Yu Chen leads, that’s a wrap!
Melbourne’s Yu Chen, who bagged the Day 2 chip lead before going on to finish 3rd in the 2022 WPTDeepStacks Sydney Opening Event in April this year, has come out on top of Day 1C here at the Star Sydney Champs Main Event.
Chen bagged 672,000 to carry the lead, followed by Chris Yu (596,000), Qais Shanasa (588,000) Phat Nguyen (555,000) and Evaldas Stanevicius (539,000) for our unofficial top five. In all, 91 players found bags today.
It’s Day 1B chip leader Nurlan Boobekov who will carry the overnight chip lead into Day 2, bagging 787,000 yesterday, followed by Stan Levitin (700,000), whilst Day 1A chip leader Daniel Louis-Awad trails Chen ever-so-slightly, carrying over 664,000 into tomorrow.
Chen took some time to speak to PokerMedia Australia following the conclusion of the day’s play, saying she “hoped the run good would continue through to tomorrow”.
Chen also told us that she very nearly didn’t play this event; saying that she and her partner of six years Jun Wang, who she met through poker and also bagged for Day 2, were expecting a baby girl in the “very near future … I’m feeling good, I’m not feeling stressed, felt happy to give it a crack today!”
A late registrant into today’s flight, Chen expressed a little surprise at her result today, saying she “didn’t know she got here, I woke up, I just had a feeling, maybe I should give it a go” and came down to play!
Given she’s expecting, Chen added that this would be the last tournament she’s going to play for the foreseeable future, and that she just “wants to enjoy it, very excited to see a lot of my friends here, not too stressed about the result or anything, just want to play!”
Wherever Chen finishes, we at PMA would like to wish her and her family all the best in the future!
For tomorrow, PMA will be here from the start – Day 2 will commence at 11:00 AEST with a total of 199 players to start with, playing 60-minute levels throughout the day, and we’ll bring you all of the action from the beginning to the end.
O’Grady sends Bognar river reeling
On the very last hand of the night, Travis O’Grady and Mitch Bognar got everything in the middle, with O’Grady the one at risk.
The board displaying 9♣Q♠5♥4♠, O’Grady tabled J♦9♦ and found himself behind the A♥Q♥ of Bognar.
The river had other ideas though, the 9♥ saving O’Grady’s tournament life. As it’s the last hand of the night, both players will be back tomorrow.
| Travis O’Grady | 222,000 |
| Mitch Bognar | 125,000 |
Hou needed that?
He needed that. Stan Hou shoved with just a couple of hands remaining, and when the action was on big blind Ryan Hong, Hong entered the tank.
Thinking over it for several minutes, Hong eventually made the call to see the bad news.
Hou: Q♥Q♦
Hong: A♦J♣
“Yes!” cried Hou, with a clap of his hands, jumping to his feet as the window card gave him a set.
The full board ran out K♠4♥Q♣2♠J♥.
| Ryan Hong | 404,000 |
| Stan Hou | 198,000 |
Three more hands!
Tournament staff have just paused the clock and announced that the 97 remaining players will be playing three more hands before bagging and tagging.
Skalrud squeeze slammed
George Kanan opened and had a caller before Sasha Skalrud decided to shove his shortening stack from the button, hoping to squeeze and steal.
Kanan, however, iso-shoved, forcing out the player inbetween and sending Skalrud to showdown at risk.
Kanan: 10♠10♦
Skalrud: 5♠5♥
Dominated, Skalrud saw his Main Event chances disappear rather quickly as Kanan hit a set in the window; the full board running out 8♠J♣10♣6♣K♣.
Perhaps the real story here though is Jimmy Ghobrial – Ghobrial found himself coolered earlier, running Ace King into Aces and left with just 4,000 – he’s now spun that up to an over average stack!
| George Kanan | 297,000 |
| Jimmy Ghobrial | 236,000 |
| Sasha Skalrud | BUSTED! |
Vargas sickness
Lucho Vargas shared with us how he busted earlier in the day.
According to Vargas, he had 3-bet to 25,000 with A♣K♣ from the small blind after the cut-off initially raised to 7,000 and been called.
Both players had checked the A♦5♣8♣ flop and the J♣ hit the turn; Vargas bet 18,000, his opponent went all-in, and Vargas of course snap-called.
His opponent rolled over J♠J♥ … and of course the river was a 5♥, pairing the board to vanquish Vargas.
| Lucho Vargas | BUSTED! |
Bognar priced in
Jack McPhee shoved for his last 41,000 in middle position and action very quickly folded around to Mitch Bognar, who looked at his cards and quickly said “Oh no, how much!”
Apologising to McPhee for the predicted ‘dirtiness’, Bognar said he couldn’t fold, calling to put McPhee at risk.
McPhee gave a shrug and indicated he’d shoved light, tabling K♥8♠. Bognar flipped over 10♣7♣, and promptly completely missed everything on the J♠A♦2♥Q♦6♦ board.
“How do I miss there!?” he quipped.
| Jack McPhee | 91,000 |
Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Subra-more-money
Luca Borreggini shoved from the cut-off for 70,000 on the table of laughter that is Table 3. Mitch Bognar quickly mucked, but Sammy Salha tanked from the small blind before eventually slamming his remaining stack in the middle.
Salha then asked floor if he could leave and run to the bathroom – he was advised by floor that he would have to remain present for the all-in, even though his hand technically cannot be mucked if he is all in.
