ANZPT7 Sydney – Final Table of Nine Set Up

Another poker champion is about to be crowned in Sydney, Australia. Total of 54 players returned to play yesterday and that number has finally been reduced to nine. But the 45 players who were sent to the rail did not go easily and they most certainly were in no rush to do so.

The long and grueling battle saw players hanging tight to their chips and by the time the last hand was dealt and final nine names were known, the average stack was just about twenty big blinds. It was David O'Brien who would be the last casualty of the evening when his Ace Jack fell short of Jim Psaros' pocket Kings.

After sending O'Brien to the rail and raking in the pot, Jim Psaros became the overwhelming chipleader and he will return to the final table with the stack of 2.6 million. To contrast this, the official short stack, Chung Liew is coming back with the stack of just 155,000.

Two other players in the seven figure territory are Denis Sekuolski with 1.6 million and Murray Roach who bagged 1.5 million. Trailing them are Emanuel Seal with 810,00, Zhi Hong Ma with 625,000 and Li-ta 'Leon' Hsu on 605,000.

Taking up the final two seats at the final table are Shaneel Chand with 595,000 and Tom Rafferty who bagged the nice, round number of 400,000. As mentioned previously, the stacks are rather shallow at this stage, so it could be a swift affair tomorrow, but we've seen those expectations turned upside down before.

All coming back are guaranteed the minimum of $17,000 for their valiant efforts, but everybody has their eyes set on that first prize of $225,000. One player will get to take it home, others will have to wait for another opportunity. Second place finisher will still walk away with the six-figure payday in the amount of $143,000.

Total of 445 players paid the buy-in of $2,300 for their right to fight for the title in Sydney. Of that number, 45 have already taken home something for their efforts, while the lion’s share of the prize pool will be distributed tomorrow.

Although the three from the ‘millionaires club’ are looking the best for it at the moment, with blinds being as high as they are, some good run could turn even a short stack into the chipleader. That said, Chung Liew definitely faces a difficult task if he is to turn his minuscule stack into a more threatening pile of chips.

Photo: PokerStars Blog