Final Table Set; Nguyen Crushing
After nine full levels of play, the final table has been set for the 2014 Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Auckland Main Event.
Eighty players made their way to the SKYCITY Auckland Casino just after midday to battle down until only a final table of nine remained. With fifty six needing to fall until the field reached the money, action was relatively fast up until the bubble. There everyone would have to wait an hour to lose a player, with Robert Spano eventually being awarded the unwanted title of "bubble boy."
From then on, the eliminations happened very regularly. Matthew Yates (23rd), David Lim (21st), Matt Carter (18th), and Terangi Matenga (13th) all fought gallantly, but would end up on the rail. Then, Mehrdad Razmi’s hopes of making the final table fell short by just one, when he bubbled the final table in 10th place.
Australia’s Minh Nguyen finished atop the leaderboard after a great run of cards, aggression, and plenty of skill to amass a whopping 1.605 million in chips. Nearly 1 million chips behind in second place finished Sam Williams with 632,000, and Day 1b chip leader Ben Rendall rounded out the top three.
Throw in Australian poker pros Jesse McKenzie, Dean Blatt, and Michael Guzzardi, as well as local’s Thomas Ward, William Rogers, and Stephen Thompson, and picking the eventual winner is still anyone's guess at this point. They will all be fighting hard to capture the NZ$132,000 first prize and title of APPT Auckland champion.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be back in the SKYCITY Auckland poker room tomorrow from 12:30 p.m. local time (NZST) to provide detailed and comprehensive live coverage of all the final table action straight to you from the tournament floor.
While you wait for the final table to return, check out Sarah Herring getting some tips on how to rap with New Zealand's "Godfather of Rap" Brotha D: