2012 PokerStars.net APPT Melbourne Day 1a: Brendon Rubie Bags Chip Lead
Season 6 of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour kicked back into gear on Thursday evening with the APPT Melbourne Main Event descending upon the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. The first of two Day-1 flights saw 98 players dish up the $5,000 buy-in and after seven levels of tough poker action, 65 had survived. Of those players, prominent Australian poker pro Brendon Rubie finished at the top of the chip leaderboard, bagging up an impressive stack of 103,575.
Rubie has already had a very successful year so far, taking home AUD$200,000 when he won a side event at the 2012 Aussie Millions. Rubie also managed to finish second in the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em — Four Handed event at this year's World Series of Poker. Rubie will surely be aiming to see similar success at the APPT and his performance on Day 1a is certainly a good start.
When Day 1a began, it was clear that a stacked field of recognizable faces would fill the tables of the Crown Poker Room. Some who were at the felt include 2012 Aussie Millions champion Oliver Speidel, David Allan, Benn Skender, Liam O’Rourke, Australian Poker Hall of Fame members Jason Gray and Gary Benson and Team PokerStars Pros Roy Bhasin and Raymond Wu. Of these players, Gray, Allan and Speidel weren’t able to survive the night; the rest bagged up some chips and are still in contention.
Early in the evening, all the chatter was about the "table of death" that featured some of the most decorated players in the region. The table included Rubie and Jackie Glazier, who also had a second-place finish at the 2012 World Series of Poker. The table also featured Kristian Lunardi, Tom Grigg and Jay Kinkade. All are considered to be some of the most talented poker pros in Australia. Fireworks were bound to go off at this table, and unfortunately for Glazier, she ended up on the wrong side of the action.
The last hand of Glazier’s tournament began when an under-the-gun player opened the pot with a small raise. Glazier was next to act and three-bet it to 1,600. Grigg then four-bet to 3,700, and with the player who opened out of the way, Glazier five-bet to 6,600. Grigg made the call and the dealer flipped over a 6♠Q♦9♥ flop. Glazier tumbled out a bet of 8,000 on the flop, leaving just a few thousand behind. Grigg put in a big raise and Glazier called all in, tabling J♦J♣ as she did so. Her pocket-jacks weren't strong enough for Grigg's K♦K♥, and with no help on the turn and river, it was all over for Glazier.
Although Glazier won’t be returning for Day 2, Grigg, Lunardi, Kinkade and of course, Rubie, all managed to bag up chips at the end of Day 1a. Some of the other players who are still in contention include Julius Colman, Mitch Carle, Oliver Gill, Tim English and Ricky Kroesen. Also managing to survive and thrive include Will Jones, Andy Lee and 2010 ANZPT Sydney ChampionMichael Kanaan. Shown below is a list of the top 10 stacks from Day 1a.
Top 10 Chip Counts From Day 1a
| Rank | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brendon Rubie | 103,575 |
| 2 | Michael Kanaan | 96,675 |
| 3 | Will Jones | 92,025 |
| 4 | Aidan Tam | 87,925 |
| 5 | Andy Lee | 85,325 |
| 6 | Ashley Warner | 84,550 |
| 7 | Gary Benson | 84,300 |
| 8 | Liam O'Rourke | 84,000 |
| 9 | Tom Grigg | 80,700 |
| 10 | Haibo Chu | 77,375 |
The second and final Day 1 flight is set to begin in the Crown Poker Room on Friday at 1210 AEST (1910 PST, Friday), so make sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as they continue to bring you all the action from the 2012 APPT Melbourne Main Event!
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