Whilst that discussion was raging on – Josh Hutchins suggesting that Salha just go and “test the theory” to laughter from the whole table – Anban Subramoney slammed HIS stack in the middle, covering both Salha and Borreggini.
Subramoney: 10♦10♣
Salha: 9♦9♣
Borreggini: K♥J♠
“Jack!” cried Borreggini as the flop spread 10♠6♠J♦, before he spotted Subramoney’s hand “Oh ****, the Ten came in!”. The turn 7♥ gave Salha a gutshot opportunity and turned Borreggini dead, then the 3♣ on the river settled things, a double knockout for Subramoney.
| Anban Subramoney | 254,000 |
| Sammy Salha | BUSTED! |
| Luca Borreggini | BUSTED! |
Stanevicius pays taxes and Levys
Jonathan Levy opened to 10,000 and immediately faced a 3-bet from Evaldas Stanevicius to 35,000. Levy jammed, Stanevicius snap-called, and they went to showdown preflop.
Stanevicius: 10♠10♦
Levy: A♣K♦
Levy didn’t need to wait long, spiking an Ace immediately on the 3♦A♦6♠3♣2♥ board to fully double through Stanevicius – who won’t be bothered too much, he still had a monster stack.
| Evaldas Stanevicius | 444,000 |
| Jonathan Levy | 218,000 |
Hutchins heist
Josh Hutchins shoved back from the button for 48,000 after Anban Subramoney opened to 12,000.
Subramoney snap-called the boisterous Hutchins, who has been having the time of his life on Table 3, laughing, cracking jokes, playing hands blind, you name it he’s done it.
On this occasion, Hutchins found himself behind with K♥J♦ to the A♣Q♣ of Subramoney and immediately called for friend Najeem Ajez to “come and rail your horse!”
The noise hit the roof when Hutchins found a pair on the J♠6♦5♦7♥8♣ board to double through Subramoney.
He then folded the next hand – “We play disciplined now”, he reckons. Wonder how long that will last!
| Josh Hutchins | 109,000 |
Faura felted
Louis Luo and Riccardo Faura wound up all-in pre-flop on Table 7.
Luo, on the button, tabled A♣8♣ and needed some help against the J♠J♦ of Faura.
Unfortunately for Faura, that help would arrive immediately – two pair on the A♦8♠4♦ for Luo and the run-out of K♣, 9♥ changing nothing.
| Louis Luo | 303,000 |
| Riccardo Faura | BUSTED! |
Aw, Awerbuch
Chad Awerbuch has been confirmed as eliminated, running Jacks into Tens (yes, you read that right).
Awerbuch sent us the details via Facebook Messenger, letting us know that it was WPTDeepStacks champ Mark Fester who had the Tens in question.
It was looking like a great spot for Awerbuch – until Fester flopped Quads on the T-T-4-8-6 board.
It’s the second time that Awerbuch has been eliminated in such a fashion this week, after being eliminated from the $1,100 NLH Event by Zhengmin Zhang’s Tens when he held Queens – Zhang flopped a boat and turned Quads in that case.
OUCH!!
| Chad Awerbuch | BUSTED! |
Level 14: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Logan lynched
We were following the action on Table 3, where laughter was aplenty after Josh Hutchins had shoved blind from the cut-off expecting Sammy Salha to call blind from the big blind. The button inbetween, however, went into the tank to the immense amusement of Mitch Bognar and, on a neighbouring table, Najeem Ajez.
Whilst we were watching that action (everybody ended up folding, with a “Meow meow meow” from Salha before he folded), Ian Logan had shoved for his last 15,000 on Table 4, and had been called by Ren Wang on his left.
Evaldas Stanevicius had then called as well, defending his big blind, only to check on the 2♦J♥4♥ flop. Wang fired 15,000 and Stanevicius folded after a brief moment.
Logan went to table his cards, but Wang beat him to it, tabling A♥A♣. A defeated looking Logan then tabled K♥9♠, spinning them face up into the middle whilst standing up at the same time.
The J♣, 7♥ run out changed nothing but confirmed the elimination of Logan; but it’s Stanevicius who is the news on the table, now over half a million!
| Evaldas Stanevicius | 524,000 |
| Ren Wang | 181,000 |
| Ian Logan | BUSTED! |
Aww, Jee
Remoon Karim opened to 9,000 and was called by Martin Stewart on the button, before Ben Jee shipped his stack of 130,000 in from the small blind.
Karim gave it up, but Stewart snap-called to put Jee at risk.
Jee: Q♦Q♣
Stewart: A♣K♦
A classic race, which after the board of 6♠K♣4♠2♦6♦ Stewart would win on this occasion as he flopped top pair and held through.
| Martin Stewart | 342,000 |
| Remoon Karim | 168,000 |
| Ben Jee | BUSTED! |
New Sydney Champs Main Event record
Registration closed earlier today and the numbers have now been confirmed by Star Sydney. The following is taken from the Star Poker Sydney Facebook page.
“With 548 entries today, joining the 312 from Day 1A and 417 from Day 1B, we have a grand total of 1,277 entries in the Main Event.
This gives us an incredible $2,298,600 prize pool – our biggest Sydney Champs Main Event prize pool, EVER!
The top 160 players will finish in the money, securing a min-cash of $2,740, with first place taking home a mammoth $382,973 payday – also a Sydney Champs Main Event record.
