6.00pm: Victor Teng wins PokerMedia Australia $1k 6-handed event ($23,700)
Victor Teng has won yet another tournament here at The Star after cutting a swathe through the final table to secure the $23,700 top prize. The 2012 NPL500 champion bested a field of 79 players here in the PokerMedia Australia $1k 6-handed event, emerging as chip leader when the final table was set last night and returning today to make quick work of it.
In fact, it took him less than two hours to personally eliminate five of the six players this afternoon – showing Patrick Healy the door on the second hand of the day and then, incredibly, finishing off Martin Kozlov, Jun Li and Matt Rolfe in three consecutive hands to seal victory.
He certainly ran well, out-flopping Nick Polias and Li with dominated hands to send them packing, but you’ve got to take the run good when you can get it.
Congratulations to Victor and we look forward to seeing him in action again later in the week.
Make sure you join us here at PMA for the Star Summer Series main event starting from 6.15pm on Thursday and continuing through until Sunday.
5.45pm: Matt Rolfe eliminated in 2nd ($15,800)
If there is one thing Victor Teng knows how to do, it’s finish off a tournament and in the space of three hands he had taken care of his last three opponents.
Matt Rolfe had been card dead all day, yet he managed to hold on until it was just he and Teng remaining. In the first hand of heads-up play Rolfe finally picked up a hand and got his short stack in with K-J.
But Teng held A-7 and when the board ran out 4-8-9-4-Q we were al done and dusted here!
5.40pm: Jun Li eliminated in 3rd ($11,850)
The very next hand after Martin Kozlov’s elimination, Jun Li was all-in with 6-6 against the Q-5 of Victor Teng.
Li was looking good for a much-needed double, but this is Victor Teng we’re talking about here, so of course the window card was a Q. No 6 arrived and we’re off to heads-up play.
5.35pm: Martin Kozlov eliminated in 4th ($7,900)
Martin Kozlov has just become Victor Teng’s latest victim to fall in fourth place.
The action began when Kozlov limped on the button for 10,000. Teng raised it up to 23,000 and Kozlov called.
The flop came A-10-8, Teng led, Kozlov shoved and Teng snap-called. It was Teng’s Q-Q against the 7-9 of Kozlov and when an 8 landed on the turn and a 3 on the river we were down to three!
5.25pm: Break time
Players are on a 10-minute break. When they return, blinds will be up to 5,000/10,000 with a 500 ante.
4.55pm: Nick Polias eliminated in 5th ($5,925)
Victor Teng’s run good at The Star continues and he has just scored another big knockout to extend his lead at the top of the chip counts.
Nick Polias had enjoyed a good start to the day, building his stack up to around 200,000 when Teng opened on the button. Polias shoved, Teng called and the former was in great shape with A-K up against Teng’s A-Q, but a Q in the window was bad news.
The board ran out 5-6-Q-8-J and we’re down to four players remaining.
4.40pm: Blinds are up
Blinds are up to 4,000/8,000 with a 500 ante.
4.20pm: Chip counts
With five players remaining, the chip counts are as follows:
Victor Teng – 570,000
Jun Li – 230,000
Martin Kozlov – 150,000
Nick Polias – 150,000
Matt Rolfe – 100,000
Blinds are currently at 3,000/6,000 with a 500 ante so the bottom three in particular will be looking for a hand to get it in with soon.
4.10pm: Shivan Abdene eliminated in 6th ($4,345)
Just moments after our two big stacks clashed, our two short stacks got it in with Shivan Abdene’s A-Q racing against Jun Lin’s 10s.
The board ran out 2-9-J-8-J and Abdene is our second casualty of the day within the first 10 minutes. At this rate we’re in for a very early finish tonight!
4.05pm: Patrick Healy eliminated in 7th ($3,160)
Well that was unexpected. Play had only just begun here on the final table when our two big stacks clashed in a big way – the result being the shock elimination of Patrick Healy.
