Chad HollowayWho will be the next Main Event champion?
It's been an exciting 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific thus far. Seven of the 10 bracelet events are complete, and during that time we saw a Malaysian win a bracelet for the very first time; witnessed a back-and-forth Player of the Year race (which is still on going); and Phil Hellmuth make his 51st WSOP final table on his quest for bracelet No. 14 in Event #7: AU$2,200 Six-Handed — which ultimate came up short in fourth place.
Today, all those stories culminate with the cornerstone event of the WSOP APAC — the AU$10,000 Main Event. Last year this very event attracted 405 runners and saw noted poker pro Daniel Negreanu walk away with the AU$1,038.925 first-place prize on his way to capturing the 2013 WSOP POY title. Negreanu is back in the land down under and will attempt to defend his title.
Others here in Melbourne that will be playing in the Main Event — be it today or in tomorrow's Day 1b — are 2012 Main Event champ and POY Greg Merson; the two players currently jockeying for this year's WSOP POY, George Danzer and Brandon Shack-Harris; Australian Poker Hall of Famers Gary Benson, Mel Judah and Jason Grey; six-time bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro; 2005 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem; Brazilian November Niner Bruno Politano; and 2013 WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess, who is clearly excited for this event.
Players will start with 30,000 in tournament chips, and the plan for the day is to play six 90-minute levels. There will be a 15-minute break after each level, and a 75-minute dinner break after Level 4. Late registration will be open for eight levels, meaning players can register up to 4:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Cards will be in the air here on Day 1a in about an hour, so stay tuned as the PokerNews Live Reporting Team brings you all the latest and greatest from the 2014 WSOP APAC Main Event.
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There was just another elimination from the tournament, and the beneficiary of the hand was none other than Octo-Niner Russell Thomas.
It happened when the player in the cutoff raised to 225, the button called, and Thomas three-bet to 950 from the big blind. Both his opponents called and three players saw a flop of . Thomas checked, the cutoff bet 1,100, and both the button and Thomas called.
Two checks on the turn saw one of the players bet 3,000 and only Thomas called. When the completed the board on the river, Thomas checked and then called when the cutoff moved all in. Thomas tabled the for a full house, and it was good as his opponent mucked his cards before making a hasty exit from the tournament area.
Rich Ryan and Donnie Peters break down all of the latest stories in the poker world, including the start of the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific and the WSOP Player of the Year race, and Phil Hellmuth joins the program to talk about chasing bracelets, ambassadorship, and more.
Don't forget the NJOY November Nine Preview, where the crew discusses the only member of the final table who's Down Under: Bruno Politano.
This past summer, the 2013 World Series of Poker $1,500 Millionaire Maker event attracted a massive field of 7,977 entries. In the end the $1.3 million first-place prize was captured by Jonathan Dimmig, a Buffalo, New York native that had relocated to Vegas in 2012 to pursue poker full time. Needless to say, it proved a fruitful expedition.
"It’s definitely changed my life for the future. I think it makes it a lot nicer for me options-wide to pick and choose what types of tournaments and cash games I want to play in," Dimmig told PokerNews in an interview after the win. "It’s not like I immediately jumped up into high stakes — I took some weeks off after the long grind of the summer — but I think I’ll be doing more traveling now and try to combine some vacations with good poker tournaments throughout the U.S. and maybe even the world eventually."
True to his word, Dimmig did do some traveling — to Melbourne, Australia for this 2014 WSOP APAC. Dimmig has been in attendance playing all of the preliminary event, but he was no doubt looking forward to making a splash in the Main Event. Unfortunately for him, any chance of that happening just came to an end courtesy of 2012 WSOP Main Event runner-up Jesse Sylvia.
It happened when Dimmig opened for 525 from middle position and Sylvia called from the button. The big blind came along and three players saw a flop of . The big blind checked, Dimmig bet 700, and Sylvia raised to 2,050. The big blind folded, Dimming shoved all in for 9,025, and Sylvia wasted little time in making the call.
Sylvia:
Dimmig:
Sylvia had flopped top two pair while Dimmig opted to ride or die with his flush draw. The turn changed nothing, and neither did the river. Dimmig failed to find a heart and his 2014 WSOP APAC Main Event came to an end here in Level 2.
When we arrived at the table, there was 4,100 in chips in the middle on a flop of between Jesse Sylvia and another player. The player had 3,300 in front of him and Sylvia had raised to 8,500. Sylvia's opponent reraised with a flick of the wrist and made it 18,300 to go with 23,000-24,000 behind. Sylvia tanked, and after a minute or two, he moved all in for 45,400 total, having his opponent covered.
It was now time for Sylvia's opponent to go into the tank. After a bit of thought, the player asked if Sylvia had him covered, which he did. Another few moments passed, and then the player made the call to put his tournament life on the line with the . Sylvia turned up the for trip nines and took a large, visible gulp as he knew how big the pot was and that he wasn't out of the water just yet.
The turn was the to add another sweat in the hand, as Sylvia's opponent picked up a flush draw. The former World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up leaned forward in his chair and awaited the river card.