$15,000 of this first place prize is issued in the form of an exclusive direct entry into the WPT World Championship being held in Las Vegas in December.”
| All of you | AWESOME! |
Some counts from the break
The players have just had a 10-minute break and we got some chip counts for you all.
The average stack is now about T140K.
If you have a big stack, by all means, please let our roaming reporter know your name and count and we’ll add you in!
| Name | Chips |
| Najeem Ajez | 495,000 |
| Justin Wong | 380,000 |
| Jiapeng Yang | 301,000 |
| Dylan Nguyen | 289,000 |
| Qais Shanasa | 267,000 |
| Jane Howard | 257,000 |
| Jensen Sodicta | 250,000 |
| Richard Tang | 246,000 |
| Ian Logan | 218,000 |
| Yung Ching | 215,000 |
| Malcolm Trayner | 204,000 |
| Joel Turner | 200,000 |
| Josh Hutchins | 193,000 |
| Mitch Bognar | 187,000 |
| Phillip Nguyen | 178,000 |
| Josh McCully | 143,000 |
| Carmen Bieber | 122,000 |
| Jimmy Ghobrial | 119,000 |
| Luke Jones | 113,000 |
| Sammy Salha | 92,000 |
| Jonathan Levy | 92,000 |
| Michael Clair | 88,000 |
| Ehsan Amiri | 85,000 |
| Kai Yeung | 79,000 |
| Mark Fester | 51,000 |
Level 13: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Endersby rivered
Yet another ultimate cooler, this time on Table 2 as Travis Endersby found himself on the right end of Aces versus Kings against Musang Kim.
Endersby: A♠A♥
Kim: K♠K♣
Endersby saw no danger as the board ran out 10♣J♣4♦2♦ until the K♥ sent shockwaves to his soul.
“It’s always the last three levels!” claimed Endersby.
“Technically not the last three levels yet.” said someone nearby.
“Good, saved myself ten or twenty minutes of pain!” quipped Endersby in reply.
| Musang Kim | 155,000 |
| Travis Endersby | BUSTED! |
Sodicta dictating
Alex Lee raised from middle position to 6,500 and found three callers; Jay Satchi in the cutoff, Jensen Sodicta on the button, and Jane Howard in the small blind.
On a flop of 2♣10♣2♦, Howard checked it to Lee, who continued for 9,500. Only Sodicta made the call to see the 6♠ turn. Lee led out for 19,000 and Sodicta flat-called again.
When the river came K♥, Lee took his time, putting some chips together before firing a third barrel of more than half of his remaining stack. The bet, for 28,000, sent Sodicta into the tank for a couple of minutes.
Sodicta eventually called, and after Lee tabled Q♣7♣ for a busted flush draw, tabled his own A♣3♣ for his own busted flush draw – but the best hand with Ace high. What a call!
| Jensen Sodicta | 294,000 |
| Jane Howard | 285,500 |
| Alex Lee | 13,000 |
Fester now festering
Everybody folded all the way around to Josh Hutchins in the small blind. Hutchins looked across at 2022 WPTDeepStacks Sydney Main Event Champion Mark Fester in the big blind and made it 10,000 to go.
Fester called, and both checked the 8♦A♣A♠ flop.
Hutchins then led out for 6,000 on the 9♦ turn, called by Fester after a brief moment.
On the K♥ river, Hutchins threw in a bet of 18,000 and Fester paused for thought. After a minute or so, Fester slid out a raise to 40,000. Hutchins took a beat, then shoved, with Fester covered.
Fester tanked for a while, but eventually folded.
| Josh Hutchins | 220,500 |
| Mark Fester | 68,500 |
Level 12: 1,500/3,000 (3,000)
Navid King II
Navid King the Second?
“It happened again!!” said an excited Navid King, running across to our Live Reporter with an incredulous look on his face.
Coming across to King’s table, we were able to ascertain that almost the exact same situation as earlier with Yu Chen had unfolded.
Not only that, but again, it was Kwun Tsang that had called the shove of King, this time with 10♦10♣, King had K♠K♣, and then Nathan Goodall had said he folded 10♠10♥!
To top it off, King proved he really is the King of Kings, hitting the K♥ on the river for another unnecessary set.
As for poor Tsang, he’s looking a little shell shocked!
| Navid King | 95,500 |
| Nathan Goodall | 84,500 |
| Kwun Tsang | 49,500 |
Doumani doneski
Michael Doumani put his last 9,500 into the middle, a 3-bet after Lee Van opened for 5,000 UTG+1. Action eventually folded back around to Van, who made the call.
“I’ve gotta get lucky for this one, what have you got?” remarked Doumani.
Doumani: A♠5♥
Van: K♦J♦
“Well, I’ve got a better starting hand, but I like yours more!” laughed Doumani.
The board got interesting for both hands, Doumani flopping a gutshot to Van’s top pair on 3♦K♥2♣, then the J♥ giving Van two pair. Needing a four and a four only, the Q♥ sunk Doumani’s boat and he departed.
| Michael Doumani | BUSTED! |
Value for McCully
Picking up the action on a board showing 10♣6♠6♣K♥4♠ with about 40K in the pot by the river, Ryan Hong was facing a bet of 38,500 from online tournament grinder Josh McCully.
Hong would eventually make the call, only to muck when McCully tabled K♣J♣ – a flush draw indeed, but one that picked up a sneaky top pair to go with it!
| Josh McCully | 251,000 |
| Ryan Hong | 94,500 |
Elias eliminated
Leo Kamiya opened to 5,000 from UTG+1 and Mina Elias jammed for 9,500 from the next seat over.
