ANZPT Melbourne Repechage Day 1c Chip Leader, Edo Naftaly (Image courtesy of PokerStars blog - Photography extraordinaire Heath Chick)
The final day one flight at the 2013 PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Melbourne Repechage Main Event came to a close today, with a big field adding approximately 37 more players to tomorrow’s Day 2 action.
There were a total of 367 entries on Day 1c, and while most of those actually took to their seats there were no complaints, with the several no-shows leaving thousands of dollars of dead-money in the prize-pool.
After 13 levels of play it is 37 players from today who will join the 33 and 28 players from Day 1a and 1b respectively to form the 98-player Day 2 field. Some players from Day 1c who won’t be making an appearance on Day 2 include Liam O’Rourke, Ashley Warner, Jason Lee, David Gorr, Jai Kemp, David Zhao, James Obst, Tom Grigg and Josh Bell.
Cale McLean was looking good to lead the day, after taking several decent sized pots during the latter stages of the day, but his position was taken away by unknown player Edo Naftaly. Naftaly was able to edge narrowly in front when he eliminated Tom Grigg in the last few hands of the day to finish with 416,500 in chips. Close behind Naftaly were McLean (368,000), Josh Barrett (328,000), Laurence Hall (252,000), Arnold Bathan (254,500) and Dave Allen (216,500).
They’ll all still be chasing Daniel Neilson, who finished Day 1b with 613,000, which towers over both Naftaly and Anthony Hachem’s Day 1a and Day 1c leading chip-stacks.
The returning players will hit the felt at 12:30pm Sunday, all vying for the approximate first place prize of AU$181,000. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting team as we bring all the action from Day 2 of the 2013 ANZPT Melbourne Repechage Main Event.
The players have just completed the last few hands of the day, and are in the process of counting and bagging up their chips. We will bring you the full day's report shortly.
Tom Grigg was uncharacteristically grinding a short stack for some time today, but his battle is now over. After a raise to 8,000 from Edo Naftaly from under the gun, Grigg moved all in for his last 17,500. The player in the cutoff and Naftaly both called before checking the flop.
“Good check guys,” smirked Grigg as the hit the turn. A bet of 13,000 from Naftaly was called before he fired another 18,000 on the river to force a fold from the other live opponent.
“Please let ace-high be good,” said Grigg but he quickly mucked when Naftaly showed for a pair of tens.
After a betting war pre-flop, James Obst committed his 120,000 chip-stack holding and was up against his opponent’s . When the cards were tabled, Obst stood up from his chair, and gathered his possessions. The flop fell , as Obst semi-motioned towards sitting down. The fell on the turn, but it would be the on the river, giving his opponent a straight, that would send Obst home with only 15 minutes left in the day’s play.
We have finally received the official count for the runners in today's field. 366 players (including some no-shows) took their seats throughout the day, bringing the total number of entrants to 843 over the three Day 1 flights.
2009 Melbourne Championships Main Event champ Tony Kondevski is still in the hunt for the title here at the ANZPT Repechage after landing a big double up in the best possible way.
With an open to 9,000 in front of him, Kondevski moved all in for an additional 33,500. The table folded back to the original raiser who made the call with . Kondevski was in front with and it stayed that way when the board rolled off . Quad jacks for Kondevski was overkill, but he happily raked in the double up to get up to around 95,000 in chips.
The table folded around to Cale McLean in late position who opened to 6,500 in chips. His opponent in the cut-off then raised to 18,500 and was called as the flop came down . Both players checked to see the come on the turn as McLean opted to check. A quick bet of 25,500 was fired out by his opponent, and after a minute, mucked his hand.
Even with that slight loss, McLean still sits on 315,000 as we close in on the end of play.
flop.
hit the turn. A bet of 13,000 from Naftaly was called before he fired another 18,000 on the 
river to force a fold from the other live opponent.
for a pair of tens.
. When the cards were tabled, Obst stood up from his chair, and gathered his possessions. The flop fell 
, as Obst semi-motioned towards sitting down. The 
fell on the turn, but it would be the 
on the river, giving his opponent a straight, that would send Obst home with only 15 minutes left in the day’s play.
and it stayed that way when the board rolled off 
.
to see him hit a flush, and double back up to 170,000 in chips.