2013 PokerStars.net ANZPT Season 5 Perth Day 1b: McKenzie Takes Over
The third stop on Season 5 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour continued on Thursday, with Day 1b of the ANZPT Perth Main Event being the last chance for players to secure a Day 2 appearance.
After a late start on Day 1a, the second of two Day 1 flights was scheduled to begin at 12.30 p.m. local time, but because of a few technical difficulties, the start was delayed for half an hour. Eventually, the cards were flying and 151 more players sat at the tables of Crown Perth, hoping to survive and thrive. At the end of the night, Australian poker pro Jesse McKenzie had bagged up the most chips.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesse McKenzie | 162,825 |
| 2 | Tam Truong | 119,150 |
| 3 | Bradley Douglas | 91,500 |
| 4 | Manjot Singh | 86,075 |
| 5 | Henry Wang | 83,750 |
| 6 | Pawel Zawadowicz | 82,875 |
| 7 | Paul Turner | 79,775 |
| 8 | Tristan Bain | 72,750 |
| 9 | Melanie Weisner | 69,700 |
| 10 | John Dichiera | 68,925 |
A huge late half of the night saw McKenzie hit two sets to send two players home and see his stack rise to the astronomical heights of 162,825 in chips. One of McKenzie's key exploits occurred during the final minutes of the night when he put a player all in on the river of a 9♣J♥7♦4♥5♥ board. McKenzie's opponent called but then mucked and exited the tournament when McKenzie tabled his 4♠4♣ for a turned set of fours.
Combined with the 67 players from Day 1a, and one no-show, the total field size for the 2013 ANZPT Perth Main Event came in at 219, with the prize pool hitting a solid AU$438,000. Of that amount, AU$114,000 is reserved for the eventual champion with the top 24 players guaranteed to make at least AU$3,900 for their time.
With such a large field on Day 1b, it was no surprise to see dozens of the most well-known players from around the local poker scene. Some of the notable names who tried their hands at becoming the next ANZPT Perth champion but fell short throughout Day 1b included Ashley Warner, Didier Guerin, Anthony Aston, Raj Ramakrishnan and last year's ANZPT Melbourne champion Paul Hockin.
Although the players jsut mentioned above may have hit the rail, many others managed to advance. Some who thrived were Tam Truong (119,150), Brad Douglas, Tristan Bain, Melanie Weisner, James Broom and Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen. Others merely survived the day, including Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang, Ben Savage, Errolyn Strang and Michael Guzzardi .
In the end, 70 players survived Day 1 and will join 38 survivors from Day 1a on the felt for Day 2. A full list of Day 1b survivors and the Day 2 seating draw can be found in the ANZPT Perth live reporting blog, which is also where you can find live updates all tournament long. Be sure to check in often with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as we continue to bring you all the action on the way to crowning the latest ANZPT champion.
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