Travis O’Grady made the call to put Elias at risk from the hijack, but when action folded back around to Kamiya, Kamiya put phase two of his plan into action, 4-betting to 34,000.
A quick muck from O’Grady saw Elias and Kamiya go to showdown.
Kamiya: A♦A♣
Elias: 10♠6♠
Elias really couldn’t ask for a much better flop, save for maybe a spade, when he flopped a double gutshot on 8♥7♦4♣.
The 2♣ and 7♥ on the turn and river were no help, though, and Kamiya sent Elias to the rail on Day 1.
| Leo Kamiya | 159,000 |
| Travis O’Grady | 108,500 |
| Mina Elias | BUSTED! |
Level 11: 1,500/2,500 (2,500)
A King amongst men
Kwun Tsang opened with a min-raise under-the-gun and action folded around to Yu Chen on the button, who flatted. Navid King then squeezed, shoving from the big blind for 23,000.
Tsang iso-shoved, forcing Chen out of the pot. Chen folded, saying she folded 8♠8♥.
King: K♥K♣
Tsang: 8♦8♣
“I’d better not lose this one then,” King chuckled at Chen, before turning to Tsang. “She said she had 8s, pretty sweet, freeeeeroll!”
Not that he needed it, King King King for King on the 10♦K♠3♦4♥Q♥ board to double through. King of Kings. King. Can I stop saying King yet?
| Yu Chen | 149,000 |
| Kwun Tsang | 76,500 |
| Navid King | 53,000 |
Lackovic, not lack of chips
Stev Lackovic 3-bet shoved from the blinds after an open from lojack Wai Au was flat-called by Luke Jones in the hijack.
Au folded, but Jones made the call after a few moments to consider it.
Lackovic: A♥J♥
Jones: A♠9♠
The flop missed everyone, coming down 4♠3♦3♣, but the J♠ at first glance appeared to lock up the hand for Lackovic. Always a sweat though, and Lackovic still needed to avoid a spade … which he did on the Q♥ river to double through.
| Luke Jones | 114,500 |
| Stev Lackovic | 68,200 |
| Wai Au | 52,500 |
Some chip counts
Najeem Ajez is still going strong, but it’s Vincent Choi who appears to have taken the chip lead at this stage in proceedings.
Late registration has also now closed – Day 1C appears to have fallen just shy of the milly, $986,400 added to the prize pool from today alone (subject to official confirmation)!
We’ll get the full prize pool when available.
| Name | Chips |
| Vincent Choi | 317,500 |
| Najeem Ajez | 295,600 |
| Mark Lasarow | 243,100 |
| Mitch Bognar | 203,200 |
| Ian Logan | 191,700 |
| Pete Moore | 176,000 |
| Josh McCully | 167,000 |
| Qais Shanasa | 162,000 |
| Nathan Bartley | 160,400 |
| Jiapeng Yang | 142,500 |
| Roy Agresta | 132,500 |
| Ennaria Rourke | 125,000 |
| Mark Fester | 117,100 |
| Jane Howard | 111,200 |
| Malcolm Trayner | 98,200 |
| Kai Yeung | 90,600 |
| Jeison Berdugo | 87,500 |
| Tony Hachem | 82,900 |
| Travis Endersby | 80,300 |
| Carmen Ling | 76,500 |
| Daniel Hachem | 59,600 |
| Jonathan Levy | 59,300 |
| Leo Boxell | 54,000 |
| Phillip Nguyen | 42,900 |
| Michelle Psarras | 40,100 |
| Lloyd Locsin | 37,000 |
| Roland Foster | 37,000 |
| Josh Norvock | 26,500 |
| Al Josue | 25,500 |
| Lucho Vargas | 17,300 |
Level 10: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Dinner break!
The players have departed for a 30-minute break.
Locsin runs into it
Lloyd Locsin 3-bet to 10,500 over a preflop open from Pete Moore. Jiapeng Yang flat-called out of the big blind, and Moore called behind to make it three ways to a flop of 9♠8♠-X.
Locsin led out for 25,000, called by Yang. Moore wanted no more part of it and folded.
On the 10♣ turn, Locsin shoved and Yang snap-called, tabling T-T, well ahead of the A♠K♠ of Locsin.
No spade would come for Locsin on the river and he’s outta here!
| Jiapeng Yang | 189,600 |
| Lloyd Locsin | BUSTED! |
Foster freebie
Roland Foster re-jammed his short stack over an cut-off open from Queensland grinder Josh Norvock.
Norvock made the call and saw he was well ahead with A♣K♥ after Foster tabled Q♦4♦.
Once the dust settled though, it was Foster who took the pot on the board of 10♥4♠3♦9♦10♠, prompting one of Foster’s table mates to remark “Dirty, dirty, dirty boy!” much to Foster’s amusement.
“I just was going for a free rebuy!” he laughed back.
Norvock, meanwhile, stoic, and immediately back in the action the next hand. He’s proven over the last year or so that he’s definitely one to watch, utilising pressure play in late stages to great advantage.
| Roland Foster | 45,200 |
| Josh Norvock | 34,600 |
Logan lopped
Hai Vu found himself all-in pre-flop with three callers, all of whom checked the 10♥K♦A♣ flop.
On the 8♠ turn, Jonathan Levy check-called a bet of 4,000 from Ian Logan, whilst the other player folded.
