Sydney is the arena of heated poker action at the moment as there is quite the poker development during The Star Sydney Championships which progresses ahead with many tempting offerings. At the moment the latest poker tournament which came to its final stages was the long-anticipated A$5k Challenge Event which transformed the Star Poker Room into the hotspot in the Land Down Under.
The very first minutes of action of this red-hot poker event brought a total of 152 entries willing to make it all the way to the top and list their name among the top positions on the official leader board. Each and every one of the participants appeared to be prepared for the tough competition across this event, as there were some pretty popular names registered. Thanks to their joint efforts they were already making a change, as the event reached a total prize pool of A$722,000. With the help of the multiple re-entry option the top players secured a sweet payday.
Whoever makes it all the way to the top is going to lay their hands on a total of A$195,000, whereas the runner-up position is set to receive some $120,000 as a consolation prize. At the end of the day the third position on the rank list is going to receive some $87,000 for the deep run in the poker tournament. Only the top 18 positions on the board would bag cash prize at the A$5k Challenge event which is a considerable motivation for them to showcase their best performance.
Players Progress towards Final Table
Among the players participating in this event were well-known players such as Michael Kanaan, who reached the 14th position at the Opening Event and Jonathan Karamalikis, who has total live earnings amounting to $4,133,285. Kanaan made it all the way to the fifth position on the unofficial leader board at the end of the poker action.
He succeeded in eliminating one of the potential winners of this tournament, Connie Graham which was not something people expected at the end of the day. The final level of this first day of poker action witnessed Andy Lee becoming the chip leader of the day with his impressive chip stack amounting to some 395,000. Following him close was another promising participant, Matthew Wakeman who had a total of 363,000 in chips to his name.
Andy Lee, on the other hand, dedicated his efforts to climbing all the way to the top position throughout the day, which brought results. The last minutes of Day 1 saw only 28 players continuing forward to the second day of action which was set to sift them and reduce their number even further.
Unfortunately for Kanaan he had to bid farewell to his dreams of becoming the champion of this event, as he was one of the first players eliminated at the very beginning of this day. Ken Demlakian proceeded to claiming Kanaan’s chip stack and sending him out of the event. As for the money bubble burst, Mostafa Haidary was the last exiting player without a cash prize, following his elimination by Jim Pizanias, who went far in the poker tournament. Haidary exited on the 19th position on the rank list.
Slowly but surely poker action reached the final table of nine introducing some of the top payers surviving to the generous payouts. Among them are poker pros such as Wakeman, Pizanias, and Corey Kempson. Final Table is well on its way and players are here to provide everyone with high-end poker experience which would take them closer to the coveted by many cash payouts of this event.
