Tony Hachem has been grinding his way around the circuit on this side of the world for quite some time now. He's the reigning Australia New Zealand Poker Tour player of the year and has a solid hold on first place on the leaderboard this year already. He's gathered himself 114.10 points while the next-closest competitor has 76.05. On top of that, he's the ANZPT Perth champion. Hachem is here in Macau looking to expand his horizons and add to his resume, where he has only one APPT Main Event cash.
Just recently, Hachem checked the board of with 2,500 chips in the middle and two players left to act behind him. They both checked as well. The river was the and Hachem fired 800. Both his opponents quickly folded and Hachem scooped the pot to move in the positive to 22,000.
When we caught up with a big pot on a board reading , there was already 21,000 in the middle. Tu Thanh Le was all in for his last 4,875, and his opponent was deep in the tank. A call would cost the guy about half of his remaining stack, and despite the odds, he elected to fold. He begged Le to show, but Le shook his head and carefully slid his cards face down to the dealer.
There was 1,400 chips in the middle and the flop was . Quinn Do checked to Sarah Lee and she fired 600. Do made the call.
The turn brought the and Do checked again. Lee fired 1,500 this time and Do called again.
The river completed the board with the . Do reached into his stack and fired 2,300. Lee folded before Do looked at her and said, "That four didn't help me." He then turned up just one card and it was the .
Do moved up to 16,000 while Lee dropped back to 16,000.
Everyone's happy to see the gregarious Aussie Aaron Benton in the field today, one day later than we expected to see him. Benton was battling a case of food poisoning yesterday, though he did manage to make it to the PokerStars party briefly last night.
"How you feeling today?" we asked Benton, walking by to check on him and his stack.
"Pretty good mate. Still sweating a bit," he said, wiping a bit of moisture off his brow. You can tell he's been a bit sick, but Benton looks to be faring just fine, proudly sporting his new Star City patch. Along with Eric Assadourian and Grant Levy, Benton has a new gig as an ambassador for his home casino in Sydney.
There's a strong Aussie contingent here this week, and Benton is representing his home country well; he's up to about 28,000 here in the early going.
We walked over to Brendon Rubie's table to see that he had a bet of 2,300 laid out in front of him with about 4,000 chips in the pot on a flop of . An opponent had checked to him and Rubie fired his bet. After Rubie bet, the player moved all in. Although this isn't that big of a deal, what was a big deal was the fact that the all-in shove was worth 42,250. If Rubie were to call, he'd be putting his 33,450-chip stack in the middle.
Rubie tanked for a couple minutes. Eventually, Aaron Benton stopped by to check in on Rubie and saw what was going on. Rubie began talking to him from across the table and told Benton that he was holding the . If it were true, Rubie was holding an open-ended straight flush draw. Benton looked surprised by both the size of the shove and also how much thought Rubie was giving to his hand. Rubie talked about how he was unsure if he wanted to risk it, but if he won it'd be such a big pot. Eventually, he stacked up his chips and stuffed them in the middle.
The was revealed from Rubie's hand, showing that he was telling the truth about what he held. His opponent held the for a big draw as well and Rubie expressed his dislike about seeing that type of hand from his opponent.
The turn brought the and Rubie needed to fade one more card. The river card was the and Rubie improved to trip eights. He was all in for 33,450 and with that pot, boosted his stack to a field-leading 71,000 chips.
Tournament staff just delivered a shiny trophy to Harry Su at his table. He earned it for winning a side event here a few days ago, the HK$ 1,500 no limit deep stack. Tablemate Derek Lerner asked him which event. "Oh, $1,500 U.S.?" "No, Hong Kong," Su said. Lerner just grunted and looked completely unimpressed. The buy-in was equivalent to about $193. Su asked the floor staff to hold on to his trophy until the end of the day.
Sarah Lee might be small, quiet and unassuming, but she isn't scared to play with the men. She's seated at the table containing Quinn Do and Brendon Rubie, but hasn't backed down from any of their aggression just yet.
On a board of , Lee checked to her opponent. Like most men do when faced with a check from a woman in front of them, her opponent fired out a bet of 2,300, which was just about pot-sized. Lee wasn't having any of it and check-raised to 6,000. Her opponent shook his head and dropped it to the table as he flung his hand into the muck, giving Lee the pot and putting her stack at 24,000.
with 2,500 chips in the middle and two players left to act behind him. They both checked as well. The river was the 
and Hachem fired 800. Both his opponents quickly folded and Hachem scooped the pot to move in the positive to 22,000.![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, there was already 21,000 in the middle. Tu Thanh Le was all in for his last 4,875, and his opponent was deep in the tank. A call would cost the guy about half of his remaining stack, and despite the odds, he elected to fold. He begged Le to show, but Le shook his head and carefully slid his cards face down to the dealer.
. Quinn Do checked to Sarah Lee and she fired 600. Do made the call.
and Do checked again. Lee fired 1,500 this time and Do called again.
. Do reached into his stack and fired 2,300. Lee folded before Do looked at her and said, "That four didn't help me." He then turned up just one card and it was the 
.
. An opponent had checked to him and Rubie fired his bet. After Rubie bet, the player moved all in. Although this isn't that big of a deal, what was a big deal was the fact that the all-in shove was worth 42,250. If Rubie were to call, he'd be putting his 33,450-chip stack in the middle.
and Rubie needed to fade one more card. The river card was the 
and Rubie improved to trip eights. He was all in for 33,450 and with that pot, boosted his stack to a field-leading 71,000 chips.
, Lee checked to her opponent. Like most men do when faced with a check from a woman in front of them, her opponent fired out a bet of 2,300, which was just about pot-sized. Lee wasn't having any of it and check-raised to 6,000. Her opponent shook his head and dropped it to the table as he flung his hand into the muck, giving Lee the pot and putting her stack at 24,000.