Levy then bet 5,000 to a snap fold from Logan on the J♣ river.
Levy tabled 9♠7♥ for the rivered straight to consternation from Logan.
“I had an Ace!” he said; but then Vu tabled his own Q♣7♠ to take the main pot. “I had an Ace and the Jack gives you both a straight!” continued Logan.
No real sweat for Logan though, his stack was around triple average at time of writing. Just a little lop off the top.
| Ian Logan | 145,600 |
| Jonathan Levy | 37,300 |
| Hai Vu | 18,000 |
Nothing but love
Vahe Hovagimian and Rob Ovseev clashed on the Star Sydney Feature Table, both getting it all in pre-flop with the same hand!
Hovagimian: A♠Q♠
Ovseev: A♥Q♥
No trump suits in poker so it was looking like a split pot; that is, until the flop spread 2♥3♥4♥!!
The nut flush for Ovseev sending him back over starting stack.
| Vahe Hovagimian | 64,000 |
| Rob Ovseev | 45,000 |
Level 9: 800/1,600 (1,600)
Noo!
A raising war on Michelle Psarras’ table, where Michal Jalc and Jacob Fulop had both put in multiple raises preflop before Jalc shoved for 38,500.
Fulop hit the tank and found a call before exclaiming “No!” as Jalc tabled Q♠Q♦, the pocket pair dominating his own J♥J♣.
Queens stayed ahead on the K♦10♣4♠7♦3♥ board and Fulop shipped some chips across to Jalc, lamenting the call as he did so.
“Find a fold one time!”
| Michal Jalc | 85,500 |
| Michelle Psarras | 52,400 |
| Jacob Fulop | 18,900 |
Five hundo!
We’ve smashed through the 500 entry mark for Day 1C, with 380 unique entries and 135 re-entries already meaning the prize pool for today alone is sitting at $927K!
Combined with 312 entries from Day 1A and 417 entries from Day 1B, that means the total prize pool sits at $2,239,200.
There’s still 90 minutes left of late registration as well, with registration expected to close at 19:20 AEDT. We’re sure we can expect a few more late entries chasing a piece of of the pool before then!
Borg busto
William Borg shoved for his last 12,500 under-the-gun, with only Jensen Sodicta making the call from the button.
Sodicta: J♠J♣
Borg: K♥9♥
Sodicta hit a set immediately on the 7♣A♦J♦ flop. Borg was on his feet and shaking hands as the turn 5♠ rendered him dead in the water, before the J♥ gave Sodicta quads!
“Overkill!” remarked tablemate Phillip Nguyen.
| Jensen Sodicta | 82,800 |
| Phillip Nguyen | 39,600 |
| William Borg | BUSTED! |
Level 8: 600/1,200 (1,200)
Josue joshing around
It’s all laughs on Table 5, where Najeem Ajez has a monster stack and is animatedly chatting with tablemates. No surprise either, as those tablemates include jokester Al Josue, along with Poker Palace’s Rod Meneses.
On a recent hand, Meneses opened to 2,200 from the button. Josue, in the small blind, quickly asked how much the big blind Kevin Liu had behind, before making the call. Liu defended his big blind as well.
The flop of A♣A♦2♥ was met with a “Pretty suspicious if I bet this flop…” from Josue … before he did, indeed, bet this flop.
Quick folds from Liu and Meneses then had Josue exclaiming to Ajez; “Naj, my first bluff!”
“Go on then, flip it over!” laughed Ajez, though Josue refused.
| Najeem Ajez | 249,500 |
| Al Josue | 116,400 |
| Rod Meneses | 40,300 |
| Kevin Liu | 16,300 |
Fogarty gets one through
Catching the action on a board showing K♣5♦3♦10♠, and about 23,000 already in the pot, Ken Demlakian bet out 8,000 against Russell Fogarty.
Team PMA‘s Fogarty has had a rough few levels, but on this occasion he shoved over Demlakian, all-in for 22,400.
Demlakian hit the tank and eventually released his cards.
| Russell Fogarty | 55,400 |
| Ken Demlakian | 17,000 |
Positivity!
Dean Condello opened to 2,300 under-the-gun and action folded around to a short-stacked Glenn Marsom. Marsom shoved.
“Watch me film myself get bad beat!” remarked Marsom, after Condello made a crying call, standing up to film the run-out with his phone.
Marsom: Q♠Q♣
Condello: 4♥4♣
“Such a positive attitude, this guy!” laughed tablemate Roland Foster.
Marsom would actually film himself double up, as the board completed 9♠7♦K♥2♠A♥.
| Dean Condello | 59,400 |
| Roland Foster | 51,400 |
| Glenn Marsom | 29,900 |
Counts at the break
Players had a 10-minute break prior to Level 7, we went around and got some chippies!
| Name | Chips |
| Najeem Ajez | 233,900 |
| Mitch Bognar | 227,000 |
| Nathan Bartley | 223,900 |
| Yong Chung | 162,400 |
| Kai Yeung | 135,000 |
| Ehsan Amiri | 111,200 |
| Victor Oquena | 101,300 |
| Rehman Kassam | 96,900 |
| Travis Endersby | 91,300 |
| Qais Shanasa | 87,600 |
| Natalia Rosova | 87,200 |
| Nick LoRusso | 86,600 |
| Tony Hachem | 79,600 |
| Jane Howard | 79,500 |
| Lloyd Locsin | 77,400 |
| Malcolm Trayner | 72,500 |
| Mark Fester | 72,300 |
| Jeison Berdugo | 61,800 |
| Frank Martino | 60,200 |
| Leo Boxell | 58,000 |
| Daniel Hachem | 58,000 |
| Michelle Psarras | 57,900 |
| Roland Foster | 56,300 |
| Chad Awerbuch | 54,600 |
| Lucho Vargas | 49,300 |
| Russell Fogarty | 46,400 |
| Jonny Rodden | 42,000 |
| Phillip Nguyen | 38,200 |
| Jonathan Levy | 32,400 |
| Alba Qi | 32,200 |
| Attila Bognar | 25,500 |
Level 7: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Salt-y river
Table 31 played host to a three way all-in preflop as Adrian Salter, Andre Dowling, and Pete Moore were all tabling their cards for showdown.
