Filed by Sean Callander

The short stack on the bubble of a poker tournament has two choices: sink or
swim. After spending much of the last hour sinking like a stone, Norihito Suzuki finally decided it was time for fight for his survival when he pushed all-in with his A 3.

Unfortunately, the Japanese player ran into Steve Junhee Yea’s pocket jacks, and without help on the board, Suzuki finished with the unwanted title of the ‘bubble man’.

With Suzuki’s elimination, the remaining 24 players are ensured a minimum payout of $4800, but their focus remains firmly centred on that first prize of $179,755.

The man in the box seat remains Israel’s Maor Feldinger on 220,000 in chips, followed by local player Derick Hernandez (210,000), Australian Van Marcus (175,000), Lebanon’s Nicolas Chouity (160,000) and another Filipino player Ronald Javier (152,000).

Speaking of Lebanese players, one of the world’s most famous (well, he’s an Australian but was born in Lebanon) is Joe Hachem. After bowing out of the main event yesterday, Joe is back in the room tonight teaching the finer points of poker to a large and attentive contingent of local media. Not a bad teacher to have!

Joe spent the better part of the day on the golf course, along with fellow PokerStars’ players Daniel Negreanu and Emad Tahtouh plus PokerStars Asia-Pacific director of marketing Sarne Lightman.

In the interests of bringing you all the best stories from the APPT, we sent a ‘mole’ to cover the game – his report shocked even an awful golfer like me.

“Well, Sarne and Emad battled it out for the title of the world’s worst golfer. At one point, Emad was given 5-1 that he could hit the fairway, a seemingly simple task that he failed to achieve (even with the help of a six-iron) as the ball sailed into the water. That shot cost him $500.

“Daniel prevailed over Joe in a fierce contest by a couple of holes. Joe’s a pretty handy golfer – he can hit a ball, but he can sure hit a tree as shown by his description of the layout as a ‘national park turned into a golf course’.” Thank you mole, the cheque’s in the mail!

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