2015 ANZPT Sydney

Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info

2015 ANZPT Sydney

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k5
Prize
183,000 AUD
Event Info
Buy-in
2,050 AUD
Prize Pool
912,250 AUD
Entries
445
Level Info
Level
30
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
20,000

Main Event

Day 3 Completed

Psaros Leads ANZPT7 Sydney Final Table

Level 25 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante
Final nine chip leader, Dimitrios Psaros
Final nine chip leader, Dimitrios Psaros

After four days of action, the 2015 ANZPT Sydney Main Event has reached its final table. From a starting field of 455 players, the nine remaining players will now fight it out for the AU$225,000 top prize and latest title on Season 7 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour.

It was Dimitrios Psaros who finished in the lead amongst the final nine players. His stack of 2.64 million in chips towers over his nearest rivals in Denis Sekuloski with 1.58 million and Murray Roach with 1.495 million.

The penultimate day of play ended up taking about 11 hours. The day ultimately drew to a close when the final table chip leader Psaros dealt the fatal blow to David O’Brien in 10th place.

O’Brien shoved around 15 big blinds with the {a-Clubs}{j-Hearts} and unfortunately for him, Psaros woke up with the {k-Spades}{k-Clubs} in the big blind. There was no help for O’Brien, and so he hit the rail as the final table "bubble boy" with AU$11,500 for his time.

Long before the final table was set there were 54 players all hoping to survive the night. However, dozens of those players quickly hit the rail as the field was whittled down to the final three tables within four hours of play.

From there, it would take another seven or eight hours to reach the final table.

Some of the prominent players who got close to final table glory, but ultimately fell short, included Candian pro Xuan Liu, 2011 ANZPT Sydney champion Michael Kanaan, and Australian pro Didier Guerin.

Liu was easily the most credentialed live tournament player of any of the returning bunch, but in the end Liu finished in 24th place after falling short and running her {j-Spades}{j-Clubs} into the {q-Clubs}{q-Diamonds} of Ali Ghezelbash preflop.

Kanaan, meanwhile, was eliminated a short while later with his quest to become the first two-time ANZPT champion cut short in 19th place.

Guerin lasted a little longer, but eventually got his chips in preflop with pocket jacks and ended up losing a race against final tablist Sekuloski with the {a-Spades}{k-Clubs}. Guerin managed a couple of pay jumps on Liu, finishing in 17th and pocketing AU$7,700.

It was once Guerin was eliminated that the pace of the action really slowed down. The average stack when 16 players remained was around 40 big blinds and by the time the field slowly whittled down to 12, the average was only 17 big blinds. Then, Rined Namrood (12th), Tibault Klinghammer (11th), and O’Brien hit the rail in quick succession to set the final table.

Final Table Seating Assignments

SeatPlayerChips
1Shaneel Chand595,000
2Tom Rafferty400,000
3Emanuel Seal810,000
4Murray Roach1,495,000
5Dimitrios Psaros2,640,000
6Zhi Ma625,000
7Li-ta Hsu605,000
8Denis Sekuloski1,580,000
9Chung Liew155,000

You can read more about how Day 3 played out below in the live reporting blog.

The nine remaining players are set to return to The Star Casino in Sydney from 2 p.m. local time on Monday, so be sure to return to PokerNews then and find out who wins the latest ANZPT title.

Tags: Dimitrios Psaros

David O'Brien Eliminated in 10th Place ($11,500)

Level 25 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

Four and a half hours after getting to the final two tables and we are down to the final nine!

It was David O'Brien who fell as the final table bubble boy.

O'Brien was under the gun and shoved all in for around 600,000.

The action folded around to Dimitrios Psaros in the big blind and he said: "You're not gonna believe what I have."

Then he called and tabled {k-Spades}{k-Clubs}.

