Alex Yazbeck Leads 30 Survivors After Day 1 of Record-Breaking Star Sydney 6-Max Event
Tournament staff at The Star Sydney was very optimistic before the start of the $1,100 6-Max Event and their expectations would not only be met but eclipsed with an incredible turnout. By the time the first three levels were completed, the field size of the previous year was already surpassed and the entries and re-entries kept coming in.
Once the registration had officially closed, a record-breaking field of 356 entries emerged to create a prize pool of A$356,000, which will be shared among the top 36 finishers. Throughout the 15 levels of 40 minutes on Day 1, the money bubble was reached in the final level of the night and half a dozen contenders headed to the payout desk to collect their winnings.
When it came to bagging and tagging, two players had turned their starting stack of 15,000 into more than half a million and Alex Yazbeck claimed the top spot with 549,500, closely followed by Michael Oscuro with 534,000. Yazbeck fired multiple bullets in the event and his father Mark and brother Patrick were also involved in the action, but they failed to make it through to Day 2.
Other big stacks and notables among the 30 Day 1 survivors are Nauvneel Kashyap (408,500), Guangyu Wang (319,500),John Rosario (308,000), Adrian Salter (270,500), Navid King (193,500), Connie Graham (169,500), Michael Seymour (145,500), Sam Capra (124,000), Michel Bouskila (116,000), Dale Marsland (115,000), Chad Awerbuch (71,000) and Vesko Zmukic (46,000).
Among the notables that didn't take home a portion of the prize pool were Shivan Abdine, Matthew Wakeman, Jarred Graham, Hamish Crawshaw, defending champion Hun Wei Lee, Craig Blight, Michael Kanaan, Minh Nguyen, Michael O'Grady, David Wang, and $5k Challenge runner-up Vincent Huang.
Abdine ran his top pair with king-ten into the pocket aces of Crawshaw and re-entered without being able to run up a big stack. Crawshaw was not able to keep up the momentum either and headed to the rail before the dinner break. Wakeman was ousted in a three-way all in when his ace-ten suited and the ace-queen of Matt Pongrass failed to connect with the board as Capra held up with pocket queens.
Dejan Boskovic Sr reached the final table of the $5k Challenge and received A$15,496 for his ninth-place finish. He was also cruising along for most of the day, but that all changed when he flopped top pair with king-queen suited. Connie Graham had the better kicker with ace-queen and Boskovic Sr headed to the rail one hand later. Only a few minutes later, Huang saw his hopes of another final table appearance come to an end when his queen-eight suited couldn't crack pocket kings.
Just before the money bubble, former big stack Luis Arrilucea rivered a full house with ace-queen only for Guangyu Wang to turn over pocket kings for the superior full house on the turn already. The money bubble itself would last all but one hand. Ryan Hong three-bet jammed his short stack with ace-nine and Tu Tran called with six-five suited to hit a pair on the flop.
Among the six players to receive a portion of the prize pool already were Rehman Kassam, Dejan Boskovic, and Andrew White. All remaining 30 players have A$2,385 locked up for their efforts, but the trophy and top prize of A$89,003 will be on everyone's mind when the action kicks off the following day at 12.30 p.m. local time with level 16 and blinds of 3,000/6,000 with an ante of 1,000.
Stay tuned for all the action on the final day, as the PokerNews team will be on the floor from start-to-finish for an exciting day of six-max action.
Day 2 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 1 | Navid King | Australia | 193,500 | 32 |
| 20 | 2 | Miray Badaoui | Australia | 162,000 | 27 |
| 20 | 3 | Thomas Amir | Australia | 179,500 | 30 |
| 20 | 4 | John Rosario | Australia | 308,000 | 51 |
| 20 | 5 | Dale Marsland | Australia | 115,000 | 19 |
| 20 | 6 | Alex Yazbeck | Australia | 549,500 | 92 |
| 22 | 1 | Vesko Zmukic | Australia | 46,000 | 8 |
| 22 | 2 | Michael Doodson | Australia | 15,500 | 3 |
| 22 | 3 | Guangyu Wang | Australia | 319,500 | 53 |
| 22 | 4 | Zhankang Chen | Australia | 128,500 | 21 |
| 22 | 5 | Adrian Salter | Australia | 270,500 | 45 |
| 22 | 6 | Steve Pappas | Australia | 40,000 | 7 |
| 30 | 1 | John Thomson | Australia | 90,000 | 15 |
| 30 | 2 | Tu Tran | Australia | 151,500 | 25 |
| 30 | 3 | Matthew White | Australia | 92,500 | 15 |
| 30 | 4 | Andrew Zhang | Australia | 195,000 | 33 |
| 30 | 5 | Connie Graham | Australia | 169,500 | 28 |
| 30 | 6 | Andrew Miller | Australia | 108,500 | 18 |
| 31 | 1 | Michael Oscuro | Australia | 534,000 | 89 |
| 31 | 2 | Chad Awerbuch | Australia | 71,000 | 12 |
| 31 | 3 | Akshay Kapoor | India | 92,000 | 15 |
| 31 | 4 | Lachlan Dykes | Australia | 96,500 | 16 |
| 31 | 5 | Mark Leslie | Australia | 107,500 | 18 |
| 31 | 6 | Alan Casas | Australia | 139,000 | 23 |
| 32 | 1 | Nauvneel Kashyap | Australia | 408,500 | 68 |
| 32 | 2 | Michel Bouskila | Australia | 116,000 | 19 |
| 32 | 3 | Sam Capra | Australia | 124,000 | 21 |
| 32 | 4 | Qiang Fu | Australia | 143,000 | 24 |
| 32 | 5 | Michael Seymour | Australia | 145,500 | 24 |
| 32 | 6 | Win Tan | Australia | 228,500 | 38 |
for Tran to turn a pair of sixes to burst the bubble as Hong quickly made his way out of the tournament area.
with Wang having the best of it holding the 
for kings full.
for aces full of queens and departed just shy of the money. Only a few minutes prior, Will Davies had also been eliminated and there are currently 38 players remaining.
, both Badaoui and Miller checked. 
, Badaoui bet and Miller quickly folded so the cards could go on their backs.
for Pappas to cheer loudly and high five another player as the straight flush on the board meant that he and Badaoui would chop the pot.
. The double-up was for 110,100 and that put a major dent into the stack of Dykes.
. Both stacks were counted and Boskovic Sr had Graham covered by fewer than one big blind. He ended up forced all in for 1,100 out off the big blind in the next hand and Sam Capra raised to 4,500 in order to force out everyone else.
river improved Capra to a flush.
while Wakeman held 
. Capra had the best of it with 
to eliminate Pongrass and Wakeman.
for Raut to find a pair of tens on the turn to beat the flopped eights of White to quadruple.
