Dykes leads at the end of Day 1C; that’s a wrap!
Cut, print, strike the set – Day 1C is in the can!
The final Day 1 flight of the WPTDeepStacks Sydney Opening Event promised to be big and it delivered on all fronts, starting with 485 entries for a grand total of 1,204 and a prize pool worth $812,700.
Leading at the end of today’s session was Peter Dykes, who bagged 376,000, followed closely by David Tarbet (372,000) who was on the Star Poker Sydney feature table throughout much of the evening session.
Australian Poker Mindset maestro Brendon Rubie finished third overall with 313,000, while Richard Davis (300,000) and Jerry Wang (295,000) rounded out our top five.
Other notables to have also made it through to Day 2 include Ricky Kroesen, Shivan Abdine, Michael Culibrk, Yita Choong, Lawrence Stephenson, Janet Wyvil and Brandon Bailey, who was on the right end of a four-way all-in that resulted in scoring a triple KO.
In all, 72 players bagged up after today’s flight, bringing our total number of survivors to 187. The Day 2 seat draw and finalised payouts will be published tomorrow morning.
Thank you once again for joining us here at PokerMedia Australia! Be sure to keep your browsers locked onto pokermedia.com.au as we continue our coverage throughout the entire WPTDeepStacks Sydney series, including our first double-header: Day 2 of the Opening Event at 11:30am AEDT and Day 1 of the $1,100 NLH from 3:30pm.
Until then, from all of us here at The Star Sydney, it’s ‘bye for now!
Just Lin time
“I don’t wanna come back with this short stack!”
Those were the words of Jianwei Lin as he went all in with merely minutes until the close of play; Lin moved his last 64,000 into the middle pre-flop and his 4♠4♦ was met with a call by Jerry Wang in the big blind who held A♥10♣.
The board ran out 6♦J♠6♠7♠5♦ to give Lin the double – and with that, Day 1C is now complete! Stay with us as we bring you the wrap-up of today’s proceedings.
| Jianwei Lin | 136,000 |
| Jerry Wang | 295,000 |
De Gail forced through to Day 2
Nursing a very short stack, Pete De Gail thought it was time to go home, but a miracle river card saw him double up in the last hand of the day at his table.
De Gail went all-in before the flop with A♠6♦ and found himself in bad shape against Dylan Garland’s A♦9♣.
A flop and turn of 3♣Q♥3♦8♣ gave hope of a “chop-ortunity”, but the river 6♣ saw him scoop the whole pot!
| Pete De Gail | 67,000 |
| Dylan Garland | 262,000 |
Uno KO
There was very little movement leading up to the final three hands of the day, but once the floor staff paused the clock, it was on for young and old.
Uno Uka was one of the first to go, moving all-in pre-flop for his last 100,000. After much deliberation, Stephen Panourakis found the call with A♣3♥ and was satisfied to see he was at least ahead of Uka’s K♠J♦.
The board proved no help to Uka as it ran out Q♥2♣Q♦Q♠3♠ and Panourakis padded his stack in preparation for Day 2.
| Stephen Panourakis | 214,000 |
| Uno Uka | BUSTED! |
Level 15: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Bailey’s please … make it a triple!
Over on Brandon Bailey’s table, the player under the gun raised before Bailey ripped in his stack from middle position. Daniel Benivento then short-called all-in from late position before the player in the big blind also jammed the rest of stack into the middle.
Everyone stood up quickly and a crowd of players from from adjacent tables swarmed to witness all the hands being tabled.
Benivento: Q♥Q♦
Bailey: J♠J♥
Big Blind: 7♠7♥
UTG: 6♥6♣
Flop: J♦Q♣3♠. Set over set.
Turn: 4♦. No change.
River: J♣. TRIPLE KO!
“YESSSSSS, C’MON BABY, LET’S GO!” Bailey cried, pumping his fists in celebration before quickly recomposing himself.
“Dude, I’m sorry,” Bailey said. “That’s just so sick.”
Benivento managed a weak smile as they shook hands.
“What can you do there?” he replied. “That’s just a bad beat.”
| Brandon Bailey | 258,000 |
| Daniel Benivento | BUSTED! |
O, Hai!
