Thursday, 28th March 2024 18:31
Home / Uncategorized / Saab derailed, Spets steady as the bubble looms

Filed by Sean Callander

The bubble is rapidly approaching on the day two of the APPT Manila main event, with just 33 of the 255 players that started the tournament yesterday still in the hunt.

With the redraw for the final four tables imminent, our new chip leader is Israeli player Maor Feldinger – the first player to break the 200,000 chip mark – one of the many tournament first-timers here at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino.

Van Marcus, who finished third in the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ rebuys event at the 2007 WSOP has been a big mover in the last session (he’s up to 170,000), but the big loser was last night’s chip leader David Saab.

In the biggest pot of the tournament, Derick Hernandez (120,000), Alex Paguluyan (26,000) and Saab were all-in on a flop of Jd 8c 4d. Saab showed pocket eights, Hernandez Kd 6d and Paguluyan Jh 10s. The 10d on the turn made Hernandez’s flush, and he stayed ahead when a 2c fell on the river, sending Paguluyan to the rail and crippling Saab.

Dan Park

Earlier, we chatted with another player who was making his tournament debut: Roger Spets. The chip leader early on day two, Spets is still in the hunt despite riding the proverbial roller coaster on day two as his name was regularly announced as part of an all-in.

Spets is originally from Sweden but currently runs his own wealth management company in Kuala Lumpar. So Roger, tell us about your poker-playing background: “I’d like to tell you but it would be a very short conversation.

I’ve been playing for about two and a half years mostly with friends but
this is my first live tournament,” he said.

He’s also struggling to measure his own play against the competition, as he has no experience with which to compare the APPT Manila main event.

“I’m really enjoying it, but it’s hard not to enjoy when you are the chip leader. And I think I’ve learned a lot even after a day and a half,” he said.

Spets has also had to adjust from cash-game play to the tournament format: “I play a lot of cash games and sit ‘n’ goes on the Internet (of course, on PokerStars) but there’s no substitute for live tournament experience,” he said.

Roger Spets

Regardless of how far Spets progresses, he’s definitely hooked and is already plotting another APPT appearance.

“It’s hard for me to find the time to travel to the big tournaments in Europe and the USA so the APPT is great, I’m planning to play in the APPT grand final in Sydney,” he said.

Study Poker with Pokerstars Learn, practice with the PokerStars app