Oct 11
I’m not sure if you’ve been following along with The Heater, the Rays blog run by the St. Petersburg Times, but you really should be. A few of their metro reporters have been filing "fan" stories from the stands at Tropicana Field and, after reading them, I’m confused as to whether they’re staging a baseball series down there in Florida or a European soccer match.
A sampling from one post:
Police have ejected more than 16 fans tonight, many of them after they got in arguments with fans from the opposing teams, police said. Meanwhile, the common refrain from the ejected was that they did nothing wrong.
Late in the game, police dragged a barefoot, handcuffed Red Sox fan in the holding pen. He wouldn’t stand up as an officer yelled, "Get up on your knees!"
There are more specific stories over there, so go check ‘em out if you’re bored and home alone on a Saturday night. Personally, I like the fact that a team most Bay area residents ignored all summer are now suddenly worth fighting for, though I guess most people only need the smallest of reasons to engage in a Smackdown re-enactment.
Anyway, game time is almost here and it’ll be lefty Scott Kazmir trying to last longer than five innings in an attempt to tie the series for the Rays. He’ll be facing Boston righty Josh Beckett, who only hopes to just keep his health for the rest of the postseason.
Neither of them had particularly good LDS starts, so they’ll both have something to prove.
You know the drill. AP story about Rocco Baldelli here, Gordon Edes’ story about the Rays’ lost advantage here and Inside Edge preview here. Your in-game comments are below.
Oct 11
By James Potter and Eliot James
We have come to the end of Day 2 of the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Festival of Poker Main Event. It has been a long day with 9 levels being played. The poker, however, has certainly been first rate. The SkyCity Poker Room has never seen action like this before and the locals are packed to the rafters to watch the biggest poker event in the countries history.
It was an early day for PokerStars sponsored player Celina Lin who was one of the many very early casualties. Team PokerStars pro Joe Hachem fought hard all day but never got the cards to put up a major challenge. It was a credit to the champion to make it so deep when things weren’t going his way. Joe’s brother, the likable poker playboy Tony, kept all entertained and made the money and showed he is the real deal.
Tony Hachem…Guaranteed!
Grant Levy also finished in the money and another good finish from our APPT Grand Final Winner last year will add to his growing reputation as one of the region’s best.
We are now down to 11 players who will come back and fight it out in the final day of the tournament. This is what poker players play the game for and these players will all be very excited tonight and might not get too much sleep.
Local boy Luke Stanford is our chip leader and played nearly flawless poker all day. Hot on his tails is Nathanael Seet with 400,000 chips and the Singaporean should start tomorrow as the favorite and will be hard to beat.
Luke Stanford leads the way into the final day
Daniel Craker is another one of the local challengers and it has been great to see so many Kiwis make it deep into the money. It certainly is a credit to the game here and it would be a huge result for a local to walk away with the title.
Daniel Cracker another of the local challangers still well in the mix.
Tune in early tomorrow for bio’s on all the players on the final table and all the action from the APPT Auckland.
Oct 11
By James Potter and Eliot James
In a rush of activity we have just lost 3 players in record time and we are now down to our final two tables.
Trevor Saunders from Sydney Australia has just been eliminated in 16th position and has walked away with over $7,000. Trevor pushed his small stack in with A-J and was called with Q-10. The window card bought a Queen and the rest was history.
Trevor Saunders falls with two table left.
You’ve all asked for it, so here it is. Tony Hachem uncut and bought to you by PokerStars.tv. What more could anyone ask for.
Watch APPT Auckland 08: Tony Hachem Day 2 on PokerStars.tv
Oct 11
By James Potter and Eliot James
W Yuan has just put Mat Wall out of the tournament. Wall pushed all in with 9-9 and was quickly called by Yuan who turned over A-K. An ace on the river had Yuan jumping for joy and Wall was eliminated in 20th place. The pace has slowed a little as the stacks are deep and the play is intense.
Mat Wall eliminated in 20th position.
The boys from PokerStars.tv have come up with another entertaining video blog that will have you chuckling away to yourself as it has been described as ‘three poker players having a back slapping good time.’
Watch APPT Auckland 08: Trio of Big Names on PokerStars.tv
Oct 11
By James Potter and Eliot James
Eliminations are coming thick and fast here at the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Casino Festival of Poker. Having just broken the bubble before the dinner break players have now returned to the tables to battle down to at least our final two tables tonight. The play hasn’t slowed down at all and the action all three tables is seeing plenty of chips being shipped onto the felt.
With railbirds five deep in the grandstand, action continues to tear across the felt as we near the final two tables.
We have already had a further eight eliminations since returning from the dinner break, leaving 24 players spread across the three remaining tables. For pre-dinner chip counts, and the subsequent eliminations, please check on our chipcount page for the latest info.
We will be keeping you posted as the tension mounts here at APPT Auckland and players begin to dig their heels in an effort to make the final table and take their shot at a quarter of a million dollars!
