Van Nguyen leads after QPC Sydney Main Event Day 1A; that’s a wrap!
And just like that, Day 1A of the WPT League Sydney QPC Main Event has come to close!
From the 165 total entries taken in today, 31 players have bagged through to Day 2 on Sunday. Van Nguyen sealed up the most with 891,000, followed by Grael Won, who found a couple of big scalps late in the day to finish with 665,000.
Franceso Riservato (407,000), George Kanan (406,000) and Domenic Galati (400,000) round out the official top five for this flight.
Other notables to have survived include Jai Duffy, Suzy Khouiss, Michelle Psarras, Uno Uka, David Rodwell, Mele Poulivaati, Justin Wong, Chad Awerbuch and three-time QPC Sydney ring winner Arsn Younadem.
WPT LEAGUE SYDNEY QPC MAIN EVENT – END OF DAY 1A CHIP COUNTS
| Van Nguyen | 891,000 |
| Grael Won | 665,000 |
| Francesco Riservato | 407,000 |
| George Kanan | 406,000 |
| Domenic Galati | 400,000 |
| Raymond Quach | 378,000 |
| Karam Bahi | 346,000 |
| Jai Duffy | 335,000 |
| Habib Chamma | 331,000 |
| Leon Sadr | 330,000 |
| Suzy Khoueis | 326,000 |
| Michelle Psarras | 316,000 |
| Elias Mansour | 288,000 |
| Arsn Younadem | 265,000 |
| David Rodwell | 251,000 |
| Daniel Adamietz | 221,000 |
| Adrian Pacheco | 219,000 |
| Uno Uka | 215,000 |
| Brian Campbell | 183,000 |
| Cameron Chen | 177,000 |
| Steven Huynh | 164,000 |
| Jason Wassef | 152,000 |
| Mele Poulivaati | 137,000 |
| Jayden Zalac | 134,000 |
| Justin Wong | 127,000 |
| Yu Han | 125,000 |
| Mick Shelton | 120,000 |
| Chad Awerbuch | 112,000 |
| Sleiman Ghani | 94,000 |
| Stone Tuiono | 90,000 |
| Ram Lakshmanasamy | 49,000 |
Thank you so much for following along with our coverage today and we hope to see you back at the Pavilion tomorrow night at 6pm AEST for Day 1B. Until then, from all of us here at PMA, it’s ‘bye for now!
Shmail railed
With the action as frenetic as it has been throughout the entire Day 1A session, we were expecting some huge swings towards the end of the night, but this one was HUGE!
While we weren’t able to catch all of the action, what we did see was Van Nguyen piling up stacks after his A-Qo held up against Shmail Michael’s 10-8s to increase his share of the currency to almost 900,000 and end Shmail’s run in today’s flight.
And after Habib Chenna took out another opponent over on Table 1, Pavilion Poker Room head honcho Bruno Rao paused the clock and called for three more hands before our remaining players bagged and tagged. Back soon with tonight’s wrap!
Level 14: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Smooth sailing for Sadr
Just as the blinds ticked over to the final level of the night, action folded around to Cameron Chen on the feature table who raised to 15,000 from the button; Leon Sadr defended his big blind, then check-called to Chen’s c-bet of 12,000 after the flop of 5♣3♣5♦.
Sadr then led out for 25,000 after the turn of the 10♣ and Chen called before the action repeated after Sadr’s bet of 37,000 on the river Q♦.
Sadr rolled up 9♣5♠ for trips, which was more than enough to scoop the pot.
| Leon Sadr | 270,000 |
| Cameron Chen | 220,000 |
Channa’s got chippies
Habib Channa has just sent Frank ‘The Tank’ to the trail to move up to 240,000 as we approach the final level of Day 1A.