Hai Vu was the beneficiary of a tough cooler, getting it all in with K♥K♦ and was in good shape against his opponent’s 8♦8♣ pre-flop, but the dealer spiced things up as the flop came down 10♦8♠A♥.
The turn of 5♠ meant that Vu had two outs going into the river; not a worry though, as the K♣ peeled off on the river to eliminate the unknown adversary.
Vu then scored another big knockout, eliminating Mark Lasarow after he called him off with A♥4♥ before rivering two pair on a board of 10♠J♠7♠A♦4♥ against Lasarow who missed his gut-shot despite pairing up on the flop with his K♥J♥
| Hai Vu | 234,000 |
| Mark Lasarow | BUSTED! |
Level 14: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Mansour it through to the river
Just before the end of this level, Elias Mansour got all of his chips into the middle pre-flop against Bert Perry’s 10♥9♥ with his own A♥K♣.
The board ran out 5♥4♣7♠6♠A♦ giving Mansour’s chip count a nice upgrade and sending Perry to the rail.
| Elias Mansour | 77,000 |
| Bert Perry | BUSTED! |
Last round!
Action is moving thick and fast in the Star Poker Room, with cash game and satellite tables filling up almost as quickly as our tournament tables are being broken down. Yong Cheong Foo, Fan Li and Zhi Han Neo have now put themselves up there in our top five, but it’s Brendon Rubie who now leads with almost 300,000!
Three more 30-minute levels and then we’ll bag and tag for the night.
Top five chip counts
| Name | Chips |
| Brendon Rubie | 295,000 |
| Peter Dykes | 260,000 |
| Yong Cheong Foo | 232,000 |
| Fan Li | 210,000 |
| Zhi Han Neo | 210,000 |
Level 13: 1,500/3,000 (3,000)
Break time!
Players are now on their last 10-minute break of the day.
Late double for Wyvil
Janet Wyvil is now back in black after getting a double-up through Michael Kanaan.
Wyvil picked up A♠A♣ and shoved pre-flop, well ahead of Kanaan who called with A♦Q♠; despite spiking a Queen on the flop of 9♠5♥Q♣, Wyvil held after the turn and river bricked 9♠, 5♥.
| Janet Wyvil | 42,500 |
| Michael Kanaan | 85,000 |
LoRusso returns
After being taken out earlier in the day, Joseph LoRusso fired his second shell and was again on a downward trend until he doubled through Michael Fraser.
Action folded around to the player in the hijack position who raised pre-flop before Fraser called from the cutoff, only to then see LoRusso shove from the big blind. The hijack folded and Fraser called.
LoRusso: 7♦7♣
Fraser: 5♥4♥
LoRusso improved to a set after the flop of 7♥4♦Q♥, but although Fraser took the lead when the K♥ fell on the turn, the river Q♣ gave LoRusso the full house.
| Joseph LoRusso | 50,000 |
| Michael Fraser | 75,000 |
Hooky hooky, choppy choppy
“Oh, my God! Are you KIDDING ME?!”
The cry went up from Table 31 and our crew rushed over to see all the players standing and staring at the board, completely aghast as to what had transpired between Pratik Mehta and Tom Hulley.
All the money was in the middle pre-flop; Mehta was at risk holding A♦Q♠ against the A♠K♠ of Hulley, but remarkably, the dealer brought down all four Jacks across the board of J♥J♦J♠J♣8♠.
“That’s the second time he’s spread quads!” said another player, pointing at the dealer.
No loss of tournament life here. Split it!
| Pratik Mehta | 71,000 |
| Tom Hulley | 115,000 |
Level 12: 1,500/2,500 (2,500)
Ta-ta, Tatarian
Michael Culibrk has now moved past 100,000 in chips after taking out Harout Tatarian.
Tatarian moved all-in before the flop holding A♦K♣, but Culibrk had him dominated with his K♥K♦, with the board running clean 9♥5♣9♠4♣4♦.
| Michael Culibrk | 105,000 |
| Harout Tatarian | BUSTED! |
Dykes’ deuce crushes Clotuche
J.B. Clotuche has been confirmed as one of our most eliminations, busted by Peter Dykes who by our counts is now first past the 200K-chip mark.
Clotuche moved all-in before the flop for 24,000 holding 7♥7♣ and found himself in a do-or-die flip against Dykes, who called before tabling A♥Q♣.
