Arriving at the table, we saw a player in middle position bet out 550, and finding a call from Patrick Healy in the big blind. The flop fell and Healy checked. His opponent made it 700, before being re-raised to 1,500. Healy thought he had the hand won, before his opponent put in a re-raise to 3,200. Knowing he got caught, Healy mucked his hand.
On a flop reading , Charles Caris checked his option from the big blind, as did the player under-the-gun, before both faced a bet of 700 from a player in middle position. The button, who was also in the hand, made the call, before Caris announced all in, committing 7,200 into the middle. One-by-one, each player made what looked like a tough lay-down, to allow Caris to move back up to 11,000 in chips.
We caught the action after a player in middle position put in a raise. With the decision on Didier Guerin, he made it an additional 1,475 from the small blind. The original raiser didn’t seemed fazed, as he placed in another re-raise, this time totaling 4,475.
Guerin thought for a moment, before grinning cheekily at his opponent, and mucking his cards. He is still doing well though, with the same amount of chips he started the day with.
Jason Lee limped into the pot from the small blind, after the table folded around to him. The player in the big blind then raised to 1,000, and was then met with a min three-bet to 1,850 from Lee. He called, and both saw the flop drop }. Lee led out 1,800 and was called, before the turn came the . Lee continued with another bet of 2,400 before facing an all-in from his opponent for 9,500. He snap-called and tabled and noticed his opponent was drawing dead, when he tabled .
That move from Lee boost's his stack to 35,000 in chips, and has him sitting among the top stacks in the room.
After starting the day with seven uneven tables and 56 players, we’re down to five full tables. 48 players remain, all vying to make the end of the day.
We arrived at the table with a player in the cut off leading out for 750 in chips. The decision was on Dean Francis who took a stand, and committed his remaining 7,775 into the middle. His opponent, who had a few thousand more than Francis, made the call, and was happy to see the tabled after he showed .
The board ran out to miss Francis completely, and send him to the rail.
After making the rounds, we noticed that Aaron Benton was not at his seat. It is safe to assume that the 2009 APPT Sydney Main Event Champion has been eliminated from the tournament.
We didn’t catch the action, but Patrick Healy just eliminated a player to move to 52,000 in chips. When we arrived at the table, we saw Healy scooping in a big pot with the in front of him, and the board spread out .
Those rivered quads move Healy to one of the biggest stacks in the room.
Just before the second break of the evening, we noticed that 2012 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event Champion Sam Razavi was not sitting in his seat. It looks like Table 9 might be a tough table to survive on, after both he and Aaron Benton have become the two latest victims to head to the rail.
Earlier, Razavi was complaining about how he had only arrived in Auckland three hours before play began, so had not yet been able to look around. Though his elimination has come sooner than he expected, it will now give him time to go and see the sights this beautiful city has to offer.
On the recent break, Razavi spoke with Lynn Gilmartin about his travels (and the success that has come with it) around this region of the world: