AU$5,000 Challenge
Day 2 Started
2018 WSOP International Circuit The Star Sydney
AU$5,000 Challenge
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 WSOP International Circuit The Star Sydney
Buy-in
5,000 AUD
Entries
205
Level
21
Blinds
20,000 / 40,000
Ante
40,000
Welcome to Day 2 of the WSOP International Circuit Sydney $5K Challenge Event
Welcome to Day 2 of the $5K Challenge Event here at the WSOP International Circuit stop in Sydney at The Star where the play is set to get underway at 2:15pm.
The brand new ‘big blind ante’ format was introduced to this event for the first time this year and yesterday’s Day 1 saw 215 entrants take part. Of that number, 16 players will return.
Matt Wakeman (981,000) has the chip lead and has a large gap from Robert Spano (505,000), Dejan Boskovic (424,000), Hannah Lee (382,000) and Sam Khoueis (370,000) who round out the top five.
Other notables to have survived to today include Gautam Dhingra (350,000), Shivan Abdine (206,000), Australian Poker Hall-of-Famer Billy Argyros (204,000) and Simon Chihane (97,000) who starts the day as the shortest stack.
Play will continue with 45-minute levels with 10-minute breaks coming after every three levels. Once the final table is reached levels will be an hour long. Blinds will resume at 5,000/10,000/ with a 10,000 big blind ante.
Check back in with PokerNews from 2:15pm today when all the action begins as the remaining 16 faces try to take down this exciting event.
Coverage Note; One and a Half Hour Delay
As a note, PokerNews' coverage will be on a one and a half hour delay as we match our coverage with the live stream of the event.
This delay will shorten as the day moves closer to a finish.
Level: 15
Blinds: 5,000/10,000
Ante: 10,000
Final Two Table Redraw and Chip Counts
Level 15
: 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
| Table | Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer | 1 | Nathan Sawyers | 255,000 | 25.5 |
| Outer | 2 | Simon Chahine | 97,000 | 9.7 |
| Outer | 3 | Matt Wakeman | 981,000 | 98.1 |
| Outer | 4 | Shivan Abdine | 206,000 | 20.6 |
| Outer | 5 | Hauman Darbani | 273,000 | 27.3 |
| Outer | 6 | Hannah Lee | 382,000 | 38.2 |
| Outer | 7 | Gautam Dhingra | 350,000 | 35 |
| Outer | 8 | Sean Dunwoodie | 223,000 | 22.3 |
| Feature | 1 | Isaac Lau | 228,000 | 22.8 |
| Feature | 2 | Dejan Boskovic | 424,000 | 42.4 |
| Feature | 3 | David Wang | 309,000 | 30.9 |
| Feature | 4 | Sam Khoueis | 370,000 | 37 |
| Feature | 5 | Joshua McCully | 356,000 | 35.6 |
| Feature | 6 | Mladen Vukovic | 245,000 | 24.5 |
| Feature | 7 | Robert Spano | 505,000 | 50.5 |
| Feature | 8 | Billy Argyros | 204,000 | 20.4 |
Dhingra Makes the Call
Level 15
: 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Hannah Lee raised from middle position before Gautam Dhingra re-raised to 60,000 from the hijack. Lee called.
The flop came 
and Lee checked. Dhingra bet 40,000. Lee called.
Both players checked the 
on the turn before the 
completed the board. Lee then bet out 120,000.
"You have aces or something?" questioned Dhingra, as he deliberated over his decision.
He eventually called and watched as Lee tabled 
for a pair with an ace-kicker. Dhingra then flipped over 
for two pair which was good for the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
600,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
|
140,000
-242,000
|
-242,000 |
Simon Chahine Eliminated in 16th Place ($13,062)
Level 15
: 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Action folded around to the cutoff where Gautam Dhingra asked for a rough count of Simon Chahine's stack before raising to 21,000. Action folded to the big blind where Chahine thought for a bit, then moved all in for right around 80,000. Dhingra took a look at his cards then called.
Gautam Dhingra: 
Simon Chahine: 
The flop came down 
which gave both players a major piece with Dhingra making top pair and Chahine making a flush draw and straight draw.
On the turn, Dhingra killed a ton of Chahine's outs, taking away his two pair outs as well as some flush cards.
The river was the 
which gave Chahine a bit of hope, as he made a flush, but upon second inspection, Dhingra actually made a full house, so with that, Chahine was eliminated. For his run in this event, Chahine will collect $13,062 for his 16th place finish.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
700,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
Busted |
Shivan Abdine Eliminated in 15th Place ($15,697)
Level 15
: 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Shivan Abdine moved all in from the cutoff and was snap-called by Gautam Dhingra in the big blind.
Gautam Dhingra: 
Shivan Abdine: 
The board ran out 
to see Abdine unable to improve against Dhingra's pocket pair resulting in him being eliminated in 15th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
765,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
Busted |
Wakeman Bests Dhingra
Level 15
: 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Matt Wakeman raised to 20,000 from under the gun and was called by Gautam Dhingra on the button as well as Nathan Sawyers in the big blind.
The flop came 
and Sawyers checked. Wakeman bet 25,000. Dhingra called. Sawyers folded.
The turn brought the and Wakeman fired out another 100,000. Dhingra called.
Both players then opted to check the 
river before Wakeman tabled 
. Dhingra tapped the table before flashing his pocket jacks before they went into the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,230,000
249,000
|
249,000 |
|
|
620,000
-145,000
|
-145,000 |
Flush Versus Flush Between Spano and Khoueis
Level 15
: 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Samir Khoueis opened with a raise to 25,000 on the button with 
and he gets called by Robert Spano with from the big blind.
The flop came down 
and Spano checked. Khoueis put out a bet 25,000. Spano called.
The turn was the 
and Spano checked a second time. Khouis fired again, making it 60,000. Spano called and the 
came on the river. This time both players checked and Spano took down the pot with his queen high flush.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
666,000
161,000
|
161,000 |
|
210,000
-160,000
|
-160,000 |