APPT Macau: I check … mate

There is definitely an Australian flavour at the PokerStars.net APPT Macau High Roller event. Of the remaining 19 players left in the tournament, six of them hail from the land ‘Down Under’: Team PokerStars Pro and 2005 WSOP main event world champion, Joe Hachem; PokerStars sponsored players Eric Assadourian and Van Marcus; Andrew Scott, David Steicke and Charles Chua.

Although the blogging team tried to anoint Steicke with the nickname “The Spider” yesterday, Hachem took it upon himself to rename him “The Machine”, after witnessing his bulldozing style first-hand.

On one hand Steicke fired barrels on every street down to the river, forcing Andrew Scott and Danny Wong to fold. “You might be my new hero,” Hachem said admiringly to Steicke.

PokerStars sponsored player Eric Assadourian, who has been hot on the heels of Steicke’s chip lead since day onde, has just taken a hit after doubling up the short-stacked Yury Kerzhapkin. Holding pocket queens to Kerzhapkin’s A-K, Assadourian watched a second king appear on the flop and shipped 21,000 additional chips to the Russian. Assadourian is still comfortable however, with approximately 100,000 left in front of him.