September 03 2012, Josh Bell

The 2012 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Melbourne Main Event came to a close on Monday. In the end, Britain’s Sam Razavi took down the trophy, all the glory, and the $326,125 first-place prize.

2012 APPT Melbourne Results

Heading into the final day, Tom Grigg held the chip lead, but he had eight formidable foes ready to play poker. One of the players who was surely going to give Grigg a headache was Brendon Rubie, but in a surprising turn of events, Rubie was eliminated in ninth place.

Rubie began the day with the fourth-largest chip stack, but proved to be his own worst enemy. The beginning of the end saw Rubie move all in on the river of a board after calling bets from Wayne Bentley on the flop and turn. Bentley called Rubie’s shove and showed , enough to send Rubie’s cards into the muck, leaving Rubie as one of the short stacks. Shortly after the aforementioned hand, Rubie was all in holding against Kristian Lunardi’s and couldn’t catch up. Rubie was left with less than two big blinds. From there, it was a quick death for Rubie as Razavi dealt the final blow to his tournament life.

With Rubie out of the way, the short-stacked Nigel Andrews had managed a pay jump, but that was his only one. In his last hand, Andrews held and ran into Lunardi’s . No help came for Andrews and he was eliminated in eighth place.

Following Andrews’ elimination, the bust-outs were fast and fierce as Lunardi found the door in seventh place, followed by James Bills in sixth. Lunardi three-bet to 165,000 holding from the small blind, after Bentley opened the pot to 60,000 from the button. Back on Bentley, he moved all in holding . Lunardi made the call and then made his way to the rail when no help came on the board. On Bills’ last hand, he open shoved holding and he received the call from Bentley in the big blind, who held . A devastating flop all but sealed Bills’ fate and with bricks on the turn and river, Bills was sent out the door.

Within an hour, three players had already been eliminated and one joined Lunardi, Bills and Andrews on the rail. This time, Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Gary Benson made his way to the exit. Benson got all his chips in holding against Keith Walker’s on the river of a board. Walker had turned trips with and it was good enough to send Benson home in fifth place.

Eventually the action had to slow down and that happened during four-handed play. Grigg was still the table captain at this stage, managing to hold almost half the chips in play for a short period. Play continued to slow to crawl, but eventually, after more than two hours, another player hit the rail. The fourth-place elimination began when the action was folded to Bentley in the small blind and he raised it up to 120,000. Grigg called out of the big blind and both players checked the flop. On the turn, Bentley check-raised all in after Grigg bet 130,000. Grigg made the call and turned over , which was ahead of Bentley’s . The on the river wasn’t what Bentley was looking for and he was sent to the rail in fourth place.

The chips were relatively even during three-handed play, with all three players holding a slight chip lead at least once. Then, Grigg surged away, building his stack to well over half of the chips in play. However, it just wasn’t Grigg’s day because in two hands, Razavi dealt the fatal blow to Grigg. In the first hand, Grigg made a big river call when he ran into Razavi’s full house.

In Grigg’s last hand of the night, he was in the small blind and raised to 100,000. Razavi called out of the big blind and the dealer turned over a flop. Grigg led out for 105,000 and Razavi called. When the dealer flipped over the on turn, Grigg again bet, this time sliding out 215,000. Razavi made another call and the completed the board on the river. This time Grigg checked and Razavi, who had Grigg covered, announced he was all in. Grigg thought for a long time, before eventually making the call. Razavi gave a fist pump and turned over his , with another full house to send Grigg out the door.

Razavi held a more than 3-1 chip lead heading into the heads-up battle and it took under 10 minutes for him to eliminate Keith Walker in second place. The final hand of the tournament began with Razavi opening the button to 100,000. Walker then shoved all in and Razavi made a quick call, turning over . Walker was in front with his , but the board gave Razavi the flush and eliminate Walker in second place and crown Razavi as the victor.

Video: http://www.pokernews.com/video/appt6-melbourne-champion-sam-razavi-7138.htm

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September 02 2012, Remko Rinkema

The day was rough, tough and most of all, not easy; but nine players managed to secure a seat at the final table of the 2012 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Melbourne Main Event. The chip leader at Monday’s final table will be Tom Grigg, and he will have strong competition from experienced players like Brendon Rubie and Sam Razavi.

The day began with 44 hopefuls, but within the hour, 10 had left the room. Wayne Bentley was hurting players left and right, and quickly he managed to grab hold of the chip lead. Grant Levy was among the early knockouts when he lost his chips with against Keith Walker’s . Another familiar face left in the field, Oliver Gill, trusted his read but ran into Karan Punjabi’s flopped full house. Gill left empty handed as well.

Tony Hachem looked to be making a comeback after starting the day short-stacked, but that didn’t work out. First he doubled through PokerStars Team Online Roy Bhasin, only to bust to James Bills a few hands later. Hachem ran into aces and his day was done.

With the money within reach, most players decided to take it easy, but not Brendon Rubie. The Aussie Millions side event winner doubled on the bubble and was in serious contention from that point on. Dale Marsland was eliminated in 29th place, just one spot short of the money. Marsland five-bet all in with and ran into Bentley’s kings. The board brought mere blanks, and the money bubble burst.

Benn Skender busted shortly after the money, as did Mishel Anunu, but he didn’t have too much to complain about, with his cash in this securing himself the ANZ Player of the Year award. Anunu had a small sweat, but when Liam O’Rourke busted in 17th place, it was all his. For his prize, Anunu is able to play three APPT Main Events next season, his travel expenses covered, and also a seat into the $10,000 Aussie Millions Main Event.

The final player represented by PokerStars in this event, Roy Bhasin, was eliminated in 25th place worth a $8,455 min cash. Bhasin got his money in on the turn against Bills who had flopped top-two pair. Bhasin was looking for a club to fill up his flush draw, but the river was the three of diamonds.

Halfway through the day there was still a chance for a back-to-back winner, but unfortunately Leo Boxell didn’t manage to survive the day. Boxell took a big hit when he ran his queens into kings, and eventually he ran into pocket aces with his flopped flush draw. In the end, Boxell was sent home in 19th place, giving him a $12,080 cash.

The aforementioned O’Rourke busted in 17th place. Tom Grigg, who began the day with just 15 big blinds, had built his stack up considerably when the following hand occurred. Grigg raised under the gun to 20,000 after which Tam Truong three-bet to 50,000. O’Rourke was in the big blind and opted to four-bet to 120,000. This put pressure on Grigg, who didn’t flinch as he moved all in for right around 600,000 chips. Truong folded, and O’Rourke made the call. Grigg showed and doubled through O’Rourke into the chip lead.

With just 16 players remaining, everyone went on a one-hour dinner break. Following dinner, play slowed down considerably, but Sam Razavi’s play didn’t. In a massive pot he woke up with pocket-kings against Michael Guttman’s pocket-nines. Gunther Hornung was short, and also committed himself, holding . Both players were eliminated and Razavi took the lead.

The final table was within reach with just 14 players remaining, but everyone seemed to realize that. Even the deck seemed to be aware of it, since the short stacks kept doubling up. Billy Argyros, who’s better known as “The Croc,” was eliminated in 14th place followed about an hour later by Vineet Jindal. Ismail Ismail was eliminated one spot from a final table berth. This is how the final nine are looking heading into the final day of play.

APPT Melbourne Final Table

The final table will be in the Crown Poker Room in Melbourne, Australia from 1400 AEST Monday (2100 PST), so make sure to follow the PokerNews Live Reporting page as we continue to bring you all the action from the 2012 APPT Melbourne Main Event!

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