Peter Peeters holds WPT Australia Mystery Bounty Day 1A chip lead; that’s a wrap!
Peter Peeters has topped the chip counts on the first day of the WPT Australia series, bagging 764,000 when the top 15% of the 194-strong field was reached.
“It’s been a wonderful day,” Peeters acknowledged with a sigh of relief in his chat with PokerMediaAustralia.
He continued to say it was “A culmination of a lot of cards just going my way… and I was getting good hands!”
The Brisbanite poker player of 25 years, says he plans to rest on Friday before returning on Day 2 with one goal:
“Just knock everyone out and grab one of those boomerang trophies!”
We’ll be back again for Day 1B from 2:30pm AEST when cards hit the felt here at The Star Gold Coast, as PMA live coverage of the WPT Australia series continues! Thanks for tuning in, good night from us for now!
Tan burns the bubble
With a dwindling short-stack and a suited ace, Reggie Diaz put all of his chips out in the hopes of a double-up. A crowd gathered once Jerome Tan made the call, all cheering Tan on to get the field down to 30 for Day 2.
With multiple prior all-ins resulting in wins for the at-risk players, the trend was finally broken and the bubble was burst. Tan took the win and started the bagging process, as Diaz sadly had to make his way from the tournament.
Diaz: A♥2♥
Tan: K♥Q♥
Board: Q♦10♣3♣8♥5♣
| Jerome Tan | 640,000 |
| Reggie Diaz | BUSTED! |
No Rodden luck for Johnny
The man with the name synonymous with chaos has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons as he was one of the first players to put their whole stack at risk when we hit hand-for-hand play on the bubble.
Action fell to Peter Brasile, who re-jammed, covering the whole table.
Brasile: 9♥9♦
Rodden: K♠J♦
The room gathered around the table, waiting in anticipation, as the dealer spread the 6♣5♦K♦A♥2♠ runout, giving Rodden a full double-up.
| Johnny Rodden | 302,000 |
Blight Delights
Craig Blight got a full double-up, after moving all-in from early position, Luke Feng sitting to his direct right made the snap-call.
As the players turned over their respective hands, Blight let out a wry smile to see he was in trouble. Feng’s Q♥Q♣ holding a pre-flop lead against Blight’s A♠Q♠.
The flop was as favourable as they come, 7♠8♠9♠.
The turn of the 10♠ all but locked up the pot for Blight, even handing him the redraw to the straight flush. The 6♥ on the river made no difference and sent the chips in blight’s direction, to grant him a double at a vital time.
| Luke Feng | 280,000 |
| Craig Blight | 163,000 |
Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Ge squeeze
Janet Wyvill raised from the hijack to 12,000 to begin the action, Ge defended his big blind and the flop comes 6♣6♠J♦ to see both players check.
The turn came the K♣, Ge checked to Wyvill who bet 16,000, quickly Ge made the call.
The 9♥ hit the felt on the river, Ge lead for 20,000. Before his chips had even reached the felt, Wyvil tossed her cards to the muck.
| Yiteng Ge | 445,000 |
| Janet Wyvil | 94,000 |
Guerin, Guer-out: second edition
It’s safe to say that Didier Guerin’s second bullet in the WPT Australia Mystery Bounty was a more positive experience than the first, however a deep run wasn’t deep enough, falling short of making it to Day 2.
After nursing a stack above average or most of his tenure at the tables, Guerin found himself low on chips and saw an opportunity to move all-in from the small blind, over Yang Lei’s button open.
Lei: J♠J♣
Guerin: A♣4♣
Board: K♣8♥7♠5♣2♠
| Yang Lei | 379,000 |
| Didier Guerin | BUSTED! |
Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
At the gates for Evans
Harry Evans has seen his stack dwindle down in the space of two hands to hit the rail.
Losing one hand with A♥7♦ on 5♦7♥J♦10♠3♣ against his opponent’s Q♥10♥.
On the next hand, Evans, moved all-in for his remaining 8,000. Josh Hutchins called, and Evelyn Ruiz moved all-in over the top, Hutchins called.
