Friday, 29th March 2024 10:36
Home / Uncategorized / APPT Manila: Big guns bow out midway through day one

Filed by Sean Callander

Less than 200 of the 255 players who started the APPT Manila event remaining in the running for the title.

Two who won’t be packing the trophy in their luggage are Team PokerStars duo Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Rousso.

The writing was on the wall for Negreanu when he was sighted practicing his golf swing behind his chair just prior to his exit. Negreanu pushed all-in for his last 220 in chips on a flop of 10h 3s 2h.

PokerStars APPT Celebrity/Media Poker Tournament

American Brett Miller couldn’t get his chips in fast enough with pocket kings, while Negreanu showed A 8. Neither the jack nor the queen that fell on the turn and river helped Negreanu. Anyone planning a game of golf in the Manila area over the next few days, watch out – ‘Kid Poker’ is on the loose.

The same hand – A 8 – also proved unlucky for Vanessa Rousso against pocket 10s. All-in pre-flop, a 10 on the flop sent Rousso to the rail, free to sample some of the wonderful Philippines hospitality.

Vanessa Rousso

Not only is the room full of different nationalities, there’s some contrasting styles at play. The battle between David Saab and Daniel Schreiber on table 15 has been particularly enthralling.

Talk about chalk and cheese – Saab, the reigning Australian Heads-up champion, started talking just after taking his seat at 2pm, and hasn’t stopped. Annoying, maybe, but he’s the chip leader on 45,000 and is a player to watch.

Coincidentally, the 21-year-old Schreiber also won a major heads-up event recently – none other than the 2007 WSOP title.

In contrast to Saab, Schreiber has sat stoically through the opening five levels – the yin to Saab’s yang! Schreiber, a sponsored PokerStars player, is well positioned above the chip average.

Daniel Schreiber

We also caught up with the winner of the first ‘official’ APPT tournament, the Manila Cup tournament played earlier in the week.

New Zealander James Honeybone was still beaming after his win and, while
struggling in the main event, was more than happy to return home with at
least one title to his name.

Danny McDonagh and James Honeybone

Honeybone, a 23-year-old business student, quizzed us on the likelihood of
an APPT event coming to his home country. “It would be so great for poker in
New Zealand, it’s just what we need,” he said. Our reply: no comment.

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