For the first time at the Crown Casino, two events on the World Series of Poker Asia/Pacific (WSOP APAC) were in action, with the “Accumulator” event working down to (or as close as possible) the final table and the $1650 Pot Limit Omaha tournament seeing its first action.
Event #1 – $1100 No Limit Hold’em “Accumulator”
After three Day Ones, the survivors came together for the first time in the Crown Casino poker room. The overall chip leader, Antoine Saout, was able to earn chips on two of the three Day Ones to come to the felt on Sunday with a stack of 105,375 (the only player above the 100K mark). Dan Kelly was also able to hit on two of the three days, but he “only” came to the tables with an 82,050 stack. 142 other players were arranged behind them, looking to make the final 90 players who would earn the first cash payouts of the WSOP APAC.
Making the money wasn’t going to be a problem for the players but, with ten levels set for action, making it down to the final table was looking difficult. The players went to work quickly, however, with Sam Georges knocking off three players within moments of the opening bell. Saout, for his part, began to drift back to the pack, while Jonathan Karamalikis moved into the lead before the first break came around.
After the first break, the money bubble would be popped in rapid fashion. The bubble would be popped by Melanie Weisner, who knocked out one opponent, while Ash Gupta would perform a simultaneous elimination of Luke Edwards to bring the field to 90 players. With everyone now guaranteed a $2452 payday, the bust outs picked up steam.
The rail quickly became populated with some recognizable players. Georges, James Hoeppner, Barry Greenstein, Martin Kozlov, Andrew Hinrichsen, Russell Thomas and Jackie Glazier would all depart the Crown Casino before the dinner break, but there were still some notables left among the 35 players remaining in the mix. Karamalikis was the chip leader when the players came back from dinner, with Jonathan Duhamel, Kelly, Weisner and a battling Phil Hellmuth among those in pursuit.
Weisner would be one of the first to fall after dinner, while Hellmuth struggled on with a less-than-average stack. Jesse Sylvia called off his final 20K in chips on a four-diamond board, only to see his opponent show the Ace of diamonds in his hand to send Sylvia out in 32nd place. Kelly also ran into some troubles in the form of Oliver Gill, who turned trip fives against him to take a significant chunk of his stack before departing in 28th place.
Down to three tables, it was looking less likely that a final table would be determined with two levels left in the night. The remaining players kicked up the pace another notch, with Hellmuth taking the brunt of much of the punishment. After much ranting and raving in true Hellmuthian fashion, the 13-time WSOP bracelet winner would be eliminated in 20th place and, after Jeremy Ausmus knocked off Norman Shill in 19th, the final two tables were determined.
Saout was still around at this point, but a bad beat would prove to be his downfall. After Bryan Piccioli started the action, Alex Givotovsky would three bet him and Saout four bet the action to 75K. Piccioli moved all in at this point and, after Givotovsky folded, Saout called and tabled a leading pocket pair of Jacks over Piccioli’s pocket tens. The flop and turn provided nothing for Piccioli, but a ten on the river stunned the table, the audience and, in particular, Saout, as Piccioli scooped up the pot and left Saout with only 25K. He would be knocked out on the next hand in 13th place.
Down to twelve players, WSOP officials made the decision to play beyond the “hard stop” rule (ten levels per day) in an effort to get to the final table. Over the next hour, Duhamel would knock off Gill, Piccioli took care of Givotovsky and, once he also dispatched Gupta, the final nine men were set for the final table:
1. Bryan Piccioli, 790,000
2. Jonathan Duhamel, 537,000
3. Junzhong Loo, 525,000
4. Jeremy Ausmus, 447,000
5. Jonathan Karamalikis, 296,000
6. Graeme Putt, 216,000
7. Ryan Otto, 181,000
8. Iori Yogo, 138,000
9. Peter Kleudgen, 137,000
The eventual champion of the first event of the WSOP APAC will take a historic first bracelet for the event and a nice payday of $211,575.
Event #2 – $1650 Pot Limit Omaha – Day One
For those that weren’t taking part in some of the activities around Melbourne on a Sunday, the second event of the WSOP APAC, the $1650 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, was just what some were looking for.
Notable names such as Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Nam Le, Brendon Rubie, Jeff Lisandro, Mel Judah, Brandon Cantu and Dan Shak were among the 172 players who came out for the tournament, and the day was not kind for some of them. Greenstein would be out just after the first break and he was joined fairly soon afterwards by Le. Ivey, who didn’t get in until just before the late registration period ended, flamed out fairly quickly also.
The carnage would continue as, from the 172 starters in the tournament, only 32 would make it to the end of the night:
1. Andrew Gaw, 69,800
2. Tony Kambouroglou, 67,300
3. Phillip Wilcocks, 59,600
4. Paul Sharbanee, 48,600
5. Dan Shak, 43,100
6. Marvin Rettenmaier, 42,900
7. Martin Kozlov, 35,200
8. Bruno Portaro, 34,400
9. Ivan Zalac, 30,600
10. Minh Phuc Nguyen, 27,600
Notable names still in the fight include Joe Hachem (24,400), Mike Leah (24,100), Sam Trickett (24,100) and Lisandro (12,200).
Day Two of the PLO will start up in just a few hours, alongside Event #3, the $2200 Mixed Event, putting three tournaments in action counting the final table of the “Accumulator.” Monday promises to be a day chock-full of activity as two tournaments work their way down and the first bracelet of the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia/Pacific is awarded.