Hutchins: 10♦10♣
Evans: A♥5♣
Ruiz: Q♠J♠
Board: 5♦6♥9♣Q♣6♠
| Evelyn Ruiz | 159,000 |
| Josh Hutchins | 196,000 |
| Harry Evans | BUSTED! |
Brazen Brasile
Peter Brasile called his opponent’s all-in pre-flop, and managed to dodge a frightening board to effect an elimination as we near the closing stages of Day 1A.
Brasile’s Q♠Q♣ managed to maintain a lead on a flop of 6♥K♦4♥, however his opponent’s A♥10♥ had plenty of outs.
None of which were met on the 10♣,9♦ runout.
| Peter Brasile | 315,500 |
Level 14: 2,500/5,000 (5,000)
Follet falling
Antoine Follet took a hit at the hands of Suraj Kara. Blind-on-blind, Follet raised from the small, making it 12,000 total. Kara defended his big blind and took to a flop of 6♠8♦9♠, to which they both checked.
On the turn 8♠, Follet lead for 18,000, Kara made the call. The river fell the 3♦ and Follet made it 30,000, and was quickly called by Kara.
Follet turned over K♠K♦ only for Kara to show his J♣8♣ for the win.
| Suraj Kara | 166,500 |
| Antoine Follet | 177,500 |
All smiles for Smiljanic
Dan Smiljanic is one of the first to take it to Martin Ward, whom had held a large stack throughout the majority of Day 1A.
We caught action on the river with the board displaying 4♠4♣9♣7♣6♦. Ward checked to Smiljanic who went all-in for his remaining 117,500.
Ward called, only to muck immediately when Smiljanic turned over 7♥7♦ for the full house.
| Dan Smiljanic | 350,000 |
| Martin Ward | 96,000 |
Level 13: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Luke not spooked
Luke Martinelli has eliminated a player, winning with Q♠Q♣ to take a nice pot.
After opening to 6,000 preflop and getting a call from the small blind player, the flop showed 5♠2♦4♣, to which the small blind player lead for 16,000. Martinelli flatted to a turn of J♣, to which the small blind player moved all-in.
Martinelli called to see he was up against 10♠10♣, and held on the river J♦ to eliminate his opponent.
| Luke Martinelli | 250,000 |
Thatcher snatched
Jarrod Thatcher opened from the lojack to 6,000 and found a caller in Antoine Follett from the button.
On a board that ran out 10♥4♦7♣9♠8♦ all the action took place on the flop.
With Thatcher checking to Follett, who bet 4,000. Thatcher raised to 12,000 and was called.
The turn and river both went check, check and the two players went to showdown.
Follet: A♦4♥
Thatcher: 5♣4♣
| Antoine Follet | 352,700 |
| Jarrod Thatcher | 74,900 |
Level 12: 1,500/3,000 (3,000)
Roman soldiers on
Roman Priplotski has claimed a double-up at the expense of David Sebesfi, with both players getting the chip in pre-flop.
Priplotski: 9♥9♣
Sebesfi: 7♥7♦
Board: 5♦10♥5♥4♠10♣
| Roman Priplotski | 123,500 |
| David Sebesfi | 31,500 |
Ricky doesn’t get sticky
It’s usually easy to get attached to pocket Aces, especially when you manage to hit a set. Ricky Kroesen somehow managed to escape their grasp in that exact scenario.
Kroesen opened from the lojack with A♠A♣ only to get four calls, with the hijack, dealer, small blind and big blind all calling the 2,800.
Flop: A♦4♦2♠
Action checked to Kroesen, who continued for 12,000, and found Damelian as the only caller. On the 6♦ turn, Damelian moved all-in, sending Kroesen into the tank before remarkably open folding his black Aces.
Damelian would later remark that he flopped a straight with 5-3 with one diamond, explaining he didn’t want to see any more diamonds!
| Ricky Kroesen | 105,200 |
| Robert Damelian | 81,100 |
Level 11: 1,500/2,500 (2,500)
Yes Yazbeck!
Patrick Yazbeck has arrived with a bang, taking out a player and sitting nicely above average stack in the latter half of the day. Registering close to the cut-off period, Yazbeck has spun his stack up early on in his tournament life.
Preflop saw Yazbeck open to 4,000 before he was three-bet to 12,500. Yazbeck called to see 5♣9♦5♦ take to the flop, two which he check-called a jam.
