WSOP Main Event

Vincent Chua Eliminated in 10th Place - Our final table is set! - $31,389

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 5:42pm

Sam Alhassan had predicted late yesterday that Vincent Chua would finish 3rd in this tournament. It turns out he was seven places off.

Chua was short-stacked and needed to make a move. He pushed his stack in the middle and, in case of poor timing, was called by John Pachos.

Pachos: 

Chua: 

Board: 

After a fantastic tournament, Vincent Chua goes home. We are now set for our final table.

It starts tomorrow at 12:30 pm and comprises a phenomenal list of poker players.

Sam Alhassan will come into tomorrow's play as our chip leader, the big lovable man doesn't have a large amount of tournament experience behind him but he does have a huge chip lead and has showed time and time again that he is not afraid to move his stack around.

If anyone can topple him, Michael Kanaan would have to be the most likely one to do so. He has played a great tournament and is consistently thereabouts in every tournament he plays. He has amassed more than AUD$1 million in live tournament earnings and more than USD$2 million online. He has the end game experience to take this down and will go through as the Star Poker Live Reporting Team favourite to take home the title and the WSOP Circuit Gold Ring.

Karam 'Habibi' Bahi is pretty much in the Star Poker Room whenever it is open, an impressive feat in a 24 hour, 7 days a week room. This gives him a literal home ground advantage tomorrow, he is a crowd favourite and a lot of the rail will be cheering him to victory.

If Bahi is a crowd favourite then John Pachos is for completely different reasons. Very much a man you hear before you see. He comes into the final table proudly wearing the 'Sydney Poker Brat' moniker. Expect plenty of talk and animation from him at the final table, if any players are able to have their feathers ruffled then Pachos will be the man to do so. Can he get some of our big stacks to go on tilt and reap the benefits?

Michael 'Popsy' Fraser is at the final table representing the old players. As the oldest man on the planet in the Star Poker Room he will be doing it for lovers of cardigans and boiled candy everywhere. Fraser, like Sean Lannon, have middle chip stacks, meaning they can either go up or down once play starts tomorrow.

Then we need to consider our three young guns, nursing relative short-stacks.

Daniel Embleton, Nabil Edgtton and Vincent Huang will all be looking to make some moves early. If anyone of them can build a stack though they could really be in a position to turn this thing on its head.

We will find out which of these players emerges tomorrow as our champion. We started with 1,067 and now are down to just nine. These nine have left 1,058 players in their wake and will need to survive just eight more eliminations to be our champion and take home the coveted WSOP Gold Ring and the $394,837 first place prize money!

It is going to be an absolute cracker, make sure you join us at 12:30 pm tomorrow. Somebody's name will be listed as our 2017 WSOP Sydney Champion. Whose will it be?

Final Table Seats and Chip Counts

Dejan Boskovic is eliminated in 11th Place - $31,369

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 5:16pm

We picked up the action on the  flop where Karam Bahi bet 500,000 after Dejan Boskovic had checked. Boskovic called.

The turn came the  and Boskovic checked again. This time, Bahi bet 1,500,000 and with the action back on Boskovic, he check-raised all in!

Bahi made the call.

Bahi:  - A pair of Kings

Boskovic:  - A pair of Tens

The  ht the river and Boskovic hit the rail. We are now down to our final ten and just one elimination away from our final table!

Heavy Table

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 5:12pm

You might have noticed from our previous post chip count post that there is a major imbalance between the number of chips on each table. 

The Alhassan, Kanaan and Fraser table has around 20 million chips and the Pachos, Bahi, Chua table has about 12 million in chips.

This is because a major bulk of our eliminations today have come from players at that table meaning those that are left have been able to share the spoils.

When we get own to our final table this could prove to be a significant advantage for these players.

Martin Stewart Eliminated in 12th Place - $31,369

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 5:03pm

After a valiant run, Martin Stewart has been sent to the rail.

He moved all in for his final 1.2m and was called by Michael 'Popsy' Fraser.

Stewart: 

Fraser: 

Board: 

Fraser makes a flush and Martin Stewart makes a list, of ways he can spend his newly acquired $31,369!

Players are back from the break - Seats and Chips

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 4:58pm

We are now playing 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante.

The average stack is 2,667,500.

Here is a list of who is left, their chip count and their seat.

Break

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 4:53pm

Alhassan builds a mountain!

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 4:52pm

Nabil Edgtton opened to 135,000. Michael 'Popsy' Fraser called and did Michael Kanaan and Sam Alhassan.

We went four-handed to the  flop.

