24-year-old Eddy Sabat has a chance to make APPT history this weekend. Should he conquer Sunday’s final table, he would become the first player ever to win multiple APPT titles. Sabat won the 2008 APPT Macau Main Event and with it, $453,000 in prize money.
Currently residing in Los Angeles, California, Sabat has been playing poker professionally for three years and already has more than $670,000 in cashes to his name. Sabat credits his brother Joseph for teaching him the game and said he hopes to get heads-up with friend Daniel Negreanu, who helped talk Sabat into making the trip Down Under.
Sabat was all set to head down to Panama with his girlfriend, but changed his plans last minute and came to Australia instead. Sabat has as good a shot as any to take down the title on Sunday, entering the final table with a fourth-best 917,000 in chips.
Peco Stojanovski is an amateur poker player with perhaps the most diverse background of any player at the final table. The 36-year-old is versed in sales, producing hip-hop music and day trading. When he’s not working to make money, Stojanovski performs magic, plays the piano and is into rugby league.
Stojanovski resides in Sydney and has been playing poker for six years. Already guaranteed a minimum payout of $36,415, Stojanovski has more than doubled his career tournament earnings total by making the APPT Sydney Final Table. He’ll start the final round with a third-best 1,608,000 in chips.
Tom Rafferty is a 26-year-old professional poker player from Sydney, Australia. Rafferty has been playing poker for seven years and he considers himself primarily an online pro. Rafferty has been to the APPT Sydney Main Event final table before, finishing 9th here in 2008 ($39,000 AUD).
The final table result in Sydney was the largest live cash of his career. When he’s not playing cards, Rafferty enjoys sports, music and traveling. Rafferty enters the final table with 482,000 in chips.
At 55, Manuel Hansimikali is the senior-most contestant at the final table. Hailing from Sydney, Australia, the self-employed businessman discovered poker five years ago and has remained a hobby player since. Hansimikali said he taught himself how to play by practicing on PokerStars.
Hansimikali has some local live cashes here in Sydney, but nothing close to the $36,000 he’s already guaranteed to win no matter how the final table pans out. When he’s not playing cards, Hansimikali enjoys golf and fishing in his spare time. He’ll enter the final table with a sixth-best 589,000 in chips.
Welcome to Day 4 of the 2010 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final! Today is the final day of action and we have a phenomenal final table for you to follow. Just take a look at the seating draw.
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
BBs
Chip %
1
Daniel Negreanu
Canada
267,000
13.4
3.1%
2
Antoine Amourette
France
1,640,000
82
18.9%
3
Jonathan Karamalikis
Australia
890,000
44.5
10.2%
4
Benjamin McLean
Australia
530,000
26.5
6.1%
5
Roland de Wolfe
United Kingdom
1,663,000
83.2
19.2%
6
Eddy Sabat
USA
917,000
45.9
10.6%
7
Peco Stojanovski
Australia
1,608,000
80.4
18.5%
8
Tom Rafferty
Australia
482,000
24.1
5.6%
9
Manuel Hansimikali
Australia
589,000
29.5
6.8%
As you can see, Roland de Wolfe, Daniel Negreanu, Eddy Sabat and Jonathan Karamalikis all made it. That's a very stacked pile of four making this one of the best final tables from all of 2010. De Wolfe is leading the way, but not too far behind him is Antoine Amourette, who had a big finish this year at the WPT Grand Priz de Paris. He finished in second in that event.
Play is slated to kick off at 2:00 p.m. local time here in beautiful, sunny Sydney, Australia. PokerNews is live from the floor for all the updates, photos, chip counts and videos of the action. Stay tuned for the start of play and to see who takes home this prestigious title and A$459,510!
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