‘The Tank’ jammed the last of his stack in with J♥9♣ and found himself up against the A♣7♥ of Channa, but the dealer spread the board of K♣6♥10♥4♠A♥ to keep Channa ahead the whole way.
| Habib Channa | 240,000 |
| Frank ‘The Tank’ | BUSTED! |
Level 13: 2,000/5,000 (5,000)
QPC ROUND-UP – Event #3: Reload
Let him eat cake! Nicholas Antoinette joined Ali Alzuhairy and Michelle Psarras in the QPC Sydney winner’s circle after taking down the $60 buy-in Reload, topping a field of 110 runners to secure his Main Event seat plus $1,725 in prize money. This event also marked Alzuhairy’s second cash of the series.
WPT LEAGUE SYDNEY QPC RELOAD ($60 buy-in, 110 entries, 12 players paid)*
| Place | Name | Amount |
| 1 | Nicholas Antoinette | $1,725* |
| 2 | Na’amalanga Pupungatoa | $1,550* |
| 3 | Ali Aria | $1,025 |
| 4 | Wyn Pham | $750 |
| 5 | Geetinder Singh | $550 |
| 6 | Nemanja Todorovic | $400 |
| 7 | Lucky Legato | $280 |
| 8 | George Esber | $200 |
| 9 | Tony Shalalo | $150 |
Sweet as!
Dominic Galati has now rocketed up the counts after taking out another player as we head towards the final 10-minute break of the night.
Our reporter caught the final results as Galati raked in the pot; the all-in player had got his money in pre-flop holding Q♥Q♦, but despite picking up the gut-shot straight draw on the flop of 7♦8♣10♦, Galati’s A♠A♥ held after the turn and river 4♥, 10♠ completed the board.
| Dominic Galati | 354,000 |
Level 12: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
QPC ROUND-UP – Event #2: Bounty
A fair bit of deja vu going around at the moment, especially with Michelle Psarras’ signature victory pose!
Fresh from her victory in the WPTDeepStacks Sydney Opening Event, “The Harbour City Queen” claimed her first QPC ring after taking out the $175 buy-in Bounty Event, chopping the cash with Shiwan PK Mahmud and taking the bonus Main Event seat.
Two WPT titles in the space of a month … that’s pretty good!
WPT LEAGUE SYDNEY QPC BOUNTY ($175 buy-in, 183 entries, 19 players paid)*
| Place | Name | Amount |
| 1 | Michelle Psarras | $3,687* |
| 2 | Shiwan PK Mahmud | $3,687* |
| 3 | Amy Brown | $2,300 |
| 4 | Mick Shelton | $1,500 |
| 5 | Julie Cosby | $1,100 |
| 6 | Amjed Slewa | $800 |
| 7 | Sam Papadimatos | $600 |
| 8 | Cao Tran | $500 |
| 9 | Hani Stepho | $600 |
Didn’t we see this before?
“Hey, where’s that reporter? This is the one you wanna see!”
The PMA crew hopped back up to the feature table stage, where we saw Leon Sadr all-in pre-flop and at risk against Dinh Pham.
It was yet another uber-cooler – Pham with the K♥K♣ and Sadr with the A♠A♥ – with only their respective chip counts after the dealer spread the board of 7♦7♥3♥2♥10♣ to see Sadr double through.
| Leon Sadr | 210,000 |
| Dinh Pham | 42,000 |
Level 11: 1,500/3,000 (3,000)
QPC ROUND-UP – Event #1: Single Bullet
Time now to bring you the first of the WPT League Sydney QPC results, starting with the $150 buy-in Single Bullet Opening Event, which brought in a total of 235 entries and more than doubled the $15,000 guarantee.
Ali Alzuhairy shipped the first ring of the series, defeating Adi Dahari heads-up to pocket more than $7,000 in prize money and a QPC Main Event seat.
