After a Day Two that was jammed with action around the Crown Casino in Melbourne, the World Series of Poker Asia/Pacific (WSOP APAC) has a new leader in Winfred Yu, with both Rupert Elder and Day One chip leader Daniel Negreanu in hot pursuit.
With 262 players returning to the tables on Friday, Negreanu held a slim lead over Joel Feldman and Ben Wilinofsky as the action commenced. The players didn’t know what was up for grabs (other than the first WSOP APAC Championship Event bracelet), however, because registration was still ongoing as the cards hit the air. Knowing that there could be more competitors coming their way, some players wasted little time in trying to increase their stacks.
Sam Trickett cracked the 100K mark on one of the early hands of Friday’s play. After raising a pot and getting a caller, Trickett saw the small blind look for that “double up or go home” possibility with an all-in move. Trickett would go over that bet to isolate the player and, after his previous caller got out, unveiled pocket Jacks to go against his opponent’s pocket sevens. Although the flop would come 5-6-8, there would be no miracle for Trickett’s opponent on the turn or river as the British pro hit the 105K mark.
Phil Ivey also wanted to get his name further up the leaderboard. After seeing Brandon Cantu raise in front of him, Ivey made the call only to see Andrew Mellado three bet the play. Cantu wasn’t up for the task, but Ivey was, making the call to see an 8-10-5 flop. Mellado, who left back 18K from the pre-flop dustup, moved all in and Ivey immediately called, tabling pocket tens for the flopped set against Mellado’s pocket Kings. Mellado left his seat as soon as he saw Ivey’s cards (fortunately for him, neither the turn nor river brought a King) and Ivey reached the 150K mark.
Negreanu also wasn’t just sitting around waiting for things to come to him. After seeing Dennis Huntly open up the betting and Jean-Robert Bellande make the call, Negreanu made it 4100 to go out of the big blind. Huntly backed out of the hand, but Bellande would push all in for 20K, which Negreanu called. Negreanu’s pocket tens were way out in front of Bellande’s pocket sixes and, once a ten came on the flop, Bellande was basically drawing dead. When the turn blanked out for him, Bellande was heading for the door and Negreanu continued to ride atop the leaderboard.
While these men were doing well, it was another big name pro that was slowly and meticulously moving his way into the lead. Erik Seidel didn’t have any big clashes with his tablemates, just silently chipped away at them until he would eventually find himself in the lead. After an opponent bet into him out of the cutoff, Seidel would defend his big blind to see a 6-Q-2 flop. Seidel would check-call a bet there to move on to an eight on the turn, which both players called, and another Queen would come on the river. This time, Seidel took the lead, but he was raised by his opponent. Seidel coolly called, showing his Q-10 for trips, while his opponent mucked and Seidel gathered the chips into his 185K stack.
Elder made his first big movement of the day in a clash with Cantu and would miraculously come out on the other side. After Cantu opened the betting and Ivey had called, Elder three bet the action. Cantu wasn’t impressed, making it four bet for 16,600 and, after Ivey folded, Elder upped it to the remainder of his stack, 65K. Cantu immediately called and was in the lead with his pocket Kings over Elder’s pocket Jacks. The 3-9-A-9 flop and turn brought no drama, but the Jack on the river did, giving the hand to Elder. On the next hand, the two would butt heads again and Elder would hit a straight flush to take the remainder of Cantu’s chips and emerge from the skirmish with 204K in chips.
Players would go to the dinner break and, after returning, found out just what was being fought over. 405 players came to the tables of the Crown Casino, creating a prize pool of $3,847,500. 40 players will have the distinction of walking away with some of that prize pool, but the biggest chunk is, of course, for the champion, who will take away $1,038,825 and the first ever WSOP APAC Championship Event bracelet.
Over the course of the final two levels of the night, some of the early chargers started to falter. Ivey would double up Daniel Laidlaw twice to drop down to around 40K in chips. He would get those chips into the center in a race, his A-Q against an opponent’s pocket Kings, but was unable to get any magic from the cards and found himself on the rail. Meanwhile, the end of day chip leader would emerge on two stunning hands.
Winfred Yu quietly worked his stack for most of the day before finding some action against Stevan Chew. With a 7♦ 5♥ 9♥ J♥ flop and turn facing the gentlemen, Chew bet out but was met with a re-raise from Yu that would put him all in. Making the call, Chew saw Yu show K♥ 10♥ for the flush and immediately mucked his cards. A few hands later, Yu sat on 9-7 with a board of K-5-8-J-6 (a straight) and his opponent pushed all in for over 100K into a miniscule pot. Yu, stunned, made the call, tabled his straight, and rode those chips to the end of day lead.
1. Winfred Yu, 432,700
2. Rupert Elder, 373,400
3. George Tsatsis, 365,800
4. Guden Yasar, 350,300
5. Daniel Negreanu, 338,100
6. Marin Dimitrov, 252,000
7. Mark Betts, 238,300
8. Kahle Burns, 231,200
9. David Yan, 230,700
10. Balleur Gaetan, 213,900
On down the leaderboard, Kevin Song (201,300), Feldman (200,600), Jim Collopy (196,200), Benny Spindler (192,500), Jonathan Karamalikis (184,600) and Oleksii Kovalchuk (183,300) all are in the Top 25, while such players as Phil Hellmuth, Greg Merson, Jackie Glazier, Graeme Putt and Trickett will all have to wait until the end of May for their next chance at a WSOP bracelet.
79 players will be back on the tables in the Crown Casino on Saturday, looking to work their way through the money bubble. With the final table scheduled for Monday, they will probably work down to three tables on Saturday, with the final 27 coming back on Sunday to determine the Championship Event final table. It sets up for a fantastic weekend of poker “Down Under” as the World Series of Poker Asia/Pacific reaches it penultimate moment.