$5K Challenge Day 1 | 2019 The Star Sydney Champs

07-26-2019 20:40 UTC+10

Big Stacks and Bustouts

Christian Zetzsche

Level 9 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Defending champion John Thomson, Aaron Li and Shivan Abdine were among those to bust. The new big stacks are Majid Saab and Charlie Hawes, with the former just winning a small pot on the river of a board . Facing a bet of 3,000, Saab raised to 14,000 and his opponent tank-folded to get shown for the nut flush.

Player	Chips	Progress
Majid Saab	185,000 85,000	85,000
Charlie Hawes	170,000 60,000	60,000

Gary Benson	130,000 -16,000	-16,000

Sandy Sinclair	125,000 45,000	45,000
Tolly Sakellariou	120,000 45,000	45,000
Dejan Boskovic Sr	110,000 40,000	40,000
Jason Gray	25,000 25,000	25,000
Dejan Boskovic	Busted
Jarred Graham	Busted

Aaron Li	Busted
John Thomson	Busted

Shivan Abdine	Busted
Qiang Fu	Busted

Tags: Aaron Li Charlie Hawes John Thomson Majid Saab Shivan Abdine

Level: 9

Blinds: 1,000/2,000

Ante: 2,000

07-26-2019 20:34 UTC+10

White's Turn To Double Through Clee

Shirley Ang

Level 8 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Andrew White shoved from under the gun for 14,900 and Terence A Clee called from the early position while the rest of the table folded.

Andrew White:
Terence A Clee:

The flop came with the ace in the window.

The turn brought them the which gave Clee a Broadway draw but the river completed the board with the for White ti make trips to double up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Terence A Clee	39,300 -14,900	-14,900
Andrew White	33,900 18,200	18,200

Tags: Andrew White Terence A Clee

07-26-2019 20:30 UTC+10

Hettinger Doubles Through Clee

Shirley Ang

Level 8 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Terence A Clee had raised from mid-position and Timo Hettinger shoved for 37,700 on the button. The blinds folded and Clee called immediately.

Timo Hettinger:
Terence A Clee:

The board ran out for Hettinger to stay ahead and improve to a full house to double up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Timo Hettinger	79,400 37,700	37,700
Terence A Clee	54,200 -46,800	-46,800

Tags: Terence A Clee Timo Hettinger

07-26-2019 20:24 UTC+10

Mehmet Gets Value From Spano

Christian Zetzsche

Level 8 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

On the heads-up turn of , Robert Spano checked and called a bet of 4,000 by Jake Mehmet to see the on the river. Spano check-called another bet of 7,500 and mucked when Mehmet tabled for a straight.

"Next time give me a nine," Spano joked in table chat.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jake Mehmet	85,000
Robert Spano	60,000 -20,000	-20,000

Tags: Robert Spano Jake Mehmet

07-26-2019 20:22 UTC+10

Huang Gets the Folds

Shirley Ang

Level 8 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Vincent Huang raised to 3,200 from the cutoff and was called by both Matthew Wakeman on the button and Andrew White in the big blind.

They all checked through the flop to the on the turn. White bet 3,500 and Huang raised to 15,500. Wakeman quickly folded and White looked at his cards once more before opting to fold.

Player	Chips	Progress
Terence A Clee	101,000 12,000	12,000
Ehsan Amiri	96,700
Vincent Huang	62,900 17,600	17,600
Jason Pritchard	51,000 11,800	11,800
Peco Stojanovski	44,900 16,400	16,400
Timo Hettinger	41,700 -14,100	-14,100
Matthew Wakeman	40,300 16,100	16,100
Robert Damelian	32,400
Andrew White	15,700 -19,500	-19,500

Tags: Andrew White Matthew Wakeman Vincent Huang

07-26-2019 20:19 UTC+10

Recent Casualties

Christian Zetzsche

Level 8 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Tom Rafferty	Busted
Milad Issa	Busted
Michael Kanaan	Busted
George Kanan	Busted
Stanley Wu	Busted
Martin Ward	Busted

07-26-2019 20:14 UTC+10

Amiri Triples Up, Gray Falls to Huang

Shirley Ang

Level 8 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Jason Gray raised to 4,000 from under the gun and Vincent Huang called in the early position. Action folded to Ehsan Amiri on the button who shoved for 30,900. The blinds quickly folded and Gray decided to also shove for 44,800. Huang took his time to think it all through but made the call in the end.

Ehsan Amiri:
Jason Gray:
Vincent Huang:

The flop came for Amiri to hit two pair but it also gave a flush draw to both Gray and Huang.

The turn brought them the which didn't change things, neither did the on the river as Amiri tripled up and the remainder of Gray's stack was sent Huang's way.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ehsan Amiri	96,700 65,700	65,700
Vincent Huang	45,300 -23,300	-23,300
Jason Gray	Busted

Tags: Ehsan Amiri Jason Gray Vincent Huang

07-26-2019 20:05 UTC+10

Kempson on the Rise

Christian Zetzsche

Level 8 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Majid Saab called a bet of 3,500 by Gary Benson on the heads-up turn of and they ended up checking the river, which saw Benson turn over the for a full house to win the pot.

Benson appears to be the current chip leader, however, Corey Kempson is not far behind one table over. Kempson just won a decent pot off Andrej Senic when an unfortunate runout on the board killed any river action.

"Kings," Kempson announced and his were good enough to win the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Gary Benson	146,000 14,000	14,000

Corey Kempson	130,000 108,000	108,000
Majid Saab	100,000 40,000	40,000
Andrej Senic	90,000 -20,000	-20,000
Robert Spano	80,000 46,000	46,000
Mladen Vukovic	75,000 5,000	5,000
Minh Nguyen	48,000 8,000	8,000

Tags: Andrej Senic Corey Kempson Gary Benson Majid Saab

07-26-2019 20:03 UTC+10

Young Makes the Wrong Call

Shirley Ang

Level 8 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

In the last hand, before the level went up, the flop read with just over 6,000 in the middle already.

Michael O'Grady checked in the big blind and Rory Young bet 2,600 from under the gun. O'Grady raised to 7,600 and Young called.

The turn brought them the , O'Grady took over the initiative and bet 4,700 which Young called.

The river completed the board with the , O'Grady led out for 6,900 and Young took his time to consider his options.

After a while, O'Grady turned around, swung his legs up on the spare seats between them and sat back. "Rory, hurry up, you've played 4 million hands, and now you're thinking for his long?"

Young smiled: "What do you have?"

"F*ck all," O'Grady responded immediately.

Young glanced at O'Grady but didn't act yet.

"Are you trying to read my body language?" O'Grady asked. "What does it say?" he added.

"I am just admiring your shoes," Young replied.

After some more banter back and forth, O'Grady decided to call the clock.

The dealer asked O'Grady to confirm and he replied: "Yeah, why not?"

The floor came over and gave Young 40 seconds to make a decision.

On the 20-second warning, Young made the call but mucked when O'Grady tabled for top pair.