Edward Sabat just ran over to one of our reporters to tell us a hand that ended with him stacking up 140,000 in chips.
A player had opened to 4,200 and Sabat flat-called. Another player reraised to 15,000 and when the action folded back to Sabat he shoved. His opponent called with pocket queens but Sabat held pocket aces! The board bricked out and Sabat joins our chip leaders!
Poker has truly arrived in Asia -- poker catch-phrases are being hurled around the tournament floor here in Macau. With the flop showing , the small blind bet 2,000 into Carter Gill, who raised to 8,000. Gill's opponent came over the top of him all in, prompting a snap-call from Gill. The hands were opened, revealing a double-gutshot draw for Gill's opponent with , and bottom two pair for Gill with .
"Hold!" shouted Gill. "One time!"
The turn came and brought with it extra outs for Gill's opponent. Any ace, any five, any six, or any seven that was not a club would give him the pot, and they would split the pot if a non-club deuce came, but the river was a face card -- the . Gill's opponent is out and he is up to 80,000.
Dennis Waterman raised to 3,600 and John Juanda flat-called on the button. Lee Nelson then squeezed from the small blind and popped it up to 15,000, forcing a fold from Waterman. Juanda again flat-called.
The flop came down and Nelson open-shoved with Juanda making the call. Nelson flipped and would need help against Juanda's .
The turn was the and river the to give Juanda a huge double-up to 80,000 leaving Nelson with only 18,000 behind.
Isabelle Mercier has been fairly quiet this whole tournament, never really accumulating any chips but managing to hang on nonetheless -- until now. She pushed all in for 8,400 from the cutoff with and was called by Steven Djingga in the small blind, who tabled . Mercier caught a nine on the flop, but Djingga overtook her with a jack on the turn. Neither player improved on the river.
2005 Main Event Winner Joe Hachem will have to wait another few weeks until the APPT stops in Seoul for another chance to add an APPT title to his poker resume. After Daisy Wain, Charles Chua, Emad Tahtouh, and one other player limped in for 1,200 each, Hachem shoved in the rest of his stack from the big blind, about 13,000 total.
Only Daisy Wain made the call, tabling . She was a dominating favorite over Hachem's , even more so when two players said they folded jacks. The board ran out ten-high, helping neither player but allowing Wain to collect the pot and send the former champion to the rail.
"He's going to be talking about that for at least four days," said Emad Tahtouh after Hachem made his exit.
Kofi Farkye's head is probably spinning. After doubling up David Steicke on an earlier hand with against on a ten-high board (the money went in preflop), Farkye and Steicke were at it again. An early-position player opened the pot for 3,600. Farkye called in the cutoff before Steicke raised to 13,600 from the button. His raise folded the early-position player but brought an all-in reraise from Farkye of 48,000.
Steicke, with about 81,000 behind his initial reraise, went deep into the tank. After what seemed like an eternity, he made the call and tabled . He was ahead of Farkye's and stayed that way on a board of .
As a result of this hand and their earlier confrontation, Farkye is out and Steicke has about 165,000 chips.