Clotuche kept the lead after the flop of 5♣4♠10♦, but Dykes stood up and leaned over after the 3♥ appeared on the turn.
“Deuce!” cried Dykes.
The dealer peeled out the 2♠ to complete the wheel. Bink!
| Peter Dykes | 245,000 |
| J.B. Clotuche | BUSTED! |
Level 11: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Glee for Clee
Josh Emerton is now off for an early dinner after being eliminated by Terence Clee.
Although the PMA protégé was up to as much as 102,900 at the second break, Emerton was crippled in an earlier hand before moving the last of it into the middle with 7♣6♣.
Clee called him off, tabling A♠J♦.
“I’m here to donate to everyone, it’s my civic duty!” Clee remarked.
The flop of 8♦8♣5♣ was quite charitable, but there was nothing else for Emerton after the turn and river repeated Q♥, Q♦.
| Terence Clee | 97,500 |
| Josh Emerton | BUSTED! |
Fraser lasers Evans
Matt Evans has ended his run in the Opening Event after being taken down by Michael Fraser.
Down to just 11,900 in chips, Evans put them all on the line holding Q♥10♦ and found himself up against Fraser’s A♦8♥, but with neither hand improving on the J♦6♦2♥5♦9♣ board, Evans was permanently felted.
| Michael Fraser | 48,700 |
| Matt Evans | BUSTED! |
Level 10: 800/1,600 (1,600)
Stott puts a stop to Simpson
After being moved onto Table 31 during this level, Keanu Simpson has just been eliminated by Peter Stott.
In an earlier hand, Bert Perry raised to 2,500 from under the gun and Elias Mansour called from middle position before Simpson three-bet it to 8,000 from the cutoff. Perry then ripped in the rest of his stack, forcing Mansour out of the way before Simpson made the call.
Simpson: J♥J♣
Perry: A♠K♥
Simpson held his lead across the flop and turn of 10♠4♥7♠2♠, but the A♦ crippled him down to around 10,000 in chips, which he moved in a few hands later with A♣7♣.
Dhanesh Chainani went in over the top with 6♠6♥, but Peter Stott found himself well ahead, calling with 10♦10♣ with no change after the dealer spread the board of K♥8♠2♣4♠4♣.
| Peter Stott | 84,200 |
| Bert Perry | 67,000 |
| Dhanesh Chainani | 47,300 |
| Keanu Simpson | BUSTED! |
Stack ’em to the top!
The WPTDeepStacks Sydney Opening Event is now locked out and as predicted, it’s a stellar result for The Star Sydney: 1,204 entries, which gives us a prize pool worth $812,700!
After crunching the numbers with WPT Live Events Specialist Danny McDonagh, it’s estimated that the top prize will be around the $135,000 mark, however we’ll have the final figures for you from Star Poker Sydney prior to the start of Day 2 tomorrow.
Top five chip counts
| Name | Chips |
| Peter Dykes | 185,000 |
| Paul Hoang | 143,000 |
| Edwin Chiu | 132,000 |
| Richard Davis | 128,000 |
| ‘Sheldon’ | 124,000 |
Level 9: 600/1,200 (1,200)
Break time
Our remaining players are now on a 10-minute break. Back soon!
Vasquez the conqueror
Andres Vasquez has just picked himself up a double KO, with Scott Wilson one of the casualties in one of the last hands of this level.
Vasquez and another unknown player went heads-up to a sidepot of Q♣3♠J♥, which they both checked; Vasquez opened for 2,000 when a second Q♦ came down on the turn and the other player called called before folding to Vasquez’s bet of 7,000 on the river of the 9♥.
The first all-in player turned over K♠4♣, trailing Wilson’s K♦5♣, but Vasquez had them both covered after rolling up Q♥3♦.
| Scott Wilson | BUSTED! |
Barba seals up Curly
Pat Barba has found a stroke of birthday luck against South Australian poker stalwart Emanuel ‘Curly’ Seal.
Both players got their chips in pre-flop and Barba found himself as the underdog with A♦Q♣, versus Seal’s A♣K♦, but the board of Q♥4♦3♥4♥5♥
| Patrick Barba | 70,000 |
| Emanuel Seal | BUSTED! |
Sandi coming in waves
Sandi Sandi has found himself a clean double at the expense of Leo Kamiya, who is still sitting pretty with just under 100,00 in chips.
