The inaugural running of the World Series of Poker Asia/Pacific (WSOP APAC) has completed the first day of its first event, a unique offering that may be a test run for its usage in other WSOP events at a future date.
The players descended on the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, bright and early on an April morning “Down Under” (early morning U. S. time) with the $1100 No Limit Hold’em “Accumulator” event. The event offers three Day Ones and, in a twist, a player could conceivably enter all three of them, even if he (or she) still has chips from a previous Day One play. In fact, those players who enter one, two or all three Day Ones and can last to the end of their particular day would be able to add whatever chips they were able to “accumulate” (hence the name) and move on to the Day 2 action.
The special conditions of the tournament – not to mention the opportunity to take down one of the five bracelets being offered by the WSOP APAC – brought out a host of the top tournament poker players in the world today. Australia was well represented, with players such as James Obst, Grant Levy, Jonathan Karamalikis, Celina Lin and David Gorr (among others) opening up their first action of the WSOP APAC in this tournament. Joining them were a host of international players including former World Champion Jonathan Duhamel, Mike Watson, Dominik Nitsche, Barry Greenstein, Melanie Weisner and Marvin Rettenmaier, setting up a day of action around the Crown Casino.
Greenstein would have some difficulties with his 3000 chip stack, but he would get a big double after a bit of a kerfuffle over his actions. On a J-9-Q flop, Greenstein saw two opponents push out a bet and, with only 825 chips in front of him, pushed them all-in and then separated the call amount from his chips. The dealer called a string bet on the Poker Hall of Famer, reducing it to only a call, but one opponent didn’t seem to mind and threw in enough to cover Greenstein and the action continued. Greenstein tabled a 10-8, good for a flopped straight, while his opponent turned up pocket Aces. Although a King would bring some nervous moments, Greenstein dodged a ten on the river to get the 2375 chip pot.
After two levels, Greenstein was back in a healthier territory (sitting on 6500 in chips), while others such as Duhamel (3800), Eugene Katchalov (3600) and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (2525) lagged behind him. Unfortunately, Weisner wasn’t so fortunate to make it through the first two levels, joined by 2012 WSOP Championship Event runner-up Jesse Sylvia and fellow final tablist Russell Thomas. It was the entrance – or lack thereof – after the first two levels of play that seemed a bit shocking to some.
As the play moved into the afternoon, 13-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth casually strolled up to his table and took his seat, as is his norm. What was lacking was the normal “pomp and circumstance” that Hellmuth usually reserves for these entrances. As you may remember, at the World Poker Tour’s stop in Venice, Italy, last week, Hellmuth hired a gondola to ferry him to the casino, where he emerged dressed as either the Phantom of the Opera or an Italian count (your views may vary). With his rather demure entrance in Australia today, Hellmuth didn’t bring any attention to himself, but the Championship Event is still a few days away!
After the closure of the late registration period, 329 players had plopped down their $1100 to take part in the first day of the “Accumulator” tournament. With two more days to go, however, no one knows (at this time) what they are playing for, other than the first-ever WSOP bracelet to be awarded in Australia.
By the time the day had come to a close, Dan Kelly had emerged as the chip leader, bagging up a nice stack of 66,250. Joined by Duhamel (41,850), Greenstein (41,050) and Hellmuth (20,650) in the upper echelons of the 46 players remaining on the Day 1A leaderboard, these numbers don’t mean much, however. With two more Day Ones – and the ability for players to enter again on both Friday and Saturday – it means that there will be a premium placed on “accumulating” chips through the three starting days rather than having one great day and busting the other two.
The “Accumulator” Event is only the first of five tournaments for the first-ever WSOP APAC. The other four events are as follows:
Sunday – $1650 Pot Limit Omaha
Monday – $2200 Mixed Event
Tuesday – $5000 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em
Thursday – $10,000 Championship Event
Also in the mix are two non-bracelet events that will be closely watched. A $50,000 “High Roller” tournament will begin on April 13 (a week from Saturday), while a week from Sunday will mark the resumption of hostilities for the Caesars Cup, which will feature Team Asia/Pacific against Team Europe for the right to take on the defending champion, Team Americas, to take away the Cup. It promises to be an exciting ten days of action from the Crown Casino in Melbourne as history is made once again on the World Series of Poker stage.