By Sean Callander

Half the field of 65 has been eliminated in the PokerStars.net $15,000 APPT Macau High Roller Event at the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino.

We just lost Scotty Nguyen in 33rd position when his A K ran into Bo Sehlstedt’s pocket aces, ending the 1998 WSOP champion’s involvement in the tournament.

However, scores of fans and local poker aficionados will take home great memories of Scotty – as always, he’s been the consummate professional and has never missed a beat while singing the praises of PokerStars.net and the APPT during his stay in Macau with his wife Julie.

The only other world champion in the field, 2005 WSOP main event winner Joe Hachem has also departed.

The Team PokerStars Pro reraised to 3800 after Scott Numoto bumped it up to 1800 from the cut-off. Numoto called, the flop came 10s 10c 2d and Hachem shoved in his last 11,000 in chips.



Numoto showed Kh 10d for trip 10s, while Hachem showed pocket fours. The 6c on the turn and Js on the river didn’t help Joe, and he was headed out in 32nd spot.

While the dealers are completing a color-up at the end of level 7 (we’ll be at 400/800 with a 100 ante when play resumes), it struck us that the world’s best poker players aren’t a very superstitious bunch.

Over the past three days, we’ve seen all sorts of trinkets and lucky charms in use, but only two stuck out when we just conducted a quick poll.

Graeme Putt’s stuffed kiwi is pretty obvious – as a fiercely patriotic New Zealand, the man known as Kiwi G always has the national symbol of his homeland resting near his stack. He should be signed by the national tourist body, and has probably done more for NZ tourism than Lord of the Rings!



The other player with a mascot is Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle ‘No Mercy’ Mercier. During the break, she told us the small stone skull was a souvenir from Mexico, but it’s yet to bring her much luck – until today.

“I had it at the WSOP this year and had probably my worst WSOP ever. I’m giving it one more chance,” No Mercy said. However, she added that she was in the groove today (her stack is steadily climbing into the top five), so the skull might be working after all.



We also noticed that Kirk Morrison, the ultra-popular pro from Kansas (who actually spent several years living in New Zealand) is one of the few players (pro or amateur) who enjoys a beer at the table. Different strokes for different folks.



Approximate chip count

Tony Ng (Hong Kong) 110,000

John Juanda (USA) 101,000

Bo Sehlstedt (Sweden) 60,000

Aliansandr Dzianisan (Russia) 55,000

Isabelle Mercier (France) 54,000