Main Event
Day 3 Completed
Main Event
Day 3 Completed
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 and unfortunately for him, Psaros woke up with the 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 into the 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 . 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
Seat | Player | Chips |
---|---|---|
1 | Shaneel Chand | 595,000 |
2 | Tom Rafferty | 400,000 |
3 | Emanuel Seal | 810,000 |
4 | Murray Roach | 1,495,000 |
5 | Dimitrios Psaros | 2,640,000 |
6 | Zhi Ma | 625,000 |
7 | Li-ta Hsu | 605,000 |
8 | Denis Sekuloski | 1,580,000 |
9 | Chung Liew | 155,000 |
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.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jim Psaros | 2,640,000 | 1,290,000 |
Murray Roach | 1,495,000 | -205,000 |
Emanuel Seal | 910,000 | 430,000 |
Zhi Ma | 625,000 | 75,000 |
Li-ta Hsu | 605,000 | 105,000 |
Shaneel Chand | 595,000 | -55,000 |
Tom Rafferty | 400,000 | -60,000 |
Denis Sekuloski | 158,000 | -1,142,000 |
Chung Liew | 155,000 | -95,000 |
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 .
O'Brien was in trouble with and with the dealer spreading out a 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 | Busted |
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:
Psaros:
The coin flip landed the way of Psaros as the board ran out , 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 | Busted |
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 against Psaros' .
The flop wasn't good news for Namrood and the turn and would give Psaros the full house to send Namrood home in 12th place, collecting $11,500.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Rined Namrood | Busted |
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 but found himself dominated as Liew was pretty happy to find .
It only got better for Liew on the flop of leaving Sekuloski drawing extremely slim. The turn was the and river the 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 | 250,000 |
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
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 , would have loved the look of Sekuloski's .
The board was good for Psaros and so it was time for a double up.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jim Psaros | 1,350,000 | 750,000 |
Denis Sekuloski | 1,300,000 | -550,000 |