Jiapeng Yang leads Opening Event final 10; that’s a wrap!
From 148 to 10 in what felt like a flash – Day 2 of The Star Sydney Opening Event is now done and dusted!
There was certainly no shortage of action across the felt, but soon after the bubble burst on the Star Poker Sydney feature table, Jiapeng Yang went on an absolute heater, eliminating Jamal Kassir before the dinner break en route to finishing the day with 7.75 million, or roughly 30% of the chips in play.
Sean McKenzie held his own at the feature table to finish second overall with 4,075,000, with Nicholas Roth (2,550,000), Shu Lin (2,300,000) and Day 1C chip leader Rabie El Hage (2,750,000) rounding out the top five.
Also returning tomorrow are Nathan Sawyers, Jackson Hardy and Daniel Zhou, but the two big stories brewing right now are that of Nurlan Boobekov being on the verge of a second Star Sydney Champs Opening Event victory, along with Suzy Khouiss, who could well emulate the efforts of her best mate and WPTDeepStacks Sydney Champion Michelle Psarras by taking out the title.
STAR SYDNEY CHAMPS OPENING EVENT: END OF DAY 2 CHIP COUNTS
| Name | Chips |
| Jiapeng Yang | 7,750,000 |
| Sean McKenzie | 4,075,000 |
| Shu Lin | 2,300,000 |
| Rabie El Hage | 2,275,000 |
| Nicholas Roth | 2,225,000 |
| Suzy Khouiss | 1,825,000 |
| Nurlan Boobekov | 1,625,000 |
| Jackson Hardy | 1,325,000 |
| Daniel Zhou | 1,325,000 |
| Nathan Sawyers | 650,000 |
One thing’s for sure: we’re going to be in for a helluva finale, and PMA will be there all the way until the final river falls, so join us from 12:15pm AEST tomorrow as we bring you all the action from Day 3 of the Opening Event.
Until then, thanks again for tuning in and we’ll see you again soon. ‘Bye for now!
Easier for Hardy
With three hands to go, Nurlan Boobekov opened UTG to 160,000, and Jackson Hardy pushed the max button, shoving all in next to act.
Nathan Sawyers looked interested in Round 3, asking for a count before shoving in his own stack over the top, chasing out Sean McKenzie and Boobekov.
Hardy: A♥K♠
Sawyers: A♠J♣
Sawyers needed help which would not eventuate on the 3♦8♠Q♠ flop. The 8♦ provided some chop outs, but the 7♠ handed a full double to Hardy. Round three, Hardy.
| Jackson Hardy | 1,560,000 |
| Nathan Sawyers | 650,000 |
Hardy takes another punch
Sean McKenzie opened from middle position to 160,000 and Jackson Hardy called from the button.
Both players checked through an entire board of K♠10♦K♣4♣10♠ and McKenzie showed A♣2♣. Hardy mucked.
The tournament clock has been paused, with 3 more hands left of play for tonight.
| Sean McKenzie | 3,680,000 |
| Jackson Hardy | 620,000 |
Kaplan cut
Action folded to Jiapeng Yang, who didn’t hesitate to slam three T500K chips on top of his small blind, more than enough to put Fahri Kaplan to a decision for his tournament life in the big blind.
“Why you do this to me? If I call I’m all in!” said Kaplan, before promptly short-calling.
Kaplan: K♠J♠
Yang: Q♠3♥
Kaplan was in front but not for long, needing help after the dealer spread a flop of 8♣7♦Q♦. The 9♦ on the turn gave Kaplan additional outs to a gutshot, but the J♦ paired the wrong card, eliminating Kaplan in 11th.
| Jiapeng Yang | 8,280,000 |
| Fahri Kaplan | BUSTED! |
Falling on Hard-y times
Nurlan Boobekov shoved from the small blind for his last 835,000 and Jackson Hardy looked down at A♣J♦ in the big blind. Hardy made the call for more than half of his own stack and found himself up against the Q♦5♥ of Boobekov.
Boobekov would pair not once, but twice, as the board ran out 2♦5♦9♣Q♣3♦, turning Hardy dead to double through.
| Nurlan Boobekov | 1,750,000 |
| Jackson Hardy | 775,000 |
Nice to wake up to
Jackson Hardy raised his button to 160,000 and saw an all in button shoved in his face, as Shu Lin pulled the trigger from the small blind.
Hardy called off with 9♠9♦ and found himself up against the A♠A♣ of Lin and needing help.
The 3♦5♣Q♥7♣8♠ board provided no help whatsoever, though, and Lin doubled up through Hardy with ease.
| Shu Lin | 1,960,000 |
| Jackson Hardy | 1,915,000 |
No Li way
Suzy Khouiss opened her button to 200,000 and Darren Li took a stand out of the blinds, shoving for 500,000. Khouiss made the call.
Li: A♦K♥
Khouiss: A♠J♦
Khouiss took the lead on the J♣Q♠4♠ flop, and Li found himself the one chasing his kicker, plus some additional outs to Broadway. None would materialise on either the Q♦ turn or 6♣ river however, and Li was eliminated.
| Suzy Khouiss | 2,100,000 |
| Darren Li | BUSTED! |
See ya Seymour
Michael Seymour shoved his 860,000 stack under-the-gun and found a caller in Nicholas Roth on his big blind.
Roth: A♣Q♠
Seymour: A♠J♠
A rough spot indeed for Seymour, who couldn’t find his miracle on the 2♠8♣K♥5♥8♠ board and was eliminated in 13th place.
| Nicholas Roth | 2,815,000 |
| Michael Seymour | BUSTED! |
Final level
Tournament staff have confirmed Level 27 will be the final level of play; meaning we have less than 45 minutes left of play today.
There are currently 13 players remaining. Either we have 9 players left or we hit the end of the level, whichever comes first!
Level 27: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Kaplan small ball
Jiapeng Yang opened again, this time from the hijack to 130,000, and was called only by Fahri Kaplan in the cut-off.
Yang fired a repeat 130,000 on the 10♠Q♣9♦ flop, attracting a flat call from Kaplan, before firing another 250,000 on the K♥ turn. Kaplan again flat called.
Yang slowed down to a check on the K♦ river and Kaplan checked behind. Yang tabled Q♥Q♦ and Kaplan showed the losing A♠J♦ – good for a Broadway straight but not the pot, to shock from the table.
Tablemate Nicholas Roth couldn’t help but exclaim “How do you check that river!”
| Jiapeng Yang | 6,670,000 |
| Fahri Kaplan | 750,000 |
Trayner gets a lesson
As recounted to the PMA desk by unfortunate victim Malcolm Trayner, Jackson Hardy opened UTG to 120,000 and Trayner defended his big blind with A♦7♦.
Trayner was understandably happy to see the A♥7♠J♥ flop and checked to see Hardy check back. The 2♠ on the turn put two flush draws on the board, so Trayner sized up, betting 325,000 into Hardy, who made the call.
On the 2♥ river, Trayner went for full value, jamming for 985,000, and was happy to see Hardy call … until Hardy tabled A♠J♠ for a better two pair.
| Jackson Hardy | 3,125,000 |
| Malcolm Trayner | BUSTED! |
Tupua brings out the ol’ stop-go
After losing an all-in to Daniel Zhou a couple of hands prior, Steve Tupua defended his big blind from a 120,000 Jiapeng Yang open.
