Main Event Day 1a | 2009 Asian Poker Tour - Manila

01-29-2009 14:23 UTC+8

We're Back!

[user75032]

Cards are in the air.

01-29-2009 14:10 UTC+8

Break Time

[user75032]

Players are on a fifteen-minute break.

01-29-2009 14:09 UTC+8

A loud collective groan -- the first sound to break the relative silence of the tournament floor other than the crick-chirp of riffling chips -- brought us over to Table 4. Jason Gibson had moved all in on a board of {7-Diamonds}

and was quickly called by Daniel Haglund. Gibson turned over a big pair of kings, {K-Hearts}

, but found himself drawing incredibly thin against Haglung's flopped set {5-Hearts}

. The turn was the {A-Diamonds}

, which helped neither player, since neither had a diamond in his hand. It was the river that sent up the groan. The river was the {K-Diamonds}

, giving Gibson a bigger set than Haglund.

When the stacks were counted down, the two men changed positions in the chip counts. Gibson moved up to 14,500; Haglund was down to 7,300.

01-29-2009 14:06 UTC+8

The Numbers Are In

[user80015]

The numbers are now in with 75 players taking their seats today.

Even with a low flight one total, Tournament Director Matt Savage has just confirmed that 124 players have already registered for tomorrow's flight with a strong possibility of 200-plus players taking their seats tomorrow.

01-29-2009 13:58 UTC+8

A Little Studying at the Table?

[user75032]

Casey Kastle has a copy of Harrington on Hold'em at his table. We can't see which volume it is, but given the stage of the tournament we're guessing it's Volume 1. It never hurts to bone up on your game!

Tags: Casey Kastle

01-29-2009 13:53 UTC+8

Watanabe Whisks Away Oborne

[user80015]

Mark Cornwell limped in early position before Chip Me Up player Damien Oborne made it 500 from the cutoff. Yoshie Watanabe made the call from the button, as did Cornwell.

The flop fell down {K-Diamonds}

and Cornwell checked to Oborne who fired out 1,500 in to both players. Watanabe sat there riffling through her chips, before making the call. Cornwell passed and the dealer peeled the {Q-Diamonds}

on the turn.

Oborne asked for a count and Watanabe just spread her chips in front of her without giving a definitive answer. Oborne looked the stack up and down before betting out 5,000. Watanabe then immediately splashed the pot with an all in reraise to 9,125. After some deliberation Oborne made the call.

Oborne: {A-Diamonds}

Watanabe:

Sick to his stomach at being hit with a two-outer, Oborne saw the meaningless {2-Hearts}

land on the river and passed the chips to Watanabe to see her double to over 21,000 as Oborne slipped to 12,100 in chips.

Tags: Damien Oborne Yoshie Watanabe

01-29-2009 13:38 UTC+8

Wonky Applying Pressure

[user80015]

Facing a raise to 350 in late position, Vincent 'Wonky' Wan made the call from the button as did Neil Arce out of the small blind.

The flop fell down {A-Spades}

and Arce checked before Wan reraised to 2,500 over the late-position player's 800-chip bet. Arce passed and Wan's opponent called before check-folding the turn of the {10-Clubs}

following a 4,500-chip bet from Wan.

As Wan raked in the pot he climbed to over his starting stack, now sitting on 12,800 in chips.

Tags: Neil Arce Vincent Wan

01-29-2009 13:35 UTC+8

Quiet Floor

[user75032]

The tournament floor is fairly quiet right now. Most of the excitement is coming from the cash game side of the room. This is a function of a few different things: (1) only eight tournament tables are in action; (2) the blinds are still early and the stacks are still deep, so players haven't really loosened up their psyches enough yet to be chatty with their neighbors; and (3) no-limit hold'em players tend to be the least talkative of all types of poker players. We did hear Yvo Molin talking with the player on his left about cashout issues with various online poker sites.

01-29-2009 13:18 UTC+8

Bracelet Winners Reunite

[user80015]

Mansour Matloubi and Toto Leonidas aren't household poker names, but this doesn't take from the fact that they are world-class tournament players.

London-based Iranian Matloubi took down the 1990 WSOP main event and took with that the claim of first non-American to be crowned champion. Over the last decade Matloubi has decreased his tournament participation but still has earnings in excess of US$1,900,000.

Leonidas is flirting with US$3,000,000 in lifetime tournament earnings with his most prized feat coming in the 2003 WSOP $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Event for close to US$100,000.

Both players are seated on each side of the dealer in today's tournament and will be putting their many years experience to the test.

Tags: Mansour Matloubi Toto Leonidas

Level: 2

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0