Sandi got it in pre-flop with K♦K♣ and found a caller from Kamiya with A♥Q♠; Kamiya picked up a wheel draw after the flop, but with repeat sixes coming down fourth and fifth streets on the 2♠3♥4♦6♣6♥ board, Sandi scooped the pot to survive.
| Sandi Sandi | 50,700 |
| Leo Kamiya | 98,000 |
Level 8: 500/1,000 (1,000)
‘Burny’ goes busto
Mark Burns’ tournament life has been ended after he got himself smashed by Matt Evans before surrendering the last of his stack to Lie Tjhai.
The PMA Live Reporting Team picked up the action on a flop between Evans and Burns on a flop of 10♥9♠5♦; Evans checked to Burns who opened before Evans came back with a check-shove worth 12,400. Burns called, showing down Q♣10♣, but Evans’ K♥K♦ held all the way as the board ran out 7♠, 6♣.
A short time later, Burns shoved his last 5,000 into the middle with Q♠9♣ before the flop, but Tjhai called him off with A♠J♦, with neither hand improving on the K♦3♥7♦4♣3♠ board.
| Mark Burns | BUSTED! |
Yita cops a runner-runner
Yita Choong has just taken a hit against Tommy Han as we head into towards the halfway mark of today’s Opening Event Day 1 flight.
Choong and Han found themselves all-in after a flop of 8♠J♦8♦, with Han’s 4♦3♦ looking for assistance against Choong’s Q♠Q♥.
Han got the handout after the dealer repeated the turn and river 3♥, 3♠ to give him the full house!
| Tommy Han | 33,000 |
| Yita Choong | 23,000 |
Level 7: 400/800 (800)
McLean-ed out
Troy McLean has also been taken out of the Opening Event, with Michael Fraser delivering a huge haymaker before Leo Kamiya landed the killer blow.
In earlier action, it folded around to Fraser who raised from the small blind with A♦Q♣, only to then see McLean jam from the big blind to 9♠9♥, however Fraser won the flip after the board was spread 6♦7♣A♣3♠K♦.
Left with just 600 in chips, McLean threw them into the middle in the very next hand, but although he picked up a flush draw on the 6♦8♠K♦2♥K♣ board, Kamiya had him covered with Q♥Q♦.
| Leo Kamiya | 98,000 |
| Michael Fraser | 32,000 |
| Troy McLean | BUSTED! |
Uno does tres-ple!
Having also come through as one of today’s new arrivals from the Sunshine State, Dylan Wayne has taken a hit against Uno Uka.
After a raise from the player under gun, Wayne called from +1 before action folded around to Uka who jammed for his last 8,500 from the button. Paul Yang then shoved over the top from the small blind, which prompted an exasperated “I did this to myself!” from Wayne before he made the call.
Wayne: J♠J♥
Yang: 10♠10♥
Uka: A♠Q♣
Board: A♥6♠9♠5♠9♣
With Uka the bigger of the two short stacks, he scored the triple up while Yang took his leave.
| Dylan Wayne | 42,000 |
| Uno Uka | 27,000 |
| Paul Yang | BUSTED! |
Level 6: 300/600 (600)
Barba’s birthday blues
It hasn’t been the ideal start to Patrick Barba’s birthday, with the Melbourne young gun now having fired his second bullet into the Opening Event.
As Barba recalled through the PMA Discord’s #submit-a-hand text channel, Barba got his last 11,600 into the middle with pocket Jacks on the turn after the dealer spread a board of K♦10♦3♦J♥, but ran smack-bang into the nut flush of his opponent who tabled A♦Q♦.