The flop spread out 5♥2♠9♠ and Tupua shoved for 245,000. Yang thought it over, let out an “Aiyaaa…” and then called; finding out that his A♦4♥ was ahead of the 7♥6♥ of Tupua.
Yang stayed ahead on the K♠, 4♦ run out to eliminate Tupua.
| Jiapeng Yang | 6,010,000 |
| Steve Tupua | BUSTED! |
Khouiss takes from Yang
Jiapeng Yang raised preflop to 180,000, with Suzy Khouiss defending her big blind on this occasion.
Khouiss check-called Yang’s continuation bet of 120,000 on the 5♠Q♥K♠ flop, then both players checked through the J♠, 10♣ run out.
Khouiss tabled K♦10♠ to a muck from Yang.
“That was a dirty river card!” exclaimed Khouiss, “You could have bet there and I’d have folded like a b****!”
| Jiapeng Yang | 4,980,000 |
| Suzy Khouiss | 1,500,000 |
Yang trends upwards
Steve Tupua raised to 175,000 out of the ‘lojack’, called by Jiapeng Yang in hijack before both blinds folded.
Both players checked the flop of 8♠4♠Q♥, then Tupua checked again on the 10♥ turn only to see Yang chuck out enough chips to put him all in – not that many chips in fact, now that tournament staff have introduced the pink T500K chips into play.
Tupua snap folded.
| Jiapeng Yang | 5,700,000 |
| Steve Tupua | 905,000 |
McKenzie pressures Hardy
Jackson Hardy opened the action UTG+1, raising to 120,000. Folds all the way to Sean McKenzie in the small blind, who 3-bet to 370,000.
Hardy mulled his options over but made the call to see a flop of 6♦7♠2♠ then folded after McKenzie continued the pressure with a 385,000 continuation bet.
| Sean McKenzie | 2,590,000 |
| Jackson Hardy | 2,245,000 |
One wheel drive
Steve Tupua shoved under-the-gun and action folded all the way around to Suzy Khouiss in the small blind.
Khouiss asked for a count, then called after a short delay. Darren Li relinquished his big blind.
Khouiss: 7♥7♣
Tupua: A♠3♣
Tupua was in bad shape but not for long – the flop of 5♣4♠2♦ had him free-wheeling (literally) to a full double up as the board completed J♣, K♠.
“That was my one time!” said Tupua as he raked the pot.
| Suzy Khouiss | 1,285,000 |
| Steve Tupua | 1,140,000 |
Operator, please
Jiapeng Yang opened his button to 120,000 and found calls from Fahri Kaplan and Nicholas Roth in the blinds.
All three players checked the 8♦K♦J♥ flop, then Yang called the 150,000 bet from Roth on the 6♦ turn while Kaplan check-folded in front.
Roth and Yang then each checked the 3♥ river in turn. Roth tabled 6♠4♣ but Yang had that beat, tabling the K♥9♠ for top pair.
“This kids got everyone’s number!” remarked Suzy Khouiss.
| Jiapeng Yang | 5,160,000 |
| Nicholas Roth | 916,000 |
Level 26: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Ace magnets
Jiapeng Yang opened to 105,000 under-the-gun, and Fahri Kaplan 3-bet to 400,000 from the next seat over. Everyone else got out of the way and Yang made the call.
Yang check-called Kaplan’s 800,000 continuation bet on the A♦5♠10♦ flop before both players checked the Q♣ turn.
Yang then slid out a healthy bet of 1,500,000 on the river, promptly Kaplan to fold the K♥K♦ face up.
| Jiapeng Yang | 4,175,000 |
| Fahri Kaplan | 2,110,000 |
See, more chips
Michael Seymour opened the button to 105,000 and Darren Li defended his big blind.
Li check-called Seymour’s bet of 85,000 on the A♠3♠6♥ flop and both checked the 4♣ turn card.
The J♣ induced a bet of 125,000 from Li, quickly called by Seymour
Li had been caught bluffing, tabling the 8♥7♥, and Seymour took down the pot with A♦10♣.
| Michael Seymour | 1,845,000 |
| Darren Li | 560,000 |
Chiu caught out
Fahri Kaplan opened to 110,000 from the button and Edwin Chiu defended from the big blind.
On a flop of 3♦4♥9♦, Chiu check-raised the 100,000 continuation bet from Kaplan to 275,000. Kaplan made the call, then both players checked the J♥ turn.
The river 10♦ prompted an all in from Chiu … and a literal SNAP call from Kaplan.
“Good call.” said Chiu, rolling the 8♠5♦ bluff. An easy call for Kaplan though, who had rivered the second nuts with K♦Q♦.
| Fahri Kaplan | 3,250,000 |
| Edwin Chiu | BUSTED! |
Kaplan catches Yang
Fahri Kaplan opened the action, raising to 105,000 from under-the-gun. Hands were folded all the way around to big stack Jiapeng Yang in the big blind, who elected to defend.
Yang check-called a bet of 175,000 from Kaplan on the flop of 3♣A♦K♣, then both players checked the 2♣ turn.
Yang sensed weakness and fired a barrel of 375,000 on the river, but Kaplan made the call to see Yang table 9♥6♦ for a stone bluff. Kaplan’s A♠Q♦ had that soundly beat.
| Jiapeng Yang | 3,160,000 |
| Fahri Kaplan | 1,980,000 |
Level 25: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Break time
The remaining 18 players have departed on a 10-minute break at the conclusion of Level 24.
Feature Table
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Rabie El Hage | 1,365,000 |
| 2 | Malcolm Trayner | 965,000 |
| 3 | Jackson Hardy | 2,015,000 |
| 4 | Shu Lin | 820,000 |
| 5 | Ronnie Shabtay | 285,000 |
| 6 | James Maher | 715,000 |
| 7 | Nathan Sawyers | 1,740,000 |
| 8 | Sean McKenzie | 2,470,000 |
| 9 | Nurlan Boobekov | 1,735,000 |
Table 14
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Daniel Zhou | 885,000 |
| 2 | Michael Seymour | 1,530,000 |
| 3 | Suzy Khouiss | 1,705,000 |
| 4 | Darren Li | 705,000 |
| 5 | Steve Tupua | 735,000 |
| 6 | Jiapeng Yang | 3,945,000 |
| 7 | Fahri Kaplan | 1,375,000 |
| 8 | Nicholas Roth | 1,370,000 |
| 9 | Edwin Chiu | 1,355,000 |
Sawyers moving up
Nathan Sawyers opened to 80,000 and was called by Jackson Hardy on the button before both blinds folded.
“Round two, ding ding ding!” laughed Sawyers.
Sawyers then check-called a bet of 45,000 from Hardy on the Q♦K♠6♥ flop to see the 6♠ drop on the turn.
Sawyers checked his option, Hardy sized up to 400,000, but was forced to fold after Sawyers check-raised all in. Round two, Sawyers.
| Jackson Hardy | 2,200,000 |
| Nathan Sawyers | 1,900,000 |
Khouiss gets one through
Picking up the action on a flop of 5♠7♣K♥, we saw Suzy Khouiss check-call a bet of 150,000 from Edwin Chiu.
Both players checked the Q♥ turn before Khouiss led out for 150,000 on the J♠ river. Chiu’s cards hit the muck.
“You should have called, I had nothing!” said Khouiss, showing the 8♠6♣ for a missed straight draw. “I don’t care if you believe me or not, but that was the first bluff of the day!”
| Suzy Khouiss | 1,540,000 |
| Edwin Chiu | 1,250,000 |
Duck, duck, hold!
