Main Event Day 1a | 2019 The Star Sydney Champs

08-02-2019 15:09 UTC+11

Three Bustouts in Two Hands

Christian Zetzsche

Level 2 : 150/300, 0 ante

Michael O'Grady got the remainder of his short stack in and Steve Pappas went all in over the top only for Glenn Pollett to snap-call.

Michael O'Grady:
Glenn Pollett:
Steve Pappas:

"What is happening? Is this a 3k tournament?" Timo Hettinger asked in disbelief when the showdown took place.

The bord came and Pappas spiked the ace on the turn to score a double knockout.

Only one hand later, Ke Jiang three-bet shoved for around 7,000 and John Moffitt called instantly.

Ke Jiang:
John Moffitt:

On a board of , the kicker played and Jiang became the third casualty in a row on the same table.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve Pappas	68,000 38,000	38,000
John Moffitt	34,000 34,000	34,000
Ke Jiang	Busted
Glenn Pollett	Busted
Michael O'Grady	Busted

Tags: Glenn Pollett John Moffitt Ke Jiang Michael O'Grady Steve Pappas Timo Hettinger

08-02-2019 14:45 UTC+11

O'Grady and Sakellariou Eliminated

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 2 : 150/300, 0 ante

Travis O'Grady was no longer to be found on his table and soon after chatted with his dad in the main poker room to share the bad news. Michael Egan confirmed that he had sent O'Grady to the rail with aces versus tens. For Michael O'Grady, it was also a disastrous start as he lost a big portion of his stack flush over flush.

Last but not least, Tolly Sakellariou has also been eliminated early on Day 1a.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alan Casas	65,000 65,000	65,000
Jonty O'Brien	65,000 65,000	65,000
Michael Egan	55,000 25,000	25,000
Charlie Hawes	55,000 25,000	25,000
Alex Yazbeck	42,000 11,000	11,000
Jarryd Godena	38,000 20,000	20,000
Andrian Chin	28,000 28,000	28,000
Dejan Boskovic Sr	25,000 25,000	25,000
Matthew Wakeman	16,500 13,500	13,500
Michael O'Grady	5,500 24,500	24,500
Travis O'Grady	Busted
Tolly Sakellariou	Busted

Tags: Michael Egan Michael O'Grady Tolly Sakellariou Travis O'Grady

08-02-2019 13:59 UTC+11

Kroesen Eliminated by Caridad

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 1 : 100/200, 0 ante

Only 12 minutes into Day 1a, the first player has been eliminated and that happened to be Ricky Kroesen. As the flop showed and a pot of 6,200 had emerged. A yellow T-5,000 chip was in front of Kroesen and John Caridad simply moved all in.

Kroesen was sent into the think tank and apologized to the table for taking so long.

"You want me to make it easier for you? Time!" Caridad said, but the clock wasn't called on Kroesen just yet. It would take another minute before the floor staff was called over and Kroesen called all in within the 30 seconds of consideration.

John Caridad:
Ricky Kroesen:

The turn and the river were both blanks and Kroesen became the first casualty of the day. He may re-enter in tomorrow's second and final flight for another chance at the seven-figure prize pool.

Player	Chips	Progress
John Caridad	60,000 30,000	30,000
Ricky Kroesen	Busted

Tags: John Caridad Ricky Kroesen

08-02-2019 13:49 UTC+11

My Stack App Activated

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Shirley Ang

Level 1 : 100/200, 0 ante

PokerNews has activated the My Stack 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.

08-02-2019 13:42 UTC+11

2019 The Star Sydney Champs Main Event Winner Trophy

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Danny Maxwell

Level 1 : 100/200, 0 ante

2019 The Star Sydney Champs Main Event Winner Trophy

08-02-2019 12:10 UTC+11

Welcome to Day 1a of the 2019 The Star Sydney Champs A$3,000 Main Event

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Christian Zetzsche

A very successful 2019 The Star Sydney Champs will culminate in the flagship event of the festival as the 3-day Main Event kicks off with Day 1a as of 12.30 p.m. local time at The Star Sydney near Darling Harbour.

The tournament comes with a price tag of A$3,000 and features a guaranteed prize pool of A$1,500,000. Many regulars of the venue secured their seats at a bargain in the live satellites of the last few days.

Not only because of the six-figure Royal Flush cash game jackpot, but the poker room has also been buzzing in each tournament with very impressive field sizes throughout the festival so far. On top of that, the Main Event super satellite 40 seats guaranteed final week countdown had been exhausted half-way through the six qualifiers already.

Defending champion of the event is Nebojsa Blanusa from Adelaide, who emerged on top of a field of 522 entries to claim the top prize of A$314,265. Other notables to reach the final table were Charlie Hawes, Suzy Khoueis, Martin Ward and Michel Bouskila, while Ashish Gupta, Shivan Abdine and Honglin Jiang were eliminated on the final two tables.

The tournament features a starting stack of 30,000 and levels of 60 minutes throughout, and players can register for each of the two starting days until the start of level five at approximately 4.50 p.m. local time. Should they bust on Day 1a, they can re-enter on Day 1b to give it another try at running up a stack.

Day 1 Level Structure

Level	Duration	Small Blind	Big Blind	Ante
1	60	100	200	0
2	60	150	300	0
Break	10
3	60	150	300	25
4	60	200	400	50
Break	10
5	60	300	600	50
6	60	400	800	100
Break	30
7	60	500	1,000	100
8	60	600	1,200	200
Break	10
9	60	800	1,600	200
10	60	1,000	2,000	300
Break	10
11	60	1,200	2,400	400

The tournament is scheduled to play down to a winner on Day 3 on Monday, August 5th, 2019, as of 12.30 p.m. local time and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action. There will also be a live stream with hole cards displayed on a dynamic delay for each of the tournament days on the Run It Up Twitch channel as well.

Tags: Ashish Gupta Charlie Hawes Honglin Jiang Martin Ward Michel Bouskila Nebojsa Blanusa Shivan Abdine Suzy Khoueis