Barba was unable to pair the board to fill up. Time to reload!
| Patrick Barba | 25,000* |
Notable chip counts
The Star Poker Room is now full to burst, with overflow into the adjacent cash game zone as the field now moves past 400 total entries for today’s flight! Antoine Follet and Patrick Barba are just some of the new faces in the crowd, with four more levels of late registration still available.
| Name | Chips |
| Dylan Warnke | 134,500 |
| Brendon Rubie | 85,000 |
| Elisa Onay | 60,000 |
| John Yacoub | 57,000 |
| Ennaria Rourke | 50,000 |
| Michael O’Grady | 49,000 |
| Peco Stojanovski | 46,000 |
| Cristian Molina | 41,000 |
| Graham Cowan | 38,000 |
| Simon Wahesh | 36,000 |
| Scott Wilson | 33,000 |
| Jeremy Steel | 31,000 |
| Carlos Youssef | 28,000 |
| Martin Boersma | 25,000 |
| Jon Portelli | 23,000 |
| Martin Finger | 23,000 |
| Uno Uka | 19,000 |
| Kai Yeung | 17,000 |
| Janet Wyvil | 13,000 |
Level 5: 300/500 (400)
Break it up
Time for a 20-minute break – we’ll have some chippies for you when we come back.
You ripper!
Australian Poker Mindset’s Brendon Rubie is back in action – and in contention – after getting a big double up in one of the last hands before the break.
Janet Wyvil was kind enough to capture the action on video and send it through the PMA Live Reporting Team, which saw Rubie ripping in his last 29,500 after the river with the board showing 5♣A♥8♥9♣K♦.
His opponent took about three minutes to mull it over before flicking in a single chip to call, but quickly folded after Rubie tabled 7♥6♥ for the straight.
| Brendon Rubie | 60,000 |
Double busto for LoRusso
Joseph LoRusso continues to dominate, scoring a double KO as action continues in the last level of this stanza.
All the money was in the middle after the turn on a board that read 6♦8♣3♥10♠; Liu had turned two pair with his 10♣8♠ and ahead of Foster’s K♦K♣, but both players trailed LoRusso who had flopped a set with his 6♠6♥.
The river A♣ completed the board to give LoRusso a very nice increase to his stack. Seats open!
| Joseph LoRusso | 69,000 |
| Andrew Liu | BUSTED! |
| Roland Foster | BUSTED! |
Level 4: 200/400 (400)
Payday for Onay
As Ricky Kroesen, Bert Perry and Brandon Bailey all came in to late-reg for today’s flight, Alex ’42’ Falon headed to the exits after being taken out by Elisa Onay.
Our reporter picked up the action with Alex Falon all-in pre-flop, with Onay and Marcel Dias heading into a sidepot on a flop of J♣5♥2♦. Onay moved in for her last 2,100 and Dias made the call.
Onay: 10♠10♦
Falon: A♥K♥
Dias: K♦Q♦
Nothing changed after the turn and river of 6♣, 5♣, giving Onay the triple-up and Falon his marching orders.
| Elisa Onay | 43,000 |
| Marcel Dias | 24,000 |
| Alex Falon | BUSTED! |
Fotakis felted
Fotis Fotakis has been eliminated after Peco ‘The Magician’ Stojanovski made most of his chips disappear before having the rest taken by Janet Wyvil.
In an earlier hand, Fotakis got his money in pre-flop holding J♠J♠ and found himself flipping against Stojanovski’s A♦Q♦, but the dealer spread the board of 8♥Q♥8♣K♠2♥ to give Stojanovski a big double-up.
Some time passed before action folded around to Wyvil who opened from the button; Fotakis three-bet from the small blind and Wyvil called before she raised after Fotis led out on the Q♦A♣7♦ flop.
Fotis shoved and Wyvil insta-called.
Fotakis: Q♥Q♣
Wyvil: A♦4♥
Incredibly, the turn and river came running 8♦, 9♦ to give Wyvil the nut flush, sending Fotakis to the rail.
| Janet Wyvil | 40,000 |
| Peco Stojanovski | 40,000 |
| Fotis Fotakis | BUSTED! |
Level 3: 200/300 (300)
Feature creatures
As the Opening Event field moves past 1,000 total entries, it’s now time to introduce today’s starting line-up on the Star Poker Sydney RFID feature table, headlined by Queensland poker veteran Omer Silajdzija and Sydney young gun C.J. We.
Be sure to tune in at twitch.tv/StarPokerAu to watch all the action along with PMA‘s Live Reporting coverage all day long!