Jiapeng Yang and Nicholas Roth checked through a board of 10♣8♦4♣4♥3♠.
Roth tabled A♦Q♠ only to see Yang table 2♥2♣ to claim the pot.
Tablemate Suzy Khouiss couldn’t help but chime in “Wow, the ducks held yo!”
| Jiapeng Yang | 3,965,000 |
| Nicholas Roth | 1,370,000 |
Sawyers shows
The dealer spread a flop of 5♣9♠Q♠ and we saw Nathan Sawyers check in early position, followed by a check behind from Jackson Hardy.
Sawyers checked again on the 7♣ turn, then check-raised to 400,000 after Hardy fired 140,000.
Hardy laid it down, and Sawyers flashed 8♥8♦ as he scooped the pot. Round one, Sawyers.
| Jackson Hardy | 3,750,000 |
| Nathan Sawyers | 1,550,000 |
Level 24: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Morvan marauded
Big stack Jiapeng Yang opened to 85,000 and action folded to Romain Morvan in the big blind.
Morvan elected to flat call, then checked as the flop spread 6♠2♣Q♦.
Yang applied full pressure, asking the question of Morvan for his remaining stack; approximately 300k. Morvan snap-called and found himself way ahead.
Yang: K♥5♥
Morvan: Q♠10♠
“King?” said Yang hopefully. Not to be on the 7♣, but you could hear the sharp intake of breath from everyone on the table as the K♠ hit the river.
Morvan took it well, though, and headed to the payout desk.
| Jiapeng Yang | 3,740,000 |
| Romain Morvan | BUSTED! |
Feltham felted
Cooper Feltham slid forward his last 220,000 over the line from the hijack.
Edwin Chiu asked how much the players in the blinds had, before flat calling. Daniel Zhou and Romain Morvan weren’t interested, however, getting quickly out of the way.
Chiu: A♣J♠
Feltham: J♣10♣
No jackpot for Feltham as the board completely missed him, running out 7♠6♠4♣A♠K♣ in favour of Chiu.
| Edwin Chiu | 1,680,000 |
| Cooper Feltham | BUSTED! |
Wei behind
Wei Zhu open shoved UTG+2 and action folded all the way around to Nicholas Roth on the big blind.
Roth took his time, mulling through the possibilities, before tossing out a single T100K chip to signify a call.
Zhu tabled 8♠8♣ only to find himself way behind the 9♦9♣ of Roth.
Roth locked it up quickly; top set on the flop as the board ran out 9♥5♦3♣J♦J♥, not even a glimmer of hope for Zhu.
| Nicholas Roth | 1,340,000 |
| Wei Zhu | BUSTED! |
Basle busto
Harry Basle has just been eliminated at the hands of Nathan Sawyers in 24th place as we head – co-incidentally – into the 24th level of the tournament.
Basle open-shoved his last 255,000 from under the gun before Sawyers iso-raised to 800,000 from the +2 position, forcing the rest of the table out of the way before the cards were tabled.
Basle: 4♥4♣
Sawyers: A♣J♠
Sawyers picked up another Ace on the flop of A♥5♣7♥ and held for the KO after the turn and river bricked 10♦, 9♥.
| Nathan Sawyers | 1,615,000 |
| Harry Basle | BUSTED! |
LoRusso lynched
Nick LoRusso shoved all in under-the-gun for his last 175,000 and was called in three spots; Jackson Hardy on the button, Andrew Harvey from the small blind, and Michael Seymour closing the action from the big blind.
On the flop of 3♠4♥2♠, Harvey shoved, and whilst Seymour got out of the way, Hardy called to put both at risk.
Harvey: 7♠7♦
Hardy: 3♥3♣
LoRusso: Q♦10♥
Hardy would improve to a full house on the run-out of 10♦, 10♣ to claim a double knock-out.
| Jackson Hardy | 2,740,000 |
| Michael Seymour | 1,075,000 |
| Nick LoRusso | BUSTED! |
| Andrew Harvey | BUSTED! |
BREAKING NEWS: Attenborough alive!
The day’s play has concluded in Las Vegas and Australia’s Adrian Attenborough is very much alive, sitting on 149.8 million in chips!
The final hand of the day saw the elimination of the UK’s John Eames. Espen Jorstad raised UTG to 6 million with K♥K♦, and big blind Eames 3-bet shoved with A♦J♣. Jorstad snap-called and the rest is history as the board ran 10♥J♠8♥3♠6♥.
Play will resume at 6:30 AEST tomorrow, and Attenborough is now guaranteed a pay day of US$4M!
WSOP Main Event: End of Day 9 chip counts
| Name | Country | Chips | BBs |
| Espen Jorstad | Norway | 298,000,000 | 99 |
| Adrian Attenborough | Australia | 149,800,000 | 49 |
| Michael Duek | United States | 72,100,000 | 24 |
REMAINING PAYOUTS (USD $10,000 buy-in, 8,663 entries, 1,300 players paid)
| Place | Amount (USD) | Amount (AUD)* |
| 1st | $10,000,000 | $14,823,780 |
| 2nd | $6,000,000 | $8,894,268 |
| 3rd | $4,000,000 | $5,929,512 |
Liddell liquidated
Marc Liddell and Suzy Khouiss clashed in another pockets versus over cards flip.
Khouiss: 10♥10♣
Liddell: A♣K♠
The flop disastrous for Liddell, however, leaving him chasing runner runner perfect to a wheel as it spread 5♥10♦3♦. The board completed 7♦, J♦ to end his day.
| Suzy Khouiss | 1,670,000 |
| Marc Liddell | BUSTED! |
Mansour soured
Elias Mansour shoved his last 215,000 under-the-gun and found a caller in Jiapeng Yang.
Mansour: K♠K♥
Yang: A♥Q♣
“Now that’s a sweat!” commented a tablemate as the flop rained hearts – 7♥4♥2♥.
Not a sweat for long; the 6♥ on the river turning Mansour dead before the 8♥ completed the board.
| Jiapeng Yang | 2,310,000 |
| Elias Mansour | BUSTED! |
Level 23: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Aw, Awerbuch
Chad Awerbuch, who has been cruising for most of the day, ran into misfortune, when his Q♥Q♣ ran straight into the K♠K♣ of Suzy Khouiss.
Neither player connected with the 7♠6♣9♠A♥J♣ board and Khouiss earned a full double, whilst Awerbuch was left with crumbs.
Two hands later, Awerbuch got it in with 4♥3♥ and Jackson Hardy elected to keep him honest, calling with K♦10♦.
Both players hit on the 3♣9♠10♠ flop, but the 9♥ on the turn practically killed Awerbuch, taking away four of his outs, before the K♠ on the river served to rub salt in the wound.
| Jackson Hardy | 1,740,000 |
| Suzy Khouiss | 1,505,000 |
| Chad Awerbuch | BUSTED! |
Zhang zilched
Steve Tupua opened the action UTG+1 with a raise to 80,000. Zhengmin Zhang responded with an all in out of the blinds for 335,000, and Tupua made the call to put him at risk.
Zhang: 9♥9♦
Tupua: K♠Q♥
A safe flop of 6♥6♦2♣ for Zhang, but the K♥ on the turn changed things completely and left Zhang with two outs for his tournament life.
The 5♥ completed the board and Zhang headed for the exits.
| Steve Tupua | 920,000 |
| Zhengmin Zhang | BUSTED! |
Blanusa out with a bang
Neb Blanusa got his entire stack in preflop with 9♠9♦ but ran smack bang into the 10♥10♣ of Nathan Sawyers.
