Thu, 08/11/2011 – 23:51 – PokerPages Staff

Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem took part in the opening day of the Epic Poker League Main Event on Tuesday. The 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, who has earned over $11 million during his career, recounted a hand he played during the morning session.

With blinds at 300/600 100 ante, Hachem open raised to 1,800 from the small blind with A-9os and only the big blind made the call. “Going into this hand, what I knew about this player is that he hates to fold. I know that if I make any hand, I’m just going to fire on every street.”

The 9h-9c-4h flop improved Hachem to top set and he fired a 1,900 continuation bet. The big blind continued his interest in the hand. Hachem reveals that this flat call narrowed his opponent’s range to a medium pocket pair or a heart draw.

The action followed the same pattern on the turned 4c. Hachem led out for 3,700 and the big blind made the call. “Again, I bet pretty small in comparison to the pot, but I was setting him up for a call on the river that I want.”

Hachem did not slow down on the 2d river, firing a final bet worth 12,800. The former World Poker Tour winner admits he may have moved all in if his opponent had not suffered a bad beat only a few hands earlier. The big blind went into the tank before calling and Hachem took down the pot.

“I guess the moral of the story is, play the player. If you know that some is going to pay you off, get the most of it.”

July 29 2011, Josh Bell

Day 1 of the first stop on the fifth season of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour has come and gone. Melbourne, Australia, is a new stop for the APPT, and an elite field of players from all around the world attended, including two former World Series of Poker Main Event champions. The 260-player field took to the felt in the Crown Poker Room, all vying for the chance to take home the title and the $330,000 first-place prize that went along with it.

The day started with APPT commissioner Danny McDonough introducing 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion and Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker. Moneymaker kicked off the proceedings to a room full of excited players and a big rail of spectators.

On the felt, Moneymaker managed to make it through the day with only a small amount over what he started with, but he was better off than fellow WSOP Main Event champ and Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem. Hachem ran his short stack into the of Liam Moffett holding and failed to improve.

The player with all the chips at the end of the day was none other than Aussie local Mitch Carle, who dominated his table. One of the big pots Carle won was a massive hand toward the end of the day where he tanked on the river with a board showing . Carle eventually made the call holding for top pair and took down the big pot. His opponent turned over for a weaker top pair. From that point on, it was all uphill for Carle, who will return Saturday with a monster stack of 187,900.

Some of the players hot on Carle’s heels include Kyle Cheong who amassed an impressive 126,825-chip stack, and David Allan, who will return with 123,700. James Obst and David Steicke will also return with plenty of chips to play with, each bagging 108,800 and 107,500, respectively.

Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang will be among the approximate 156 players who will return for play tomorrow on Day 2 as well. Huang managed to survive with a healthy stack of 66,875.

Also prominent among those returning tomorrow include Jonathan Karamalikis (98,525), Van Marcus (91,500), Andrew Hinrichsen (40,625), Jesse McKenzie (47,325) and Tony Hachem (35,000).

The remaining players will take to the felt at 1200 AEST on Saturday (1900 PDT Friday), with our Live Reporting Team again in the midst of all the action. Follow all of the live action from the floor on PokerNews.com.

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