By Sean Callander

Boy, did we pick the wrong time to talk about lucky charms! In the last hour, Graeme Putt (the man with the kiwi) and Kirk Morrison (the man with the beer) have both been eliminated from the PokerStars.net $15,000 APPT Macau High Roller Event.

Kiwi G was a mile ahead of Team PokerStars’ Dan Schreiber when he pushed in his chips with Ac Kh against the Korean-based pro’s Jh 10d.

Putt was even further ahead when the flop came As 8c Kh, but running queens gave Schreiber a straight and sent Putt away, shaking his head at the turn card.

Kirk Morrison’s demise wasn’t near as dramatic. Morrison, who equalled the record of Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu when he cashed in four consecutive WPT main events leading up to his second-place to Juan Carlo Mortensen in the 2007 WPT Championship, was all-in from the big blind for 1500. Yasuhiro Waki (10s 10h) gets heads-up with Morrison (Jh 7h), and the pocket pair holds-up .

Other eliminations since the last break have included Lee Nelson 21st, Mathias Kuerschner (23rd), Vladimir Poleshchuk (24th) and Jeff Lisandro (25th). The remaining 18 players have just been consolidated into three tables due to the surprising elimination of one of the chip leaders, Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle ‘No Mercy’ Mercier.



In a battle of the blinds, Aliansandr Dianisan raised to 12,500 from the small blind and Mercier moved all-in from the big blind for 45,800. Dianisan insta-called and showed Jacks. Mercier had pocket threes, and stayed behind on a board of Kd 7h 2c Ks 5c. The lucky skull may end up in the bottom of the Pearl River before the night is out!

Emad Tahtouh has strengthened his claims for a final table berth by scooping up the chips of Russia’s Alexander Kuznecov. He did it the hard way though – Kuznecov led the race with Ad Qc to Tahtouh’s Jd 10c before a board of Js 6h 5h 10d Ad gave



Another big mover in the last few minutes is Eric Assadourian, a young Sydney based pro who can’t wait to suit up for the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final at his home casino Star City, from December 7-16.

We’re playing down to eight players tonight (currently at 14 with the blinds about to go to 6000/12,000 with a 2000 ante), all of who will be assured a minimum payout of $US27,648 up to the winner’s cheque of $US368,640.

Approximate chip count:

• John Juanda (USA) 114,000


• Tony Ng (Hong Kong) 105,000


• Emad Tahtouh (Australia) 90,000


• Bo Sehlstedt (Sweden) 75,000


• Aliansandr Dzianisan (Russia) 62,000