The complete board ran out A♠2♥7♦Q♦7♥ and Blanusa has fallen.
| Nathan Sawyers | 1,300,000 |
| Neb Blanusa | BUSTED! |
Martino marches
Franky Martino 3-bet jammed for 350,000 over the 60,000 open from Chad Awerbuch. Awerbuch snap-called.
Awerbuch: A♠A♥
Martino: A-8
Martino needed a miracle but none was forthcoming as the board ran out Q♣Q♠7♥J♠6♦, and was chopped down to 40,000.
Martino then found himself all in on the very next hand, both Malcolm Trayner and Daniel Zhou made the call and checked through the flop and turn of 9♦7♠10♦3♣ before Zhou bet 25,000 on the 10♠ river.
Trayner called and Zhou tabled A♥9♥, enough to beat Trayner and eliminate Martino, who had Q♦8♥.
| Malcolm Trayner | 1,000,000 |
| Daniel Zhou | 900,000 |
| Chad Awerbuch | 830,000 |
| Franky Martino | BUSTED! |
Fung flung out
Hedley Fung open ripped from middle position, and found one caller in Jackson Hardy.
Hardy: Q♥Q♣
Fung: A♥K♦
Nothing funky for Fung; just numbers, no letters, on the board of 4♣7♦3♠7♣10♦ granted the elimination to Hardy.
| Jackson Hardy | 1,575,000 |
| Hedley Fung | BUSTED! |
Boustani busto
Romain Morvan opened the action, raising to 50,000 UTG+1. Jiapeng Yang made the call, then Charbel Boustani 3-bet jammed for 405,000 out of the big blind.
Morvan got out of the way, but Yang made the call to put Boustani at risk.
Yang: 9♥9♣
Boustani: A♠K♠
Boustani couldn’t find any assistance on the board of 2♠2♣10♥7♦10♦ and hit the rail.
| Jiapeng Yang | 1,900,000 |
| Charbel Boustani | BUSTED! |
Still no right way to play ’em
Suzy Khouiss and Harry Basle both saw and checked a flop of 10♣7♣K♣.
Khouiss again checked on the 9♣ turn, and Basle fired a bet of 50,000, which Khouiss called.
Both players then checked the 10♠ river, and Khouiss tabled J♠J♣, well ahead of the 2♠2♣ of Basle.
| Suzy Khouiss | 750,000 |
| Harry Basle | 67,000 |
BREAKING NEWS: Attenborough down to final four
Chip leader for most of the day before yesterday, Matija Dobric has just been eliminated in fifth place (US$2,250,000) in the WSOP Main Event.
The result took him all the way to the top of Croatia’s All-Time Money List; but meanwhile, our own Adrian Attenborough is still fighting, second in chips at this time.
Norway’s Espen Jorstad currently holds the chip lead and play continues today for now.
Level 22: 15,000/25,000 (25,000)
Dinner time
Our remaining players have departed on a 30-minute dinner break.
42 players remain, and tournament staff have confirmed that we will be playing to 9 players, or the end of Level 27, whichever comes first.
Here are some assorted chip counts.
| Name | Chips |
| Jackson Hardy | 1,780,000 |
| Jiapeng Yang | 1,450,000 |
| Nicholas Roth | 1,185,000 |
| Kenta Ido | 1,080,000 |
| Jun Wang | 1,040,000 |
| Edwin Chiu | 915,000 |
| Romain Morvan | 710,000 |
Shurunov sent off
Yan Shurunov has been eliminated by Edwin Chiu. The two got all the chips in the middle preflop.
Chiu: K♦9♥
Shurunov: Q♥10♣
No love for Shurunov on the board of 5♠A♥J♦6♦9♣, and he took his leave before the break.
Yang tank
On a flop of 4♥2♣J♦, Jamal Kassir pulled the big trigger, jamming for 420,000.
Jiapeng Yang was in the tank for several minutes, leaning over and trying to get a read on Kassir. Eventually, Yang made the call.
Yang: A♣J♥
Kassir: 5♥4♣
Yang stretched further ahead on the A♠ turn, and the Q♥ river changed nothing as Kassir hit the rail.
| Jiapeng Yang | 1,320,000 |
| Jamal Kassir | BUSTED! |
Ido on the comeback trail
Kenta Ido got it all in preflop once again, this time against Paul Smith.
Smith: 10♥10♣
Ido: A♠K♣
Ido didn’t have to ask too hard, smashing the flop and holding on the board of A♥4♣5♠Q♦4♠ to eliminate Smith.
| Kenta Ido | 535,000 |
| Paul Smith | BUSTED! |
No right way to play ’em
Gregg Russell shoved under-the-gun for 200,000 and action folded around to Jackson Hardy in the small blind. Hardy isolated, shoving for approximately 1 million, and forcing the big blind out of the pot.
Russell: J♠J♣
Hardy: A♥Q♣
Hardy hit one of his over cards on the 7♠Q♦9♣K♣7♦ board to eliminate Russell.
| Jackson Hardy | 1,280,000 |
| Gregg Russell | BUSTED! |
Right river for Ido
Kenta Ido shoved his last 150,000 from the small blind against the big blind of Jackson Hardy.
Hardy peeked his cards and quickly called.
Hardy: 6♣6♦
Ido: J♣8♥
Ido open ended after the flop came 2♠10♥9♠ with 14 outs plus some runner runner possibilities.
The 2♥ on the turn left him with the same 14 outs once – and the 8♦ on the river was indeed one of those, as Ido scored a full double through Hardy.
| Kenta Ido | 320,000 |
Howard howitzered
Dean Vigdor had Jane Howard all in and at risk preflop and the cards were tabled.
Vigdor: K♠K♣
Howard: Q♠9♠
Howard flopped top pair as it spread Q♣J♣8♥, but the turn 2♠ no help to anybody and the river 5♠ changing nothing.
“Flush draw, keep going!” said someone on the rail, but the day is done for Howard.
| Dean Vigdor | 565,000 |
| Jane Howard | BUSTED! |
Ten out of ten
Chad Awerbuch shoved his short stack UTG and was called from a couple of seats to his left by Stanley Lu. Action folded all the way around and cards were tabled.
Awerbuch: 10♠10♦
Lu: 9♠9♣
“Chop?” said tablemate Nicholas Roth after the board ran out J♣8♦K♣J♥A♦, but although it may have looked like it, Awerbuch’s superior two pair gave him the full double.
| Chad Awerbuch | 450,000 |
BREAKING NEWS: Five left in Vegas
With the elimination of the USA’s Jeff Farnes, five players remain in the WSOP Main Event including Australia’s Adrian Attenborough, who has over 100 million!
This represents the deepest run for any Australian in the WSOP Main Event since Joe Hachem won it all in 2005 – some 17 years ago!
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
REMAINING PAYOUTS (USD $10,000 buy-in, 8,663 entries, 1,300 players paid)
| Place | Amount (USD) | Amount (AUD)* |
| 1st | $10,000,000 | $14,823,780 |
| 2nd | $6,000,000 | $8,894,268 |
| 3rd | $4,000,000 | $5,929,512 |
| 4th | $3,000,000 | $4,447,134 |
| 5th | $2,250,000 | $3,335,323 |
Level 21: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Chen cast out
Yu Chen shoved from middle position for 240,000 and action folded around to Nicholas Roth.
