Ashley Warner Leads The Final Table After Tough Second Day
The second day of the PokerStars.com Australia New Zealand Poker Tour started at 12:30 PM, but it didn't end until 5:30 AM. Nine players showed true stamina, focus and determination as they will get a well deserved 8-hour break heading into the final table. Ashley Warner is the chip leader with Peter Matusik chasin his second ANZPT title in second place.
Day 2 started with 141 of 345 players and right from the start there was plenty of action. Dan Neilson managed to grab a quick double up, but he was eliminated not too long after that. Tony Hachem started the day with very little chips and didn't recover, he ran with pocket sevens into eights. Meanwhile it was Luis Arrilucea who grabbed an early lead.
Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen started the day with little chips, and he failed to improve when his shove was called by pocket jacks. The Mexican pro showed sixes and quickly made his way to the rail. One of the few remaining women in the event was eliminated quickly as well. Sherrie Gelberg hit top pair from the big blind in an un-raised pot, but her opponent had a better kicker.
The most successful players on Day 2 was without a doubt Joe Hachem. The 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion started the day with a big stack, but thing didn't go his way. He played a big pot with the nut-flush draw, and ran into Tristan Baine's set. Hachem turned flush, but Baine's boat filled up on the river. Baine took over the chip lead at that point, but just a few hours later he was eliminated as well short of the money.
Aaron Benton was also among the pre-cash eliminations. The APPT Sydney winner moved all in with two eights and got called by Fabrice Ho who tables ace-jack. The flop brought an ace, and Benton was eliminated. With the money within reach it was Leo Boxell who fell. The Australian Poker Hall of Fame member ran his ace-king into Kyle Cheong's queens. Cheong's hand held up, and he took over the chip lead.
There was hand-for-hand play needed during this event, as we jumped from 43 to 41 players in one hand. All those players were guaranteed at least A$3,450. The 38th place was ultimately the final stop for Pat Dillon. He grinded his short stack for a long time, but a min-cash was all he ended up with. Kristian Lunardi probably felt a lot worse as he managed to get a hold of quite some chips when he clashed with Michael Lo Guidice. Lunardi's ace-king wasn't enough as he ran into pocket kings. He was knocked out in 35th place.
Matthew Wakeman busted out in a three-way clash that also ended up costing Dean Francis most of his chips. Hugh Cohen tripled up and this was the start of his strong run. He will return tomorrow with XXX chips. Being the chip leader has his advantages, but Kyle Cheong couldn't enjoy it too long as Cohen first doubled, and then knocked him out in 29th place.
Billy Jordanou started the day as the chip leader, and remained near the top for most of the day. One big pot against Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang crippled him, and just a few hands later he busted out in 22nd place. Jie Gao showed up when he woke up with pocket kings. Two players had moved all in before him, and Gao busted one of the two by flopping quads. He ended up making the final table with XXX in chips. Moments later it was Minh Nguyen who took a bad beat busting him out in 20th place.
The pot with the biggest impact was played between Ashley Warner and Hugh Cohen. The former flopped a set and the latter had a straight. The money went in, and Warner ended up hitting quads on the turn. He won, and took a commanding lead. Cohen was knocked out in 13th place.
The final Team PokerStars Pro, Bryan Huang, was knocked out in 12th place. He ran ace-ten into ace-queen and just fell short of the final table. The bubble ended up being long, but eventually Tam Truong fell short of the final table. These are the standings of the final nine players when they come back tomorrow.
The Final Table
| * Seat | Name | Chip Count |
| 1 | Paul Hockin | 801,000 |
| 2 | Michael Lo Giudice | 1,071,000 |
| 3 | Michael Guzzardi | 509,000 |
| 4 | Peter Matusik | 1,058,000 |
| 5 | Anthony Aston | 680,000 |
| 6 | Igal Augarten | 173,000 |
| 7 | Karan Punjabi | 235,000 |
| 8 | Ashley Warner | 1,565,000 |
| 9 | Ismail Ismail | 350,000 |
Make sure to tune back into PokerNews.com as we bring you all the live updates on the final day of this amazing event! The final table will start at 2:00 PM local time, and here's a look at what the remaining players are playing for.
Final Table Payouts:
| Place | Name | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A$172,500 | |
| 2 | A$109,710 | |
| 3 | A$61,065 | |
| 4 | A$47,610 | |
| 5 | A$37,950 | |
| 6 | A$31,050 | |
| 7 | A$24,150 | |
| 8 | A$18,975 | |
| 9 | A$13,800 | |
| 10 | Tam Truong | A$9,660 |
| 11 | Jie Gao | A$9,660 |
| 12 | Bryan Huang | A$9,660 |
| 13 | Hugh Cohen | A$7,935 |
| 14 | Shane Stark | A$7,935 |
| 15 | Aron Della Vedova | A$7,935 |
| 16 | Lik Lui | A$6,900 |
| 17 | Nicholas Polias | A$6,900 |
| 18 | Dean Blatt | A$6,900 |
| 19 | Ti Tran | A$5.865,00 |
| 20 | Minh Hau Nguyen | A$5.865,00 |
| 21 | Nali Kaselias | A$5.865,00 |
| 22 | William Jordanou | A$5.175,00 |
| 23 | Fabrice Ho | A$5.175,00 |
| 24 | Petar Vujic | A$5.175,00 |
| 25 | Gautam Dhingra | A$4,485 |
| 26 | Christopher Wood | A$4,485 |
| 27 | Manny Stavropoulos | A$4,485 |
| 28 | Luis Arrilucea | A$4,140 |
| 29 | Kyle Cheong | A$4,140 |
| 30 | Omer Silajdzija | A$4,140 |
| 31 | Dean Francis | A$4,140 |
| 32 | Davor Derek | A$4,140 |
| 33 | Matthew Wakeman | A$3,795 |
| 34 | Jeric Roche | A$3,795 |
| 35 | Kristian Lunardi | A$3,795 |
| 36 | Robbie Stewart | A$3,795 |
| 37 | Amanda De Cesare | A$3,450 |
| 38 | Patrick Dillon | A$3,450 |
| 39 | James Bills | A$3,450 |
| 40 | Martin Ward | A$3,450 |
| 41 | Najib Moubayed | A$3,450 |