2007 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) - Seoul

$2500 APPT Seoul Main Event
Day: 3
123
Event Info

2007 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) - Seoul

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k♦10♣
Prize
$139,872
Event Info
Buy-in
$2,350
Level Info
Level
20
Blinds
8,000 / 16,000
Ante
2,000
Sort
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Player Profile: Seval Hægeland

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Seval Hægeland
Seval Hægeland
Seat 9: Seval Hægeland ('Biffen 1' on PokerStars)

Hometown: Lyngden, Norway

Chip Count: 127,500

It’s been a massive month for Norwegian poker after 19-year-old Annette Obrestad won the 2007 WSOP Europe main event. Seval Hægeland is hoping to follow in her footsteps with victory in the APPT Seoul main event. A native of Lyngden in southern Norway, the father of two qualified for his trip to South Korea via a $1 buy-in tournament on PokerStars for Nordic players, outlasting a massive field of more than 800 players. The 40-year-old bricklayer has been a lifelong poker player, and first picked up Texas Hold’em about four years ago. He’s hoping to use the experience he gained in last year’s PokerStars EPT event in Barcelona to steer him to victory in Seoul.

Tags: Seval Hægeland

Player Profile: Michel St Pierre

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Michel St Pierre
Michel St Pierre
Seat 8: Michel St Pierre ('MSTP007' on PokerStars)

Hometown: Quebec, Canada

Chip Count 149,500

The sole North American to make the final table of the APPT Seoul main event, Michel St Pierre is originally from Repentigny in Quebec, Canada but now resides in Montreal. A contractor who works in property development, he has been playing poker for about three years and has considerable experience in a number of major Canadian poker tournaments. The 29-year-old qualified for the long trek from the east coast of Canada to East Asia via a $109 buy-in tournament on PokerStars, where he holds 'Gold Star' status. St Pierre is hoping the “jouissance” (enjoyment) he’s been experiencing in South Korea will continue all the way to the APPT Seoul title.

Tags: Michel St Pierre

Player Profile: Shinhan Sid Kim

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Shinhan Sid Kim
Shinhan Sid Kim
Seat 7: Shinhan Sid Kim

Hometown: Ventura, California

Chip Count: 110,500

No Korean players are permitted to play in the Walker-Hill Casino, but Shinhan Sid Kim comes as close to a local as anyone in the APPT Seoul field. After growing up in Ventura, California, he moved to Korea ten years ago. Now 38, he’s turned more than 20 years of poker experience into a final table berth in his first major tournament appearance. Kim, who battled a short stack for much of the event but struck when it mattered, operates a chain of hagwons (private schools) throughout Korea and also provides opportunities for Koreans to learn English through his radio show and his own line of books.

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Player Profile: Roger Spets

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Roger Spets
Roger Spets
Seat 6: Roger Spets ('titantilts' on PokerStars)

Hometown: Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia

Chip Count: 168,000

This 40-year-old Swede burst onto the APPT scene with an impressive showing in the opening event in Manila. After leading at numerous times on day two, he eventually bowed out in sixth position (worth $26,966). Not bad for a player making his first live tournament appearance.

Spets, who runs a wealth management company in Malaysia, joined the APPT Seoul field along with fellow final table participants from Manila, Japan’s Kazuhiro Sato and runner-up Ira Blumenthal. However, Spets enters the record books as the first player to reach two APPT final tables. Spets has been playing poker for only two and a half years, starting out in home games before turning his focus to cash games and sit ‘n’ go's on PokerStars.

Tags: Roger Spets

Player Profile - Paul Adams

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Paul Adams
Paul Adams
Seat 5: Paul Adams ('zadignose' on PokerStars)

Hometown: New York, New York (currently residing in Korea)

Chip Count: 184,000

It’s been an unforgettable two days for 39-year-old Korean-based American Paul Adams. Originally from New York City (where he earned a degree in film and TV production from New York University), Adams has not only qualified for his first major final table -- he found out during a break on day two that his wife is pregnant with their first child!

