$1,100 Main Event [Day 1a]
Structure Chip counts Prizepool
Photo Gallery Players Left: 1 out of 725
Day 1a Day 1b Day 1c Day 2 Day 3
"Chip Leader Peter Sheary"
May 29, 2009
Bag 'Em, Tag 'Em, That's A Wrap!
We've reached the end of Day 1a and what a day it's been; full of highs and lows, joy and despair, and of course some quality poker thrown in!Our chipleader after today is Peter Leary, sitting on 129,500 in chips. Darko Balaban is in second place and is well within striking range on 109,000, then Tony Kociski(105,100), Bruno Portaro (101,100) and Colin Peckover (90,900) round off the top five.
Some of the other big names to make it through to Day 2 include Aleks 'Banana Thief' Brkovic (85,200), Ben 'CNT_CRUSHER' Delaney (82,600), Trung Tran (72,900), Chris Levick (70,600), Tony Hachem (61,300), Steve Topakas (60,000), Celina Lin (39,100) and Tino Lechich (26,800).
However with any tournament there are always casualties, and amongst those who will be back on Saturday for the repechage will be Michael 'TheBigSiCkO' Guzzardi, Billy 'The Croc' Argyros, Eric Assadourian, Brian Hull, Dennis Huntly and 2008 Melbourne Poker Championship Main Event champion James 'Jabba' Broom who will fortunately have a second chance to defend his title this year.
Join us for Day 1b of the Melbourne Poker Championships Main Event tomorrow from 12:00pm local time as we bring you all that's happening on the felt.
Until then, from all of us at PokerNetwork, ciao for now!
Darko Flies Flag For Balabans
Darko Balaban is doing his brother Tim proud as he moves up to 102,000 in chips after eliminating another opponent.We caught the action on the flop of
. The opponent moved all in for 36,000 and Balaban double-fist-pumped-snap-called.Balaban:
Opponent:
The turn of the
gave the unknown some hope of chopping to stay alive, but it wasn't to be as the river 
appeared. The mystery man is no more.
Last Four Hands
We are down to our last four hands of the night.The Crazy Action Continues
We've had a barrage of hand notes coming from our Live Reporting Team off the floor here at Crown - just when you've got into your groove, the action goes into hyperdrive.Chris Kittos was crippled down to 3,800 after he got his money into the middle with
. He was ahead of one opponent's 
, but behind Gavin Massie's 
!The board read
- only a few hands later Kittos was eliminated. Massie moves up to 65,000.Manny Stavropoulos was eliminated shortly after he was crippled by an opponent's
hit a ten on the flop against his 
and held up.Moments later, we saw Shane Rakich walk out the door. He moved the last of his stack into the middle with
, but failed to hit against an opponent's 
.Tournament Director Mike Tarr has called last four hands, after which play will conclude for the day and the remaining players will bag and tag their chips.
"The better half of Mr. Assadourian"
May 29, 2009
Hawker Turns Tough Decision Into Easy One For Clarke
Mat Hawker opened the pot to 3,000 and only Lizzie Clarke came along.Both players checked the flop of
and when the 
fell on the turn Hawker lead out for 3,000. Clarke grabbed a few chips and threw them into the middle for a raise to 7,000. Hawker then slid the remainder of his short-stack into the pot.Clarke sat there looking at the board before asking for a count. The dealer cut it down to be 9,000 more and following that Hawker turned over his
.The whole table quickly kicked up a fuss saying she hadn't called and as so, Hawker quickly grabbed his cards and turned them back over. With Clarke switched on she made the call and tabled the same hand of
to make what seemed like a tough decision, just so much easier.A meaningless
peeled on the river and both players chopped the pot to continue grinding their short stack.
God Runs Like Levick
2009 PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne Feature Event champion Chris Levick has had an amazing run so far and it always helps when it continues into other events.Levick struck gold holding
and snap-called after an opponent moved all-in against him with 
. The board ran out 
and the opponent was busted.Levick is now up to 75,000 in chips.
"Jim Sachinidis stitched up"
May 29, 2009
Sachinidis Eliminated
Jim Sachinidis moved his last 5,700 into the middle with, only to be called down by an opponent's 
.Sachinidis was behind and it would stay that way as the board ran out
- no pair is ever good enough against a straight. Sachinidis is no more.
"Manny Stavropoulos makes a play and it pays off"
May 29, 2009
Stavropoulos Doubles Through
Manny Stavropoulos got his money in the middle holding
, only to run into an unknown opponent holding .However the board ran out
, giving 'The Stav' the straight and doubling up to 33,000!
Last Level Of Play
We are now in the last level of play.Due to the repechage nature of this Main Event we are bound to see some action generated with players trying to chip up or go bust so that they can play the day 1c repechage.
Make sure to stay tuned to PokerNetwork for the crazy plays and dangerous bluffs that come forth in this level.