Thursday, 28th March 2024 22:55
Home / Uncategorized / APPT7 Macau: Steady progress for the silent assassins Gregg and Troyanovskiy

There’s been a lot of conversation lately about the importance of politeness at the poker tables, much of it prompted by Brad Willis’s excellent blog on the subject. Over here in Asia, there is almost none of the loathsome one-upmanship you often see around the tables of north America and Europe. The game is relatively new still and no one has had time to develop the complacent arrogance that we often see elsewhere.

There is also something about the temperament of gamers in these parts that lends itself to appropriate etiquette at the tables. Players like their poker here and can be as ruthless as anyone in their play. But they also tend to fall into one of two categories: utterly silent or utterly gleeful. Neither can be faulted one bit.

Two late arrivals to the tournament floor here today have no doubt seen all there is to see on the tables of the world, good and bad. But no one has ever complained about the etiquette of either Tony Gregg or Vladimir Troyanovskiy, largely because they too take the silent approach.

Make no mistake, these guys are about as ruthless as they come in world poker in the moment and either would clearly have the right to shout about his achievements. However, both go about their business in monkish silence, allowing the chips to do the talking.

In case you didn’t know about these two, both came to most prominence at the PCA. Gregg has made two main event final tables in the past few years, finishing second to Poorya Nazari in 2009 and then sixth in 2012. He has also popped up on a World Series final table, and won a WPT event. Then he came second in the €25,000 High Roller event at the Grand Final last month, before picking up his maiden SCOOP victory in May. (He has, of course, already won the Sunday Million.)

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Tony Gregg: An exceptional resume

Troyanovskiy has also had a pretty sensational year. In the Bahamas in January, he finished seventh at the $100,000 Super High Roller event, winning more than $250,000. And then he more than tripled that less than a week later, when he finished second in the “regular” High Roller event.

It was no fluke. In Monaco last month, a couple of days after Gregg had his big score at the High Roller tables there, Troyanovskiy was back at the Super High Roller tables, and won another €340,000 for fifth.

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Vladimir Troyanovskiy: Taking a break from super high rolling

Their appetite for the huge buy-in tournaments explained both of their presence in Macau right now. They both played the GuangDong Asia Millions main event, even if both missed the money. Gregg has been passing some time between then and now at the cash tables in the Wynn, where one suspects he may have seen Troyanovskiy too.

Right now, it is Troyanovskiy who is faring better as they readjust to the relatively small buy in of the APPT main event. The Russian has about 80,000 to Gregg’s 15,000. But as we play into the last level of the night, one suspects anything is still possible for the silent assassins.

Video update

Celina Lin’s stay in the tournament was brief, but Nikki Pickering of PokerStars.tv caught up with the Team PokerStars Pro before her elimination.


A reminder on how to follow our coverage from Macau. There is hand-by-hand coverage at the top of the main APPT Macau page, which includes chip counts. Feature coverage will filter in beneath the panel. All the information about the Asia Pacific Poker Tour is on the APPT site, and PokerStars Macau also has its own home.

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