2018 WSOP International Circuit The Star Sydney

The final flight of The Star Sydney $2,200 Main Event is in the books and after bringing out 462 more entrants, The Star Sydney topped it's personal best, creating its biggest WSOPC Main Event field so far with 1,191 players. That number also represents one of the largest Main Events on the World Series of Poker Circuit tour, with similar numbers to Harrah's Cherokee (one of the biggest stops on the American circuit) which brought out 1,127 at it's most recent run in late November. In total, the event created a total prizepool of $2,382,000. A payout structure for the event hasn't been posted yet, but when available it's available PokerNews will provide an update.

At the end of the day, 97 players were left standing with Michael Hawkins leading the way out of this flight with 362,000. Hawkins is relatively unknown, capturing the chip lead at the end of the night as other players traded massive pots and he fell into the role. Hawkins currently has no recorded cashes to his name so locking one up here at Sydney would be his first. Despite bagging the lead in this flight, it wasn't enough to bag the overall chip lead though, as those honors still belong to Michael Spencer who bagged 545,000 on Day 1C.

Others to make it into Day 2 during the final starting flight included Jan Suchanek (191,000), Shivan Abdine (280,000), Sam Capra (278,500), James Broom (255,000), Dean Blatt (182,000), Sean Dunwoodie (360,000), Johnathan Hargrave (154,000), Heidi May, (193,00) Morten Mortensen (198,000), Daniel Laidlaw, (200,500) and Michael Fraser (160,000) just to name a few. James Broom had a roller coaster of a day, at one point moving over 500,000 chips after knocking out an opponent with ace-queen against ace-jack, but by the end of the day he was back down to 255,000 after losing a big pot in a flip to Allen Yu. Yu doubled up to 352,500 in the hand and nearly finished the day as the chip leader, but fell just short.

Among those who didn't make it through to Day 2 were Sam Khoueis, Hannah Lee, Michael O'Grady, Brett Trevillian, Bruno Portaro, Gautam Dhingra, Tony Hachem, Hari Varma, Grant Levy, James Hopkins and Matt Wakeman the $5,000 Challenge champion from earlier this series. Wakeman busted near the end of the night after shoving two pair into a turned straight. That would be the end of Wakeman in the Main Event with no more chances left to re-enter.

Play resumes on Saturday, December 15th at 12:30 p.m. with the remaining 230 players collapsing down into one room. Action kicks back off in level 15 with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and an ante of 500. The plan is to play 14 level or stop at 27 players and return for Day 3 on Sunday, December 16th. PokerNews will return with coverage of this event once again and we'll be here from start to finish, so make sure to not miss a thing.

Yu committed his entire 165,000 stack in pre flop and was at risk against chip leader James Broom.

Allen Yu:
James Broom:

The board ran out to see Yu hold with his pocket pair as he doubled to one of the biggest stacks in the room.

Players will play three more hands to finish the day in the $2,200 Main Event at The Star Syndey.

Robert Spano moved all in for 61,500 from under the gun and watched as the action folded around to the player in the big blind.

She agonised over her decision for several minutes whilst Spano patiently waited, now standing up from his chair.

"Will you show me if I fold?" asked Spano's opponent.

"Yep," was the quick reply from Spano, who did not seem to mind how long he had to wait.

Eventually his opponent announced 'fold' and tabled . Spano revealed his and raked in the small pot.

"Oh f**k," said Spano's opponent after realising she was in front, before she slumped in the hands.

Action folded around to the cutoff where Jerome Tan opened with a raise to 8,500. Next to act on the button, the player three-bet to 22,000. Action folded back to Tan who called.

The flop was and Tan checked. The player on the button put out a bet of 20,000. Tan thought it over for a bit, then check-raised, making it 60,000. Almost enough to put his opponent all in.

The player leaned back in his chair and dropped into the tank. He thought it over for nearly two minutes before he flicked his cards frustratedly into the muck. Tan raked in the pot and chipped back up to nearly 200,000.

The board read and Matt Wakeman checked from the small blind. His opponent was in the big blind and bet 8,500. Wakeman thought about his decision for a minute before announcing all in. His opponent snap-called and had more chips behind.

Matt Wakeman:
Opponent:

Wakeman had turned two-pair but was behind to his opponent who had turned a straight.

The on the river would not help Wakeman and he was sent to the rail with the final level of play about to commence.

"Good game gentlemen. That was fun," Wakeman said with a smile on his face. He shook a few of his table mates hands before exiting the tournament floor.

The player in middle position moved all in for 45,500 before the action folded to the player in the small blind. He sat motionless for a moment and called. James Broom was in the big blind and followed with a call of his own.

"Good luck," said Broom sincerely, before the dealer produced the flop.

The small blind bet out 37,000 and Broom snap-called.

The turn brought the and the small blind checked. Broom immediately moved all in and had his opponent covered. It didn't take long for Broom's opponent to give up on his hand and throw it away.

James Broom:
All-in Opponent:

The river dropped the and Broom raked in the pot and added to his already large stack after out-kicking his opponent.