After one final burn card, the dealer smacked the on the river. Although it was black, it wasn't a club, and Sylvia had won the pot. Having his opponent covered gave Sylvia all the chips and moved his stack to a very impressive 92,000 here in Level 2 of the WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event.
In less than a month 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Ryan Riess will see his year-long reign come to an end as another November Niner will lay claim to poker's more prestigious title. There's no doubt Riess served the ambassador role well, and he's still at it as he competes here at the 2014 WSOP APAC.
We decided to spend an orbit with "Riess the Beast," which he began with 34,300 in chips at a seven-handed table.
Hand #1 (Hijack): Action folded to Riess and he raised to 650, which took down the blinds.
Hand #2 (Early Position): Riess opened for 600 from early position and then called when Oliver Gill three-bet to 1,700 from the button. Riess checked the flop, Gill bet 1,500, and Riess folded.
Hand #3 (Under the Gun): Riess folded.
Hand #4 (Big Blind): Gill raised to 650 from the hijack and then folded when Riess three-bet to 1,600 from the big blind.
Hand #5 (Small Blind): The player in the hijack opened for 650 and Riess folded.
Hand #6 (Button): A player in middle position opened for 650 and Riess folded.
Hand #7 (Cutoff): A middle-position player raised to 650 and Riess folded.
Hand #8 (Hijack): An early-position player raised to 600 and then called when Riess three-bet to 1,300 from the hijack. When the flop came down , the early-position player checked and Riess bet 1,200. It did the trick as Riess' opponent released his hand.
As the other tables emptied, the final hand on Table 29 lasted 10 minutes into the dinner break. Asa Smith had raised, and there were two callers before Michael Addamo squeezed out of the big blind. Smith then four-bet to 5,900, and only Addamo called.
After the flop, Addamo check-called a bet of an unknown amount, and did the same on the turn for 11,500. The fell on the river, and Addamo checked. Smith asked Addamo for his stack size before moving all in for 38,675. Smith stared at the table just in front of him while Addamo was in the think tank for well over five minutes.
Eventually, Addamo threw a yellow T5,000 chip to the middle of the table and made the call for the vast majority of his own stack. Addamo would only muck his cards, though, as Smith showed the for top two pair. Addamo quickly left the tournament area, and Smith stacked the chips with shaky hands before also heading into the break.
A preflop raising war resulted in Canada's Mike Leah getting his stack of 10,000 all in preflop against John Moffitt.
Leah:
Moffitt:
Leah was in dire straits with the underpair, and he failed to catch as the board ran out a clean . With that, Leah became the first post-dinner casualty while Moffitt chipped up to 70,000.
Dylan Kehoe pointed out that Ryan Riess was just eliminated shortly before the end of Level 5. A quick glance at the table showed a massive stack for Sam Higgs and the 2014 WSOP Asia-Pacific bracelet winner told us what happened.
Higgs raised to 1,000 and got two callers before Riess made it 5,000 out of the big blind. Higgs, as well as the two other opponents, called and they went four ways to the flop. Riess checked, Higgs bet 12,000, got one call and one fold, then the former WSOP Main Event champion check-raised all in for just over 30,000 on top of Higgs' bet. Higgs moved all in to isolate.
The cold caller folded, and Higgs showed . Riess was in trouble with , and both the on the turn and the on the river failed to improve "Riess the Beast."
. Thomas checked, the cutoff bet 1,100, and both the button and Thomas called.
turn saw one of the players bet 3,000 and only Thomas called. When the 
completed the board on the river, Thomas checked and then called when the cutoff moved all in. Thomas tabled the 
for a full house, and it was good as his opponent mucked his cards before making a hasty exit from the tournament area.
. The big blind checked, Dimmig bet 700, and Sylvia raised to 2,050. The big blind folded, Dimming shoved all in for 9,025, and Sylvia wasted little time in making the call.
turn changed nothing, and neither did the 
river. Dimmig failed to find a heart and his 2014 WSOP APAC Main Event came to an end here in Level 2.
between Jesse Sylvia and another player. The player had 3,300 in front of him and Sylvia had raised to 8,500. Sylvia's opponent reraised with a flick of the wrist and made it 18,300 to go with 23,000-24,000 behind. Sylvia tanked, and after a minute or two, he moved all in for 45,400 total, having his opponent covered.
for trip nines and took a large, visible gulp as he knew how big the pot was and that he wasn't out of the water just yet.
to add another sweat in the hand, as Sylvia's opponent picked up a flush draw. The former World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up leaned forward in his chair and awaited the river card.
, the early-position player checked and Riess bet 1,200. It did the trick as Riess' opponent released his hand.
flop, Addamo check-called a bet of an unknown amount, and did the same on the 
for top two pair. Addamo quickly left the tournament area, and Smith stacked the chips with shaky hands before also heading into the break.
flop. Riess checked, Higgs bet 12,000, got one call and one fold, then the former WSOP Main Event champion check-raised all in for just over 30,000 on top of Higgs' bet. Higgs moved all in to isolate.
. Riess was in trouble with 
, and both the 
on the river failed to improve "Riess the Beast."