WPT LEAGUE SYDNEY QPC SINGLE BULLET ($150 buy-in, 235 entries, 25 players paid)*
| Place | Name | Amount |
| 1 | Ali Alzuhairy | $7,075 |
| 2 | Adi Dahari | $5,000 |
| 3 | Marianne Crane | $3,500 |
| 4 | Jorge Perfilio | $2,600 |
| 5 | Zoran Janjetovic | $1,450 |
| 6 | David Nguyen | $1,150 |
| 7 | Sam Hermon | $950 |
| 8 | Austin Murphy | $750 |
| 9 | Bojan Mocic | $600 |
Buraga busto
Massive hand over on Table 3 with Shmail Michael eliminating Jerry Buraga in brutal fashion as action continues in the WPT League Sydney QPC Main Event.
All the money was in the middle before the flop in a classic uber-cooler; Buraga held the K♦K♣, however Michael had him crushed with the A♥A♦.
Neither hand improved on the board of 9♦J♥4♥3♣Q♦ and with that, Michael’s stack moved up to almost 700,000!
| Shmail Michael | 690,000 |
| Jerry Buraga | BUSTED! |
Level 10: 1,500/2,500 (2,500)
Uno stacko
Another big bust-out, this time on Table 11 and in the form of Nurlan Boobekov, who was taken out by Uno Uka.
Boobekov got the last of his stack into the middle pre-flop with J♠J♦, but lost the flip for his tournament life after Uka’s A♦Q♣ hit top pair on the board of A♥8♠3♦9♥4♣.
| Uno Uka | 67,000 |
| Nurlan Boobekov | BUSTED! |
Damn, van!
Van Nguyen has rocketed up the chip counts after eliminating Majid Saab on Table 10.
Our reporter caught the action as the players were going to showdown after getting their chips into the middle on a flop of 5♣8♦9♦; Saab was at risk holding J♦7♥, but Nguyen rolled over K♠9♠ for top pair.
Nguyen then improved to two pair with a repeat 5♥ on the turn, which held after the river bricked out in the form of the 3♣.
| Van Nguyen | 345,000 |
| Majid Saab | BUSTED! |
Level 9: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Hungry for more
Feature Table
After a lull in the action across the felt, things have started to pick up again, and Arsn Younadem found himself the midst of a purple patch as we headed into the next break of the night.
In earlier action, action folded around to Ram Lakshmanasamy who open-shoved from the cut-off; Younadem called him off from the big blind and found that he was ahead with A♣Q♦ against Lakshmanasamy’s K♠10♠, but lost the fight after the dealer spread the board of 8♥5♣3♣6♥10♥.
Younadem sighed dramatically as he pushed over the doubling chips to the dealer.
“Come on, man!” Lakshmanasamy quipped. “Why are you upset? You’ve got like 300 billion behind!”
Younadem smiled.
“I’m not upset, honestly!” he replied, “but I always want more chips!”
And more Younadem got, calling down another all-in opponent with A♥Q♦ in the very next hand, which all the way down the board of J♦8♦7♣6♦2♥ against their Q♠9♦.
| Arsn Younadem | 275,000 |
Level 8: 800/1,600 (1,600)
Positive signs
Before commencing tonight’s coverage, the PokerMedia Australia Live Reporting Crew dropped in yesterday to the Pavilion Poker Room for a meet-and-greet, which also presented an opportunity to catch up with Sokong Kim, who took time out to show us around his old stomping ground before heading out to dinner in Cabramatta.
Like many other residents in the GWS region, Kim and his parents moved to Australia from overseas in the hope to build a new life, growing up in housing commission “just down the road” in the suburb of Bonnyrigg.
It was a decision that proved valuable for Kim and his family, made even more significant given that he was born profoundly deaf; over time, Kim grew to become a prominent member of the city’s Deaf/HOH community through his passion for sport, but it wasn’t until 2008 that he found his niche after establishing the non-profit organisation, Deaf Poker Australia.
Since then, DPA has helped grow and develop the game amongst Deaf players in Australia and New Zealand, showcasing their talent at the DPA Championship, which is the only national poker championship to have been shared amongst all major casino properties in this country.
PMA can now reveal exclusively that after a two-year absence due to the pandemic, the 2022 DPA Championship series will be hosted at The Star Sydney from 6-9 October; for more information, visit www.deafpoker.com.au.