Roth, in the small blind, asked for a quick count of Nick LoRusso’s stack in the big blind. “About 200” said LoRusso, and Roth flat-called. LoRusso quickly got out of the way.
Roth: 6♦6♣
Chen: A♦5♦
A gutshot materialised on the 3♠2♠8♣ flop for Chen, but she missed on the 3♦, 7♦ run-out and was eliminated at the hands of Roth.
| Nicholas Roth | 1,165,000 |
| Yu Chen | BUSTED! |
Lucky Lukkien
Trent Paul open shoved from the button with 9♠9♣, and Eric Lukkien looked at his cards in the big blind before snap-calling and tabling A♠K♠.
Paul avoided the over cards on the J♠2♦2♠ flop but spades very much live for Lukkien, and sure enough the 8♠ on the turn gave him the lead. Needing to hit, the 5♦ didn’t help Paul.
| Eric Lukkien | 800,000 |
| Trent Paul | BUSTED! |
Gilberg gone
Kenta Ito open shoved from the cut-off and Jonny Gilberg short-called from the small blind.
Gilberg: 9♠9♦
Ito: A♣Q♠
Ito smashed the flop of A♥Q♥3♠ and held through the run out of 5♥, 2♣ to eliminate Gilberg.
| Kenta Ito | 463,000 |
| Jonny Gilberg | BUSTED! |
Top pair too little for Toolooa
Ajay Toolooa has been eliminated by Paul Smith, getting it all in preflop with over cards against Smith’s pocket pair.
Smith: 8♥8♦
Toolooa: A♥Q♦
Toolooa flopped top pair, but a set underneath it for Smith as the complete board ran out J♥8♣A♦Q♠7♣ to spell the end of Toolooa’s day.
| Paul Smith | 438,000 |
| Ajay Toolooa | BUSTED! |
Level 20: 10,000/15,000 (15,000)
No training needed
Charlie Yu jammed from the cut-off and found a caller in the shape of Malcolm Trayner out of the small blind.
Trayner: 10♠10♦
Yu: K♦J♥
Traynor found himself ahead but flipping against Yu, but found a completely safe board of 6♦3♦6♣A♠3♣ to eliminate Yu. Nothing personal.
| Malcolm Trayner | 748,000 |
| Charlie Yu | BUSTED! |
Tomorrow is another Hay
Andrew Hay’s day is done, getting it all in on the turn against Edwin Chiu, who has been on a tear this level.
The board was showing 3♥10♥2♥7♦, and Hay tabled 9♠9♥ for a pair and flush draw, but found himself behind the A♠10♣ of Chiu.
Hay found no help on the 3♦ river.
| Edwin Chiu | 1,540,000 |
| Andrew Hay | BUSTED! |
Broadway for Roth
“I need a miracle, one time!” were the words from Day 1C chipleader Alex Yazbeck as he found himself all in on the turn against Nicholas Roth on a board showing Q♠10♣K♠2♦.
Roth: A♦J♥
Yazbeck: J♠8♠
Yazbeck could only find a consolation pair on the 8♦ river and surrendered his stack to Roth.
| Nicholas Roth | 925,000 |
| Alex Yazbeck | BUSTED! |
Sun sets
Wenji Sun shoved preflop and Ronnie Shabtay re-shoved to isolate.
Shabtay: 9♠9♥
Sun: A♥K♥
Needing to hit either over card, the sun would set on Sun’s Opening Event run as the board ran out Q♥4♠6♠4♣4♦.
| Ronnie Shabtay | 426,000 |
| Wenji Sun | BUSTED! |
Chiu over a milly
Edwin Chiu opened preflop and Ben Dacunto defended out of the blinds. Dacunto fired a bet on the flop of 7♣8♦2♦, and Chiu made the call.
Dacunto then checked to Chiu, who bet 50,000 on the 8♥ turn. Dacunto check-raised to 150,000 and Chiu made the call.
Dacunto shoved for 317,000 on the river, and Chiu got a count before calling.
Dacunto: K♣8♣
Chiu: 10♦9♦
Trips for Dacunto but the rivered straight good enough for the elimination, sending Chiu over a million!
| Edwin Chiu | 1,160,000 |
| Ben Dacunto | BUSTED! |
King Morvan
It was the ultimate cooler over on another table, with Romain Morvan all in and at risk against Yan Shurunov.
Shurunov: A♥A♦
Morvan: K♠K♥
The Frenchman escaped trouble though, hitting a set on the K♣7♦Q♥ flop and holding through the 8♣, 8♠ run-out to double up.
| Romain Morvan | 398,000 |
| Yan Shurunov | 128,000 |
See ya, says Sawyers
Shem Goltz has been eliminated shortly afterwards by Nathan Sawyers, again with all the chips in preflop and Goltz with a pocket pair needing to fade overs.
Goltz: 9♣9♦
Sawyers: A♠Q♥
Almost. So close. Safe for Goltz on the 2♣4♣6♦ flop, safe still on the 6♠ turn, but Sawyers spiked the A♦ on the river to end his run today.
| Nathan Sawyers | 800,000 |
| Shem Goltz | BUSTED! |
End by Endersby
WA’s Travis Endersby and Queensland’s Shem Goltz got it all in preflop.
Goltz: 7♠7♦
Endersby: A♠8♦
“Sevens again?” said Endersby incredulously before the board ran out 3♣10♥4♦9♦2♦.
“Guess I’m playing the bounty!” continued Endersby as he headed over to the recently started Event 2 $660 Big Bounty.
| Travis Endersby | BUSTED! |
Sour taste for Darbani
All in preflop action between Elias Mansour and Hauman Darbani saw cards on their backs heading to a full board.
Mansour: A♣J♣
Darbani: A♥2♣
The board ran out 6♠4♦8♣3♠10♥ and Mansour claimed a scalp.
Eliminations are happening thick and fast here at The Star Sydney!
| Elias Mansour | 364,000 |
| Hauman Darbani | BUSTED! |
Blind on blind
Ben Dacunto shoved his stack from the small blind against the big blind of Uno Uka.
Uka made the call with A♣5♥ only to find himself well behind the Q♥Q♣ of Dacunto, and waved goodbye to some chips after Dacunto hit a set in the window on the full board of 3♠A♦Q♠K♣8♣, despite flopping top pair.
Uka was eliminated shortly afterwards at the hands of Chad Awerbuch.
Bye Bahi
Edwin Chiu shoved under-the-gun and Karam Bahi short called in middle position.
Chiu: 3♦3♣
Bahi: A♦K♦
Top pair in the window for Bahi, but underneath it; a set for Chiu on the board of 3♠10♥A♥J♠5♦ as he claimed a knockout to soar among the chipleaders.
| Edwin Chiu | 930,000 |
| Karam Bahi | BUSTED! |
Level 19: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Moore all ins
Peter Moore open jammed for approximately 8 big blinds under-the-gun and Shem Goltz, next to act, hit the tank. Eventually, Goltz flat-called, and action folded around to Dominic Tso in the big blind. Tso jammed over the top and Goltz once again called off.
Goltz: 7♦7♣
Moore: A♦6♥
Tso: K♥Q♥
Goltz ahead to begin with in the multi-way flip, and stayed ahead, hitting a set in the window on the full board of K♠J♦7♥3♥4♠ to almost triple up.
| Shem Goltz | 435,000 |
| Peter Moore | BUSTED! |
| Dominic Tso | BUSTED! |
Hay look, an Ace
Andrew Hay opened to 25,000 under-the-gun and Vera Milinkovic 3-bet to 50,000 in middle position. Action folded all the way back around to Hay, who flat-called.