Up against an at-risk A♠A♦, Yazbeck was drawing slim but managed to spike one of his two outs on the river when the board followed 10♥,J♣.
| Patrick Yazbeck | 151,600 |
Durust bluff?
A call from UTG+1, and from the Harry Evans in the small blind, saw a limped pot see a flop of 2♥6♦2♣.
Evans checked to Taner Durust in the big blind who bet 3,500. UTG+1 folded and Evans made the call to see the A♠ on the turn, to which the action went check-check.
On the 10♣ river, Durust lead for an overbet of 20,000 to send Evans into the tank.
Evans eventually folded, but any doubts he had over whether it was the correct decision or not, were not put at ease when Durust turned over the singular Q♦
| Taner Durust | 78,600 |
| Harry Evans | 54,200 |
Level 10: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Fan spins it up
Jiajun Luo opened action to 4,000 from UTG+1, his only caller coming from the big blind through Kuling Fan. To a flop of 4♣8♦3♣, Fan checked to Luo who bet 4,000.
A call took both players to a turn of 5♥, and it went bet-free to the A♦ river.
Fan lead out for 18,000 to which Luo folded instantly.
| Kuling Fan | 143,200 |
| Jiajun Luo | 138,300 |
Two-pair Kara-cked
The river pairing of the board has slowed action between two big-stacks on Table 14. Craig Blight and Suraj Kara now sit on even terms following a series of check-call’s from Blight on the flop and turn.
Blight made top pair with J♥4♣ and hung around amidst Kara’s betting on a board of 8♠6♥J♦9♣.
On the 8♣ river, Blight checked once more, this time Kara checked back with 9♥6♦. With Kara’s hand counterfeited, Blight took the pot to get within a single orange chip of Kara’s stack.
| Craig Blight | 136,800 |
| Suraj Kara | 137,700 |
More counts!
Entries have now been finalised upon the closing of registration, with a total of 194 for Day 1A of the Mystery Bounty. This means play will cease tonight once 30 players remain, which is 15% of the field.
Some big stacks are starting to form, with Martin Ward leading the pack as the players return from their 30-minute dinner break.
| Player | Chips |
| Martin Ward | 225,500 |
| Ali Zebarjad | 187,500 |
| Alexander Andrejv | 149,900 |
| Ricky Kroesen | 136,900 |
| Nabil Edgtton | 136,500 |
| Junya Luo | 134,500 |
| Didier Guerin | 129,300 |
| Adrian Pacheco | 124,100 |
Level 9: 800/1,600 (1,600)
Double casualty Ward
With Leo Boxell all-in preflop for only 2,100 total, we caught the side pot action between Jimmy Ghobrial and Martin Ward.
With the board showing 2♥J♥10♦, Ward checked to Gobrial who bet 16,000 and was met with calling chips. The turn brought the 8♦, prompting Ward to lead for 16,000.
Ghobrial moved all-in and Ward snap-called. The two players turned over their hands.
Ward: 9♥7♥
Ghobrial: 2♣2♠
The river Q♥ failed the pair the board, to send Boxell (who never showed his hand) and Ghobrial on their way.
| Martin Ward | 210,200 |
| Jimmy Ghobrial | BUSTED! |
| Leo Boxell | BUSTED! |
Arm-on the rise
Armon Van-Wijk has found a much needed double up. With his stack dwindling down to below 10,000, Van-Wijk stuck the rest of his chips in the middle and found a call through Jaxon Byrne in the big blind.
Van-Wijk: K♠Q♥
Byrne: A♦10♦
Board: Q♣9♠6♥7♠K♣
| Jaxon Byrne | 69,400 |
| Armon Van-Wijk | 19,200 |
Ge-tting the best of it
Jack Mardanbeigi opened from the button with a bet of 2,400, only to be raised by Yiteng Ge who made it 12,000 from the big blind. Mardanbeigi called, leaving himself with only 12,100.
On a flop of 2♦4♦6♠, Ge placed enough chips in the middle to cover Mardanbeigi, who made the call.