The hand began with Healy opening to 20,000 with blinds at 3,000/6,000 and Teng re-raising from the blinds to 60,000. Healy responded by announcing he was all-in and Teng quickly called, rolling over J-J to have Healy’s 7-7 dominated.
The board ran out J-3-4-9-K and Teng is now a massive chip leader with over 550,000.
4.00pm: Final table underway
Welcome back to The Star in Sydney and our coverage of the final table of the PokerMedia Australia $1k 6-handed event as part of the Star Summer Series.
We had 79 runners yesterday with the final 7 returning today to fight it out for the top prize of $23,700.
Stay tuned as we bring you all the updates right here in PokerMedia Australia.
2.45am: Seven remain heading into Day 2
It took 12 hours of play and still we didn’t get down to our final table! The seven remaining players in the PokerMedia Australia $1k 6-max event will return to The Star at 4pm on Monday to fight it out for victory and the $23,700 first prize.
Chip counts are as follows:
Victor Teng – 297,000
Patrick Healy – 238,000
Martin Kozlov – 186,500
Nick Polias – 168,000
Matt Rolfe – 125,500
Jun Lin – 98,500
Shivan Abdene – 77,500
With blinds at 3,000/6,000, there is plenty of work to do for the shorter stacks however we look forward to the clash of styles between the top three stacks – the raw aggression of Victor Teng, the measured patience of Patrick Healy and the analytical brilliance of Martin Kozlov.
We started the day with 79 starters including the likes of Grant Levy, Michael Kanaan, Didier Guerin, Andy Lee, Errolyn Strang and Dean Yuen but none could manage a deep run. Instead, it will be one of the remaining seven to add their name to an honour roll in the PokerMedia Australia Special which includes the likes of Strang and Tony Kambouroglou.
Make sure you follow us here from 4pm this afternoon to catch all the live action from the final table!
2.20am: Reza Vakili eliminated in 8th ($3,160)
Victor Teng opened to 12,000 in late position and was met with a shove for 130,000 out of the big blind from Reza Vakili. Teng called with A-J and Reza couldn’t hit his magical 4 as the board ran out 10-6-2-Q-2.
With that, the tournament staff is calling it a night. We return tomorrow with 7 players remaining – one elimination shy of our official final table – as we play down to our winner.
2.05am: John Thomson eliminated in 9th ($3,160)
John Thomson held on as long as he could but he certainly wasn’t getting away from A-9 when it was folded to him in the small blind. Unfortunately, Shivan Abdene held Q-Q in the big blind and when the board ran out J-8-6-4-8 Thomson was crippled. He was eliminated a few hands later.
1.55am: Ante up
After racing through the final few players to reach the money, we haven’t lost another player since. The remaining nine players are about to see the blinds jump to 3,000/6,000 with a 500 ante.
1.05am: Break time
The nine remaining players are now on a 10-minute break.
12.50am: The bubble bursts
And just like that the bubble has burst! Paul Tartak is our bubble boy but it all happened so fast we missed the majority of the action other than the fact that Matt Rolfe’s A-2 was good on a Q-J-J-7-2 board.
We asked Martin Kozlov to run us through the hand and he replied “I’m not sure either. All I know is that somehow he got it all-in with 10-6 … on the bubble! I have no idea how that happened.”
Either way, we’re down to nine players with all guaranteed at least $3,160.
12.45am: Bubble looms
We’re down to 10 players remaining and are officially on the bubble following the elimination of Jimmy Ghobrial.
Ghobrial shoved his short stack with K-J and was called by Reza Vakili who held 10s. The window card was a 10 but incredibly the dealer spread a 10-Q-A flop to give Ghobrial Broadway. The turn 5 didn’t change anything but the Q on the river paired the board and ensured Ghobrial wouldn’t be making a late charge.
12.25am: Bubble looms
As the clock ticks down to the end of Level 14, we’ve reached our final two tables with 12 players remaining. This also means we are very close to the bubble with nine players making the money.
Blinds are about to hit 1,500/3,000 with a 400 ante and the pressure will be on the short stacks to either find a double soon or at least stay afloat until the bubble bursts.
