The Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino in Macau, venue for the final event of the APPT for 2011
Grant Levy led the way for the Aussies on a dramatic day at the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino in Macau for the final event of the 2011 Asia Pacific Poker Tour.
Chasing his second win on the APPT after winning the APPT Grand Final back in 2007, Levy was ninth overall on the day 1A chip count, but it was the arrival of another player who stole all the headlines, according to the official report from media co-ordinator Garry Gates:
“No statements, no announcement, no Tweets, no nothing. At approximately 1.45pm Wednesday afternoon, Phil Ivey quietly walked into the room and sat down to play in a poker tournament. The news shocked the poker world and most everyone from players to floormen at the APPT Macau Main Event, much the same way it did back in May when Ivey issued a statement stating he would not be playing the 2011 World Series of Poker. He hadn’t played in a live event since.
On the felt, it was like he’d never left. Ivey navigated through the day 1A field with relative ease, coasting to a comfortable 51,200 in chips by day’s end, almost doubling his 30,000 start stack.”
Ivey had, in fact, been in Macau for some days after being spotted playing cash games at the Macau Poker King Club but this marked his first tournament appearance since Black Friday.
Once the Ivey aftershocks subsided, it was back to business. The opening flight attracted 269 runners, of which 155 will return for day two on Friday. A similar field size is expected for day 1B.
Shih Chieh Su from Chinese Taipei finished day 1A atop the leaderboard with 171,800 in chips. Notably, 2007 APPT Sydney Grand Final champ Grant Levy also landed a spot in the overnight top ten, bagging 111,200 in chips.
Other notable day 1A survivors include Nathaniel Seet (124,500), Jackson Zheng (97,300), Julian Powell (89,100), David Steicke (69,500), Roger Spets (60,600) and Young Phan (17,000). Notable Day 1A casualties include 2010 APPT Sydney Grand Final champ Jonathan Karamalikis, Mark Vos, Michael Pedley and Andrew Hinrichsen.
APPT Macau day 1A chip count (top 10)
Shih Chieh Su (Chinese Taipei) 171,800
Erdenebold Begzjav (Mongolia) 142,100
Thomas Ward (New Zealand) 133,600
Nathaniel Seet (Singapore) 124,500
Renat Lyapin (Russia) 122,200
Johannes Haase (Spain) 115,700
Vadim Belov (Russia) 112,300
Ligong Wei (Hong Kong) 111,400
Grant Levy (Australia) 111,200
David Hrdlicka (Slovakia) 105,600
Other Aussies who survived day 1A
Julian Powell 89,100
Scott Calcagno 81,600
Josh Barrett 70,800
Thomas Corr 70,300
Jie Gao 58,100
Hun Wei Lee 56,200
Michael Kanaan 55,900
Jaimie Faux 47800
Tim English 47,400
Craig Cockburn 44,500
Andrew Scott 41,200
Perry Michael 36,700
Samuel Paisley 34700
Raemin Alexander 34,100
Frank Bianco 33,400
Alvin Wei-Xiang Cheam 31,100
Tom Dellas 25,000
Antonio Di Salvio 22,400
Mishel Anunu 16,200
Jason Lee 13,300
John Corr 12,400
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