Kanaan checked from the small blind and Alhassan bet 500,000 from the big blind. Edgtton called and everyone else got out of the way bringing the  turn heads up.

Alhasan bet 725,000 and Edgtton called. When the  hit the river Sam led out for 1,000,000 in chips. This brought a raise of 2,200,000 from Edgtton. Alhassan called.

Edgtton:  - Two Pairs, Aces and Sevens

Alhassan:  - Three Fives

Sam Alhassan goes runner runner to win the biggest pot of the tournament so far. He is now siting behind a mountain of chips!

Bosko gets once

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 4:46pm

Karam Bahi raised to 150,000 from under the gun. It folded around to the blinds, John Pachos called from the small blind and Dejan Boskovic called from the big blind.

We went three way to the  flop where it was checked to Bahi. He bet 200,000, Pachos folded and Boskovic made the call.

Both players then checked the  flop and the  turn.

Bahi held  for Ace high and Boskovic won the pot with  for top pair. 

Chua doubles

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 4:10pm

Vincent Chua moved all in from the button for his final 745,000 and was called by Daniel Embleton in the small blind.

Embleton: 

Chua: 

Board: 

After receiving the last few double ups Embleton now knows what it feels like to be on the other end

So who is left?

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 4:07pm

Here is some information on the players we have left in this tournament. Their total prize money and best result prior to this event.

Brendon Rubie Eliminated in 13th place - $25,565

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 4:04pm

Daniel Rubie moved all in preflop and was called by Nabil Edgtton. 

This presented a great opportunity for the Star Poker Live Reporting Team to pull out the overused phrase 'they were in a classic race situation'.

Rubie: 

Edgtton: 

Board: 

Edgtton claims a major scalp by getting rid of one of the most dangerous players in the tournament. 

Embleton doubles again

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:59pm

Daniel Embleton appears to have at least nine lives in this tournament.

After Vincent Huang moved all in Daniel Embleton called and was in bad shape.

Huang: 

Embleton: 

That was of course until the board ran out  giving Embleton a bigger pair and a bigger stack thanks to the double up!

Gregg Russell Eliminated in 14th Place - $25,561

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:57pm

At the very same time Gregg Russell found himself all in vs Michael Kanaan preflop.

Kanaan: 

Russell: 

Board: 

The fan favourite was eliminated in 14th place and we are just four bust outs away from our final table!

Trent McFadzean Eliminated in 15th Place - $25,565

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:54pm

Trent McFadzean raised to 180,000 from middle position and was called by Sean Lannon in the big blind.

The two players saw a  flop heads up where Lannon check-called the 220,000 bet from McFadzean.

When the  hit the turn Lannon checked again, this time McFadzean moved all in and Lannin snap-called.

McFadzean:  - Ace High

Lannon:  - A full house - Tens full of twos

Trent McFadzean was drawing dead and he us our 15th place finisher.

Blinds up

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:47pm

We are now playing 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante.

Omar Amoud Eliminated in 16th Place - $21,062

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:46pm

Michael Kanaan opened to 125,000 from middle position and was called by Nabil Edgtton in the cutoff. With the action on Omar Amoud he moved all in for his final 725,000.

Kanaan got out of the way and Nabil made the call.

Edgtton: 

Amoud: 

Board: 

Amoud's attempted squeeze does not go to plan and we are now down to our final 15.

Double G Double S Double L and Double Stack

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:28pm

Gregg Russell has one of the easier names to remember as a reporter. You basically just put a double of every letter and you have the spelling correct. Well 'Double Man' has just doubled his stack at the expense of Sam Alhassan!

Russell moved all in from the button for his final 490,000 and Alhassan made the call.

Russell: 

Alhassan: 

Board: 

Russell doubles up and is ready to fight his way to the top of this thing!

Nabil Edges past Kanaan

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:16pm

Nabil Edgtton raised to 100,000 from under the gun and it folded to Michael Kanaan who called from the small blind. The two went to the  flop heads up.

Kanaan check-called the 90,000 bet from Edgtton on the flop and then did the same with his 290,000 bet on the  turn. Both players checked when the  hit the river.

Edgtton tabled  which was good enough for him to take the pot as Kanaan busted.

Big Sam Keeps Rolling On

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:09pm

Sam Alhassan is going about his business, acquiring as many chips as he can here in the 2017 WSOP Sydney Main Event.

In a recent hand, he raised to 250,000 (5bb) from the button and was called by Nabil Edgtton in the big blind.

The flop came  and Edgtton folded to the 350,000 continuation bet made by Alhassan.

Is this the most interesting hand that has ever happened? No.

