Ashley Mason Leads Final Nine of APPT Melbourne Main Event
An exciting day of poker has come to an end leaving us with nine players securing a seat at this year’s APPT Melbourne Main Event final table. The chip leader heading into tomorrow’s play is Ashley Mason, who will have tough competition from experienced players like Billy “The Croc” Argyros, Joe Cabret and [Removed:17].
The day started with 42 hopefuls, but within the hour, six had left the room. We were on the money bubble, and after several players had committed their stacks and survived, it would be Kwong Phung who’d be given the unwanted title of money-bubble. Phung was short-stacked and moved all in for his last 40,500 holding 
. Phi Luu made the call with 
and held as the board ran out queen-high to leave us with 36 players earning themselves a guaranteed $5,000 for their efforts.
Jonathan Karamalikis was the first player to reach a million in chips after taking out Joel Feldman with his pocket aces versus pocket jacks. The next big milestone occurred when Pravin Harji was eliminated in 31st place. He was unable to hold with his pocket fours against Jason Gray’s 
. His exit from the tournament guaranteed Iori Yogo the title of 2013 ANZ Player of the Year.
The next few hours saw many fall, before Joe Cabret looked like the next to join the casualties with 18 remaining. He was involved in a big hand against Matthew Rolfe where his 
was out-flopped by 
on a 
board. He was left with only a 5,000-chip and was in for less than a small blind the very next hand. Three double-ups later and Cabret was nursing a 140,000 stack. Fast forward an hour, and the 2013 Aussie Millions Main Event runner-up had taken the chip lead sitting behind 1.3 million chips with 16 to go.
With two tables left we lost some well-known players including Martin Kozlov (16th), Billy Jordanou (15th), Ivan Zalac (14th), and Australian Poker Hall of Famer Jason Gray {11th). The eventual final table bubble was none other than online superstar Jonathan Karamalikis. In the final hand of the night he moved all in from the big blind with pocket fives after two players limped into the pot. Bowdy Tolhopf decided to make the call with 
and eventually took down the hand when he rivered a ten to scoop the almost-million chip pot.
This is how the final nine are looking heading into the final day of play.
| Seat | Name | Chip Count |
| 1 | Joe Cabret | 501,000 |
| 2 | Ashley Mason | 2,299,000 |
| 3 | Roberto Damelian | 989,000 |
| 4 | Billy Argyros | 226,000 |
| 5 | Ravindran Maravar | 1,180,000 |
| 6 | [Removed:17] | 1,692,000 |
| 7 | Jazz Mathers | 146,000 |
| 8 | Phi Luu | 558,000 |
| 9 | Bowdy Tolhopf | 1,645,000 |
Be sure to stay tuned from 12:30pm local time tomorrow as we bring you all the action from the final table as we look to crown the next APPT Melbourne Main Event Champion.