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

APPT Grand Final

Day 1b Completed

12-03-2008 23:01 UTC+11

Day 1b Concludes

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Jason Gray will take a huge chip lead into Day 2

That brings an end to the second day of play here at the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Grant Final at Star City Casino in Sydney. A healthy field of 172 players started the day with just under half of those player surviving to see Day 2.

Some of the big name players that bagged and tagged their chips were Team PokerStars Pros Gavin Griffin and Lee Nelson, and they will join the likes of Eric Assadourian, Mark Vos, Jamie Pickering, Andrew Scott, Sam Korman and Marlon Goonawardana for Day 2 on Friday.

The day truly belonged to well known Australian professional Jason Gray, who shot to the lead early and then captured the biggest pot of the tournament after his straight cracked the overpair of Nathanael Seet. From that point he never looked back, ending the day with around the 180,000 chip mark; well ahead of his nearest rival. We'll have the updated chip counts of the entire field for you as soon as they come to hand.

We'll be back tomorrow to do it all again as the largest Day 1 field of the tournament is expected to hit the felt to boost the total number of entrants for the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final to close to the 500 player mark. We hope you'll join us once again with the cards in the air at 12:30pm local time. See you then!

12-03-2008 22:59 UTC+11

Kemp Busts on Final Hand of the Day

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Jai Kemp won't be back on Day 2 as his aspirations of back to back final tables nose dived in the final minutes of the day's play.

In the second last hand of the day, Kemp moved all in for roughly 14,000 with {10-Spades}

and found a call from Richard Kery who committed his own last chips with {A-Diamonds}

.

The board ran out {K-Spades}

, giving Kery a pair of aces and the pot to leave Kemp crippled.

On the final hand, Kemp shoved his last few thousand chips holding {A-?}

and was looked up by an opponent with {Q-?}

. A queen on the flop was all it took to end Kemp's tournament.

Tags: Jai Kemp

12-03-2008 22:50 UTC+11

Tough End to the Day for Scott

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Andrew Scott will probably be muttering in his sleep tonight. He raised to 1,600 preflop and was called by David Kim out of the small blind. The flop hit Scott's {A-Hearts}

, coming

. Scott must have wondered what was up when Kim checked the flop, then called Scott's bet of 3,100. When the turn came {K-Clubs}

, he probably felt he was in excellent position to send Kim home. And it played out like one might expect of a player with a seven in his hand; Kim checked to Scott, who bet 5,000, then check-raised to 15,000. Scott called, and called again on the {9-Diamonds}

river when Kim moved all in for 11,000.

The only problem for Scott was that Kim didn't have one seven in his hand; he had two! He showed {7-Hearts}

for flopped quads, moving up to 63,000 as we end the day. Scott is down to 36,000.

Tags: Andrew Scott David Kim

12-03-2008 22:41 UTC+11

Griffin Crests 100K

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Gavin Griffin has demonstrated immeasurable poker skill during his career, but even he would probably admit that sometimes it helps to catch the right card at the right time. Sitting in the big blind, he called a raise from Mark Fester to 1,600. Griffin checked the {A-Diamonds} {K-Hearts} {6-Diamonds} flop to Fester, then called a bet of 2,200. The turn fell {2-Hearts} , and again Griffin check-called, this time for 5,200. On the river {3-Spades} , Griffin led out for 12,000. Fester raised him all in to 27,000, but that didn't scare off Griffin. He made the call with {K-Diamonds} {3-Clubs} , having rivered two pair, kings and threes. That beat out Fester's {5-} {5-} , sending him to the rail.

Griffin now has 103,000 chips. He took some time to chat with PokerNews presenter Annette Melton during the last break.

Tags: Gavin Griffin

12-03-2008 22:40 UTC+11

Five More Hands

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The clock has been paused and it's just been announced by Tournament Director Danny McDonagh that we will be playing five more hands on each table before play officially wraps up for the evening and the players can bag up their chips.

12-03-2008 22:33 UTC+11

Trading Places

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If one players goes up the chip counts, mathematics says another player must come down the chip counts. Jonathon Karamalikis effectively traded places in the chip counts with Hai Bo Chu by getting all of his chips in with {A-Clubs}

against Chu's {6-Diamonds}

. The board ran out {6-Hearts}

to make a full house for Chu against Karamalikis' trip aces. Karamalikis is now quite short, with just 12,000 chips. Chu is slightly better off with 35,000.

Tags: Hai Bo Chu Jonathan Karamalikis

12-03-2008 22:30 UTC+11

Richards Racing Up Leaderboard

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Michael Richards has elevated his stack to 39,000 after winning a preflop race. His {A-Clubs}

paired up against his opponent's {9-Hearts}

when the board ran out {8-Spades}

.

Tags: Michael Richards

12-03-2008 22:18 UTC+11

Meldrum Cracks Rockets

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With the board reading {J-Spades}

, Andrew Meldrum was in the tank contemplating the 7,000 chip bet from his opponent into an already hefty pot.

Meldrum asked how much his opponent had behind, and learned it was 8,000 before deciding to just flat call.

The river was the {Q-Hearts}

, and Meldrum fired out enough to put his opponent all in. He sighed and made the call.

"Two pair," shrugged Meldrum, tabling {Q-Clubs}

.

"I knew the river was bad for me," said his opponent as he revealed {A-Diamonds}

, before standing from his seat and exiting the tournament floor. Meldrum is now up over 70,000 in chips and looking good for a Day 2 standing.

Tags: Andrew Meldrum

12-03-2008 22:13 UTC+11

Assadourian's Day Gets Longer

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Eric Assadourian has made some good laydowns today, avoiding running into the big hands of his opponents and saving himself some chips in the process. He raised one limping opponent from 600 to 2,100 on the button preflop. His opponent called to a flop of {K-Diamonds}