12.20am: No love for Gov
The sound of chips flying had us rushing over to Table 3 where Ricck Gov and Matt Rolfe were doing battle.
The board read J-5-3-7 and Gov confidently turned over Q-J but he was well behind the A-A of Rolfe and when the river bricked, Rolfe was stacking up a whopping 270,000 while Gov drops back down to 70,000.
The table broke after that hand and ironically the two of them have been seated right next to each other again at their new table.
12.00am: Teng doubles
Victor Teng has a habit of running well here at The Star, having won the NPL500 last year for around $200,000 worth of cash and prizes. He found himself getting a bit short here in the PokerMedia Australia $1k Special but true to form he has just scored a crucial double to move back up to 140,000.
It was race with Teng’s A-Q up against the 7s of Ricky Gov and the Q-8-9-8-A board was all he needed to stay in contention for another title.
11.50pm: Rolfe rampant
Matt Rolfe (pictured) has just won a big pot to eliminate Jackson Zheng and put himself in a great spot to make a run for the title.
Ricky Gov started the action when he opened to 4,500 on the button. Rolfe 3-bet to 12,000 before Zhang 4-bet to 20,500. Gov took his time before folding but Rolfe quickly announced he was all-in.
Zhang called with A-K and was racing against Rolfe’s J-J. The flop hit both players as it came A-J-9 but there were to be no miracle running cards for Zhang and he zoomed out of the tournament area.
Rolfe now sits with 160,000.
11.30pm: Top nine to cash
We’ve just lost another player which means we’re down to 15 and within sight of the money.
The top nine finishers will make a profit tonight with the payouts as follows:
1st – $23,700
2nd – $15,800
3rd – $11,850
4th – $7,900
5th – $5,925
6th – $4,345
7th – $3,160
8th – $3,160
9th – $3,160
11.20pm: Action Jackson
Jackson Zheng had one foot out the door after calling a big river bet from Ricky Gov only to discover the latter had turned Broadway, but he was quickly back on the horse after shoving over Victor Teng’s open for his remaining 28,000.
Teng called with K-Q and was racing against Zheng’s 4s. The board ran out 8-8-3-J-4 and Zheng is back in the mix.
11.10pm: Back in business
Players have just returned from a well earned break with the blinds now at 1,000/2,000 and a 300 ante. There are still 17 remaining.
10.35pm: Getting down to business
We’ve just broken another table which means we’re down to just three tables and 17 players remaining. There are still plenty of notables in the field including Martin Kozlov, Victor Teng, Robert Damelian, Jimmy Ghobrial, George Kambouroglou, Jackson Zheng, Ricky Gov and Geoff Mooney.
10.20pm: Sticky Ricky
Ricky Gov has just won a big pot to eliminate Joseph Selwyn and move into the chip lead.
The action started with Selwyn raising UTG. It was folded around to Gov in the big blind who 3-bet to 10,000. Selwyn then shoved over the top but his A-Q was in huge trouble against the A-K of Gov.
The board ran out A-3-4-8-J and Selwyn is our latest casualty. Gov is up to 140,000 after that hand.
10.15pm: Blind rise
Blinds are up to 800/1,600 with a 200 ante. We have 20 players remaining.
9.55pm: Big stacks
Reza Vakili – 115,000
Nick Polias – 105,000
Matt Rolfe – 100,000
Patrick Healy – 90,000
Joseph Selwyn – 85,000
Ricky Gov – 80,000
Robert Damelian – 75,000
9.30pm: Table of death?
With tables being constantly broken and players moved around to plug the gaps, an interesting table has formed directly in front of our reporting desk with Jackson Zheng, Iori Yogo, Matt Rolfe and Rick Damelian all seated together.
Damelian, of course, was among the last Aussies standing in this year’s WSOP main event, eventually falling in 56th for a handy $123,597 payday. He won’t be winning that much today but no doubt he’ll be hoping to at least boost the kitty a little.
