2008 PokerNews Cup Championships - Australia

$550 NL Hold'em 6-handed
Day: 1
Event Info

2008 PokerNews Cup Championships - Australia

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
109
Prize
25,347 AUD
Event Info
Buy-in
500 AUD
Prize Pool
106,500 AUD
Entries
213
Level Info
Level
20
Blinds
12,000 / 24,000
Ante
2,000

Harvey Finds an Ace... To No Avail

Two players limped into the pot, and action came to Martin Harvey on the button. He bumped it up to 4,000, and Michael Palti re-raised to 13,000 from the small blind. The rest of the table folded, and Harvey put in the call, moving the rest of his chips all-in.

Showdown:
Harvey: {A-Clubs} {J-Clubs}
Palti: {K-Clubs} {K-Diamonds}

Salvation came for Harvey straight away as he found an ace on a flop of {A-Diamonds} {Q-Spades} {9-Clubs}. The turn was the {6-Hearts}. Unfortunately for him, Palti managed to re-draw to the lead, plucking the two-out {K-Spades} off the deck to make triple kings. He eliminated Martin Harvey and moved up over 20,000.

Tags: Martin HarveyMichael Palti

Van in Fine Condition

Second to act, David Saab raised to 1,000. The betting passed to Van Marcus, and he re-raised to 3,300 from the big blind. Saab moved all-in and Marcus insta-called, tabling his {A-Clubs} {A-Diamonds}. Saab's poor timing found him holding {A-Spades} {K-Diamonds}.

Saab paired up his king, but couldn't get over the hump on a board of {4-Diamonds} {K-Spades} {6-Spades} {J-Clubs} {3-Hearts}. He sent a double up over to Van Marcus, who dropped down to 8,600. Marcus improved to 22,000.

Tags: David SaabVan Marcus

Topakas Doubles Through Tahtouh

Steve Topakas has just doubled Emad Tahtouh to move to 28,000 in chips.

Tahtouh opened the pot with a raise to 1,050 from the cutoff and Topakas made the call from the big blind. The flop came {9-Hearts} {5-Clubs} {3-Spades} and Topakas passed the first action to Tahtouh, who fired a bet of 1,200. Topakas then check-raised to 4,500, after which Emad asked how many chips Topakas had left. After a bit of a dwell, Emad put Topakas all in and Topakas quickly called:


Showdown:

Tahtouh: {A-Spades} {2-Clubs}
Topakas: {3-Hearts} {3-Diamonds}

Following Topakas' call, Emad said, "I guess you do have a set. Nice hand."

The turn and river finished out {7-Spades}, {2-Spades} and Topakas' trip threes held up to earn him the pot and 28,000 in new chips. Tahtouh was left with 16,000 after the hand.

Michael Attipa Eliminated

Michael Attipa raised to 2,000 and Nali Kaselias made the call, as the two men went heads-up to the flop.

It brought {9-Hearts} {A-Diamonds} {5-Diamonds} and Attipa bet out 2,000, to which Kaselias called.

The turn was the {2-Hearts}. Attipa moved all in, and Kaselias again made the call, turning over {A-Clubs} {K-Diamonds}. Attipa was behind, but had some outs, showing down his {J-Hearts} {Q-Hearts}.

Looking for a heart to flush out, Attipa instead found the {4-Spades} on the river, spelling the end of his tournament life. Kaselias has chipped up to 33,500.

Tags: Michael AttipaNali Kaselias

Level: 8

Blinds: 300/600

Ante: 50

Not So Marvelous for Marvanek

Grant Levy has been amassing quite the chip stack lately. On a flop of {8-Hearts} {7-Hearts} {2-Hearts}, Levy led with a bet and Michael 'Marvs' Marvanek raised a few thousand more. Levy then shoved all in and Marvanek called. The pot was worth well over 25,000 chips.

"You have the ace of hearts?" asked Levy as Marvanek then turned over {A-Clubs} {A-Hearts}. Levy rolled over {10-Hearts} {6-Hearts}.

The turn was the {4-Spades} and the river failed to produce another heart as well with the {9-Spades}. Marvanek was sent to the rail and Levy bumped up to almost 40,000. He is certainly among one of chip leaders.

Kambouris Crippled in Three-Way All In

A big three-way all-in confronttaion just went down on one of the tables down on the floor involving Antonis Kambouris, Nuno De Silva, and another unknown player.

Showdown:
Kambouris: {10-Spades} {10-Clubs}
De Silva: {J-Clubs} {J-Diamonds}
Unknown player: {A-Diamonds} {K-Diamonds}

The board ran out {A-Spades} {3-Spades} {8-Spades} {7-Diamonds} {9-Diamonds}. The unknown player took down the pot and jumped to 12,000 chips. De Silva dropped to 14,000 and Kambouris was crippled to just 3,200.

Peter Pratis Picks a Peck of Purple Checks

In other words, Peter Pratis has just doubled up to 30,000 in chips, courtesy of a very helpful turn card.

An unknown player limped into the pot from under-the-gun and when the action folded around the table to Pratis in the big blind, he kicked it up to 1,500. The UTG player made the call and the two went heads up to the flop: {Q-Clubs} {6-Clubs} {Q-Spades}.

Pratis checked to his opponent who fired a 2,000 bet and Pratis made the call. The turn card delivered the {3-Diamonds} -- a golden card for Pratis, who was sitting with pocket threes. Opting to slow play his full house, Pratis checked to his opponent who fired a second bullet, this time for 3,000. Pratis then check-raised all in for 10,625 and his opponent called:

Showdown:
Pratis: {3-Hearts} {3-Clubs}
Opponent: {A-Spades} {Q-Diamonds}

The {8-Spades} that fell on the river changed nothing and Pratis took down the pot and right around 30,000 in new chips.

Tags: Peter Pratis

Kambouris Sent Packing

Just moments after getting crippled, action folded to Antonis Kambouris and he moved in for 4,050 chips. The big blind made the call saying "I gotta gamble with you one time. I'm in the casino, I gotta gamble. You know when you have this feeling."

Kambouris held {K-Clubs} {8-Clubs} and looked good so far against his opponent's {Q-Spades} {10-Diamonds}.

Both players flopped a pair with the {10-Hearts} {8-Hearts} {5-Diamonds} board, but Kambouris' was just a tad lower than his opponent's. When the turn and river came the {A-Spades}, {9-Clubs}, that was it for Kambouris.

Tags: Antonis Kambouris

Guttman Spades His Way to a Suckout

Michael "Sticky" Guttman got it all in preflop holding {A-Spades} {J-Clubs}, but he was in awfully bad shape, up against his opponent's {A-Clubs} {A-Diamonds}.

The flop was {7-Spades} {8-Diamonds} {6-Spades}, and the {8-Spades} on the turn brought a little glimmer of hope for the all-in player. Much to his delight, a fourth spade -- the {Q-Spades} -- hit the river, giving Guttman an unlikely come-from-behind flush. He doubled up to 31,000.

Tags: Michael Guttman