Is it worthy of reporting on? Possibly not.

Please be aware dear reader, I can only report on what happens. Your gripe isn't with me, it is with the players!

40 bigs

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 3:04pm

The players have recommenced play and are now enjoying blinds of 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante.

The average stack in the roo is 2,000.625 which gives players 40 big blinds on average.

This seems high for this stage of a tournament but isn't surprising given the flurry of eliminations we saw earlier.

It will be interesting to see if the flurry continues or starts to slow down now. 

If you make it to our final table you are going home with at least $38,924. The next out gets $21,062 so there is a sizeable difference.

Embleton survives to the break!

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 2:39pm

On the last hand before the break, Daniel Embleton got his short stack all in against Sean Lannon.

Lannon: 

Embleton: 

Board: 

Embleton started in front and made a straight to stay there and the short-stack doubles up!

Break time!

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 2:36pm

After a whirlwind first two levels of Day three, we are now on our first ten-minute break of the day!

We started today with 30 and now just 16 remain. We are just eight more eliminations from our final table being set!

Final Two Tables - Seating Draw and Chip Count

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 2:32pm

Nicholae Predescu Eliminated in 17th Place - $21,062

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 2:27pm

We have lost Nicholae Predescu from this tournament and are now down to just our final two tables.

Predescu moved all in and was called by Michael Kanaan.

Predescu: 

Kanaan: 

Board: 

Omer Silajdzija Eliminated in 18th Place - $21,062

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 2:16pm

Omer Silajdzija has been eliminated in 18th place at the hands of the man who is crushing everyone at the moment. Karam 'Habibi' Bahi.

Silajdzija moved all in from the button for his final 695,000 and was called by Bahi in the small blind in what is a pretty gross cooler given the spots and the time of the tournament.

Silajdzija: 

Bahi: 

Board: 

Omer Silajdzija is done for the day and whilst we will miss him we certainly will not miss attempting to write his surname!

Gareth Pepper Eliminated - That's a bold strategy cotton, let's see if it pays off.

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 2:12pm

 Due to the high volume of eliminations that have been happening over the past half an hour, it was inevitable that we missed one of them.

It is with a heavy heart that I need to inform you that we missed the elimination of Gareth 'Cotton' Pepper.

As a massive 'Dodgeball' fan, this is extremely painful for me as I had spent my preparation time before today's shift (aka having a shower) coming up with some great little Dodgeball-inspired quips that I could deliver during today's proceedings.

Sadly though, Pepper is gone before I could event get one out. So I will just point out that it appears that Pepper is trying to win this tournament from the rail...

"That's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off"

We have 18 players remaining.

Dos Santos Eliminatos!

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 2:05pm

Andre Dos Santos has been eliminated from the tournament!

The chips went all in against perpetual Sydney poker brat, John Pachos preflop.

Pachos: 

Dos Santos: 

Board: 

Dos Santos made a point of thanking the Star Poker team for such a fabulous well run tournament. Thanks, Andre, much appreciated and see you next time!

Huss Hassan Eliminated

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 2:02pm

Huss Hassan had to do something if he was going to build his short-stack up.

Unfortunately, it didn't go to plan.

We caught the action on the  turn. We don't know exactly what 'the action' entails but there was definitely chips, cards and 'all in' plaques all over the place.

Karam 'Habibi' Bahi had raised to 525,000 and Hassan had shoved all in over the top. Bahi called.

Bahi:  - a gutshot

Hassan:  - two pair

The  hit the river giving Bahi a straight and one of the more popular members of the Star Poker Community hit the rail $17,541 richer after a fantastic tournament.

Andrew Zhang Eliminated in 20th

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:56pm

A short-stacked Andrew Zhang needed to find a double up and he thought he had found the time when it folded to him in the cutoff. He moved his final 380,000 into the middle.

It turned out that timing is not Zhang's forte. Daniel Emberton called from the blinds.

Zhang: 

Emberton: 

Board: 

We have lost Zhang from the tournament.

Huss Crippled!

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:51pm

Crowd favourite Huss Hassan has been left nursing a very short-stack after a recent hand.

Hassan called an all-in when he was pot-committed and was in bad shape against Trent McFadzean.

McFadzean: 

Hassan: 

Board: 

Hassan is on life support.

Chaloub falls to Lannon

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:46pm

Freddy Chaloub has been eliminated in 23rd place. 

The chips went all in on the  flop. Chaloub had a great set but Lannon had a big draw.

Lannon:  

Chaloub: 

The hit the turn and there was no help on the river. Chaloub is no more.

