TGIF. Thank God It’s Friday. It’s a phrase used by many office workers hanging out for a weekend of drinking beer and watching sports after a rough week at work. We love Fridays as well, but unfortunately the life of a poker professional really doesn’t revolve the concept of time. So while those with a day job were able to take advantage of the late start last night, today was a day where we were expecting some serious poker action.
It was Day 1b of the APPT Melbourne Main Event as a diverse mix of players hit the tables of the Crown Poker Room. A total of 159 players for Day 1b combined with 98 from yesterday to form a total field of 257 – just three players short of last year’s figure.
The prize pool was announced with the top 28 players guaranteed $8,455. Reaching the final table of nine would net $27,175 while the winner will receive the APPT Melbourne title and $326,125 in prize money.
It was another incredibly-stacked field with most tables featuring several players who we would consider to be “notable”. I observed one table, where I knew every player and could tell you most of their results and accomplishments in poker – unheard of for day one of a tournament.
Team PokerStars was again well represented. Celina Lin and Vivian Im provided some glamour to the room, while Angel Guillen and Bryan Huang were seated alongside each other on Table 25. The two weren’t afraid to tangle as friends became rivals but in the end, it didn’t matter, as Vineet Jindal was responsible for the elimination of both stars.
Huang’s bustout was rather brutal. Huang four-bet preflop with A♥ 9♥ and committed the rest on an ace-high flop with Jindal calling it off with pocket tens. A perfect ten on the river for Jindal saw Huang steam his way to an early exit. Guillen’s elimination was a little more standard as he flopped a set on a three-diamond board, only to discover Jindal held the nut flush. Guillen couldn’t pair the board and joined the rail as Jindal soared into the chip lead.
In the last level of the day, Vivian Im also departed when her Aâ™ Kâ™ was unable to get past an opponent’s pocket queens. It left Celina Lin to carry the torch for the red spade. After flopping quad deuces earlier in the day, Lin was able to survive on a tough table to bag up a workable 27,850 in chips.
David Gorr (33,075), Andy Hinrichsen (37,250), a Wally-less Leo Boxell (55,925), Mishel Anunu (69,250), Grant Levy (73,300), Van Marcus (78,875) and Aaron Benton 83,775 all made it through the day among approximately 105 survivors.
However they were all well short of today’s chip leader, as Ted Nguyen emerged from the scramble of bagged chips to amass a very impressive 144,425. Nguyen has a couple of ANZPT final tables to his credit, and will be looking to make a deep run in this event. Check out the Live Reporting section of the site a little later this evening for the complete list of chip counts from today’s field.
Tomorrow the survivors from both flights will come together for the first time in the Crown Poker Room for Day 2 of the APPT Melbourne Main Event. The action will kick off at 12:10pm on Sunday and we look forward to your company right here on the PokerStars Blog.