Dowling: 8♠8♣
Moore: A♦K♦
Salter: A♠K♣
Both Moore and Salter picked up additional outs on the 10♦10♥J♣ flop, and although Dowling faded the 4♠ turn, the Q♣ on the river gave both Moore and Salter a Broadway straight.
“Unbelievable! Always the last card!” cried out Dowling, “Luckboxes, seriously!”
Dowling has since been eliminated by Moore in a separate hand.
| Pete Moore | 51,300 |
| Adrian Salter | 41,500 |
| Andre Dowling | BUSTED! |
A very South American flavour
An unknown player shoved from the button for 40,300 and sent both players in the blinds into the tank one-by-one over on Table 1.
The small blind player eventually folded, then Victor Oquena called from the big blind to put the button at risk.
Oquena: A♥J♠
Opponent: A♦10♠
The small blind lamented that he’d folded Ace Queen as the flop spread 9♦K♦5♦.
The button player immediately picked up his Ace of Diamonds and held it up – “Come on baby, get me there!” he said.
Not to be, as the 7♣, J♥ only served to pair up Oquena and send him flying up the counts.
Oquena, who hails from Peru, is joined on Table 1 by not one, but two Los Parceros, as both Jeison Berdugo and Lucho Vargas have been seated together! VAMOS!
| Victor Oquena | 114,700 |
| Lucho Vargas | 49,500 |
| Jeison Berdugo | 22,600 |
Chung chomps on Fogarty
Yong Chung opened to 1,200 in early position, before Russell Fogarty 3-bet to 3,500. Action folded to Luke Jones in the blinds, who flat-called.
It wasn’t enough for Chung, who 4-bet to 12,000, called only by Fogarty as Jones scarpered.
Chung then slowed down and checked the 7♦5♥Q♣ flop, only to snap-call for his last 32,000 when Fogarty shoved on him.
Chung: K♠K♣
Fogarty: A♦Q♦
Chung held through on the 9♥, 8♦ run out to take a bite out of Fogarty.
| Yong Chung | 92,700 |
| Luke Jones | 53,400 |
| Russell Fogarty | 48,400 |
Level 6: 400/800 (800)
Dug out
Action was opened by Nick Velcic, who finished runner-up in the Star Sydney Champs Mystery Bounty event this week. The initial raise of 1,500 was met by a 3-bet to 4,200 by Nathan Bartley.
A short-stacked Peter Brickha then jammed for approximately 11-12K to Bartley’s left. Velcic let his hand go, and Bartley quickly called.
Brickha: A♥K♥
Bartley: K♠3♠
Brickha found himself well ahead of Bartley’s holdings – but hope on the flop for Bartley with 6♠2♠9♦ giving him a flush draw to dig himself out of trouble with spades. The 4♣ turn no help, but the 4♠ river handed Bartley an unlikely win to send Brickha to the dugout.
A good atmosphere on the table as the players laughed among each other, Bartley firing out some wisecracks for our Live Reporter. Among our favourites were “I had spade equity!” and “That spot, give me spades every time.”
| Nick Velcic | 84,300 |
| Nathan Bartley | 59,600 |
| Peter Brickha | BUSTED! |
LoRusso has risen
Catching the action on a flop of 10♦J♦6♣, where Lee Van had bet 2,700 from the hijack after Greg Russell in UTG+2 and a player in the lojack had checked to him. Nick LoRusso made the call from the next seat over, then Greg Russell called as well.
The player in the lojack, who refused to be named, then 3-bet to 11,000. Van folded after a minute or so and LoRusso jammed. Russell gave an exasperated look to the dealer and said “Just get rid of my hand!”.
“You fold?” responded the bemused dealer.
“Yes, yes, I fold!” laughed Russell – and the player in the lojack slapped his short stack into the middle immediately.
“Good luck!” quipped LoRusso, tabling his cards.
LoJack: 10♥10♣
LoRusso: A♦2♦
Instant bink for LoRusso as the 3♦ peeled on the turn, before the 4♣ completed the board, eliminating the lojack. “Unlucky mate.” said LoRusso.
“You’ve been hitting everything!” said LoRusso’s seat neighbour, “You’re running like God!”
| Nick LoRusso | 160,200 |
| Lee Van | 64,500 |
| Greg Russell | 18,800 |
Level 5: 300/600 (600)
Fester not festering
Mark Fester, 2022 WPTDeepStacks Sydney Main Event Champion, has been quietly building a stack behind the PMA Live Reporting Desk, sitting at over 90,000 come the first break.
We took a moment to speak to Fester, who won the WPTDeepStacks event with A♦10♣ back in April, only to see his best mate Matt Pongrass – who he started playing poker with years ago – win the $5K Challenge minutes later, amazingly also with A♦10♣.