There has certainly been plenty of action at the table. On the most recent hand, Zheng opened to 2,500 UTG before Yogo re-raised to 6,400. Rolfe then shoved for 32,000 with Yogo eventually folding.
9.00pm: We’re back
The players have returned from their break with blinds now at 500/1,000 with a 20 ante. With 31 players left, the average stack is around 38,000 so we’re expecting plenty of action between now and the next break.
8.40pm: Big stacks emerge
As predicted, the rising blinds have kick-started this tournament to life and as we could down towards the end of Level 9 and our third break of the night, we have 33 players remaining from the 79 that started the day. As a result, some notable stacks have started to emerge – none bigger than Victor Teng who is the first to move over 100,000.
The big stacks:
Victor Teng – 110,000
Joseph Selwyn – 85,000
Ricky Gov – 85,000
Reza Vakili – 75,000
Patrick Healy – 60,000
Robert Damelian – 55,000
Nick Polias – 53,000
Jackson Zheng – 40,000
Tolly Sakellariou – 40,000
8.30pm: Lee flees
2011 Star Summer Series champion Andy Lee is our latest casualty, falling at the hands of fellow tournament regular Ricky Gov.
We caught the hand on the turn with Lee shoving on an A-Q-K-Q board and Gov quickly calling. Lee showed Q-10 for trips but needed some help against Gov’s J-10.
The river was an uneventful 7 and Lee is no longer with us. Gov is our new chip leader with 85,000.
8.10pm: Some light entertainment
We’ve just seen a player storm out of the tournament area waving his arms in frustration and yelling abuse at casino staff following a ruling that clearly didn’t make him happy and a result that left him without any chips.
It began with Victor Teng min-raising to 1,200 on the button and our dearly departed announcing raise from the blinds. However, he initially threw in only the 600 required to call before deciding upon the amount to raise, which by The Star’s poker rules means he can only put forward a min-raise.
The dealer insisted he therefore only raise to 2,400 but as Teng quickly pointed out, the min-raise was actually 600 and his opponent was forced to raise it to just 1,800 instead.
Teng was getting great odds to call and quickly shoved holding 7-9 on an 8-10-3 flop. His frustrated opponent pushed his chips in holding A-3 and was surprised to find himself ahead, albeit needing to dodge plenty of outs. The 8 turn was good for him but the 7 river paired Teng and sent him to the rail.
The Star’s tournament staff copped plenty of abuse in the ensuing minutes while Teng sat quietly stacking up his new chips. He is up to just over 40,000.
8.00pm: A breeze for Reza
Reza Vakili has been up and down like a yoyo today. Earlier on he 5-bet shoved with J-9 but his timing was shocking as his opponent snap-called with Aces.
However, he just won a tidy pot at the expense of Grant Levy thanks to a particularly fortunate turn card. The hand began with Vakili opening in late position and Levy 3-betting from the button. Vakili called and they saw a flop of A-2-3.
Vakili check-called a bet of 2,500 from Levy as a K landed on the turn. This time Levy bet 5,350 but after some brief though Vakili announced he was all-in.
“Ahhh, you don’t!” Levy cried out as he contemplated his next move. Someone else noted that Vakili could be bluffing again, but Levy suspected that wasn’t the case and reluctantly folded his hand. Vakili showed K-K for the turned set as he moves up to 38,000.
Levy is back down to 8,500 after that hand.
7.30pm: New level
After some slow going for a while this afternoon, the rising blinds should start to get things going from around about now. With the clock having just ticked over into Level 8, the blinds are now at 300/600 with a 100 ante.
7.10pm: Levy alive
Grant Levy suffered a near fatal blow earlier on today when he bluffed his way through three streets and was called down each time, but he has been steadily building his way back up and now sits on around 30,000 – double his starting stack and comfortably above the average with 49 players remaining.
In the most recent hand, Levy was involved in a 3-way pot on an A-9-7 flop. The early position player led out with both Levy and his other opponent calling. All three players checked the Q turn and 4 river, with Levy’s 8-9 enough to haul in a few more chips.