Level 7: 600/1,200 (1,200)
Caybas cruising
Table 15
Over on Chad Awerbuch’s table, Mev Caybas and Sayyed Hosaini both got their money into the middle pre-flop; Hosaini was at risk with 3♠3♦, but found himself off to the races against Caybas’ A♦9♣.
Caybas, however, spiked another nine on the flop of 10♠7♦9♥ and improved to a bigger two pair after the turn and river ran out 10♣, 6♣ to send Hosaini to the rail.
| Mev Caybas | 166,000 |
| Sayyed Hosaini | BUSTED! |
And in even more breaking news, PokerMedia Australia has just received word from our friends at WPT Illawarra that they’ll be hosting their next QPC series in September. More information and the full schedule coming your way soon!
Level 6: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Prime time!
Breaking news from the WPT universe, with the full schedule for WPT Prime Gold Coast series having just been released a few hours ago!
The WPT Prime series – to be held at The Star Gold Coast from 9-20 June – features many of the events from the previous WPTDeepStacks brand, including the $750 buy-in Opening Event, the $1,500 buy-in Main Event and the $5K Challenge, but a brand-new $1,000 Mystery Bounty is now also on the cards!
For more information check out the schedule below or log onto www.worldpokertour.com.
Channa climbing
Table 13
The field in tonight’s Main Event flight is almost at 150 entries, with Suzy Khouiss, Eshan Amiri, Uno Uka and George Psarras just some of the big names to have come in through the latter part of the first stanza.
Habib Channa has also been active, now sitting behind a stack worth almost 150,000, despite dropping a few chips to Justin Wong, who has also taken a chunk off Fletcher Smith.
Action folded around to Smith who min-clicked from the cut-off; Wong defended his big blind, then check-called to Smith’s bet of 1,600 after the dealer spread a flop of 7♥5♣2♣.
After the turn of the 2♦, Wong checked again, prompting Smith fire out 8,000. Wong smooth-called, then opened for 20,000 on the river 3♥, which was more than enough for Smith to muck.
| Habib Channa | 148,500 |
| Justin Wong | 68,000 |
| Fletcher Smith | 42,500 |
Level 5: 400/800 (800)
Rodwell back up and running
Table 7
David Rodwell has moved back up over the amount of the starting stack, winning a couple of pots before heading off on the first 10-minute break of the evening.
Earlier, the UTG+1 player limped in before Grael Won raised to 1,600 from the +2 position. Action then folded around to Rodwell who called from the button; the small blind completed and the big blind checked, making it five-handed to a flop of 7♣J♠9♥.
Action then checked to Won who opened for 3,000; Rodwell was the sole caller, and both players then checked the 8♣ on the turn before Won check-called Rodwell’s bet of 10,000 on the river 8♦. Rodwell showed 10♣9♣ for the straight, which was enough to take it down.
Two hands later, Rodwell came in with a hijack raise of 2,000 before Daniel Tolomeo called from the blind before check-calling to Rodwell’s bet of 2,500 after a K♥2♠Q♥.
Both players then checked down the turn and river of 5♣, 3♦ before Rodwell revealed J♥J♣.
“Good,” muttered Tolomeo as he threw his hand away.
| Daniel Tolomeo | 54,000 |
| David Rodwell | 51,000 |
| Grael Won | 47,000 |
Level 4: 300/600 (600)
The name of the game
Table 8
Although the PokerMedia Australia Live Reporting Team are currently working through some Internet issues, there’s certainly been no shortage of action on the felt, with Arsn Younadem tangling with Adrian Pachecho and The Phung.
In an earlier hand, Pachecho raised from under the gun to 1,100 and Younadem called from the +1 position to go heads-up to a flop of K♠5♦3♥. Both players checked, but Pachecho then elected to fold after Younadem’s bet of 3,600 after the turn of the 8♣
Younadem then raised to 1,000 from UTG in the very next hand and found four callers, including Pachecho and Phung, before all five players checked the flop of A♥K♥6♥.