Hay check-called the bet of 70,000 from Milinkovic on the 6♣3♠J♣ flop, leaving himself 151,000 behind.
Both players then checked the 2♠ turn, before Hay led out for 70,000 on the A♣ river. Milinkovic made the call only to despair as Hay tabled A♠J♣, flashing her K♥K♣ as Hay collected his new chips.
| Andrew Hay | 416,000 |
| Vera Milinkovic | 352,000 |
The wrath of Roth
Tom Luo and Nicholas Roth got all the chips in preflop and the cards were tabled; Luo with the best hand in hold’em had Roth in a world of hurt.
Luo: A♠A♣
Roth: 8♥8♣
Luo looked safe on the flop of 6♣10♥3♣, safer still on the J♠ turn, but the entire table gave out a gasp as Roth spiked the 8♦ on the river.
| Nicholas Roth | 612,000 |
| Tom Luo | BUSTED! |
Yessir Kassir
Action folded around to Steven Huynh in the small blind, who shoved all in against the short stack of Jamal Kassir in the big.
Kassir looked down at an Ace and made the call.
Huynh: 4♦4♣
Kassir: A♣7♥
Instant relief for Kassir on the A♠10♠10♣K♠K♥ board and he doubled through.
| Jamal Kassir | 214,000 |
| Steven Huynh | 79,000 |
Foster care
Over on Star Poker Sydney’s Feature Table, Daniel Franks jammed for his last 19,000 UTG+1. Roland Foster, Sean McKenzie, and Richard Wells all flat called to put him at risk.
Foster, McKenzie, and Wells, playing for a dead side pot, all checked all the way through the board of 7♠Q♠5♥J♣Q♣.
Franks: A♠K♠
Foster: A♦J♠
Wells: J♦8♦
McKenzie: 5♠3♣
Foster dragged the pot, having paired his kicker to eliminate the short-stacked Franks, and with that, the bubble has burst and our remaining 106 players are in the money!
| Daniel Franks | BUSTED! |
Feeling the pinch
The remaining 107 players are now feeling the pressure, but both Uno Uka and Yu Chen have managed to pick up some chips on the outer tables during hand-for-hand play.
Earlier on Table 8, action folded around to Edwin Chu who raised to 25,000 from the cut-off; Uka flatted from the button to make it heads-up to a flop of 7♣4♣7♠.
Chu opened for 25,000, but was quick to muck after Uka returned fire with a raise worth 60,000.
Our reporter then picked up action over at Table 19 on a board of 7♠A♦J♠5♦ into a heads-up pot between Yu Chen and Vera Milinkovic. Chen checked and Milinkovic opened for 33,000, then Chen check-raised to 125,000, with Milinkovic making the call.
Chen called, and then both players checked down the river 8♣; Chen showed down K♠3♠ for a busted flush draw, but Milinkovic definitely had the best of it as she tabled A♥5♥ for two pair.
But as all that action played out, the bubble burst on the Star Poker Sydney feature table! Our recap of that pivotal moment will be coming your way soon.
Level 18: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
El Hage in a world of hurt
After taking a big hit earlier, Day 1B chip leader Rabie El Hage now finds himself as one of the short stacks in the room as action continues hand-for-hand in The Star Sydney Champs Opening Event.
Our reporter picked up the action on the turn with a board that read K♣6♣K♦4♠, with the pot up to around 145,000; Andrew Harvey opened from early position for 55,000 and found a call from El Hage before the dealer peeled the river 9♥ from the shoe.
El Hage called, but Harvey’s A♦9♥ was best for two pair against El Hage’s A♣Q♣ which had missed the nut flush draw.
And with that, Harvey now has the outright chip lead in this tournament, moving up past 900K!
| Andrew Harvey | 953,000 |
| Rabie El Hage | 113,000 |
Traynor drops some to Boustani
The cry of “all in, call” went up from Table 7, where our reporter witnessed Malcolm Trayner tabling A♥Q♠, but needed to find some help against the K♠K♦ of Charbel Boustani.
The board of J♣J♠6♣7♥9♠ improved neither hand and Boustani doubled through.
| Charbel Boustani | 204,000 |
| Malcom Trayner | 505,000 |
Woodhams finds a double
Nick Woodhams has managed to find a small double through Zhengmin Zhang in one of the first all-ins after hand-for-hand play began.
All the money was in the middle pre-flop; Woodhams was at-risk with A♥4♣, but found himself in a fair fight against the Q♦J♦ of Zhang.
Zhang paired up on the flop of 8♦6♥J♥, however Woodhams turned the nut flush with the 10♥ before the river K♣ completed the board.
| Nick Woodhams | 42,000 |
| Zhengmin Zhang | 142,000 |
Hand-for-hand
The tournament clock has now been paused and we have moved to hand-for-hand play. Red decks at the ready, dealers!
Three threes for Todor
“All in and a call!” from Table 8 where Todor Kondevski and Chad Awerbuch had gone to showdown.
Kondevski: 3♦3♣
Awerbuch: A♣3♠
Both players smashed the 3♥2♦A♦ flop, though Awerbuch found himself needing to hit another Ace to survive. The 4♠ added chop possibilities on the turn, but the 6♥ awarded Kondevski the full double.
With a knockout on another table, tournament staff have stopped the action as play is now hand-for-hand.
| Todor Kondevski | 200,000 |
| Chad Awerbuch | 110,000 |
Double KO for El Hage
Two pre-flop all ins from short stacks Win Tan and Michael Mayar were called off by Rabie El Hage on Table 9.
Mayar: A♦10♣
Tan: A♠9♠
El Hage: Q♦J♣
Top pair for El Hage on the J♠7♦4♣ flop saw both Tan and Mayar needing help, which did not arrive on the K♦, 2♣ run-out and saw them both depart.
| Rabie El Hage | 372,000 |
| Michael Mayar | BUSTED! |
| Win Tan | BUSTED! |
Khouiss chops
Suzy Khouiss shoved from early position and action folded to Husnain Siddique on the button, who short-called.
Elias Mansour then hit the tank in the small blind before re-shoving with both players covered, before Robert Ovseev let his big blind go.
Siddique: 6♠6♦
Khouiss: A♥Q♣
Mansour: A♦Q♦
Khouiss and Mansour both spiked one of the remaining Aces as the board ran out J♣2♠A♣2♦10♠ to split Siddique’s chips between them.
“How do you call there with that action?” called out Khouiss to Mansour, “Should have won that all myself!”
| Elias Mansour | 164,000 |
| Suzy Khouiss | 108,000 |
| Husnain Siddique | BUSTED! |
Bah humbug!
Farnaz Bahrehbar open shoved from middle position and action folded to Steven Huynh in the big blind.
Huynh made the call to put Bahrehbar at risk.
Huynh: K♥J♦
Bahrehbar: J-8
Huynh paired up on the 7♥10♣K♦ flop and just needed to fade the gutshot, which did not materialise on the 5♥, 3♣ run-out.
| Steven Huynh | 260,000 |
| Farnaz Bahrehbar | BUSTED! |
Chen train
Yu Chen recently won a three way all in, her Q-Q ahead of the A-K of David Ly and A-T of Naung Lee to claim a double knockout.
