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Today was Day 3 of the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Main Event with 66 players returning to the Star City Casino to play down to the money and ultimately the final table. Upon arriving at the casino, the players were met with a stunning transformation of the Sports Theatre located downstairs. After broadcasting the Danny Green fight only days earlier, the theatre had been cleared out and eight poker tables filled in the pit area in front of the hundred or so auditorium-style seats surrounding the players. A feature table was elevated on to the stage with birds-eye and roving cameras keeping the crowd thoroughly entertained as they grabbed a beer and watched the action on the big screens. This setup was truly world-class for a poker tournament and Star City and the APPT should be commended for raising the bar in terms of poker viewing for live audiences.
Once play commenced the first battle was to reach the money as 18 players would go home disappointed. Daniel Neilson, Tom Pongrass, Aleks Brkovic and John Caridad would be amongst those who would fall short of the cash, with Caridad unfortunate to have his pocket aces cracked by the pocket nines of Roel Pijpers. Justin Tazelaar earned the distinction of bubble boy when his pocket queens ran into David Formosa’ pocket aces to delight the remaining 48 players in the room who were guaranteed at least $9,504 in cash.
Last woman standing Jackie Glazier departed in 43rd place and Julius Colman soon followed in 41st place as Aaron Benton was having some better fortune. He was all in for his last chips on a board of 
and tabled what he thought was a monster draw with 
but found he was drawing to only two outs for a straight-flush when David Hibbott flipped over pocket deuces for a full house. Incredibly the river was a miraculous 
to give Benton a straight-flush and a momentum-gaining double up.
2007 APPT champ Grant Levy was hoping for another deep run however his 
was cracked by Seoyoung Chin’s 
when a queen spiked on the flop to leave “grunter” crippled. Levy recovered some chips but fell in 37th place to fellow PokerStars Team Australia Pro Eric Assadourian when Levy’s pocket fives couldn’t win the race against Assadourian’s when the board ran out 
.
PokerNetwork’s Lynn Gilmartin caught up with Eric for a chat shortly after this elimination...
PokerNetworker Jarred “FlopNutsOnYou” Graham was having no problems accumulating chips as he stormed to the chip lead, as Assadourian struggled from this point after his pocket kings fell to pocket queens when four hearts hit the board to leave him on the short stack. Assadourian fell soon after in 24th place as his 
was out-flopped by the 
of Wayne Carlson when a king hit the board.
Another young gun in Matthew “onmyVplates” Pearson fell in 21st place as he lost a race with pocket eights against Joseph Allis’ 
, while Aussie poker stalwart Mike Ivin succumbed in 19th place after the pair again fell to the overcards when Ivin’s tens couldn’t hold against David Saghabi’s .
Another poker stalwart Leo “The Mechanic” Boxell was progressing well after being one of the Day 1 chip leaders, and with two tables left the players re-drew with two winners of preliminary events during the week still in contention. Tom Grigg and Jarred Graham were still alive to prove that their success was all form rather than fluke.
Graham became the unfortunate final table bubble boy when he fell in 10th place. Graham lost a fair whack of his chips holding 
on a flop of 
against Panayotis Flourentzou who had flopped a set of tens. The turn and river came running sixes to give Flourentzou the double up. It would once again be pocket tens that ended Graham’s run when he moved he called all in with that very hand to be up against the 
of Barry Forrester. With a big support crew cheering for his tens to hold they were disappointed to be confronted with a board of 
to pair up Forrester’s queen and leave the young gun as the final table bubble boy.
Here’s how they will line up for the final table when play kicks off at 2pm this afternoon:
Seat 1: David Formosa - 856,000
Seat 2: Thomas Slifka - 758,000
Seat 3: Wayne Carlson - 1,114,000
Seat 4: Andrew Hiscox - 848,000
Seat 5: Leo Boxell - 1,236,000
Seat 6: Barry Forrester - 1,087,000
Seat 7: Aaron Benton - 1,790,000
Seat 8: Tom Grigg - 1,950,000
Seat 9: Ernst Hermans - 2,048,000
The match to catch is Dutchman Ernst Hermans with over two million in chips but anything can happen! Catch all the live action as it unfolds on the PokerNews Live Reporting pages.
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