2013 APPT Melbourne Day 1b: Yanji Ge Takes Overall Lead Into Day 2
A total of 198 players registered for Day 1b of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Melbourne Main Event on Friday, creating a 309-player field across the two starting flights. After seven levels of play, the chip leader was Yanji Ge with 163,100 in chips. Ge is now best positioned walk away with $217,000 top prize when the event concludes on Monday.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yanji Ge | 163,100 |
| 2 | [Removed:17] | 154,000 |
| 3 | Daniel Botta | 148,700 |
| 4 | Mat Hawker | 135,900 |
| 5 | Ryan Boswell | 131,300 |
| 6 | Dean Schneider | 126,500 |
| 7 | Dejan Boskovic | 122,200 |
| 8 | David Heskin | 121,500 |
| 9 | Jason Lee | 116,100 |
| 10 | Michael Fadersen | 115,400 |
Nearing the end of the day it looked like one of Daniel Botta or [Removed:17] would finish on top. The PokerNews Live Reporting team then noticed a rather large stack that didn’t have an occupant seated behind it for most of the last level. Ge then appeared right near the end to bag up his monstrous stack. Not a bad way to assure a big stack heading into the next day.
Many pros competed, but not nearly all of them will return Saturday for Day 2. Team PokerStars had two representatives participate in the event. Bryan Huang was one of them and he finished with a respectable 50,300 in chips. Unfortunately for Roy Bhasin, he was unable to advance after being eliminated midway through the day.
Among the notables who took survived were several recent APPT Melbourne side event winners. Daniel Levy (48,300) won the $50 Opening Event – Accumulator; Yesha Desai (51,600) took down the $350 Mix-Max Event; and Ash Mason (45,000) won the $1,650 No Limit Holdem 6-Handed Event just days ago. They will all be hoping to capture another title within such a short space of time.
Among some of the familiar faces that didn't survive the day were Tony Hachem, Brad Bower, Dinesh Alt, Nick Oiberman, Tony Tartaglia, David Borg, Jonathan Bredin and Tom Grigg. Tony Hachem had a day to forget after several big hands brought his demise. It started with him having to fold A♥K♥ after a heated battle pre-flop and then letting go of his pocket jacks after a queen appeared on the turn in another hand. Eventually he would run another pair of pocket jacks into pocket kings and not improve.
The remaining 103 players from Day 1b will return Saturday at 12:30 p.m. local time to play another day of poker. Combined with yesterday's survivors there are still 168 players remaining. Be sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team for all the continued action from the Asia Pacific Poker Tour!
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Amount (AUD) |
| 1 | $217,000 |
| 2 | $139,300 |
| 3 | $77,200 |
| 4 | $58,400 |
| 5 | $45,900 |
| 6 | $37,550 |
| 7 | $29,200 |
| 8 | $22,920 |
| 9 | $16,650 |
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