2012 PokerStars.net ANZPT Season 5 Melbourne Day 1b: Hockin Leads
When the second starting day of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Melbourne Main Event finished, Paul Hockin emerged as chip leader. He bagged up 120,100 and moves onto Day 2 with 66 other survivors. With the 74 players who made it through on Friday, a field of 141 players will head into Day 2 and try to work their way to the final table.
Day 1B attracted 159 entrants, creating a total field of 345 players. The final 41 players will get a share of the prize pool, and the first place finisher will will take home AUD$172,500.
APPT Melbourne winner Sam Razavi made his way down to Melbourne again, but his day was short lived on Saturday. He got involved in a big coin flip, but his pocket queens did not hold against ace-king. Ismaeel Razavi, Sam's brother, also played the event and lasted much longer; however, he was eliminated after the dinner break by Aaron Benton. Ismaeel Razavi five-bet shoved with pocket sevens and lost to Benton's ace-jack. Benton survived the day with a stack of 29,200.
The 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event champion Oliver Speidel also entered on Day 1b. Speidel was unlucky as he busted out when his kings fell to a rivered flush. Two Team PokerStars Pros had swings in their chip stacks, but both managed to survive the day. Angel Guillen was doing well after doubling up with a flopped set, but ended the day with 15,000. Bryan Huang was hovering around 50,000 for a long time, but bagged up 35,300 to take to Day 2.
Oliver Gill, Ben Savage, Will Jones, Luke McLean and Liam O'Rourke were all eliminated on Day 1b. O'Rourke was seated with Joel Feldman for most of the day and Feldman ended up surviving with 86,900. Two of Australia's top players — Kristian Lunardi (44,000) and James Bills (43,700) — also made it into the second day of play. Karim Jomeen ended the day second in chips with 118,200 and Luis Arrilucea completed the top three.
The tournament will recommence Sunday at 1230 AEDT (1830 PDT, Saturday). It will be a long, tough day for the players as they will chase one of the nine spots at the final table. Take a look at the tournament payouts, Day 2 chip counts and seat draw for more information.
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*Photo courtesy of Heath Chick for PokerAsiaPacific
