11:15am: Cloud nine for final nine… twice!
Headlining this Sunday will be two final tables – both the Opening Event and the $5K 8-Max Action Clock played down to 9 players in the final stages of last nights play and will be returning today.
Kicking off will be the Opening Event final table, starting at 11:30. Led by Adelaide’s Chris Edgar with 5.26 million, the final table also features Daniel Hachem, who found a late triple up to survive another day and will start the final table with 1.4 million chips.
Marco Perri, who final tabled the 2023 WPT Prime Gold Coast $5K Challenge, also features in the line-up, bagging 1.65 million.
The Opening Event Final Table will be taking place under the lights on Table 1, which has been set up as a feature table for the WPT Australia festival. First place will secure $156,413, plus a $6K package to the WPT Prime Championship at the Wynn Las Vegas in December.
Opening Event Final Table Seat Draw
SeatPlayerChips1Mikael Larsson3,790,0002Henry Wu2,140,0003Eugene Wong3,650,0004Chris Edgar5,260,0005Daniel Hachem1,400,0006Konstantin Held1,240,0007Steven Gluyas1,755,0008Jon Peter Rounce-Sue4,115,0009Marco Perri1,650,000
A little later on at 12:15, the remaining 9 players in the $5K will take to the felt on Table 15 to battle it out for a $116,424 top prize, all players being guaranteed a minimum of $11,647 for making the final table.
Malcolm Trayner bagged the big stack; but not by much, as Hussein Hassan is hot on his heels, bagging just 45K less overnight (less than 1 BB difference). Hassan, who won the 2019 APL Million, will undoubtedly be looking to add another six-figure score to his extensive resume.
Raphael Tenenbaum also had a stellar first day, near the top of the chip counts for the majority of the time, and will take 2.805 million into the FT to round out your top three stacks, whilst David Sebesfi is looking at another deep run after a solid 2023 WSOP; as well as recording a final table finish at the 2023 WSOP NLH Deepstack for US$41,684, he finished 202nd in the biggest Main Event field of all time for a cash worth US$58,500.
$5K 8-Max Action Clock Final Table Seat Draw
SeatPlayerChips1Ehsan Amiri245,0002Anthony Xu2,145,0003Cuong Le810,0004Michael Egan425,0005Hussein Hassan3,140,0006Raphael Tenenbaum2,805,0007Ankit Ahuja1,245,0008Malcolm Trayner3,185,0009David Sebesfi2,745,000
More to the story
From wherever you’re watching in Australia, New Zealand or around the world, good morning and welcome back to The Star Gold Coast and our continued coverage of the WPT Australia festival!
It’s already been a flying start to the series, with Lauren Bonte taking the honours as the first recipient of a coveted crystal boomerang.
The popular French import, who has featured prominently at many mid-tier major events since 2018, topped a field of 147 entries in the $565 NLH Turbo to pocket $19,841, to secure her first Tier One victory and add to her most recent win in the Monster Stack at the APT Gold Coast Championships.
Image courtesy of The Star Gold Coast
WPT AUSTRALIA $565 NLH TURBO – FINAL TABLE RESULTS ($565 buy-in, 147 entries, 19 players paid)
PlaceNameCountryAmount1stLauren BonteAustralia$19,8412ndJavad VerdomAustralia$12,4963rdJordan RileyAustralia$7,4204thChristopher KokkinosAustralia$4,4735thHiromasa OnizukaAustralia$3,4796thCleber PiccioneAustralia$2,9117thJohn HutchinsAustralia$2,5218thPatrick MurphyAustralia$2,2409thWan GanAustralia$1,984
It has also been a strong start to the WPT Australia series, with solid numbers across the board, including the first Day 1 flight of the Mystery Bounty, which last night brought in 260 entries, and two more final tables confirmed, with South Australia’s Chris Edgar returning as chip leader in the Opening Event, while Malcolm Trayner has edged out Hussein Hassan for pole position in the $5K 8-Max Action Clock finale – and there’s all that and more coming your way in today’s blog from 11:30am AEST, so stay tuned!
But although there has been no shortage of prominent figures on and around the felt at The Star Gold Coast, it would be remiss of us here at PokerMedia Australia to not address the controversy in the lead-up to this series.
As first reported by the Australian Poker Schedule (APS) and PokerNews, WPT Australia Main Event third-place finisher Najeem Ajez, high-stakes specialist Jarred Graham and 2018 WSOP Main Event final tablist Alex Lynskey are amongst those to have been issued with a Withdrawal of Licence (WoL) for all Star Entertainment Group properties.
According to Lynskey, there was no explanation or reasoning given for the bans, telling PokerNews‘ US Editor Jon Sofen they have issued exclusions to many of their patrons who have made large transactions at their properties in the past.
Najeem Ajez
Jarred Graham
Alex Lynskey
“[It’s] probably a case of throwing a net to catch 20 criminals but 1,000 innocents have been caught in the crossfire, many of those are pro poker players who have perfectly legitimate reasons for these transactions,” Lynskey said.
PMA understands that The Star Entertainment Group are unable to comment on exclusions, and that they are not required to provide reasons or justifying the exclusions, nor the information relied upon making them.
PMA will also be releasing an in-depth investigative story in due course.
Hold, one time!
From wherever you’re watching in Australia, New Zealand or around the world, hello and welcome to PokerMedia Australia!
Our social media and blog coverage of the WPT Australia series at The Star Gold Coast will resume from 11:30am AEST. While you wait, check out our latest news articles, blogs and Live Reporting archives, bookmark our website, and give us a like and follow across all our socials to get access to all of our content.
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Thanks for your patience, and we’ll see you back here soon!
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