7.00pm: For whom the bell Tollys
Robert Spano, who finished eighth in the Sydney Championships main event just a few months ago, has fallen victim to an extremely unfortunate cooler at the hands of Tolly Sakellariou.
Both men held A-K as the chips flew pre-flop but when the board ran out all hearts, Sakellariou was raking in a hefty pot with his nut flush. He is up to 35,000.
6.30pm: All air for Jordan
Just as players were heading off on their dinner break, a short-stacked Jordan Westmorland found himself all-in for his tournament life with A-K on an A-high board, but he was drawing dead against the nut flush of Matt Rolfe.
Rolfe has enjoyed a great last half hour having seen his stack move to around 40,000.
6.25pm: Dinner break
Players are now on a 20-minute dinner break. They will resume with blinds up to 200/400 with a 50 ante and 56 players remaining of the 79 that started the day.
6.20pm: Bouskila wins Opening Event
It’s been slow going in the PokerMedia Australia $1k Special but we can report that Michel Bouskila is our Opening Event champion after defeating Maria Martinez heads-up.
Bouskila is well known in local poker circles and has enjoyed a wonderful 2013, having defeated a very tough final table to win the $1,100 6-handed event at the Aussie Millions in January.
He came into the final table as the big stack and looked a class above his rivals as he completely dominated them to emerge victorious in around three-and-a-half hours. Congratulations to Michel on another superb performance.
5.15pm: Notable stacks
Nick Polias – 60,000
Jimmy Ghobrial – 40,000
George Kambouroglou – 32,000
Iori Yogo – 25,000
Victor Teng – 25,000
Patrick Healy – 25,000
Rhys Gould – 23,000
Andy Lee – 20,000
Michael Kanaan – 17,000
Jordan Westmorland – 17,000
Dean Yuen – 16,000
Martin Kozlov – 15,000
Errolyn Strang – 14,000
Grant Levy – 6,000
5.00pm: Tough to trouble Teng
Victor Teng (pictured) has been quietly going about his business and has moved up to 25,000 after aggression in position worked to his advantage.
Patrick Healy limped in the cut-off for 200 with Teng bumping it up to 525. Ismail Ismail called from the blinds and Healy called as well to make it a 3-way pot.
The flop came 7-9-10 and it was checked around to Teng who bet 1,000. Ismail called while Healy folded. The turn was a repeat 7 and both players checked.
When a K landed on the river, Teng bet 1,500 and Ismail tank-called. Teng showed 10-8 for second pair and it was good as Ismail quickly mucked.
4.30pm: Polias piling up
Nick Polias is our chip leader after the first three levels of play with a very healthy 50,000. The well-known tournament regular relayed an interesting hand that really got him going today in which he opened K-9 on the button and was 3-bet by an opponent out of the blinds.
Polias called and they saw a flop of 4-6-7. His opponent c-bet and Polias called. The turn brought a 10 and when his opponent bet, Polias re-raised. His opponent then 3-bet with Polias making the call.
The river came the magical 8 to complete Polias’ straight, the chips went in and his opponent showed K-5 for the smaller straight.
Unfortunately, an attempt by each to level one another turned into quite the cooler for his opponent while Polias finds himself sitting well clear at the top of the chip counts.
4.15pm: Break time
Players are on their first 10 minute break of the day with 73 of the 79 starters remaining.
4.10pm: Opening event nearing its conclusion
While the PokerMedia Australia $1k event chugs along, the final table of the Opening Event has just started with the nine remaining players fighting it out for the $55,773 top prize. The Opening Event is always popular here in Sydney and this week was no exception with 819 players taking their seat across the three Day 1 flights. The final table chip counts are as follows:
Seat 1: Nick Williams – 643,000
Seat 2: Tamer Ozer – 766,000
Seat 3: Michael Bouskila – 1,968,000
Seat 4: Ricky Lim – 1,176,000
Seat 5: Kevin Makita – 593,000
Seat 6: Kevin Khouiss – 599,000
Seat 7: Jim Pizanias – 1,216,000
Seat 8: Maria Martinez – 613,000
Seat 9: Matthew Wakeman – 645,000
We’ll keep you updated on any major developments as the afternoon continues.
