APPT Grand Final Day 1a | 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final - Sydney

APPT Grand Final

Day 1a Completed

12-02-2008 23:05 UTC+11

One Down...

[user75032]

Day 1a is over. Players are now racing off their green chips and bagging and tagging the remainder. It was a day that saw the ranks of hopeful players considerably thinned, with many of the more recognizable players falling by the wayside. Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, David Saab, Joel Dodds, Jay Kinkade, Julian Powell and Josh Pang Ang all failed to advance.

They weren't the only ones though. It appears that just 46 players from the original 108 who started Day 1a have made it through to Day 2, and New Zealand's Phil Willcocks is the probable Day 1a leader, having amassed over 120,000 in chips during the course of the day. Those numbers may change overnight once all of the bags are collected and logged and the official chip counts are distributed by APPT staff.

Day 1b kicks off at 12:30pm local time tomorrow. As always, PokerNews will be live with updates from the tournament floor.

12-02-2008 22:45 UTC+11

Five More Hands

[user75032]

Tournament Director Danny McDonagh has paused the clock with 14:25 remaining in Level 7 and instructed his dealers to deal five more hands at each table. This is an anti-stalling tactic; at the conclusion of those hands, play will be done for the day.

12-02-2008 22:44 UTC+11

Rowe Begins the Climb Again

[user75032]

Finally, a hand that went Martin Rowe's way. With 8,500 chips in the pot, Rowe was one of three players to take a flop of {A-Hearts}

. Rowe opened for 6,000 before the player behind him raised all in for 16,400. That folded the third player, bringing the action back to Rowe who took about a minute before calling with {A-Spades}

. It was a good call; his opponent showed {A-Clubs}

. The turn and river ran out {5-Spades}

to ensure that the pot would head to Rowe and his opponent would head to the rail.

12-02-2008 22:26 UTC+11

Mirzikinian Takes Another Hit

[user75032]

The day started off so brightly for Warwick Mirzikinian, but things have not gone so well since coming back from dinner. He was recently dealt {Q-Hearts}

and must have thought the coast looked clear on a board of {4-Hearts}

. It wasn't; Derrick Wall had been dealt {A-Spades}

and managed to convince Mirzikinian to call his all-in bet.

Mirzikinian was so dismayed to see that he was behind that he killed his own hand without mucking it, not realizing that the river was yet to be dealt. Wall wanted the dealer to declare Mirzikinian's hand dead, claiming that Mirzikinian had mucked it, but the dealer did not agree. The river was burned and turned the {J-Hearts}

, allowing Wall to collect the pot anyway. He doubled up to about 32,000; Mirzikinian is down to 39,000.

Tags: Warwick Mirzikinian

12-02-2008 22:25 UTC+11

Hoang Doubles Through Dye

[user67765]

Raymond Hoang and Shane Dye were just involved in a huge clash. It was the classic pair versus overcards as Hoang's {Q-Spades}

held a slight lead over Dye's {A-Hearts}

.

The board fell {J-Spades}

and Dye couldn't improve to leave him with 55,000 chips as Hoang jumped to 45,000.

Tags: Raymond Hoang Shane Dye

12-02-2008 22:15 UTC+11

Lapitan's Trap Gets Hunter

[user75032]

Ray Lapitan's recent hand against Kent Hunter and made Hunter the hunted. Hunter raised to 1,500 and was called by Lapitan out of the big blind. Lapitan wasted no time in betting the {6-Hearts}

flop, making it 2,000 to go. Hunter called, then called again on the {7-Hearts}

turn when Lapitan bet 3,000.

The river came down {K-Hearts}

and Laiptan finally slowed down, checking the action over to Hunter. Hunter obliged with a bet of 4,500 that Lapitan check-raised to 15,000. That was too much for Hunter. He folded.

Tags: Kent Hunter Ray Lapitan

12-02-2008 22:12 UTC+11

Burgess Runs Into Rockets

[user67765]

After recently claiming the scalp of David Saab, Brett Burgess has crashed out of the tournament after running into the pocket aces of the UK's Daniel Kowalski.

The board was {Q-?}

when Burgess was put to a decision for his tournament life.

"I hope he doesn't have ace-queen" sighed Burgess as he committed his chips, but it was worse than that as the rockets were revealed. Burgess mucked and exited the tournament floor as Kowalski climbed to 97,000 chips.

Tags: Brett Burgess Daniel Kowalski

12-02-2008 22:09 UTC+11

Lee Survives Another All In

[user75032]

Things keep going bad for Martin Rowe and going good for David Lee. A series of preflop raises led to Lee finding himself all in with pocket jacks against Rowe's pocket kings. It took a runner-runner straight for Lee to find a winner, making a jack-high straight on the {10-Clubs}