With that hand she has skyrocketed among the chip leaders.
| Yu Chen | 678,000 |
| David Ly | BUSTED! |
| Naung Lee | BUSTED! |
BREAKING NEWS: Fresh out of Vegas
From the Final Table of the WSOP Main Event, Australia’s own Adrian Attenborough open-shoved for 32 million with 9♠9♥ from middle position, and the USA’s Matthew Su shoved over the top with Q♥Q♣, forcing everyone else out.
Attenborough was looking in bad shape; but all of that would change with the flop of 2♠9♦8♦. Su picked up additional outs to a straight on the 10♥ turn, but Attenborough faded them all as the river 4♥ dropped to take the 69 million pot! Nice!
| Adrian Attenborough | 69,000,000 |
Level 17: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Daoud doneski
Tony Daoud opened to 13,000 preflop and found a caller in Michael Canturi.
On a flop of K♦9♦8♦, Daoud applied all the pressure, shoving the remainder of his stack. Canturi made the call.
Canturi: A♦9♣
Daoud: K♥J♣
Needing a diamond to eliminate Daoud, Canturi found it immediately, turning Daoud dead with the 4♦ before the 10♣ completed the board.
| Michael Canturi | 202,000 |
| Tony Daoud | BUSTED! |
A bold prediction
The cards were dealt out on Table 10 when Andrew Scarf made a statement.
“Bold prediction; whoever wins this hand, wins all the chips.” he said.
“You think?” responded Suzy Khouiss.
Action went four handed including Scarf to a flop of 9♠8♥4♠ and Robert Ovseev shoved his short stack. Only Scarf made the call.
Scarf: A♠J♠
Ovseev: 10♣7♦
Both players completely missed the Q♠, 2♣ run-out, and Scarf may well be on his way to realising his bold prediction.
| Andrew Scarf | 356,000 |
| Robert Ovseev | BUSTED! |
Boxell blindsided
A blind versus blind battle has led to the elimination of Australian Poker Hall of Famer Leo Boxell.
David Sebesfi limped the small blind after a round of folds to him, and Boxell upped the ante, raising to 30,000. Sebesfi responded with a shove and Boxell snap-called.
Sebesfi: K♥K♦
Boxell: A♣10♣
A flopped set for Sebesfi on the board of 2♥9♠K♣8♦10♥ marked the end of the road for Boxell, while Sebesfi went soaring up the chip counts.
| David Sebesfi | 628,000 |
| Leo Boxell | BUSTED! |
Xie X’d
Joshua Baraba opened to 14,000 and was called by both Hong Xie and Yu Chen to see a flop of 6♥5♠2♠ three ways.
Baraba fired a continuation bet, only to see both Xie and then Chen shove all in. Baraba got out of the way.
Chen: 8♥8♣
Xie: 5♦5♣
Xie found himself in a fantastic spot with middle set against the overpair of Chen. The Q♥ on the turn changed nothing, Chen still needing to hit a two outer to eliminate Xie.
That she did, when the 8♦ dropped on the river. Ouch!
| Yu Chen | 450,000 |
| Hong Xie | BUSTED! |
Ali up
Jie Cui opened in middle position leading into a 3-bet shove from Ali Khouiss in the cut-off.
Cui made the call to put Khouiss at risk and behind.
Cui: A♥K♣
Khouiss: A♣7♣
Needing help, Khouiss was all but out of here as the board ran 4♥10♠2♥9♦ before the 7♠ on the river saved his tournament life.
| Ali Khouiss | 150,000 |
| Jie Cui | 60,000 |
Goltz pressure
Shem Goltz started today short but has made some moves early and built up a stack within the first quarter hour.
Our Live Reporter caught the action as Goltz 3-bet to 33,000 over the 13,000 open from Hedley Fung. Both blinds got out of the way and Fung made the call to see a flop of A♥3♥3♠.
Fung check-folded to Goltz’s bet of 15,000.
| Shem Goltz | 267,000 |
| Hedley Fung | 99,000 |
Aw Jee-z
Trent Paul open shoved his remaining 87,000 from UTG+2 and action folded all the way around to Benjamin Jee in the big blind.
Jee made the call and found himself in a flip.
Paul: 5♦5♣
Jee: A♠10♠
Jee added some outs to Broadway on a flop of 4♦K♣8♦, but lost a couple of outs when Paul picked up a flush draw on the J♦ turn. Still needing to fade, Paul could breathe a sigh of relief when the 9♥ earned him the full double.
| Trent Paul | 183,000 |
One
That’s the number of hands Lachlan Armstrong-Sue played today, coming in on the small blind first hand of the day and open-shoving into Romain Morvan when action folded around.
Morvan looked down at A-5 in the big blind and made the call. Armstrong-Sue tabled Q-3.
The board ran out 8-A-6-6-9 and Morvan claimed the first scalp!
| Romain Morvan | 225,000 |
| Lachlan Armstrong-Sue | BUSTED! |
Lights, camera, action!
Star Poker Sydney’s Feature Table is once again in use, with “Table 17” being moved over onto it.
You can follow along with the action for yourself over at twitch.tv/StarPokerAU.
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Owen Chong | 255,000 |
| 2 | Luca Borreggine | 69,000 |
| 4 | Shuang Han | 72,000 |
| 5 | Christina Pie | 47,000 |
| 6 | Peter Au | 174,000 |
| 7 | John Nguyen | 85,000 |
| 8 | Sean Mckenzie | 335,000 |
| 9 | Richard Wells | 114,000 |
Cards in the air
Play has commenced here at The Star Sydney, with tournament staff announcing “Shuffle up and deal!” right on time.
The remaining 146 players will be playing 45-minute levels today.
Level 16: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
It’s moving day!
Welcome back to PokerMedia Australia‘s live reporting coverage for Day 2 of the 2022 Sydney Champs Opening Event!
Let’s talk numbers. The Opening Event has attracted a total of 848 entries across two flights, creating a total prize pool of $572,400. Of those, just 146 remain going into Day 2 and 106 of those players will earn a pay day worth at least $1,128, with $101,161 up top.
Nurlan Boobekov will carry the overall chip lead going in after bagging up 646,500 on Day 1A. Rabie El Hage, who finished on top of the charts after Day 1B, sits in second with 500,000 on the nose, while David Sebesfi (469,000), Jackson Hardy, (462,000), and Vera Milinkovic (460,000) and Day 1C chip leader Alex Yazbeck (413,000) follow close behind.
We’ll also be keeping an eye on inaugural WPT Prime Gold Coast Main Event Champion Yang Lei (371,000), who broke through for his first major Tier One title at The Star Gold Coast just last month to earn $216,763 in cash and prizes. 2022 WPTDeepStacks Sydney PLO Champion Roland Foster (327,000), is also high up in the counts today.
Play will resume at 12:30pm AEST, with recommencing blinds at 3,000/6,000 (6,000). Feature table streaming will commence at 1pm AEST over at Twitch.tv/StarPokerAU, and of course, we’ll have all our live updates here at PMA, so stay with us as we bring you all the action!
Day 2 seat draw
Please ensure that you have your photo ID and Star Club Card with you for verification purposes. Should you have any queries regarding your seat allocation, please inform one of the team at Star Poker Sydney. Best of luck to all players!