Ge: A♦5♦
Mardanbeigi: Q♦9♦
The runout followed with 7♦,10♦, handing Ge the nuts and sent the APT “The Beast” titleholder to the rail.
| Yiteng Ge | 72,100 |
| Jack Mardanbeigi | BUSTED! |
Level 8: 600/1,200 (1,000)
No Blight on Craig’s record
Action on Table 14 saw Craig Blight call off a pre-flop all-in from Jiapeng Yang.
Yang tried to make a move with A♦8♠, but couldn’t get past Blight’s J♦J♣.
The runout followed with 10♠K♣2♥Q♦7♠ to eliminate Yang and hand Blight a huge pot.
| Craig Blight | 115,200 |
| Jiapeng Yang | BUSTED! |
No go for Leo
Jimmy Ghobrial and Leo Boxell went head-to-head in a pot that began with Ghobrial opening to 2,000 from middle position. Boxall called from the cutoff to see the flop arrive 3♥5♣10♣.
Ghobrial checked the flop to Boxell, who lead for 6,000. Ghobrial called and then checked once again on the Q♠ turn card, Boxell repeated his bet sizing, and Ghobrial responded with a raise, bumping it from 6,000 to 18,000.
Boxell called and they went heads up to see the river come the 10♣. Ghobrial made it 18,000, enough to get Boxell out of the way, and claim a healthy pot.
| Jimmy Ghobrial | 79,600 |
| Leo Boxell | 42,000 |
Level 7: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Guerin, Guer-out
Moments after taking his seat for Day 1A of the Mystery Bounty, Didier Guerin has hit the rail.
Action commenced with Brendan Hardy opening from UTG, Guerin called adjacent to Hardy’s left before Suraj Kara bumped the price to 8,000. Hardy got out of the way before Guerin moved all-in and was snap called by Kara.
Kara: J♥J♠
Guerin: A♥K♥
Board: 10♣7♦5♣7♣3♦
| Suraj Kara | 137,800 |
| Didier Guerin | BUSTED! |
Ashes to ashes, bust for Durust
Taner Durust has seen to the elimination of Craig Trevenna.
After a series of raising back and forth pre-flop, the chips eventually got to the middle between the two players.
Durust: A♣K♦
Trevenna: J♥J♦
Board: 4♥2♦7♠A♦A♠
| Taner Durust | 75,600 |
| Craig Trevenna | BUSTED! |
Level 6: 400/800 (800)
Byrne and turn
Romain Morvan has clawed his way to sit nicely above average stack. Action opened with Morvan making it 1,200 from the cutoff. Jaxon Byrne called from the small blind to see the flop spread out 4♦3♦5♣.
Byrne checked, prompting Morvan to continue for 4,000. Byrne responding by moving all-in, and was quickly called by Morvan.
Morvan: 4♠4♥
Byrne: A♣K♥
The runout followed 7♦,9♦ to leaving Byrne with a shell of his former stack.
| Romain Morvan | 76,400 |
| Jaxon Byrne | 3,800 |
A play to Harp-er on about
We caught the action from a flop, where Danny Harper bet 3,700 on a board showing 8♣3♥10♠. Yiteng Ge made the call from the lojack. On the 8♥ turn, Harper once again lead from the hijack, Ge check-called.
The river fell the 2♦, this time Ge lead for 16,000, sending Harper into the tank. After a few moments, Harper called to find out his 9♥9♦ was good against Ge’s K♥Q♥.
| Danny Harper | 76,400 |
| Yiteng Ge | 10,300 |
A-counts in order
Players have enjoyed a brief ten-minute break, and as they make their way back to their stacks, let’s have a look around the grounds to see how some of the players are shaping up.
| Player | Chips |
| Mike Ivin | 102000 |
| Jason Anand | 83000 |
| Mina Gerges | 64100 |
| Aroha Ngata | 62300 |
| Leo Boxell | 62000 |
| Janet Wyvil | 61000 |
| Ehsan Amiri | 56700 |
| Daniel Gabriel | 52500 |
| Roman Priplotski | 46000 |
| Romain Morvan | 44100 |
| Luke Martinelli | 39500 |
| David Sebesfi | 27800 |
Level 5: 300/600 (600)
Four-of-a-blind
“I’m all-in blind!” is often heard at the start of a story where the player in question ends up having pocket aces, Clinton Shah ended up turning over the other end of the scale.