Pongrass hasn’t shown this series so far, and Fester confirmed that was because he was still overseas on a trip to Europe with his fiancé that was planned well before WPTDeepStacks – though his share of Fester’s victory certainly helped to pay for it!
Fester shared with PMA that he has bought himself a house – of course with the aid of mortgage broker Pongrass – in Rose Bay, and confirmed that both he and Pongrass would be attending the WPT Main Tour at the Gold Coast in September.
| Mark Fester | 80,300 |
Martino mauled
Frank Martino flat-called from the lojack, prompting Mitch Bognar to size up his open from the cut-off, raising to 2,300.
The player in the small blind called Bognar’s raise, and with action back on Martino following a fold from the big blind, Martino elected to wager the remainder of his stack.
Bognar asked for a count – 16,300 it was – before flat-calling. The player in the small blind released his cards.
Bognar: A♦Q♠
Martino: Q♣10♣
Needing clubs, Martino wouldn’t even see one as the board rained red, the 5♥5♦6♥J♥ no help to him at all before the 8♠ on the river saw him to the rail.
| Mitch Bognar | 73,000 |
| Frank Martino | BUSTED! |
Break time and assorted counts
Players have had a 10-minute break. Here are some assorted counts.
| Name | Chips |
| Travis Endersby | 103,000 |
| Russell Fogarty | 101,900 |
| Mark Fester | 94,100 |
| Lloyd Locsin | 73,200 |
| Rehman Kassam | 71,000 |
| Qais Shanasa | 55,400 |
| Mitch Bognar | 53,900 |
| Chad Awerbuch | 50,900 |
| Jonathan Levy | 50,500 |
| Alba Qi | 43,300 |
| Michelle Psarras | 41,100 |
| Sammy Salha | 33,300 |
| Shem Goltz | 32,500 |
| Attila Bognar | 28,200 |
| Roy Agresta | 22,300 |
| Aurelian Chenais | 20,900 |
| Phillip Nguyen | 18,300 |
Level 4: 300/500 (500)
Six bet stacked
Phat Nguyen opened to 800 and was immediately 3-bet by Rehman Kassam to 2,500.
Action folded to Cam Adams in the big blind, who 4-bet to 7,500, prompting Nguyen to run for the hills from the trouble brewing.
Kassam wasn’t done, 5-betting to 17,900, and then snap-calling when Adams 6-bet shoved.
Kassam held A♥A♦, Adams held K♠K♥, yet another ultimate cooler on the Star Sydney Feature Table and Aces held once more to send Adams to the rail.
| Rehman Kassam | 70,000 |
Fogarty flying
Team PMA‘s Russell Fogarty is off to a flying start, and regaled a hand to us recently.
As Fogarty recalled, he’d gone to a flop heads up versus Peter Gray holding A♣J♣, and flopped a flush draw as it came down 2♣9♣10♥.
Bets of 2,000 and 6,000 on the flop and J♠ turn from Gray were called by Fogarty, who noted that he even turned top pair to boot, and was feeling pretty good about the hand at that point!
The river made him feel even better – the K♣ giving him the stone nuts. Fogarty fired 20,000, Gray hit the tank before calling off.
Gray has since doubled up, hitting his own flush with A♥10♥ whilst our Reporter was waiting to get his name!
| Russell Fogarty | 110,000 |
| Peter Gray | 16,000 |
Shen sent off
Picking up the action on the J♠3♦J♦ flop, we saw Lui Marinic and Rick Shen check before Gordon Xu bet 1,600 from late position.
Lui Marinic made the call, then Rick Shen decided to check-raise to 6,000. Xu let it go, and Marinic, looking almost surprised to be check-raised to begin with, made the call.
The 7♣ turn card was checked by Marinic, shoved by Shen for 10,600, and basically snap-called by Marinic.
Shen: J♥10♥
Marinic: J♣9♦
Things were looking pretty good for Shen, having Marinic out-kicked with one card to come … but the 9♥ on the river disastrous, sending Shen to the rail.
| Lui Marinic | 43,500 |
| Gordon Xu | 11,300 |
| Rick Shen | BUSTED! |
Level 3: 200/400 (400)
Rodden gets one through
On a full board showing 2♠J♠J♣5♠7♠, Jonny Rodden and Nam Nguyen had clashed to create a pot of approximately 33,000 up to that point.
Rodden jammed the river, shoving all in for a total of 22,800, and Nguyen hit the tank for several minutes.
A taaaaaaank-fold from Nguyen saw Rodden move above 50K.
| Jonny Rodden | 55,800 |
| Nam Nguyen | 28,700 |
Alba Glee
Alba Qi remarked to our Live Reporter happily “I busted her!” as we looked quizzically at the seat previously occupied by Michelle Psarras.
Qi explained that there had been an under-the-gun raise to 700, and she had just flat-called, before Psarras shipped her last 10,000. It had folded back around to Qi who had snap-called.
Qi: J♠J♥
Psarras: A♦Q♠
The flop spread out 8♣7♣6♣ and with neither player holding a club, Psarras still needed to hit an overcard. The turn 2♦ and river 6♦ pairing the board were no help and Psarras departed.
| Alba Qi | 50,700 |
| Michelle Psarras | BUSTED! |
Toomemagi mucks
Ashleigh Tran has taken down a pot without needing to show a card. After Estonia’s Ranno Toomemagi opened to 1,200 preflop, Tran was the only caller to see a flop of 2♣J♥10♦
Tran called Toomemagi’s 1,200 continuation bet, then both players checked on the 2♦. The 6♦ on the river prompted a 2,000 bet from Toomemagi, to which Tran shrugged and then called to see Toomemagi immediately muck.
