Mel Judah Eliminated
After taking a hit earlier on in the day, Mel Judah had been battling with his short stack, trying to find the right spot to commit his last chips in the hope of a double up.
When he looked down at on the button he decided to toss in his sub-1,000 chip stack against the opening raise of Casey Kastle who was happy to go to war with his .
The flop wasn't a bad one for Judah as it arrived to provide some chop outs, but the turn and river missed him, to send him to the rail.
Meanwhile Kastle has overcome a slow start to now be back above starting stack with around 12,000 chips.
It's a reunion of sorts over on Table 15 as James Potter has joined the fray. David Steicke, Andrew Scott and Eddie Hearn were already seated there and all gave Potter some hearty welcomes as he took his seat. Steicke suggested ordering a round of beer.
Hearn, for his part, showed some great discipline in an earlier hand by laying down an unsuited ace-king on the button. He had re-raised to 1,600 after an early position raise, only to see the small blind put in a third raise to 5,100. Hearn said, "One time" and flashed his hand before mucking. His opponent responded, "One time" and flashed pocket kings.
Wooka Kim
After a standard preflop raise, Wooka Kim put in the check-raise, making it 2,700 to go on a flop of . After checking how much she had behind, her opponent committed to a call and they saw the fall on the turn.
Kim fired out 4,100 and her opponent gave it up. Kim then proceeded to take down another small pot on the very next hand to get some momentum as she moves up to 16,000.
When a player commits most of his above-average stack to a pot before the flop even comes down, the rest of the table tends to sit up and take notice. There were a series of preflop raises at James Sudworth's table. One of his opponents put 4,100 chips in the middle. Sudworth's response was to put two stacks of six yellow (T1,000) chips over the betting line, about two-thirds of his stack. That was enough to take down the pot without further contest.
It's never a good thing to bluff by representing the hand that your opponent actually holds. That's what happened to James Potter in a recent four-way limped pot. After Lee Jae Do bet 700 on a board of , Potter's raise to 1,800 chased out all of the other players. Only Do called.
The turn was another queen, the . Do check-called 2,500. With the river , Do checked again. Pottr was undeterred and bet 4,500. He quietly said, "You win," when Do quickly called. Potter was on a stone bluff with . His hand was a distant second to Do's .
Do now has 28,500 while Potter's stack was halved to 10,500.
Tom Rafferty
Australian Tom Rafferty first rose to our attention at the season-ending APPT Grand Final last year in Sydney where he looked a genuine thread for the title before bowing out in 9th place for AU$39k. Rafferty showed he was the real deal by following up with deep run in the 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event where he pocketed another AU$14k for his 45th place.
He's now here in Macau for the Asian poker circuit and looking forward to another big result, as he recently raked in a small pot with a 2,500-chip bet on a to get himself up to 13,000 chips.
It continues to be a good start for the High Roller champion, David Steicke. He opened for 575 from early position and was called by both blinds, Eddie Hearn and Jack Hinchey. On a queen-high, two-club flop, Hearn and Hinchey checked things over to Steicke. He took down the pot with a single bet of 1,025 chips.
Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis
While some of the Aussies are faring well, the tournament of online sensation Jonathan 'xMONSTERxDONGx' Karamalikis has been cut short after his recent elimination from the Main Event.
According to Daniel Neilson on a nearby table, Karamalikis three-bet all in preflop from the button with after the player in the small blind put up some resistance. The SB player deliberated before making the call with pocket nines and the race was on.
Karamalikis caught a jack on the turn to take the lead, but the river brought a straight for his opponent to send the "Dong" crashing out of the tournament, much to his disgust.
on the button he decided to toss in his sub-1,000 chip stack against the opening raise of Casey Kastle who was happy to go to war with his 
.
to provide some chop outs, but the 
turn and 
river missed him, to send him to the rail.
. After checking how much she had behind, her opponent committed to a call and they saw the 
. Do check-called 2,500. With the river 
. His hand was a distant second to Do's 
.
to get himself up to 13,000 chips.
after the player in the small blind put up some resistance. The SB player deliberated before making the call with pocket nines and the race was on.
