[user75032]
Generally speaking, moving all in with the third nuts on a board of is going to net you the pot more often than it doesn't. But that wasn't the case for Jovan Scekic. He showed pocket aces for a flopped set of aces and was dismayed to see his opponent, Ken Ostergaard, turn over pocket fives for a wheel and the second nuts. Scekic needed a board pair on the river and didn't get it when the river fell .
He's not eliminated though; Ostergaard had taken some early hits and as a result only had about 12,000 chips in his stack at the start of the hand. Ostergaard now has 24,000 and Scekic has slipped to 9,000.
[user67765]
Vanessa Rousso
Vanessa Rousso is one of the higher profile players in today's field although her first significant confrontation hasn't gone her way.
Rousso opened with a limp from middle position before Alan Bustany made it 800 to go. The table folded around to Rousso who made the call.
The flop landed and both players checked. The turn was the and again it was checked through. The river landed the and Rousso led out with a 1,000 chip bet. Bustany then popped it up to 3,000, sending Rousso into the tank.
She asked her opponent how much he had behind before sighing "This is a tough call!" After a few moments of deliberation she made a reluctant call, only to see Bustany reveal for the ace-high flush.
Rousso mucked and exclaimed "Why don't you guys ever bluff me?" as she now sits with only 12,600 chips.
[user75032]
There are two dead stacks in the field for Day 1a of this event, which are currently being blinded out. Apparently one of the stacks belongs to a player who had every intention of making the trip to Sydney to play in this tournament but had a last-minute personal emergency that prevented him from attending. He has been in contact with tournament officials about getting a refund of his buy-in.
Both dead stacks will be removed from play at the end of Level 3.
[user67765]
Chad Brown
After a series of preflop raises, Chad Brown took a heads-up flop of . His opponent was first to act from under the gun and moved all in for 11,675 in total to send Brown into the tank.
After several minutes of thought, Brown quipped, "I hope you have nines," before making the call.
It was better than that for Brown as his opponent tabled to be in bad shape against Brown's .
The turn was the and river the as Brown climbs to 33,000 chips.
[user75032]
One of Australia's top online players, Daniel Kochan, has been up and down quite a bit today. His latest entanglement found him raising to 500 preflop and being called by the big blind. Kochan fired once on the flop for 600 chips, then a second time on the turn for another 1,000 chips. That bet produced a fold from the big blind and allowed Kochan to drag the pot.
[user75032]
The Star City dealer shoe
Anyone who's ever been in a casino is familiar with a dealing shoe. Most often employed at blackjack tables, they allow dealers to deal cards face-down on the table without pitching them in the air. As a result, exposed cards at blackjack tables are almost non-existent.
The poker tables at the Star City Casino employ a modified version of the traditional blackjack shoe. It's a one-deck shoe that sits in the middle of the poker table. After a dealer takes the deck of cards out of the automatic shuffler in the table, he places them in the shoe. He then slides each card off the shoe and pushes it to the receiving player, with the card never catching air, effectively eliminating the likelihood that the cards are ever exposed.
In our estimation, one thing that the shoe sacrifices for its ability to never expose a card is speed. When dealers employ the traditional "pitch" method of dealing cards, they are able to deal out a hand much faster than when using the "shoe" method. But Tournament Director Danny McDonagh told us he's never seen an exposed card during a session at Star City, having logged far more than his fair share since the shoe was invented and patented by a pair of Star City dealers a few years ago.
[user75032]
David Saab
A series of preflop raises between David Saab and Michael Wong ended with Wong all in for 15,500. Saab made the pressure raise in the hand, raising to 9,000 after Wong had reraised him to 2,000 from the small blind. Once all the chips were in, the players showed down their hands.
Wong:
Saab:
"I'm eight percent ahead!" exclaimed Saab. "You can run casinos with eight percent win." That may be true, but this time Saab's eight-percent edge did not hold. The board ran out to make a pair of aces for Wong. He doubled to 31,000 while Saab dropped to 13,750.
[user75032]
Shane Dye
Fortunes are changing out on the tournament floor, as they so often do. Chad Brown and Shane Dye have both eclipsed the 40,000-chip mark with pressure bets that folded their opponents.
Dye tangled with Julian Powell by opening for 600 preflop, then reraising to 6,800 after Powell reraised the button to 1,800. Powell made the call, creating a pot of roughly 14,000 before the flop came down. Dye bet 10,000 after seeing the dealer spread the , the and the on the flop. Powell looked ill as he contemplated a call.
"This is sick," he said. He asked Dye if Dye had aces, but got no response. After a few minutes in the tank, Powell surrendered all claim to the pot by folding. It left his stack at 16,200 and allowed Dye's to stack to grow to 41,000.
A few tables over, Brown and Leo Boxell were going to war. With the board showing , Boxell checked to Brown, who fired out for 3,200. Boxell check-raised to 8,100, sending Brown into the tank for about a minute before he three-bet the action to 18,200. Boxell immediately folded, allowing Brown to drag the pot and increase his stack to 43,600.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
is going to net you the pot more often than it doesn't. But that wasn't the case for Jovan Scekic. He showed pocket aces for a flopped set of aces and was dismayed to see his opponent, Ken Ostergaard, turn over pocket fives for a wheel and the second nuts. Scekic needed a board pair on the river and didn't get it when the river fell 
. 
and both players checked. The turn was the 
and again it was checked through. The river landed the 
and Rousso led out with a 1,000 chip bet. Bustany then popped it up to 3,000, sending Rousso into the tank.
for the ace-high flush.
. His opponent was first to act from under the gun and moved all in for 11,675 in total to send Brown into the tank.
to be in bad shape against Brown's 
.
and river the 
flop for 600 chips, then a second time on the 
turn for another 1,000 chips. That bet produced a fold from the big blind and allowed Kochan to drag the pot.
to make a pair of aces for Wong. He doubled to 31,000 while Saab dropped to 13,750.
, the 
on the flop. Powell looked ill as he contemplated a call.