Table 1
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Dylan Desmarchelier | 85,000 |
| 2 | Hoyeon Kim | 69,000 |
| 3 | Rahim Hosseini-Nasab | 110,000 |
| 4 | Zhi Ma | 84,000 |
| 5 | Vladimir Stephanov | 122,000 |
| 6 | Benjamin Jee | 170,000 |
| 7 | Daniel Franks | 195,000 |
| 8 | Jane Howard | 81,000 |
| 9 | Trent Paul | 72,000 |
Table 2
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Zuxian Zhao | 108,000 |
| 2 | Jun Wang | 280,000 |
| 3 | Fahri Kaplan | 70,000 |
| 4 | Craig Scott | 159,000 |
| 5 | Franky Martino | 291,000 |
| 6 | Kiavash Arbabi | 70,000 |
| 7 | Alecsander Lawrence | 70,000 |
| 8 | Alan Janke | 326,000 |
| 9 | Korissa Naicker | 77,000 |
Table 3
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Leo Boxell | 130,000 |
| 2 | Haowen Sun | 76,000 |
| 3 | Glenn Marsom | 126,000 |
| 4 | Shu Lin | 220,000 |
| 5 | Bobby Yun | 133,000 |
| 6 | Vincent Choy | 69,000 |
| 7 | Kresimir Kardum | 137,000 |
| 8 | Jackson Hardy | 462,000 |
| 9 | David Sebesfi | 469,000 |
Table 4
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Ashleigh Tran | 98,000 |
| 2 | Hedley Fung | 120,000 |
| 3 | Tony Daoud | 148,000 |
| 4 | Shem Goltz | 57,000 |
| 5 | Neb Blanusa | 175,000 |
| 6 | Michael Canturi | 127,000 |
| 7 | Yang Lei | 371,000 |
| 8 | Andre Dowling | 63,000 |
| 9 | Gregg Russell | 249,000 |
Table 5
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Ashley Sharpe | 50,000 |
| 2 | Cooper Feltham | 267,000 |
| 3 | Aharon Shabtay | 166,000 |
| 4 | Johny Gilberg | 172,000 |
| 5 | Jalil Mekouane | 139,000 |
| 6 | Shannon Brown | 134,000 |
| 7 | Omer Silajdzija | 165,000 |
| 8 | Karam Bahi | 234,000 |
| 9 | Malcolm Trayner | 307,000 |
Table 6
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Adrian Chiu | 65,000 |
| 2 | Minh Cao | 84,000 |
| 3 | Farnaz Bahrehbar | 50,000 |
| 4 | Peter Vrljic | 150,000 |
| 5 | Kurtis Lazenby | 70,000 |
| 6 | Xiang Pu | 98,000 |
| 7 | Steven Huynh | 251,000 |
| 8 | Jamal Kassir | 105,000 |
| 9 | James Maher | 274,000 |
Table 7
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Yu Chen | 349,000 |
| 2 | Andrew Hay | 180,000 |
| 3 | David Ly | 106,000 |
| 4 | Joshua Baraba | 197,000 |
| 5 | Hong Xie | 114,000 |
| 6 | Jun Lin | 375,000 |
| 7 | Errolyn Strang | 294,000 |
| 8 | Naung Lee | 128,000 |
| 9 | Charbel Boustani | 91,000 |
Table 8
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Prem Nair | 179,000 |
| 2 | Edwin Chiu | 290,500 |
| 3 | Todor Kondevski | 94,000 |
| 4 | Khal Fayad | 164,000 |
| 5 | Fletcher Smith | 227,000 |
| 6 | Paul Smith | 151,000 |
| 7 | Ben Dacunto | 289,000 |
| 8 | Unensaikhan Bolovson | 140,000 |
| 9 | Chad Awerbuch | 165,000 |
Table 9
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Michael Mayar | 125,000 |
| 2 | Eric Lukkien | 219,000 |
| 3 | Rabie El-Hage | 500,000 |
| 4 | Steve Tupua | 383,000 |
| 5 | Guangyan Deng | 347,000 |
| 6 | Andrew Harvey | 326,000 |
| 7 | Jian Long | 233,000 |
| 8 | Win Tan | 72,000 |
| 9 | Ashor Shlemon | 253,000 |
Table 10
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Elias Mansour | 109,000 |
| 2 | Robert Ovseev | 110,000 |
| 3 | Hauman Darbani | 121,000 |
| 4 | Suzy Khouiss | 53,000 |
| 5 | Daniel Awad | 217,000 |
| 6 | Earlson Ecobiza | 78,000 |
| 7 | Andrew Scarf | 246,000 |
| 8 | Kenta Ito | 231,000 |
| 9 | Husnain Siddique | 212,000 |
Table 11
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Nicholas Lo Russo | 142,000 |
| 2 | Alex Yazbeck | 413,000 |
| 3 | Nurlan Boobekov | 646,500 |
| 4 | Tom Luo | 97,000 |
| 5 | ||
| 6 | Brent Goldingham | 213,000 |
| 7 | Ren Wang | 188,000 |
| 8 | Thomas Chong | 86,000 |
| 9 | Nicholas Roth | 183,000 |
Table 12
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Nicholas Woodhams | 71,000 |
| 2 | Zhengmin Zhang | 67,000 |
| 3 | Mark Leslie | 60,000 |
| 4 | Harry Basle | 130,000 |
| 5 | Yuanfeng Lin | 94,000 |
| 6 | ||
| 7 | Dominic Tso | 331,000 |
| 8 | Wenji Sun | 172,000 |
| 9 | Peter Moore | 129,000 |
Table 13
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Jie Cui | 124,000 |
| 2 | ||
| 3 | Michael Seymour | 200,000 |
| 4 | Ali Khouiss | 63,000 |
| 5 | Dean Vigdor | 149,000 |
| 6 | Marc Liddell | 166,000 |
| 7 | Gavin Ogilvy | 240,000 |
| 8 | Thomas Hulley | 110,000 |
| 9 | Ajay Toolooa | 181,000 |
Table 14
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | ||
| 2 | Lachlan Armstrong-Sue | 52,000 |
| 3 | Romain Morvan | 169,000 |
| 4 | Stan Levitin | 210,000 |
| 5 | Yan Shurunov | 116,000 |
| 6 | Vahe Hovagimian | 101,000 |
| 7 | Alan Zheng | 257,000 |
| 8 | Matthias Vaquerin | 168,000 |
| 9 | Sandi Sandi | 191,000 |
Table 17
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Owen Chong | 255,000 |
| 2 | Luca Borreggine | 69,000 |
| 3 | ||
| 4 | Shuang Han | 72,000 |
| 5 | Christina Pie | 47,000 |
| 6 | Peter Au | 174,000 |
| 7 | John Nguyen | 85,000 |
| 8 | Sean Mckenzie | 335,000 |
| 9 | Richard Wells | 114,000 |
Table 18
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Nathan Sawyers | 135,000 |
| 2 | Roland Foster | 327,000 |
| 3 | Wei Zhu | 183,000 |
| 4 | Jiapeng Yang | 320,000 |
| 5 | Jian Qin | 120,000 |
| 6 | Andrew Michael | 176,000 |
| 7 | ||
| 8 | Sheldon Mayer | 250,000 |
| 9 | Travis Endersby | 68,000 |
Table 19
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | De Li | 132,000 |
| 2 | Natalie Segon | 132,000 |
| 3 | Vera Milinkovic | 460,000 |
| 4 | Alexander Young | 179,000 |
| 5 | ||
| 6 | Cale Maclean | 212,000 |
| 7 | James Kinnane | 220,000 |
| 8 | Milad Elazzi | 81,000 |
| 9 | Yi Lu | 198,000 |
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