O'Brien was in trouble with {a-Clubs}{j-Hearts} and with the dealer spreading out a {6-Clubs}{q-Spades}{4-Spades}{10-Diamonds}{3-Clubs} board, O'Brien was sent to the rail in 10th place, collecting $11,500.

Final table seating draw and recap of the day's action to come!

The final nine will return at 2:00pm local time on Monday and play down to winner.

Player Chips Progress
David O'Brien us
David O'Brien
Busted

Thibault Klinghammer Eliminated in 11th Place ($11,500)

Level 25 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

Dimitrios Psaros opened with a raise to 105,000 from the button before Thibault Klinghammer moved all in from the small blind for his last 350,000. The big blind folded and Psaros had to give it some thought before making the call.

Klinghammer: {7-Clubs}{7-Spades}
Psaros: {Q-Clubs}{J-Diamonds}

The coin flip landed the way of Psaros as the board ran out {6-Clubs}{8-Clubs}{q-Diamonds}{10-Hearts}{5-Spades}, pairing his queen to end Klinghammer’s tournament in 11th place.

With that, we’re now, finally, just one elimination away from our final table of nine.

Player Chips Progress
Thibault Klinghammer
Thibault Klinghammer
Busted

Tags: Dimitrios PsarosThibault Klinghammer

Rined Namrood Eliminated in 12th Place ($11,500)

Level 25 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

It's been a while, but another player has hit the rail.

This time it was Rined Namrood who was eliminated from the tournament.

Namrood was in the small blind and shoved for 445,000. Dimitrious Psaros tank-called from the big blind and with that, Namrood was at-risk with {5-Hearts}{5-Diamonds} against Psaros' {k-Clubs}{j-Diamonds}.

The {4-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}{k-Hearts} flop wasn't good news for Namrood and the {7-Clubs} turn and {k-Spades} would give Psaros the full house to send Namrood home in 12th place, collecting $11,500.

Player Chips Progress
Rined Namrood au
Rined Namrood
Busted

Tags: Rined Namrood

Chung's Blind Double

Level 25 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

The blinds have kicked up and that meant that Chung Liew moved his last 115,000 all in from the small blind no look.

It was less than three big blinds so Denis Sekuloski made an easy call with any two cards.

Sekuloski opened {10-Diamonds}{6-Diamonds} but found himself dominated as Liew was pretty happy to find {J-Spades}{10-Spades}.

It only got better for Liew on the flop of {K-Spades}{4-Spades}{J-Clubs} leaving Sekuloski drawing extremely slim. The turn was the {5-Clubs} and river the {8-Spades} to give us yet another double up! Liew is up to 260,000 but will need another double up or two to get his head above water.

Player Chips Progress
Chung Liew
Chung Liew
250,000

Tags: Chung Liew

Average Stack Dwindling

Level 25 : 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante

In seven seasons of the ANZPT, APPT President Danny McDonagh says he has never seen the average stack dwindle to 18 big blinds. It's a testament to how slow it has been to get to the final table this evening. If the players get to the final table this level, the average at the final table will be around 25 big blinds - also the lowest final table average ever seen on the ANZPT.

Level: 25

Blinds: 20,000/40,000

Ante: 5,000

Denis Doubles Dimitrios

Level 24 : 15,000/30,000, 5,000 ante

Dimitrios Psaros was under the gun when he shoved all in for 80,000. The action folded to Denis Sekuloski in the small blind and he raised to 350,000. Back on Psaros and he moved all in for 650,000. Sekuloski called and Psaros was at risk.

Psaros, with {j-Diamonds}{j-Hearts}, would have loved the look of Sekuloski's {6-Diamonds}{6-Clubs}.

The {5-Clubs}{q-Diamonds}{q-Spades}{3-Clubs}{8-Spades} board was good for Psaros and so it was time for a double up.

Player Chips Progress
Jim Psaros au
Jim Psaros
1,350,000 750,000
Denis Sekuloski
Denis Sekuloski
1,300,000 -550,000