A huge day of thrills and spills has come to a detailed on the APPT Auckland. The SKYCITY Auckland Casino was full to the brim with the poker tables overflowing with action across the room and the rail loving all of the excitement of championship tournament poker.
The day started with 80 players remaining however the number all of them had in mind was the highest 24. That's where the cash would start and their two days of efforts can be rewarded.
Some didn't make it that far with Patrick Healy, Carl Knox, Daryl Hussey, Mike King, Tien Pham, Alicia Sale, Anthony Legg and Ryan Otto among those to fall in the course of the afternoon.
Tension was rising approaching the bubble for a variety of interesting stories unfolding.
First we saw a slightly confusing situation approaching the money when Angela Brewster didn't receive correct change when placing her ante. Tournament staff needed to consult the cameras and in that time, Brewster ran a tremendous bluff that did not get past Minh Nguyen. Brewster was felted, but her tournament was resurrected when floor staff ruled she was indeed short changed by 500 chips. She was handed a single ante and allowed to continue within the event, where she managed to run that 500 as much as nearly 10,000.
If Brewster could reach the money or go further, the ruling would definitely be scrutinized, but because it was, the fairytale comeback story ended a couple of moments later.
The other dramatic story that unfolded at the bubble was the race for the ANZ Player of the Year.
Luke Spano, Luke Brabin, Dean Blatt and David Lim all had claims at first of the day to take over the lead after clubhouse leader Edison Nguyen was eliminated on day one.
Spano and Brabin were eliminated during Day 2, leaving Blatt and Lim to duke it out. Blatt needed a top three finish within the tournament, but Lim only needed to hang on for a min-cash to take an unbeatable lead on the top of the leader board.
With one elimination to go, all eyes were on Lim because the absolute short stack of the field, but he landed a double up with pocket kings against Michael Guzzardi's pocket eights to alleviate some pressure.
In the end, Lim would survive as Robert Spano would bubble when his Q♦8♦ would fail to get past the dominant A♠Q♠ of Minh Nguyen. The irony of the elimination was that Minh bursting the bubble would ultimately be detrimental to his brother Edison, as David Lim limped into the money to officially claim the 2014 ANZ Player of the Year.
With the hour-long bubble out of the way, the accordion affect took hold because the short stacks tried to double up or die trying.
Former APPT Queenstown runner-up Matty Yates (23rd - NZ$4,550) was one of the crucial first to the cashier before the title defence of David Lim (21st - NZ$5,050) eventually came to an end when his pocket tens were outdrawn my Michael Guzzardi's king-nine.
David Evans (16th - NZ$6,300) and Day 1c chip leader Terangi Matenga (13th - NZ$7,550) were sent to the cashier before Jesse McKenzie would strike a double elimination with eleven players left to steamroll our approach to the general table of nine.
McKenzie held A♠Q♥ to trail Mehrdad Razmi's A♥K♣ while the short-stacked Carl Boag had live cards together with his 9♥3♣, but an ace at the flop and a queen at the turn saw McKenzie take out two in a single clean hit.
It had taken ninety minutes to burst the bubble but once safely within the money, it was only another eighty minutes of furious action to lose the following fifteen players!
McKenzie fought back from a stack of just 4,800 late on day one to now be right in contention, but he trails the irrepressible Minh Nguyen who simply crushed his table at the bubble before surging towards the general table. He'll take a dominant chip lead into the general table as he looks to check the victory of brother Edison in Melbourne and produce the second one trophy of the year back to the Nguyen family.
APPT Auckland Final Table Line UpSeat 1: Sam Williams (New Zealand) - 633,000Seat 2: Ben Rendall (New Zealand) - 545,000Seat 3: Michael Guzzardi (Australia) - 296,000Seat 4: Dean Blatt (Australia) - 142,000Seat 5: Thomas Ward (New Zealand) - 404,000Seat 6: Jesse McKenzie (Australia) - 477,500Seat 7: Stephen Thompson (New Zealand) - 32,500Seat 8: William Rogers (UK) - 238,000Seat 9: Minh Nguyen (Australia) - 1,605,500
It's a stacked final table with several Australia guns taking over New Zealand's finest, but they're going to have their work cut out for them with Minh Nguyen holding over 35% of the chips in play!
The final table will commence at 12:15pm (GMT+12) on Sunday. We are hoping you'll join us again as we sail this baby home. See you then!
Heath "TassieDevil" Chick is a contract Contributor for the PokerStars Blog.
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Asia Pacific Poker Tour]
No comments:
Post a Comment