APPT Macau Main Event Day 1a | 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Macau

08-25-2009 14:28 UTC+8

Levy Surrenders

[user75032]

Yu Shen is proving to be an interesting fit to the Table of Death in the center of the room. He has mixed it up several times so far, recently taking on 2007 APPT Sydney champion Grant Levy.

There were 4,500 chips in the pot when Levy bet 2,700 on the turn of a {K-Hearts}

board. Shen, who had checked as first to act, called to see the {Q-Clubs}

hit the river. He grabbed two yellow (5,000) chips off his stack and sent them spinning into the middle of the table, where they rolled into Levy's stack.

"Sorry, sorry," said Shen. He waited silently as Levy added the chips to the pot and pondered his action. Finally he shook his head slowly and mucked his hand.

"You either rivered me or you're bluffing," said Levy. "Nice hand."

Tags: Grant Levy Yu Shen

08-25-2009 14:13 UTC+8

Dodds Plummeting

[user75032]

Joel "StrongPlay" Dodds may need to re-think his strategy here. His stack contains just 5,700 of the original 20,000 chips. The latest blow for Dodds came in a large pot that went to showdown. Dodds' opponent called a bet on a board of {A-Diamonds}

and said "Please show me ace-jack."

"I don't have ace-jack mate," Dodds quietly replied. "I've got nothing." He mucked his hand without showing. That prompted Dodds' opponent to open {A-?}

, allowing him to drag the pot.

"You didn't just have to hope he had ace-jack," said David Steicke. "You also had to hope he had nothing else."

After the hand Dodds was overheard to remark to Grant Levy that "maybe I should just start concentrating on my own two."

Tags: David Steicke Grant Levy Joel Dodds

08-25-2009 14:04 UTC+8

Red Hot Ricky!

[user67765]

After a raise and call from late position, Rick Kroesen popped it up and additional 1,400 from the small blind. The player in the cutoff wasn't fazed as he quickly declared himself all in for roughly 10,000. The button folded as Kroesen quickly called.

Kroesen: {Q-Spades}

Opponent:

The board ran out {4-Diamonds}

which was safe for Kroesen to collect the pot and send his opponent to the rail.

A few moments later we caught Kroesen in the thick of the action once again. After firing a bet of 600 on the flop and checking the turn, three players went to the river on a {9-Clubs}

board.

The under-the-gun player bet 1,800 before Kroesen raised to 6,600. His opponent called but Kroesen slammed his {A-Clubs}

on the table with the cry of "Nuts!"

A good few minutes for Kroesen who qualified for this tournament in a PokerStars online satellite. He's now up to 39,300.

Tags: Rick Kroesen

08-25-2009 14:03 UTC+8

Day 1a Runners Announced

[user38449]

Tournament Director Danny McDonagh just informed the room that the official Day 1a entrant tally ended up at 119.

Unofficially, we've heard that there are already over 300 players registered for the Main Event. As is the case with most tournaments offering multiple Day 1's, we expect the largest starting field on Thursday's Day 1c - the last of three opening flights.

Of today's 119, currently 113 remain.

08-25-2009 14:00 UTC+8

The Reality of Poker in Macau

[user75032]

One of the few downsides to Macanese poker is that, unlike poker rooms in most of the world, Macau poker rooms allow smoking at the table. That's not the case for today's tournament -- players are prohibited from smoking in the tournament area -- but some smoke is drifting by Vivek Rajkumar's table and he's not happy about it. He flagged down Commissioner Danny McDonagh to complain.

"You can smell smoke?" McDonagh asked. "What would you like me to do about it?" He got on the mic and asked spectators to refrain from smoking on the rail.

08-25-2009 13:47 UTC+8

Akenhead Punishing His Table

[user75032]

James Akenhead has more than doubled his stack to 42,000 here in the early-going. He just took 11,200 off the unfortunate player to his right in blind-on-blind battle.

We caught the action with Akenhead facing a raise of 1,600 more chips from the small blind, with 1,200 already in the middle. Akenhead called to a flop of {10-Diamonds}

. His opponent made a weak lead of 1,400 that Akenhead called.

The turn was the {3-Diamonds}

. The small blind fired out another 3,200 and again Akenhead called. On the river {8-Diamonds}

, Akenhead watched carefully as the small blind threw a single yellow (5,000) chip into the pot. He then quickly raised all in, for more than 20,000, and induced an immediate fold.

Tags: James Akenhead

08-25-2009 13:46 UTC+8

The Early Movers

[user67765]

We've just received official word that the final number for the opening flight of the PokerStars.net APPT Macau Main Event is 119 entrants. Registration has now been closed.

Here are the early top five:

Jonathan Lin - 48,500
James Akenhead - 42,000
Mark Cornwell - 40,600
Eric Assadourian - 31,000
Dan Schreiber - 29,000

08-25-2009 13:33 UTC+8

Schreiber Slowplays to Victory

[user75032]

The area of the room that contains the tables of David Steicke and Dan Schreiber continues to be a magnet for action. We passed back that way to see Schreiber and Li take a flop of {6-Spades}

. Schreiber checked to Li and then called a bet of 500.

The turn was the {7-Spades}

. Again Schreiber checked, inducing another bet of 1,000 from Li. Schreiber called to the {7-Clubs}

river, where he led into Li for 2,700. Li had enough hand to call, but not enough to win when Schreiber showed down {A-Clubs}

for two pair, jacks and sevens. He's up to 29,000 in chips.

Tags: Andrew Li Dan Schreiber

Level: 2

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 0

08-25-2009 13:32 UTC+8

Levy Shows Some Grunt

[user67765]

With a raise to 350 and a call in front of him, Grant Levy popped it up to 1,300 from the button. The original raisor then re-raised once again to make it 3,000 to play as Levy was the lone caller.

The flop came down {J-Clubs}

and Levy's opponent made it 3,000. Levy then announced a raise, increasing the price to 7,500. The heat was too much as Levy's opponent folded and Levy flashed {A-Diamonds}

for just ace-high.

Levy is up to 25,600 chips.

Tags: Grant Levy grunter