Nick Richards was delighted to wake up to J♦J♣ with another player having jammed without looking at their cards. The delight heightened with Shah turning over 7♣2♥.
The board spread 2♦Q♣10♦2♠2♣… of course!
Shah’s quads left Richards with a minuscule stack that unsurprisingly found its way to the middle the very next hand.
Richards: 7♠7♦
Shah: 7♣7♦
Board: Q♥K♦9♥5♣2♦
| Clinton Shah | 17,400 |
| Nick Richards | 6,600 |
Frost heating up
Mitchell Frost won a pot against Romain Morvan, calling from the small blind after Morvan opened to 1,200 from under-the-gun.
On a flop of A♠8♦5♣, Frost lead for 1,400 and was met with calls from Morvan and the player in the hijack. The J♦ on the turn garnered checks from all three players to get to a river of A♦.
Frost checked once more, Morvan bet 5,000, folding out the hijack, but Frost called. Morvan’s reluctance to show his hand was quickly justified when Frost turned over J♠10♠ to claim the pot.
| Mitchell Frost | 71,200 |
| Romain Morvan | 24,000 |
Level 4: 300/500 (500)
Carlos-win
The conclusion of a hand saw Hari Varma slowly slid his cards into the muck, an understandable move after being shown the nuts from an opponent.
Carlos Youssef three-bet preflop to 3,500 from the cutoff, following Varma’s 1,000 open from UTG+1 and a call from the lojack. Varma was the only caller to a flop of 8♥9♠9♥, to which both players elected to check.
Varma then check-called Youssef’s 5,000 bet on the 7♠ turn.
The 7♣ escalated action on the river with Varma leading for 19,000 and Youssef moving all-in over the top. Varma called to see Youssef’s 9♦9♣ for quads.
| Carlos Youssef | 71,800 |
| Hari Varma | 11,700 |
Recovery pl-Anne
A limped pot allowed a short-stacked Anne Beygirlioglu, and Armon Van-Wijk get to see a cheap flop from the cutoff and small-blind respectively.
On a flop of 7♠6♥2♦, action checked to Beygirlioglu who bet 1,000. Van-Wijk was the only caller to the A♦ turn card. Van-Wijk checked once more and Beygirlioglue pulled the trigger, piling the rest of her chips in the middle to force Van-Wijk out of the way.
| Anne Beygirlioglu | 22,500 |
| Armon Van-Wijk | 30,000 |
Level 3: 200/400 (400)
On the Whiteside of a big hand
Les Whiteside must have thought Christmas arrived early after the essential gifting of chips to his stack.
Pre-flop action saw Whiteside open his A♠A♥ to 700, with a big blind defender the only caller. On 7♠8♦4♠, the big blind lead for 2,200, Whiteside raised to 5,100 and instantly called the all-in from the big blind, who showed 5♦4♥ for bottom pair with an inside-straight draw.
Whiteside was relieved to see a clean runout come 2♥,Q♦ to pick up a scalp and some extra chips.
| Les Whiteside | 51,600 |
Dang-it
Alan Dang is an early elimination, felted at the hands of Leo Boxell.
Pre-flop saw a flurry of action, beginning with Boxell opening to 600 from the hijack. Dang responded with a three-bet to 1,600 before Boxall hit back with a re-raise to 3,700. Dang piled in a five-bet to 10,000 before calling Boxell’s six-bet shove.
Boxell: A♥A♦
Dang: K♠K♣
Board: 2♥2♦5♥7♥8♠
| Leo Boxell | 73,400 |
| Alan Dang | BUSTED! |
Not a Fan of a chop
Players haven’t been afraid to stick their chips in the middle, as evidenced by an early big pot between Nick Nicholls and Kuling Fan.
Arriving at a river with over 20,000 in the middle, a healthy pot was up for grabs for either player to take a commanding stance in the tournament.
However, both players turned over the same full house on 3♦A♦Q♠7♠K♠, each player holding a Queen to split the pot.
| Nick Nicholls | 40,300 |
| Kuling Fan | 40,300 |
Level 2: 100/200 (200)
Caught out
Huss Hussan has gotten his hand caught in the cookie jar, failing to get a bluff past David Coxell.