Chip Counts from 'Table 3'

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:42pm

Chip Counts from 'Table 2'

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:40pm

Chip Counts from 'Table 1'

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:39pm

Final three table draw

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:30pm

The players are currently seated on the following final three tables

Edgtton eliminates Chachine in 24th place

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:24pm

Simon Chahine moved all in for his final 200,000 and was called by Nabil Egtton who had him covered.

Chahine: 

Egtton: 

Board: 

Egtton's straight was enough to close the deal and Chahine is headed home with  $14,767 after nearly an hour's play today.

Tommy Widarma Eliminated by Pachos

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:17pm

We were covering the Alhassan v Thatcher hand when we heard 'all in call' from one of the other tables.

We went over to investigate and found (sadly) that Tommy Widarma was no longer with us.

He got pocket Queens all in against the pocket Kings of Pachos and couldn't improve.

We are now down to our final three tables!

Andy Lee eliminated in 26th place

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:15pm

Andy Lee only had half the stack that he entered today's play with when he moved all in for 550,000. Michael Kanaan made the call.

Lee: 

Kanaan: 

When the flop came , Lee began to move his chips toward Kanaan, admitting defeat. There was a glimmer of hope on the  turn but the dream was not to be. The  river sealed his fate and Andy Lee is eliminated in 25th place for  $12,569.

Ask and ye shall receive!

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:14pm

Sam Alhassan and Jarrod Thatcher (pictured) were having quite the contrite conversation as the cards were being dealt for their last hand. 

"So you've done well, just being able to manoeuvre your way around the entire field," Thatcher said to Alhassan.

"Yeah, well I have had pocket Aces about seven or eight times so that helps," Alhassan replied who refreshingly is not ashamed to talk down his own poker playing ability as he limped in from middle position.

With that, it folded to Thatcher who moved his short stack into the middle. It folded back to Alhassan who asked how much it was and then made the call.

Thatcher: 

Alhassan: 

The   flop gave Alhassan the lead and the   on the turn gave it back to Thatcher.

"Can I have a four on the river please?" Alhassan asked a higher power.

With that, the  hit the river giving Alhassan a straight and eliminating Thatcher from the tournament.

"Wow! Ask and ye shall receive!" Andy Lee commented.

Well, it is a Sunday after all.

Omer Silajdzija puts Thatcher on life support

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 1:05pm

Jarrod "SnapFold" Thatcher bet 75,000 from UTG and  Omer Silajdzija moved all in over the top for aroudn 400,000 chips. Action folds around to Thatcher who made the call.

Thatcher: 

Silajdzija: 

Thatcher did not improve as the board ran out and Silajdzija doubles up through Thatcher, leaving him only 300,000 to play with!

Kanaan strikes

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 12:59pm

Nicholae Predescu raised to 80,000 from the button and was 3-bet to 275,000 from Michael Kanaan in the small blind.

Predescu thought long and hard before finally calling.

The flop came  and Kanaan led out for 250,000. With the action back on Predescu he once again thought for an eternity. This time after a few minutes Jarrod Thatcher called time. Predescu waited until the final ten seconds before making the call.

On the  Kanaan moved all in, putting Predescu all in. He spent a bit more time thinking and then folded, awarding a pot to Kanaan and getting him back above 2 million chips!

Gavin Tinline eliminated in 29th

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 12:58pm

All the money went in on flop and it was Gavin Tinline who was infront.

Bendon Rubie: 

Gavin Tinline: 

Board: 

Rubie makes quads on the river to send Gavin Tinline home in 29th place for  $10,819.

"It must be nice to Brendon Rubie" was sung out from across the table.

Tamara Volkoff Eliminated in 30th Place - $10,819

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 12:55pm

Our last female player, Tamara Volkoff has been eliminated from the tournament.

She moved all in and was called by immovable force, Brendon Rubie.

Volkoff: 

Rubie: 

Whilst Volkoff started in front but the board ran out  giving Rubie a straight and getting our tournament down to the final 29 players!

30 into 9

Posted Sun, 17 Dec 2017 12:43pm

Welcome back to the Star Poker Room for Day 3 of the big one, the Main Event here in the 2017 WSOP Sydney Circuit Event.

It doesn't matter how creative an accountant you are, 30 into nine just doesn't work.

That means we need to lose 21 players in today's play before we have our final table.

The blinds are currently 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante. The average stack is 1,067,000 which gives our players about 35 big blinds each.

All players in the room right now have a five-figure payday awaiting them with 30th place paying $10,819.

A nice figure, but it pales in comparison when compared to the $394,837 that is awarded to first place!

Let's do this!