APT Macau Main Event Day 1a | 2009 Asian Poker Tour Macau

08-20-2009 15:14 UTC+8

Rafferty, The Real Deal

[user67765]

Australian Tom Rafferty first rose to our attention at the season-ending APPT Grand Final last year in Sydney where he looked a genuine thread for the title before bowing out in 9th place for AU$39k. Rafferty showed he was the real deal by following up with deep run in the 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event where he pocketed another AU$14k for his 45th place.

He's now here in Macau for the Asian poker circuit and looking forward to another big result, as he recently raked in a small pot with a 2,500-chip bet on a {7-Clubs}

to get himself up to 13,000 chips.

Tags: Tom Rafferty

Level: 4

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 25

08-20-2009 15:26 UTC+8

Potter Misfires

[user75032]

It's never a good thing to bluff by representing the hand that your opponent actually holds. That's what happened to James Potter in a recent four-way limped pot. After Lee Jae Do bet 700 on a board of {Q-Spades}

, Potter's raise to 1,800 chased out all of the other players. Only Do called.

The turn was another queen, the {Q-Hearts}

. Do check-called 2,500. With the river {A-Hearts}

, Do checked again. Pottr was undeterred and bet 4,500. He quietly said, "You win," when Do quickly called. Potter was on a stone bluff with {10-Hearts}

. His hand was a distant second to Do's {k-Diamonds}

.

Do now has 28,500 while Potter's stack was halved to 10,500.

Tags: James Potter Lee Jae Do

08-20-2009 15:35 UTC+8

A Few Notable Chip Counts

[user67765]

Wooka Kim - 16,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 12,000
Casey Kastle - 10,000
Andrew Scott - 6,500
Mel Judah - 1,500

08-20-2009 15:42 UTC+8

Sudworth Not Fooling Around

[user75032]

When a player commits most of his above-average stack to a pot before the flop even comes down, the rest of the table tends to sit up and take notice. There were a series of preflop raises at James Sudworth's table. One of his opponents put 4,100 chips in the middle. Sudworth's response was to put two stacks of six yellow (T1,000) chips over the betting line, about two-thirds of his stack. That was enough to take down the pot without further contest.

08-20-2009 15:53 UTC+8

Wooka Gaining Momentum

[user67765]

After a standard preflop raise, Wooka Kim put in the check-raise, making it 2,700 to go on a flop of {2-Diamonds}

. After checking how much she had behind, her opponent committed to a call and they saw the {6-Clubs}

fall on the turn.

Kim fired out 4,100 and her opponent gave it up. Kim then proceeded to take down another small pot on the very next hand to get some momentum as she moves up to 16,000.

Tags: Wooka Kim

08-20-2009 16:04 UTC+8

For the Good of the Empire

[user75032]

It's a reunion of sorts over on Table 15 as James Potter has joined the fray. David Steicke, Andrew Scott and Eddie Hearn were already seated there and all gave Potter some hearty welcomes as he took his seat. Steicke suggested ordering a round of beer.

Hearn, for his part, showed some great discipline in an earlier hand by laying down an unsuited ace-king on the button. He had re-raised to 1,600 after an early position raise, only to see the small blind put in a third raise to 5,100. Hearn said, "One time" and flashed his hand before mucking. His opponent responded, "One time" and flashed pocket kings.

08-20-2009 16:05 UTC+8

Judah Can't Climb The Kastle

[user67765]

After taking a hit earlier on in the day, Mel Judah had been battling with his short stack, trying to find the right spot to commit his last chips in the hope of a double up.

When he looked down at {A-Clubs}

on the button he decided to toss in his sub-1,000 chip stack against the opening raise of Casey Kastle who was happy to go to war with his {A-Diamonds}

.

The flop wasn't a bad one for Judah as it arrived {5-Spades}

to provide some chop outs, but the {A-Hearts}

turn and

river missed him, to send him to the rail.

Meanwhile Kastle has overcome a slow start to now be back above starting stack with around 12,000 chips.

Tags: Casey Kastle Mel Judah

08-20-2009 16:17 UTC+8

Small Hit for Seal

[user75032]

Emanuel Seal took a flyer against a short-stacked opponent but it didn't work out for him. He called a pre-flop all-in raise to 2,600 with {K-Spades}

. His opponent showed a dominating hand, {A-Spades}

. When both players missed a nine-high board, Seal was forced to double up his opponent.

After the han Seal stared at the board in bemusement for a few seconds as if he were trying to figure out how he hadn't won the hand. He still has about 18,000 chips.

Tags: Emanuel Seal

08-20-2009 16:17 UTC+8

Hefty Headphones

[user67765]

One of the more unusual trends we've witnessed today has nothing to do with the play on the felt. Players listening to music at the table is nothing new, and once upon a time the trend was towards smaller headphones, but it appears we've gone full circle as today we've seen a couple of sizable standouts.

Wooka Kim has decorated her hefty headphones with sparkling love hearts to give them a little bling, while Jay Kinkade wins the award for the monstrous headphones he is donning, which appear to be be more like noise-destroying than than noise-cancelling!

Tags: Jay Kinkade Wooka Kim