaining 2,500 in chips. Another player in late position then moved all in over the top, forcing a fold from the original raiser. Lin tabled her pocket nines, but was behind to her opponents pocket queens.
The board ran out A-A-Q-5-T to see Lin’s opponent flop a full house and end her day prematurely.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:00 PM Local Time
The players are back from their break and ready to keep playing here in Event 1 of the WSOP APAC.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 4:59 PM Local Time
The players have been sent on their second 15-minute break of the day.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 4:39 PM Local Time
Michael Mariakis is one of the stalwarts of the Asia-Pacific poker scene but is yet to cash big in a major tournament. He is doing quite well today though and has just eliminated an opponent. We caught the action on a flop of with Mariakis calling a bet of 1025.
The turn landed a and his opponent shoved into an immediate call from Mariakis. It all happened so quickly we didn’t get time to count the all in amount. With cards turned over, Mariakis held after gutter-balling his wheel and had his opponent’s two-pair in trouble.
The river was an inconsequential and, as Mariakis raked in his chips, he quipped to a player next to him, “I just called to try and take it away at the turn”.
After the hand, Mariakis’s stack was up to a respectable 13,800.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 4:32 PM Local Time
Team888 Pro Sam Holden recently tweeted his elimination. Again he's looking at the positives, with a planned trip to the massive Carlton versus Collingwood AFL game tomorrow afternoon:
Saturday, April 6, 2013 4:30 PM Local Time
Antoine Saout ended Day 1b as our chip leader and he’s carried that form over into Day 1c. Following a shove from a short stack in late position, Saout looked down at in the small blind and made the call. His opponent turned over and the news didn’t get any better as the board ran out
Saout ended with the nut flush, sending one to the rail as he improves his stack to around 6,600.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 4:28 PM Local Time
With a few minutes remaining before the break, and the flop reading a player in the small blind threw out a bet of 800 in chips. Daniel Neilson was the other player in the hand, and he opted to move all in for his remaining 3,800. His opponent called and both players tabled their cards.
Neilson showed for an open-ended straight draw, but was behind to his opponent’s The turn and river fell the and to see Neilson miss his draw, sending him to the rail.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 4:16 PM Local Time
Australia’s James “andy McLEOD” Obst has had a great start to the day, seeing his stack move to around 18,500. We recently watched Obst add to that stack when he scooped up a pot against one opponent on a board. There was already a handy pot building by the time we arrived at the scene, with Obst leading out for 550 on the river. Obst’s opponent made the call and immediately regretted as he sent his cards into the muck at the site of Obst’s
While many readers will be aware of Obst’s exploits in the online poker world, they may not realise that he has an impressive live tournament record which includes a runner-up in the 2010 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event, and several notable results in various high roller events around the country – including a 5th place in the $100,000 Challenge at the 2011 Aussie Millions.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 4:10 PM Local Time
Another international name, Team Ivey player Mike Leah may have been sporting a tremendous new beard for WSOP APAC but, unfortunately for him, it hasn’t helped his powers on the felt today.
Leah shoved his short stack over the top of a raiser with a speculative and a call meant he was up against
The dealer tabled to give Leah the lead. A river gave him two-pair but meant it was Broadway for his opponent, busting Leah from today’s tournament. However, the Canadian did make it through Day 1A’s field with a 13,850 stack so we will still be seeing him on Day 2.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 4:05 PM Local Time
The action folded around to Aaron Benton in middle position, who opened to 350. An opponent in the hijack then opted to move all in, committing his remaining 1,050 in chips. Benton called and both players tabled their cards. Benton was behind with his against the and couldn’t find any help as the flop fell The dropped on the turn, to give Benton the lead.
“Do you have a club?” asked Benton, looking over to see if his opponent had potential outs to a flush.
The river came the giving Benton the win with the top pair of aces, as he moves up to 7,000 in chips.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 3:50 PM Local Time
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier has grinded his short stack steadily upwards over the past few orbits. In this hand, he grabbed a few more chips defending his big blind after a mid position raise.
The two players went to a flop of that was checked by both. On the turn ElkY led out for 300 only to see his opponent raise up the action to 650. A call delivered the river and the Team PokerStars Pro checked to the aggressor who put another 750 into the middle. ElkY took no time in calling, much to the disappointment of his opponent who showed for ace-high. ElkY revealed for a pair of queens that are more than good enough to take down the pot.
ElkY’s stack is now sitting around the 6300 mark.
Saturday, April 6, 2013 3:47 PM Local Time
In a game such as poker with a predominately male player base, it’s sometimes easy to forget about the ladies. Well, that’s probably truer of a place such as the USA where the All-Time tournament winnings list doesn’t feature a woman until 30th on the ladder (Vanessa Selbst for those playing at home). Here in the Asia-Pacific, Australia’s Jackie Glazier and China’s Celina Lin are much harder to miss considering they are both eyeing off places in the top ten on their respective countries’ All-Time tournament winnings lists.
Glazier, with just shy of $1 million in tournament scores on her resume, is perhaps best known for her runner-up finish in Event 41 of the WSOP last year. Here in her home country though, Glazier has posted results in just about every local tournament series imaginable, including a victory in the 2012 Melbourne Poker Championship Main Event. While it may have surprised some international poker enthusiasts when earlier this year Glazier was the only Aussie to be named part of Team Ivey, it certainly didn’t surprise anyone down under.
Like Glazier, Lin also has an esteemed “home felt” record, with most of her almost $400,000 in tournament winnings coming in tournaments in Macau. Lin’s most prominent results are her dual victories in the Macau Poker Cup, with titles coming in the 2009 series and then again in 2012. Through these sorts of results, Lin was added to the Team PokerStars roster.
Both Lin and Glazier are tucked away in the darkened back end of the Crown Poker Room, but we will be keeping a close eye on these two prominent ladies throughout the day.