Main Event
Day 1a Started
Main Event
Day 1a Started
Welcome to continued coverage of Season 7 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour. This time we are at The Star in New South Wales, Australia for ANZPT Sydney.
This event is quite often one of the largest of the year and there is no doubt this year’s tournament will be a huge success.
Last year there were 458 entrants in the ANZPT Sydney Main Event and it wasJosh Redhouse who claimed the title and the largest piece of the just under one million dollar prize pool.
The largest field in this tournament was in the inaugural season when Paren Arzoomanian defeated 493 total entrants to take home AU$246,500.
As usual, you will be able to find live updates of the ANZPT right here at PokerNews. The first of two Day 1 flights at ANZPT Sydney kicks off at 6:15 p.m. local time on Thursday night, with the final table taking place Monday, March 23.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
The cards are being dealt on Day 1a of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event.
Play is starting ten-handed, but will hopefully move to nine-handed as soon as possible.
The plan is to play seven 60-minute levels.
This is the first of two Day 1 flights.
The poker room at The Star is bustling at the moment, so let’s go and check out who is playing.
There are plenty of familiar faces amongst the starting field of 165 players so far on Day 1a of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Here are some of those we will be keeping our eyes on tonight.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Phil Wilcocks
|
20,000 | |
Tony Kambouroglou | 20,000 | |
Pravin Harji | 20,000 | |
Luke Spano | 20,000 | |
Reza Vakili
|
20,000 | |
Sam Capra | 20,000 | |
Ash Mason
|
20,000 | |
Peco Stojanovski | 20,000 | |
Jackson Zheng | 20,000 | |
Ashton Cartwright
|
20,000 | |
Wayde Rickhuss | 20,000 | |
Joe Reina | 20,000 | |
Percy Yung | 20,000 | |
Stevan Chew | 20,000 | |
Ricky Kroesen | 20,000 | |
Matthew Rolfe | 20,000 | |
Andrew Dales | 20,000 | |
Tyron Krost | 20,000 | |
Ken Demlakian | 20,000 | |
Ben Pockett
|
20,000 |
We have noticed a couple of past ANZPT champions in the field tonight.
Firstly we have Ming Nguyen. He won the most recent ANZPT Auckland, defeating a field of 225 players for a NZ$111,600 score.
Then we Dinesh Alt. He won this very event - ANZPT Sydney - in 2013. There were 460 players in that tournament, with Alt winning the $226,320 top prize when he overcame a tough final table including Dominik Nitsche, Michael Fadersen, Gary Benson and Dan Kelly.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Dinesh Alt | 20,000 | |
Minh Nguyen | 20,000 |
Ricky Kroesen is no stranger to the ANZPT. He's made three Main Event final tables over several years, with his best result coming when he finished 2nd in the 2010 ANZPT Gold Coast. Kroesen is back at it here in Sydney, hoping for a fourth ANZPT final table.
Unfortunately he hasn't started very strongly.
We didn't catch the action of the big hand that sees him already down to 13,000, but Kroesen told us it happened on a board. Kroesen apparently check-called the flop, check-raised the turn and then when he checked on the river, was faced with an all in shove. With both the players in the pot having around the starting stack, it was certainly a big hand to be playing this early. Kroesen said he had to tank for around 10 minutes before finally letting his cards go.
Following the hand, we are quite sure we heard Kroesen's opponent saying he folded aces.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ricky Kroesen | 13,000 | -7,000 |
The starting field for Day 1a of ANZPT Sydney has grown to 175 since kicking off just under an hour ago. We have noticed quite a few more familiar faces during that period, including Aussie pros Daniel Neilson, Matt Wakeman and Jesse McKenzie. 2011 ANZPT Adelaide champ Octavian Voegele is also in the field.
One of the few international players to also take their seat on Day 1a of ANZPT Sydney happens to be Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang. The Singaporean pro is coming off a two-week grind at the recent Macau Poker Cup.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Bryan Huang | 20,000 | |
Octavian Voegele | 20,000 | |
Matt Wakeman | 20,000 | |
Daniel Neilson | 20,000 | |
Jesse McKenzie | 20,000 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang is enjoying the healthiness of one of mobile phones at the table rule here at The Star for the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Here is what he had to say / joke on Twitter.
Playing ANZPT Sydney Main and they have no phone rule here. Probably cultivates the healthiest poker… https://t.co/VXtGrJOS8pFollow @BryanHuang_
Huang's stack, meanwhile, is also relatively healthy during these early stages of play. We watched Huang scoop up a pot against one opponent on the turn of a board. Huang was on the button and both players checked it on the flop and then Huang bet 700 on the turn and took it down.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Bryan Huang | 21,500 | 1,500 |