Joe Sandaev and Albert Ng were heads-up from the blinds with over 100,000 already in the middle on a board of 7♣Q♦K♥3♥.
Sandaev bet 95,000 from the small blind and Ng tanked a bit in the big blind before sliding a stack that covered Sandaev into the middle. Sandaev quickly called all in for 287,000 to put himself at risk.
Joe Sandaev: K♣7♥
Albert Ng: K♠9♠
Sandaev held a commanding lead with kings-up and the 5♣ river changed nothing — shipping the tournament-leading pot to Sandaev while Ng was cut down to under 200,000.
Albert Ng opened to 20,000 first to act and was called by Ken Bolton in middle position. Constantinos Boucas then shoved for 146,000 from the cutoff and Ng called all in for slightly less. Bolton asked for counts, but eventually decided to lay his hand down.
Albert Ng: J♣10♣
Constantinos Boucas: 9♥9♣
It was a race, but the 8♦9♦6♦10♠10♥ runout left Boucas best with a full house and Ng, who was the chip leader not too long ago, was eliminated.
Travis Endersby was already all in for approximately 150,000 on a flop of K♦Q♠J♣ from the hijack against Mark Staples, who had Endersby covered from the cutoff.
Travis Endersby: A♦10♦
Mark Staples: K♣Q♥
Endersby had flopped the nuts and Staples was looking to fill up.
However, the 6♦9♦ runout needlessly improved Endersby to a flush and he doubled up while Staples was left with just a starting stack.
Jin Xue raised to 60,000 from middle position, leaving himself just 10,000 behind. Higor Seibel then three-bet to approximately 100,000 in the hijack and action folded back to Xue, who called all in to put himsself at risk.
Jin Xue: A♠9♣
Higor Seibel: K♣Q♣
Xue held a slight lead with his ace, but that quickly evaporated on the K♠4♣J♥ flop — pairing Seibel's king to vault him into the lead.
The 4♥ turn nor 6♣ river changed anything and Xue was eliminated two spots shy of a Day-2 berth.
On the second hand of the Day-2 bubble, two players were all in and at risk at separate tables.
On the first table, Romain Morvan raised from middle position and Marc Seymour three-bet to 50,000. It was folded back around to Morvan, who shoved for a bit more. Seymour called and hands were revealed.
Romain Morvan: A♥Q♥
Marc Seymour: K♥K♠
Morvan was in trouble against Seymour's cowboys, and the 3♠J♣4♥ flop didn't look too promising. However, the 9♥ turn improved Morvan to a flush draw, and the 6♥ river caused the table to erupt as Morvan went runner-runner to double up and survive the Day-2 bubble.
At another table, Liam Jehu opened to 21,500 from the hijack and action folded to Ken Bolton in the small blind, who shoved his short stack into the middle. Jehu quickly called and another showdown was held.
Ken Bolton: A♣A♥
Liam Jehu: A♦K♥
It was the best-possible case for Bolton, who was an overwhelming favorite to double up.
The J♣8♥10♣ flop kept Bolton ahead, but gave Jehu clean outs to Broadway. In a cruel twist of fate for Bolton, the Q♥ landed on the turn — filling Jehu's straight and leaving Bolton drawing to a chop.
It wasn't meant to be, however, as the 9♦ bricked out and Bolton was sent home with a bad-beat story for the ages.
Day 1e was the penultimate starting flight for the 2025 Australian Poker Open Main Event and it turned out to be the biggest yet — with 145 entrants taking their shot at APO glory here at Club Marconi at Doltone House Western Sydney. By the time the last card was dealt, Aussie tournament grinder Joe Sandaev emerged as the chip leader of the 18 survivors after accumulating 817,000 in chips — good for the second spot overall across all completed starting flights.
Sandaev is a regular in the Australian poker tournament scene with over $1,000,000 in live-tournament earnings. The vast majority of Sandaev's cashes have come from tournaments in Australia, with his breakout performance coming from a WPT High Roller Event in 2022 for a score of A$296,589.
More than three starting stacks separate Sandaev from his next-closest competitors Timon Prill (668,500) and Shayne Leroy (658,000). The fourth spot belongs to Marc Seymour, who placed ninth in the APO Main Event last year and will surely be looking to make another deep run with his big stack.
APO Main Event Day 1e Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Joe Sandaev
Australia
817,000
82
2
Timon Prill
Australia
668,500
67
3
Shayne Leroy
Australia
658,000
66
4
Marc Seymour
Australia
628,000
63
5
Constantinos Boucas
Australia
590,000
59
6
Kenta Ito
Australia
548,500
55
7
Amin Riyazati
Australia
462,500
46
8
Chao Duan
China
451,000
45
9
Travis Endersby
Australia
388,000
39
10
Liam Jehu
Australia
355,000
36
Marc Seymour
Day 1e Highlights
Last year's runner-up in the Main Event, Higor Seibel, entered Day 1e after having already entered multiple times in previous flights and was looking for redemption. Seibel got off to a hot start by catching a flush to bust Romain Morvan (who immediately reentered). From that point, Seibel was unable to build a particularly impressive stack, but he still skillfully navigated his way to a bag worth 243,000.
Poker crusher and high-roller regular Kahle Burns was in attendance, but faltered early after losing a race to Najeem Ajez early on. Not long after, Seymour called a shove from Burns with ten-nine and caught two pair against Burns' ace-king to eliminate him.
A roller-coaster of a day saw Albert Ng briefly claiming the chip lead after running aces into Ken Bolton's queens late in the evening. However, the swings of fortune favor no one in poker, and Ng found himself on the losing end of a massive pot after flopping a pair of kings against Sandaev's two pair. While Sandaev catapulted into the chip lead, Ng found himself on the rail shortly thereafter.
Liam Jehu
A brief bubble only saw two rounds of hand-for-hand play. On the second hand, both Morvan and Bolton found themselves all in and at risk at different tables. Both times the inferior hand won, but while Morvan cracked Seymour's kings with ace-queen to double up, Liam Jehucracked Bolton's aces in brutal fashion to bring an end to Day 1e.
Day 1f, which is the sixth and final flight, will take place on Thursday, April 24 at noon. All players who failed to earn a Day-2 berth can reenter an unlimited amount of times in the final flight until late registration closes at the start of Level 10.
With just one flight to go, the action is sure to be spicy as players try one last time to secure a spot into Day 2. Be sure to keep it with PokerNews for ongoing coverage of the APO Main Event right up until the next champion is crowned.