Adams learned to play poker as a youngster and fondly remembers his first experience of Texas Hold’em at the Bullwhackers Casino in Blackhawk, Colorado. An English teacher at a private academy, he has lived in Korea for 18 months.

Tags: Paul Adams

Player Profile - Daniel Schreiber

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Dan Schreiber
Dan Schreiber
Seat 4: Daniel Schreiber ('rekrul' on PokerStars)

Hometown: Commack, New York (currently residing in South Korea)

Chip Count: 185,500

Having won the 2007 WSOP $5000 heads-up event at the age of 22, Daniel Schreiber became the fifth youngest WSOP bracelet winner ever. Schreiber, who had never cashed in a prior WSOP event, defeated Mark Muchnik by winning both matches in the finale to earn $425,594. The first match took 79 hands while the second lasted only 11. The field of 392 players was the largest heads-up hold 'em tournament in history.

Formerly ranked first in the USA for the strategy video game Starcraft, Schreiber moved to South Korea in 2004 from Commack, New York to compete as a professional gamer. Yet, he found his true calling as an online poker pro while playing on Pokerstars and has since become a member of Team PokerStars.

Tags: Dan Schreiber

Player Profile - Jozef Berec

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Jozef Berec
Jozef Berec
Seat 3: Jozef Berec ('jbjeoli' on PokerStars)

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

Chip Count: 350,000

This 48-year-old professional poker player has been in a hot vein of form over the past 12 months and is currently the best performing player on the Australasian circuit. So far this year he has won the $550 No Limit Hold’em title and $74,000 at the 2007 Aussie Millions. In August he was crowned the Victorian Poker Champion after winning the Victorian Poker Championships at the Crown Casino in Melbourne (worth just over $250,000 AUD).

Berec, who led the field for a significant part of day two, emigrated to Australia from Hungary more than 20 years ago and formerly ran a business with his brother before turning his full-time focus to poker. He is a frequent face on the tournament tables in his hometown and has decided to take his game on the road.

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Player Profile: James Honeybone

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James Honeybone
James Honeybone
Seat 2: James Honeybone ('nzvr4poker' on PokerStars)

Hometown: Hamilton, New Zealand

Chip Count: 171,500

This 23-year-old from New Zealand’s North Island is one of poker’s true believers. He’s a real student of the game, and loves talking hands and poker folklore at every opportunity. Just about to wrap up a business management course, Honeybone’s poker education is also coming along in leaps and bounds.

After cashing for more than $80,000 in the 2006 Barcelona Poker Classic, he has continued that solid form with cashes in the 2007 NZ Poker Championships and the 2007 Victorian Poker Championships. He’s also etched a permanent mark in the APPT record books by winning the first tournament ever held as part of the new tour: the PHP5000 Manila Cup at last month’s APPT event in the Philippines. His girlfriend Jacqui will be the first to congratulate him if he gets over the line.

Tags: James Honeybone

Player Profile: Ziv Bachar

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Ziv Bachar
Ziv Bachar
Seat 1: Ziv Bachar ('ziviland' on PokerStars)

Hometown: Tel Aviv, Israel

Chip Count: 415,000

For such a small nation, Israel has an impressive two-for-two record at APPT events. Following Maor Feldinger’s final table appearance in Manila (he finished fifth), his countryman Ziv Bachar has emulated that feat by making the last nine in Seoul.

The 25-year-old from Tel Aviv, who works in the real estate industry, started his own business 18 months ago. He brings considerable poker experience to the final table, having finished ninth in the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas (worth $95,000) and was victorious in the € 500 No Limit Hold'em Event at last year’s PokerStars EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo (worth €54,400). Bachar, who won a Sunday Warm-up on PokerStars just a fortnight ago, won his way into the APPT Seoul main event via a $109 satellite on PokerStars. He is the chip leader heading into the final table.

Tags: Ziv Bachar

Only Half an Hour Away.....

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We are only half an hour away from the commencement of play for the final table of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour event in Seoul, Korea. The finishing touches are being put on the televised set and player interviews are being conducted as we speak.

Stay tuned....
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