The entries on Day 1b have just reached 230. With the 211 from Day 1a, that means the totoal field so far is 441. While that is a very solid effort, it's a little less than expected. However, registration is still open for another hour, so there is still time to beat last year's field of 460.
Recent New Caledonia Poker Open third-place finisher Ben Benoit is no longer in his seat. We asked tablemate Ricky Kroesen what happened and apparently Benoit “stacked off” on a king-high board with and ran into .
Benoit, from New Caledonia, has come a long way to only play a small time in Sydney, but that’s poker!
Full Tilt ANZPT Ambassador Liam O'Rourke finished runner-up in the ANZPT Sydney Main Event back in 2012. He's here in 2014, with a new poker sponsor patch on his shirt, and is looking to make an impact.
Fortunately O'Rourke started the day strong as we just saw him lose some chips.
It started with O'Rourke opening it up with a raise from the cut off. The player on O'Rourke's direct left, on the button, three-bet to 1,525 and O'Rourke made the call. On the flop, O'Rourke check-called a bet of 1,800 and a hit the turn. This time when O'Rourke checked, he was faced with a bet of 4,000. This would prompt O'Rourke to go into the tank. Eventually O'Rourke opted to fold.
Despite losing this hand O'Rourke is still travelling strongly on 25,000.
Tony Hachem just told us a little story about ANZPT Commissioner Danny McDonagh. Apparently McDonagh was recently wandering the tables looking for spare seats when one sharp dealer, clearly unaware of McDonagh’s position on the ANZPT, said to him that was not allowed to stand so close to the table.
That brought plenty of chuckles from the table, especially from Hachem who was keen to stir the pot. Apparently even McDonagh’s mock-line of “Don’t you know who I am?” didn’t bring much joy from the non-believing dealer! Should’ve worn a tie today Danny