We caught the action from the flop, where Hassan lead from the big blind on the flop and turn with sizings of 1,400 and 4,500 respectively. Down-betting to 600 on the river, Coxell quickly made the call with 8♥9♣, trips on a board of 2♣8♣7♦5♠8♦.
Hussan ensuring his K♣5♣ wasn’t visible for too long, letting a smile slipped as he stressed to our reporter, “I was in the big blind!”
| David Coxell | 47,400 |
| Huss Hassan | 32,700 |
Familiar faces
Of the entrants to have registered so far, there are some players of note getting into the action early for Day 1A.
Recent champions from the APT Season V Brisbane series are amongst the field, including “The Beast’ champion, Jack Mardanbeigi, and Huss Hussan, winner of “The Grind”.
Australian Poker Hall of Fame inductee, Leo Boxell, is here to join other well known names including: Jason Anand, Martin Ward, Elise Depauw, Robert Damelian, Mina Gerges, Janet Wyvil and Jenny Chauvv.
Cards in the air!
The first event of WPT Australia 2022 is underway! 90 starters have taken their seats for play in the Mystery Bounty, with play to conclude upon reaching the final 15% of the field.
Bounties will not be introduced until Saturday’s Day 2, meaning players will have today and and tomorrow as their only chance to get themselves in a position to potentially come away with the coveted Grand Bounty!
Stay tuned as we’ll be bringing you all the action right here on the blog throughout today for our Event 1 of a huge series here at The Star Gold Coast!
Level 1: 100/100 (100)
Open for business!
From wherever you may be watching in Australia, New Zealand or around the world, hello and welcome to PokerMedia Australia‘s Live Reporting coverage of the WPT Australia series!
Today marks yet another historic moment in Australian poker, as the WPT’s Main Tour offering makes its debut at The Star Gold Coast and it promises to be one of the biggest and most memorable series ever.
Given that international borders are all but fully open once again, we’re expecting a big influx of overseas visitors; buzz on social media suggests that there will be many players flying in from New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region to rub shoulders with WPT Brand Ambassadors Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme, who are headlining next week’s $2/$5 WPT Meet-Up Game.
Of course, there is one household name that will be here with us in spirit: Shane Warne, whose lasting legacy in both cricket and poker is being honoured with a special ‘One-Dayer’ Perpetual Trophy event on the eve of the inaugural $5,400 buy-in WPT Australia Main Event, where one player will have their name etched into poker folklore on the coveted Mike Sexton Cup.
The PMA team will once again be ringside at The Star Gold Coast for the entire series, featuring full Live Reporting coverage of the Opening Event Mystery Bounty which begins this afternoon, as well as the $20,000 buy-in 20th Anniversary Super High Roller – the biggest buy-in tournament to be held in this country since the 2020 Australian Poker Open.
We’ll also be bringing you Day 2 action of many of the side events over the next two weeks, and together with our friends at the WPT, PMA will also be providing special social media coverage of the Main Event.
WPT AUSTRALIA – PMA LIVE REPORTING SCHEDULE
| Date | Time (AEST) | Event |
| Thu 15 Sep | 2:30pm | Opening Event Mystery Bounty Day 1A |
| Fri 16 Sep | 2:30pm | Opening Event Mystery Bounty Day 1B |
| Sat 17 Sep | 11:30am | Opening Event Mystery Bounty Day 2 |
| Sun 18 Sep | 11:30am | $2,500 8-Max Day 2 |
| Mon 19 Sep | 12:30pm | $550 Action NLH Action Clock Day 2 |
| Tue 20 Sep | 12:30pm | $550 PLO Day 2 |
| Wed 21 Sep | 12:30pm | $660 Big Bounty Day 2 |
| Thu 22 Sep | 2:30pm | 20th Anniversary Super High Roller Day 1 |
| Fri 23 Sep | 11:15am | 20th Anniversary Super High Roller Day 2 |
| Mon 26 Sep | 12:30pm | Mini Main Event Day 2 |
| Tue 27 Sep | 12:30pm | High Roller Day 2 |
Stay with us over the next two weeks as we bring you all the action – and to everyone taking part, we say unto you in the words of the legendary Mike Sexton … may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters!
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