4.00pm: Levy on life support
Grant Levy is one of Australia’s most accomplished local tournament players, having become the first Aussie to win $1 million on home soil with his victory in the inaugural APPT Sydney main event in 2007 and his win at ANZPT Perth in 2011.
However, he has some work to do here if he hopes to add the PokerMedia Australia $1k Special trophy to the cabinet.
We just caught Levy firing on every street on an A-2-3-10-5 board, his opponent calling him down all the way with A-J. Levy open-mucked J-9 and is down to 6,000 – although with blinds at 75/150 he still has time to recover.
3.50pm: Yuen flushes them out
Dean Yuen continues to make upward progress, having just won another tidy pot to move to around 28,000.
An opponent opened in late position and Yuen called out of the blinds. The flop came A-4-10 all spades. Yuen check called the flop and the 7h turn before leading out for 3,500 on the 2d river. His opponent tank-called but mucked when Yuen showed 6-8 of spades for the flopped flush.
3.10pm: Field still swelling
A few more notables have taken their seats in the past half hour or so including Grant Levy, Nabil Edgtton, Victor Teng and Tony and George Kambouroglou.
We’re up to 73 starters.
3.00pm: Guerin forced to fold
Didier Guerin has just taken a hit after being forced to make a tough fold at the hands of 2012 Sydney Championships main event winner Dean Yuen (pictured).
We sauntered past with the board reading Q-J-7-10 and Guerin leading for 1,000. Yuen made the call and the river came a repeat Q. This time Guerin bet 2,600 and after a brief pause Yuen raised to 11,000.
Guerin let out an audible groan and after going into the tank for around a minute he eventually mucked. Yuen flashed a Q to which Guerin said “Don’t show me that! That’s the worst thing you can show me!”
Yuen is up to almost 20,000 after that hand with Guerin slipping below his 15,000 start stack.
2.35pm: Big names arriving
After playing for around 10 minutes with just one or two players at each table we saw a sudden rush as the tables began to fill and some of the bigger names of the local poker scene made their fashionably late entrance.
Among those in today’s field are Didier Guerin, former Star Summer Series main event champion Andy Lee, ANZPT Player of the Year Ioro Yogo, Jackson Zheng, Errolyn Strang, Michael Kanaan, Dean Yuen, Rhys Gould and Martin Kozlov who has recently returned home following a very successful trip in which he finished ninth at EPT London and made the final table of a WSOP-Europe event.
The field has now swelled to 67 players and counting.
2.15pm: Cards are in the air
We’re underway in Event 2 of the 2013 Star Summer Series – the PokerMedia Australia $1k Special.
Welcome to the Star Summer Series!
Welcome to PokerMedia Australia and our coverage of the PokerMedia Australia $1k Special live from The Star in Sydney.
The $1k Special is the second event on the calendar of this year’s Star Summer Series which for the first time has joined forces with both the National Poker League (NPL) and the Asian Poker Tour (APT) to create what should be one of the biggest tournament fields ever seen in NSW and a prize pool of well over $1 million for the main event which starts on Thursday.
In the meantime, though, we’re pleased to bring you all of today’s action in the PokerMedia Australia $1k Special. This is the sixth time we’ve enjoyed naming rights to the $1k event here at The Star but just the second time it has been run as a 6-max event following its debut at the Sydney Championships a few months back.
Being the action junkies that we are, we love the 6-max format which inevitable creates plenty of action.
This event has typically seen players register late and although the board currently tells us there are 41 starters, it’s already double the number we had 15 minutes ago and the tournament staff are confident of closing in on 100 in the coming hour or so.
Stay tuned to PokerMedia Australia today as we bring you all the action live in the PokerMedia Australia $1k Special.
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