2013 WSOP Asia Pacific Event #1 Day 1c: Morales Tops Final Flight; Saout Leads Overall
The third and final Day 1 starting flight of the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Accumulator took place on Saturday at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. After a total of 666 entrants hit the felt during the first two starting flights, another 419 participated on Day 1c, bringing the final count to 1,085. The winner of the new event will take home the first WSOP gold bracelet awarded in this region and a prize of $211,575.
Sixty-four players were left standing when Day 1c came to a close, meaning 144 will return for Day 2 action on Sunday. Aussie Nick Morales was leading the way with 57,275 in chips when the players bagged their chips on Saturday. He was followed by Ryan Otto (50,400), Jason Lee (49,625), Antoine Saout (45,500), James Obst (41,250) and Iori Yogo (40,875).
Morales was the leader for much of the evening after eliminating Phil Hellmuth and another player midway through the day. According to the WSOP.com live reports, Morales opened with a preflop raise, and Hellmuth moved all in for 1,150. Another player and Morales called to see a QxJx10x flop. All of the chips quickly went into the middle after a series betting, and the cards were turned up. Morales had AxKx for the Broadway straight, which was out in front of Hellmuth's set of tens and the other player's Q♦J♦ — talk about an action flop. The turn and river bricked out, and Morales won a pot worth more than 32,000 to grab the chip lead. He coasted from there and will enter Day 2 as one of the biggest stacks. Hellmuth, meanwhile, will take the 20,650 in chips he bagged on Day 1a into Day 2.
While Morales finished atop the Day 1c counts, Antoine Saout will take the biggest stack into Day 2. The 2009 WSOP November Niner was the chip leader on Day 1b, amassing a stack of 58,875, and he added 45,500 to his total on Day 1c. A total of 15 players managed to take advantage of the Accumulator's format by bagging chips on two of the three starting flights. Among them was Day 1a chip leader Dan Kelly, who will enter Day 2 second in chips. Kelly added 15,800 to the 66,250 he piled up on Thursday.
After building a big stack on Day 1a, 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel was unable to add anymore chips to his total on Days 1b and 1c. Duhamel had a short Saturday; his day ended when he moved his last 1,150 chips all in preflop with the A♥Q♥ and was flipping against the pocket jacks of Lawrence Hall. The jacks held up and Duhamel was sent to the rail for the second straight day. He'll enter Day 2 with 41,850 in chips.
Also hitting the rail on Day 1c were Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Joseph Cheong, Chad Brown, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier and JC Tran. From that group of stars, only Greenstein (41,050 in chips) will move on to play on Sunday.
Event #1 Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 2
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antoine Saout | 105,375 |
| 2 | Daniel Kelly | 82,050 |
| 3 | Dylan Honeyman | 68,100 |
| 4 | Alex Givotovsky | 65,600 |
| 5 | Nick Morales | 57,275 |
| 6 | Daniel Levy | 56,750 |
| 7 | Wilson Yap Soon | 53,150 |
| 8 | Jason Lee | 49,625 |
| 9 | Tristan Bain | 49,600 |
| 10 | Sam Georges | 48,775 |
Day 2 will begin at 12 p.m. local time on Sunday and PokerNews will bring you all of the highlights in our recap at the conclusion of play. Also taking place in the Crown Poker Room on Sunday will be Day 1 of Event #2: $1,650 Pot-Limit Omaha. Stay tuned for more coverage of the 2013 WSOP APAC from Melbourne, Australia!
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us both Facebook and Google+!
