2015 PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Day 1b: Sam Ruha Finishes On Top
The latest stop on Season 7 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour continued at The Star in New South Wales, Australia, on Friday. There were 258 entrants on the second Day 1 flight of ANZPT Sydney Main Event. When added with Day 1a, the total field weighed in at 466. That means the prize pool sits at AU$914,300 and the top prize at AU$225,000 with the official amount to be confirmed on Day 2.
The player from Day 1b who will like his chances at picking up a piece of that prize pool is chip leader Sam Ruha. He was the only one of the 128 survivors from Day 1b to bag up a six-figure stack. Ruha will begin Day 2 with 102,200 which is well behind Day 1a leader Sayed Jabbour with 157,400.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Ruha | 102,200 |
| 2 | Uzziah Thomas | 91,400 |
| 3 | Minjae Park | 90,900 |
| 4 | Harry Basle | 88,400 |
| 5 | Ronald Bean | 85,800 |
| 6 | Josh Trott | 83,700 |
| 7 | Timothy Mitchell | 82,800 |
| 8 | Steven Zhou | 82,600 |
| 9 | Tim English | 81,800 |
| 10 | Li-ta Hsu | 79,100 |
Ruha only has a few results on his record, including one cash in an ANZPT Main Event. It was back in October of last year that Ruha posted one of his strongest results, finishing seventh in the AU$2,200 No-Limit Holdem at the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific.
Some of the others who also made it through Day 1b with plenty of chips include Minjae Park, Uzziah Thomas, Steven Zhou, Tim "weygang" English, Chad Awerbuch, 2013 ANZ Player of the Year Iori Yogo, and 2015 Aussie Millions Main Event third-place finisher Joel Douaglin.
Canadian pro Xuan Liu 2011 ANZPT Darwin champ Jack Drake, two-time ANZ Player of the Year Tony Hachem, and US pro Ronnie Bardah also made it through Day 1b and while they don't have as many chips as the aforementioned players, they have lots of experience and will certainly be dangerous.
As usual, where some players thrived, others couldn’t even survive with Dean Blatt, James Broom, Tristan Bain, Tom Grigg, Team PokerStars Pro Online member Roy Bhasin, and Doug "WCGRider" Polk just a few of the casualties on Day 1b.
WSOP Asia-Pacific bracelet winner Rory Young was another one who hit the rail on Day 1b. Young's final hand saw him get aggressive with a pot-sized all-in shove on the river of a A♣5♥7♣10♥J♣ board. Young held the Q♣J♦ and his opponent, Minjae Park, eventually made the call with the A♦Q♦ to send Young home.
The 128 survivors from Day 1b will now join with the 84 from Day 1a meaning 212 total players will return for Saturday's Day 2. Cards are set to be in the air from 12:30 p.m. local time and once again you can find ANZPT Sydney live updates here at PokerNews.
Photo courtesy of Poker Asia Pacific.
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