Feature table starting line-up
| Seat | Name |
| 1 | Conrad Wolfgramm |
| 2 | Richard Oliver |
| 3 | Andrew White |
| 4 | Andrew Tran |
| 5 | Michael Seymour |
| 6 | Omer Silajdzija |
| 7 | Steven Huynh |
| 8 | Ding Xiang |
| 9 | C.J. We |
Warnke warming up
Although he had a rough time of it in yesterday’s Opening Event, Dylan Warnke’s fortunes have changed for the better today, well past the 100K-mark already as we head into Level 2.
Earlier, two players in the UTG and +2 positions limped in and action folded to Warnke who raised from the lo-jack. The player on the button and the UTG player called, but the +2 player re-raised to 1,400.
Everyone else called, making it four-handed to a flop of J-Q-3 with two spades; the early position players both checked and Warnke opened for 2,000. Only the +2 player called and then they fired 6,000 after the 5♠ appeared on the turn.
Warnke tank-called, then took another five minutes to deliberate after +2 opened for 10,500 on the river J♦. Warnke showed down A-Q for two pair, which was best against the opponent’s pocket tens.
Since then, Warnke has picked up three bust-outs to move up to more than 150,000 in chips. Weeeeee!
Level 2: 100/200 (200)
LoRusso gets busy
Although they’re running solo today, the original PokerMedia Australia “dream team” – Kai Yeung and Josh Emerton – are both in action here in today’s flight.
Emerton is currently seated up on Table 31 and adjacent to the PMA Live Reporting Desk, so naturally he’s already relayed us some action via our Discord server.
From under the gun, Adrian Pacheco opened for 400 and action folded to Joseph LoRusso who three-bet to 900 from the hijack position before Roland Foster fired out a cold four-bet worth 3,300 from the big blind.
Pacheco mucked and LoRusso called, so it was heads-up to the flop of 5♣Q♦A♠, where Foster opened for 3,100. LoRusso called and then shoved after Foster’s bet of 7,200 on the turn of the 4♣. Foster snap-called.
Foster: A♥Q♣
LaRosso: 5♠5♥
The river 7♦ completed the board to give LoRusso the scoop.
All over the shop
The Opening Event Day 1C field is already up to 252 entries and counting, with more and more players on the way from across the country – some flying in as early as this morning just to get amongst the action.
There’s plenty of big names from the Sunshine State in today’s field, led by Mina Gerges, Charles Chia, Jimmy Ghobrial, Hasian Hyde and Faraz Ayyaz, who all flew in last night; word on the street is that Ricky Kroesen has also just landed in Sydney and is also en route to The Star.
Other notables in the field including Melbourne’s own Scott Wilson, along with Sydneysiders Toby Giles, Elisa Onay, Mai Ha and Uno Uka.
Amalgamate and allocate!
Star Poker Sydney floor staff have given the order to shuffle up and deal and we are now officially underway for Day 1C!
Level 1: 100/100 (100)
Light ’em up!
From wherever you are watching in Australia, New Zealand or around the world – good morning and welcome back to The Star Sydney for Day 1C of the WPTDeepStacks Sydney Opening Event!
Although today is April Fools’ Day, things are about to get serious here in the Star Poker Room as we’re expecting upwards of 450 entries for this flight and only 17 more needed after that to reach a total prize pool of more than $800,000.
Numbers across the board are sure to be further bolstered by another initiative that has been introduced as part of the World Poker Tour Season XX celebrations: the WPT Player of the Festival (POF) programme.
Much in the same vein as other Player of the Series leader board schemes, the WPT POF system weights points awarded based on two variables: the total prize pool for each event, and the buy-in category. Players must register an ITM result in one of the eligible scheduled tournaments in order to claim POF points.
The winner of the WPTDeepStacks Sydney POF title will receive a WPT Passport to the approximate value of AUD $5,400 – enough to freeroll your way into the 2022 WPT Australia Main Event, which PokerMedia Australia understands will be held at The Star Gold Coast in September (subject to regulatory approval).
TERMS & CONDITIONS: WPTDeepStacks Sydney Player of the Festival Promotion
This will definitely help to ignite some fireworks across the felt over the next two weeks, so strap yourselves in for another massive day of action as PMA brings you all the updates here on our Live Reporting blog and alongside The Star Sydney’s feature table broadcast on Twitch. See you soon!
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