PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Grand Final Day 3: Final Table Set
With the action moved from the Star City Casino Poker Room to the massive Sports Theater at the casino, Day 3 of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Grand Final got under way Saturday with 66 players still in contention for the title. With a boisterous crowd observing the action in Sydney, it was Ernst Hermans whose performance entitled him to the chip lead heading into Sunday's final table.
Hermans was fairly quiet most of the day. At one point only a few hours before they reached ten players, he was among the short stacks. His most important hand came holding pocket tens against Jarred "FlopNutsOnYou" Graham's K♣Q♠. The tens held up, and Hermans found himself at 1.3 million. He would add another 800,000 or so before the day was finished.
Joining Hermans at the final table will be Tom Grigg, Aaron Benton, David Formosa, Thomas Sifka, Wayne Carlson, Andrew Hiscox, Leo Boxell and Barry Forrester.
It took 14 hours of play to seat this nine-hand final table, which was finally reached when Forrester eliminated Graham. Although he didn't make the final table, Graham still capped an outstanding series for himself with his tenth-place finish. Earlier this week he had defended his High Roller's event title, putting his tournament earnings in Australian homeland alone at $200,000 AUD.
It was not a good day for the two remaining Team PokerStars Pros. Grant Levy was the first to go when he moved all-in with pocket fives over the top of fellow pro Eric Assadourian's opening raise. Levy was short on chips, so it didn't take much to make the call for Assadourian, which he did with the 9♥10♥. Assadourian hit the 7♥3♠8♥ flop hard and when the 9♦ hit on the turn, Levy was all but out the door.
Unfortunately, Assadourian, couldn't use Levy's chips to make the final table, and he finished in 24th place. He lost a large portion of his chips to Carlson whose pocket queens rivered a flush when the K♥ hit the felt. The king gave Assadourian a set of kings, and he paid off Carlson's river bet. Assadourian was eliminated a few hands later (a dinner break lengthened the agony) when his A♥10♦ couldn't hold up against Carlson's K♥J♣ when the K♣ hit on the flop.
The final table gets under way Sunday at 2 p.m. (GMT +11) back in the Sports Theater of the Star City Casino where the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final will have a new champion. Be sure to tune into PokerNews for full coverage of the final table.
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