Action then checked to Phung who opened for 3,000 after the turn of the 4♦; Younadem was the only caller, but after both players checked down the river [invalid notations] which prompted Younadem to muck his hand.
A slight setback for Younadem, but he’s certainly under no pressure as the ‘Assyrian Warrior’ has already taken out three QPC Sydney rings this series!
| Adrian Pachecho | 100,000 |
| The Phung | 59,000 |
| Arsn Younadem | 42,000 |
Level 3: 200/400 (400)
Routine for the Harbour City Queen
Table 6
Jai Duffy and WPTDeepStacks Sydney Opening Event Champion Michelle Psarras were amongst those to have late-reg’d for tonight’s flight, with both players getting involved in some heavy action early on Table 6.
Our reporter picked up some action with Duffy and Paul Sammour in a five-way pot to a flop of 3♠5♦2♦, action checked around to Duffy who led out for 1,600; Sammour was the only caller, but he then check-folded to Duffy’s bet of 4,800 after the turn of the 5♠, which resulted in Duffy’s stack moving up to almost three times the amount of the start bank of 50K.
Both Duffy and Psarras then went into another five-handed pot, this time to a flop of 10♣A♣K♣; action checked to Psarras who quickly bet before Oz Vardar raised from the cut-off; Psarras called, then both players checked the 3♣ before Vardar flat-called Psarras’ bet of 15,000 on the river J♣.
“Haven’t had one of these for a while!” Psarras beamed as she rolled up Q♣J♥ for the royal flush.
Sammour then scored one of the first eliminations for this Main Event, taking out Daniel Adamietz’s after turning a set with his pocket eights against Adamietz’s pocket sixes.
| Jai Duffy | 143,000 |
| Michelle Psarras | 76,000 |
| Oz Vardar | 35,000 |
| Paul Sammour | 20,000 |
| Daniel Adamietz | BUSTED! |
Level 2: 200/300
Shuffle up and deal!
Cards are now in the air for the WPT League Sydney QPC Main Event!
We’ll be playing through 14 levels, each 30 minutes in duration, before we bag and tag for the night at around 2am local time.
The buy-in for this tournament is $675, with late entries and a single re-entry option available until the start of Level 9.
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | BB Ante |
| 1 | 100 | 200 | – |
| 2 | 200 | 300 | – |
| 3 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 4 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 5 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 6 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 7 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 8 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| 9 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| 10 | 1,500 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 11 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| 12 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| 13 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 14 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
Level 1: 100/200
Game on, Sydney!
From wherever you may be watching in Australia, New Zealand or around the world, good evening and welcome to the WPT League Sydney QPC Main Event!
Tonight marks yet another historic first for PokerMedia Australia, as it’s the first time that our bespoke Live Reporting coverage has been incorporated into a mid-tier tour event, as well as our first official visit to the Pavilion Poker Room and St Johns Park Bowling Club, the home of the WPT League here in Sydney.
Having opened its doors just over a year ago, the Pavilion Poker Room has since established itself as one of the best independent card clubs in the city, featuring a solid regular tournament and satellite programme that saw as many as 48 qualifiers head to The Star Sydney for the WPTDeepStacks Sydney Main Event earlier this month.
Poker Palace CEO Rod Meneses has even given his tick of approval to his “cross-town rivals”, winning the inaugural Annual Poker Championship (APC) Main Event last year to take home $100,000 and the coveted APC gold ring only a month before tournament director Will Davies shipped the first WPTDeepStacks Main Event at The Star Gold Coast.
All in all, it demonstrates not only the tireless work of Bruno Rao and his team, but also the depth of poker talent and the wealth of support for the game throughout the Greater Western Sydney region.
No doubt that we’ll be seeing plenty of the Harbour City’s finest in action, with Day 1A kicking off at 6pm AEST, so lock your browsers and save PMA on your home screens so you can keep up with all the updates. Best of luck to everyone and may the flop be with you!
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