At 6:30 p.m., Georgina Vuksanovic had 125,000 which was good enough for 40 big blinds. A decent stack. But fast forward to the end of Day 1G of the Australian Poker Open Main Event and Vuksanovic had decidedly more.
So much more, in fact, that she bagged the chip lead with 1,032,000. It was another tight race, with Higor Seibel responsible for the penultimate elimination of the day here at Doltone House Western Sydney at Club Marconi, but missing out on the chip lead by just 4,000.
APO Main Event End of Day 1g Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Georgina Vuksanovic
Australia
1,032,000
2
Higor Seibel
Brazil
1,028,000
3
Victor Dai
Australia
987,000
4
Malcolm Traynor
Australia
880,000
5
Jai Duffy
Australia
641,000
6
Michael Tran
Australia
481,000
7
Jacque Ramsden
United Kingdom
476,000
8
Hasan Onay
Australia
470,000
9
David Sebesfi
Australia
470,000
10
Laurence Hall
Australia
453,000
Overall there were 213 players on Day 1G, the largest of all the starting flights, with just 27 players advancing to Day 2.
Yesterday saw father and son Mark and Patrick Yazbeck advance to Day 2, well today husband and wife Hasan and Elisa Onay both made the money and their ticket to tomorrow. While yesterday it was Patrick with the bragging rights, today it's Hasan (pictured) with 470,000 chips in the bag ahead of Elisa's 249,000.
Day 2 of the APO Main Event kicks off at 12 p.m. with the levels increasing to 60 minutes in length. The 68 survivors will resume play at the earliest level one of the seven starting flights finished. This means that while Day 1g finished in 6,000/12,000/12,000, the blinds will be rolled back to 2,000/5,000/5,000.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for full coverage of the 2024 Australian Poker Open Main Event, as well as the Platinum Player Championships which you can read full live updates of here.
Australian Poker Open Remaining Event Schedule
While the APO Main Event and Platinum Player Championships continue, check out the full list of events going on at Doltone House Western Sydney at Club Marconi.
Josh Foster shoved for 162,000 from under the gun. Victor Dai flat-called in middle position. Zac Vigar tanked while the previous Nathan Glase elimination occured before folding.
The remaining players all folded and the action was held until all remaining tables were finished.
Josh Foster: A♣J♦
Zac Vigar: J♥J♣
The board came 9♥8♦7♥4♦3♣ with no help for Foster who was eliminated, bringing the field to 27 and guaranteeing the remaining players AUD $5,000 and a seat in Day 2.
Harmohit Singh opened to 13,000 and Hasan Onay three-bet to 40,000 from the small blind.
Singh called and the flop was A♦9♥4♣. Onay continued for 25,000 and Singh called.
The turn was the 10♦ and Onay bet 114,000. Singh shoved for 172,000 and Onay called.
Harmohit Singh: A♠9♣
Hasan Onay: 8♦6♦
Onay had both straight and flush draws, with the 7♥ river causing his rail to erupt in celebration as he completed his straight to send Singh to the rail.
Ashton Campbell was spotted disconsolately walking away from the tournament area, with Georgina Vuksanovic the major beneficiary of his chips.
Having previously held close to 400,000, Vuksanovic capitalised with 8x8x against the 6x2x of Campbell on a 4x4x6x8x board to send him to the rail and take over as chip leader with just 44 players remaining.
A brief announcement was made in the tournament room, with the guarantees being surpassed in all three marquee events: The APO Main Event, the Platinum Players Championship and the Diamond Cup.
Operations manager Lauren Mooney thanked all the players who have worked to support the entire APO event.
"On behalf of the entire management team, the dealers, Doltone House and Club Marconi, we just wanted to say thank you to every player who has supported us over the last months," she said to a packed tournament room.
"Thank you for the support in all our satellites, and thank you to all players who have talked about us at every event for the last six months. We're so thankful.
"We hope everybody enjoys this event and the next three days as much as we have done.
Zelig Otter had a decent stack yesterday but was eliminated by eventual end-of-day chip leader Sayed Jabbour. He's sitting with close to 200,000 chips today and opened to 4,000 with calls from Meng Guangrui, Nicholas Cooper and Bert Perry.
The flop came A♣K♠3♣. It checked to Otter who continued for 7,000. Guangrui was the only caller.
The pair checked down the 4♠Q♣ runout.
"Queen," announced Otter, with Guangrui showing A♠9♦ and taking down the pot with top pair.
Erden Ibrahim opened to 3,500 from early position. Daniel Klinger three-bet to 10,000 from the cutoff and Ibrahim called.
The flop came 9♥8♥5♠ and Ibrahim checked. Klinger thought before moving all in for 30,000. Ibrahim wasted no time in calling.
Daniel Klinger: 10♠10♥
Erden Ibrahim: A♥5♥
Ibrahim had flopped the nut flush draw and was up against the overpair from Klinger. The turn J♠ took away some of Ibrahim's flush outs and the river K♦ bricked, seeing Klinger double up.