AU$2,500 High Roller Day 1 | 2021 Poker Palace Summer Championships

03-03-2021 17:05 UTC

Kumar Claims Big Chip Lead After Day 1 of the A$2,500 High Roller

Yori Epskamp

Level 12 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Day 1 of the A$2,500 High Roller at the Poker Palace Summer Championships has ended with a clear chip leader taking us into Day 2. Anish Kumar will bring 903,500 chips into the final day, a massive lead over his nearest rivals Stephen Gergis (602,000). Marco Perri (583,500), Jarod Cunningham (564,500), Rehman Kassam (516,500), and Morten Mortensen (514,500) were the other players to bag over half a million in chips,

Kumar found himself in the top of the standings for most of the day and bolstered his lead when he knocked out Patrick Camilleri and his 300,000 chip stack with set-over-set. At one point, Kumar even crested the one million mark to ultimately end at 900k.

Among the notables who made it through to the second and final day are Vincent Huang, Michael Oscuro and Peter Au, while Michael O'Grady, Craig Blight and Noel Jaber were unable to find themselves a bag at the end of the night.

The day finished with 45 players from the 122 entries, a number that's expected to rise as late registration will be available right up until the end of the first blind level on Day 2. The prize pool of the event is already up to A$270,000, smashing the estimated prize pool of $150,000.

Day 2 will start at 4.00 p.m local time and will play down to a winner. At 5 p.m. tomorrow, cards will also be in the air for Day 1a of the $1,150 Main Event. Follow along with PokerNews throughout the week as we bring you all the latest from the Summer Championships at the Poker Palace!

Check the Day 2 Seat Draw here

Rehman Kassam takes a top 5 stack into Day 2

03-03-2021 08:50 UTC

It's Headline Week at the Poker Palace!

Yori Epskamp

Level 5 : 400/800, 800 ante

The Summer Championships here at the Poker Palace kicked off back on February 16th with its first Main Event satellite. The past Monday, the final week of this three-week series was dubbed Headline Week, as the eye-catching events are all being held in the first week of March.

PokerNews will be on the floor covering two events start-to-finish (A$2,500 High Roller & Main Event) and deliver an overview of the A$5,000 Super High Roller. Check out the full schedule for the Headline Week below.

Poker Palace Summer Championships Headline Week Schedule

Date	Time	Event	Est. Prize Pool	Buy-in	Starting Stack	Level Duration	Late Reg.
Mon., March 1	7 p.m.	Teams Event	-	$500	20,000	20/30 mins	Level 6
Tue., March 2	7 p.m.	High Roller Satellite	$10,000	$250	30,000	25 mins	Level 6
Wed., March 3	4 p.m.	High Roller Day 1	$150,000	$2,500	100,000	40 mins	Level 13
Thu., March 4	4 p.m.	High Roller Day 2	-	-	-	-	-
-	5 p.m.	Main Event Day 1A	$250,000	$1,150	50,000	45 mins	Level 13
Fri., March 5	5 p.m.	Main Event Day 1B	$250,000	$1,150	50,000	45 mins	Level 13
-	7 p.m.	Super High Roller Satellite	$10,000	$550	30,000	30 mins	Level 6
Sat., March 6	12 p.m.	Main Event Day 1C	$250,000	$1,150	50,000	45 mins	Level 13
-	6 p.m.	Main Event Day 1D (Turbo)	$250,000	$1,150	50,000	25 mins	Level 13
Sun., March 7	12 p.m.	Main Event Day 2	-	-	-	-	-
-	6 p.m.	Bounty	-	$550 (250+250)	50,000	25 mins	Level 6
Mon., March 8	2 p.m.	Super High Roller	$150,000	$5,000	100,000	40 mins	Level 6
-	5 p.m.	Main Event Final Table	-	-	-	-	-

03-03-2021 08:03 UTC

Rehman Kassam Enters

Yori Epskamp

Level 4 : 300/600, 600 ante

Originally from England but an Aussie for a while now, Rehman Kassam is among the 71 first players that have entered the A$2,500 High Roller. A regular here in Club Marconi, Kassam has made deep runs during the WSOP International Circuit, the Aussie Millions and the WPT all here down under in the past few years.

With a little over half a million lifetime, the PokerBROS ambassador, who are sponsoring the Summer Championships, is looking to add more to that in this two-day high roller event.

Apart from Kassam, another notable popped up in Craig Blight. Blight holds over $800K in lifetime Hendon Mob winnings and cashed the WSOP Main Event in both 2018 and 2019, among plenty of other accolades.

Player	Chips	Progress
Rehman Kassam	100,000
Craig Blight	100,000

03-03-2021 07:52 UTC

Mortensen and O'Grady in the Field

Yori Epskamp

Level 3 : 200/400, 400 ante

Two big names in the field today are Morten Mortensen and Michael O'Grady. Especially in a time where intercontinental travel is more or less off-limits, spotting Danish star Mortensen in the field might be a bit of a surprise. Rocking over $1.7M in lifetime winnings on The Hendon Mob, Mortensen has been in Australia for a while now and cashed the Marconi Cup here back in December.

Sydney's very own Michael O'Grady boasts a similar resumé of that of Mortensen, having cashed for nearly $1.1M in his career. Last year at the 2020 Aussie Millions, O'Grady won the A$1,050 Accumulator for a massive payday of A$188,860.

We'll be keeping an eye out for the pair as the day progresses here at The Poker Palace.

Player	Chips	Progress
Morten Mortensen	100,000
Michael O'Grady	100,000

03-03-2021 06:14 UTC

MyStack App

Yori Epskamp

Level 2 : 100/300, 300 ante

PokerNews has activated the MyStack App for this event, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting blog using your iPhone or Android phone.

You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.

Click here to download the My Stack app for iPhone, or click here to download the My Stack app for Android.

03-03-2021 04:35 UTC

Welcome to Day 1 of the High Roller at The Poker Palace

MervHarvey

Event 6 of the Poker Palace Summer Championships, the two-day $2500 High Roller starts today at the Marconi Club in Sydney with an estimated $150,000 prize pool.

Last series’ corresponding event saw 107 players compete for a prize pool which paid out over $235,000, with the winner Joseph Antar walking away with a cool $75,000. With pool estimates for the earlier events of the Summer Championships being smashed already, the signs are good that the estimate for this year’s event will be beaten yet again.

Players will start with a huge 100,000 starting stack and 40 min blinds. Twelve levels will be played on the first day, with late registration and one re-entry available until the end of the first blind level on Day 2, when blinds will start at 2000/5000/5000.

The Summer Championships High Roller begins at 4.00 p.m local time, be sure to follow all the action here on PokerNews!