Tran slid her cards in face down as the pot was pushed towards her. Meanwhile, Roy Agresta, on the same table, certainly seemed to prefer playing by himself as he is now down from his earlier high.
| Ashleigh Tran | 42,300 |
| Roy Agresta | 30,000 |
| Ranno Toomemagi | 22,600 |
Level 2: 200/300 (300)
Hachem down
Daniel Hachem has been short for the entire level thanks to an earlier cooler, and got it in versus Ashish Gupta towards the end of Level 1.
Gupta: 7♥7♦
Hachem: A♥J♠
Despite flopping a draw to Broadway on the 6♣Q♠K♣ flop, Hachem was unable to catch up on the 2♦, Q♥ run-out and departed the Star Sydney Feature Table.
He has since been replaced on the Feature Table in the one seat by Jonny Rodden, whilst Nam Nguyen has filled the empty Seat 8, and Rehman Kassam the empty seat 2 to fill the table.
| Jonny Rodden | 40,000 |
| Rehman Kassam | 40,000 |
| Nam Nguyen | 40,000 |
| Daniel Hachem | BUSTED! |
Osalian catches one
Conor Oregan raised to 500 pre-flop UTG+1 and got a standard four callers; Chen Yuanfei (UTG+2), Tommy James (HJ), Serg Osalian (button), and Dominic Wang from the small blind.
Action checked to James on the 3♠9♥10♥ flop and James through out a bet of 1,000. Only Osalian and Wang stuck around for the J♦ turn.
Wang and James checked it to Osalian, and Osalian wasn’t going to let anyone see a free card, betting 2,700. Wang folded and James matched the bet after a moment to consider.
James then fired 6,100 after the 4♥ hit the river and it was Osalian’s turn to hit the tank. After a brief minute or so, Osalian made the call and James tabled K♦9♦ for third pair. Osalian looked at the board, then rolled over his own 10♦8♦ for second pair and the pot.
| Serg Osalian | 52,700 |
| Conor Oregan | 43,900 |
| Dominic Wang | 40,700 |
| Chen Yuanfei | 39,000 |
| Tommy James | 31,200 |
Hachem heist
Mata Ye has robbed Daniel Hachem on the feature table within minutes of starting. Tournament Director Keiran Moore called our Live Reporter over and regaled the details to us.
Both Hachem and Ye had got it all-in pre-flop, and tabled their cards for an ultimate cooler.
Ye: A-A
Hachem: K-K
Aces held on the run-out and Hachem was crippled. Since then, Hachem got his short stack in with Q♠J♥ against the Q♣2♣ of Phat Nguyen, doubling through on the 5♣5♠2♦Q♦4♠ board.
A long road ahead for Hachem, but why bother doing anything the easy way?
| Mata Ye | 81,200 |
| Daniel Hachem | 2,400 |
Dream start for Agresta
Or at least, a dream start for anyone with social anxiety – no one to play with!
Roy Agresta took his seat on Table 27 – but for the first 10 minutes of play, he was very much alone. As tournament staff confirmed that every other seat had actually been paid for and was therefore in play, he was left to steal blinds to his hearts content!
The dream is over for now though – first to join him was Sammy Salha, who shared a laugh with Agresta about the situation before immediately raising to take the first pot Agresta hadn’t won.
The pair have now been joined by more players.
| Roy Agresta | 43,300 |
| Sammy Salha | 40,500 |
Star Sydney Feature Table
The only permanently installed Feature Table in Australia will once again be in use today. The play and action on the table will be streamed to Twitch on a 30-minute delay.
At the start of play today, our Feature Table line-up looks like this, headlined by one Daniel Hachem. Hachem, son of 2005 World Champion Joe Hachem, has just returned from a Vegas trip for the WSOP, which included a cash in the Main Event, and is a previous winner of APT’s ‘The Grind’ tournament for $36,200.
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Daniel Hachem | 40,000 |
| 2 | 40,000 | |
| 3 | Joshua Hutchins | 40,000 |
| 4 | Mata Ye | 40,000 |
| 5 | Cam Adams | 40,000 |
| 6 | Ashish Gupta | 40,000 |
| 7 | Fabian Craib | 40,000 |
| 8 | 40,000 | |
| 9 | Phat Nguyen | 40,000 |
Level 1: 100/200 (200)
Onwards and upwards!
Hello there and welcome back to PokerMedia Australia‘s continued coverage of The Star Sydney Champs Main Event!
Today is shaping up to be the biggest and most star-studded day of the series yet, with the Main Event prize pool now in excess of $1.3 million. Sources close to PMA are quietly confident that the number of entries taken in today will take us past the two-million dollar mark, making this the richest Sydney Champs Main Event in history.
It’s yet another positive indicator of how strong the poker scene is here in the Harbour City, which also comes off the back off the record-breaking WPTDeepStacks Sydney Main Event earlier this year, as well as mirroring global trends that were reflected in the numbers at this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas.
Naturally, that means that today’s Day 1C will be jam-packed full of action, so stay with us right here as we bring you live updates from 12:30pm AEST and right up until the final river falls!
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