APPT Sydney Grand Final Main Event | 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final

12-06-2009 13:47 UTC+11

Final Table Profiles: Seat 2 - Thomas Slifka (Dayton, Ohio - USA)

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Thomas Slifka, a former criminal justice student turned full-time poker player, has already enjoyed some considerable live tournament results in his young poker-playing career. Before qualifying for this year’s APPT Grand Final in a $22 rebuy satellite at PokerStars, Slifka had already won more than USD $60,000 in live tournaments, including a first place finish in a $500 No Limit Hold’em Event in this year’s Deep Stack Extravaganza Series II in Las Vegas, worth $37,000.

The 25-year-old will certainly have his hands full against the seven Aussies at the final table, starting with just 758,000 in chips – the smallest stack at the table.

(Bios courtesy of PokerStars)

Tags: Thomas Slifka

12-06-2009 13:46 UTC+11

Final Table Profiles: Seat 1 - David Formosa (Sydney, Australia)

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David Formosa, a 41-year-old father of two, satellited into the Sydney Grand Final main event via Star City Casino and has been playing poker for six years. “I played a couple of the $1500 events in the WSOP, but this will be my biggest tournament cash – I’ve really enjoyed it,” Formosa said.

The Sydneysider remained under the radar for the first two days of the tournament until catapulting to the top of the leaderboard midway through Day 3. Formosa enters the final table 7th place in chips with 956,000.

(Bios courtesy of PokerStars)

Tags: David Formosa

12-06-2009 13:45 UTC+11

The Final Table

donpeters

The 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final is down to its final nine players from the starting field of 396. It look nearly 14 hours to grind to the final table yesterday with play finally wrapping up a couple hours past midnight.

Heading the final table will be PokerStars online qualifier Ernst Hermans. Hailing from the Netherlands, Hermans will come in as the only player over two million chips. Right on his heels though is Tom Grigg. Grigg has been towards the top of the leaderboard throughout most of the tournament.

Here's how the table will look.

Seat 1: David Formosa - 956,000
Seat 2: Thomas Slifka - 758,000 PokerStars online qualifier
Seat 3: Wayne Carlson - 1,114,000
Seat 4: Andrew Hiscox - 848,000
Seat 5: Leo Boxell - 1,236,000 PokerStars online qualifier
Seat 6: Barry Forrester - 1,087,000
Seat 7: Aaron Benton - 1,790,000 PokerStars online qualifier
Seat 8: Tom Grigg - 1,950,000
Seat 9: Ernst Hermans - 2,048,000 PokerStars online qualifier

Play will begin at 2:00 p.m. local time and first place is worth nearly AUD $600,000. In a matter of hours, we'll have crowned a new APPT Grand Final champion. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com for updates coming shortly!

Tags: Ernst Hermans