APPT Macau Day 2

Contributed by: Falstaff
Updated: Nov 24, 2007
Views: 381

76 players returned to the Grand Waldo Hotel & Casino for Day 2 of the PokerStars' APPT Macau Main Event, including Liz Lieu , Isabelle Mercier, Joe Hachem, Scotty Nguyen and Betrand ‘ElkY' Grospellier. By the time the dust settled on Day 2, the final table would be set, and Joe Hachem would be the lone WSOP Main Event Champion standing in the event.

Hachem was joined on Day 2 by PokerStars' teammates Bill Chen, Hevad ‘Rain' Khan, Bertrand ‘ElkY' Grospellier and Isabelle Mercier, who exited the event almost immediately when she ran pocket Kings into pocket Aces on one of the first hands of the day. Her PokerStars' teammate Masa Kagawa was another early elimination, when his A♠-J♣ couldn't improve against Nicholas Wong's pocket Kings in a three-way all in that saw Kagawa and Paul Gianfriddo both sent to the rail.

Among other eliminations were 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Scotty Nguyen, whose A♣-K♥ ran into Markus Duberg's pocket Queens and lost the coin flip. The former champ headed to the rail before the bubble burst on Day 2. Over a quarter of the field was eliminated in the first hour, and the breakneck pace meant that it didn't take long for the bubble to pop. Winfred Yu was the bubble boy when his A-Q couldn't catch a Queen against Sean Jensen's A-K. The board ran out 9♥-6♣-J♣-J♦-7♥, and Yu was eliminated in 41st place.

Hevad ‘Rain' Khan entertained viewers at this year's WSOP Main Event, and has followed up that debut with a series of strong showing at live events through the fall. He added a cash in the APPT Macau to his resume, finishing in 33rd place when he ran A♥-Q♠ into Mika Hallstrom's pocket Kings. No Ace for Khan, and ‘Rain' fell to the rail before the dinner break.

After dinner, the players winnowed the field down to 16, and the redraw left the seating assignments looking like this -

Table 1:

1.) Guillaume Patry
2.) Joe Hachem
3.) Cailin Jin
4.) Dinh Le
5.) Jerry Buccilla
6.) Guido Lunardini
7.) Joel Dodds
8.) Sangkyoun Kim

Table 2

1.) Simon Randall
2.) William Tam
3.) Liz Lieu
4.) Ivan Tan
5.) Graeme Putt
6.) Mika Pekka Hallstrom
7.) Claus Valloe
8.) Bertrand Grospellier

Joe Hachem's stack fluctuated wildly as the day drew to a close, but he went on a tear late that culminated in his elimination of Jerry Buccilla in 13th place when Hachem's pocket Aces held up to send Buccilla to the rail. Hachem used his newly-acquired stack to secure himself a seat at the final table.

Cailin Jin was the final table bubble boy, and he brought plenty of drama to his last hand. With A♦-5♦, he got all his money in preflop against Sangkyoum Kim's Q-Q. When the flop came down A♥-9♣-A♠, Kim was left drawing to two outs for the win. The turn brought one of the last two Queens in the deck, and the case ace didn't appear on the river, so Jin was eliminated in 10th place, leaving the final table to look like this -

Seat 1.) Simon Randall, United Kingdom (125,000)
Seat 2.) Liz Lieu, United States (384,000)
Seat 3.) William Tam, Australia (201,000)
Seat 4.) Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier, Korea (467,000)
Seat 5.) Joe Hachem, Australia (325,000)
Seat 6.) Dinh Le, England (657,000)
Seat 7.) Guillaume Patry, South Korea (552,000)
Seat 8.) Sangkyoun Kim, South Korea (261,000)
Seat 9.) Ivan Tan, Singapore (553,000)

South Korea's Guillaume Patry carried the chip lead to the final table, but he was followed closely by internet superstar Bertrand ‘ElkY' Grospellier. And whenever Joe Hachem is at a final table, the championship is within his grasp. Liz Lieu also figures to be a factor at the final table, as she has a healthy chip stack going into Day 3.

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