After four days of competition, the 538 entrants in the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau main event have been reduced to just 39.

In a dramatic day on the tournament floor at the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino, the field was slashed from 208 to less than 40 after just seven one-hour levels, including one of the most exciting bubble periods ever played in a tournament of this stature and size.

The day started with five Team PokerStars Pros still in contention – 2005 WSOP main event winner Joe Hachem, Chad Brown, Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier, Lee “Final Table” Nelson and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – but all were eliminated over the course of the day. PokerStars Sponsored players Emad Tahtouh, Elton Tsang, Dan Schreiber, Terrence Chan and Men "The Master" Nguyen were also sent to the rail.

Play was fast and furious – in the first one-hour level, 47 players were eliminated (at a rate of one elimination every 90 seconds).

Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem doubled-up twice in the opening minutes of the day but was eliminated when Daisy Wain’s A-Q held up on a 10-high board against Hachem’s A-J. Wain has since been confirmed as the highest placed female player in the event, and is assured a finish in the money.

The other Team PokerStars Pros also fell by the wayside. Chad Brown was eliminated by day 1A chip leader Andre Wagner; Isabelle Mercier was taken out by Indonesia’s Steve Djingga; Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier was crippled by PokerStars Sponsored player Emad Tahtouh before bowing out two spots short of the money; and Lee “Final Table” Nelson secured his second APPT cash in finishing 42nd.

The drama that characterised day 2 continued well into the final level, with Javed Abrahams the big mover – he flopped a set of eights to KO John Dalessandri then took out Aditya Agarwal with a set of sixes to finish firmly inside the top five.

Despite Abrahams move late in the day, it was PokerStars qualifier Edward Sabat who topped the chip count at the end of the day after taking down a big pot against former chip leader Yeongsok Choi with a modest 10-9 on a board of Q-3-10-Q-K.

Australia’s Charles Chua rode a wave of cards (he had quads twice, which were duly paid off) is in second chip position followed by Canadian PokerStars qualifier Keith Wintermans, Abrahams and Hong Kong-based
Australian David Steicke, who took down a massive pot against former chip leader Kenny Hicks on the bubble.

Chris Grigorian was the APPT Macau main event “bubble boy”, placing 57th. All players finishing 56th or better are assured a payout (see payouts and remaining structure below):

1 HKD $3,540,040 (USD $453,851.28)
2 HKD $2,275,740 (USD $291,761.54)
3 HKD $1,201,080 (USD $153,984.62)
4 HKD $847,080 (USD $108,600.00)
5 HKD $632,150 (USD $81,044.87)
6 HKD $442,500 (USD $56,730.77)
7 HKD $328,720 (USD $42,143.59)
8 HKD $240,220 (USD $30,797.44)
9 HKD $177,000 (USD $22,692.31)
10-12 HKD $126,430 (USD $16,208.97)
13-16 HKD $101,145 (USD $12,967.31)
17-24 HKD $75,860 (USD $9725.64)
25-32 HKD $63,215 (USD $8104.49)
33-40 HKD $50,570 (USD $6483.33)

40 Xinzheng Xu (China) HKD $50,570
41 Andrew Pantling (Canada) HKD $44,250
42 Lee Nelson (NZ) HKD $44,250
43 Hon Ming Kim Lee (Hong Kong) HKD $44,250
44 Aditya Agarwal (India) HKD $44,250
45 John Dalessandri (Australia) HKD $44,250
46 Marius Bobinas (Lithuania) HKD $44,250
47 David Ewing (Australia) HKD $44,250
48 Matt Lee (Hong Kong) HKD $44,250
49 Frank Bianco (Australia) HKD $37,930
50 Tyrone Kerrigan (UK) HKD $37,930
51 Manlee Wan (Macau) HKD $37,930
52 Elton Tsang (Hong Kong) HKD $37,930
53 Doron Tourgman (Germany) HKD $37,930
54 Emad Tahtouh (Australia) HKD $37,930
55 John Babatsikos (Australia) HKD $37,930
56 Chris Levick (Australia) HKD $37,930

Watch APPT Macau 08: Euall Smith on PokerStars.tv

If Asia needed to be sold on the thrills and excitement of tournament poker, then a remarkable bubble period in the PokerStars.net APPT Macau main event has delivered a script that would be laughed out of a Hollywood studio.

To speed up the slow play, APPT tournament director Danny McDonagh decided to start hand-for-hand play with still two players to be eliminated before the money bubble was reached.

The drama started on the second hand when Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was KOed in 58th position. He committed his not-insignificant stack of 56,000 with Ac Qd, with the call coming from PokerStars sponsored player Emad Tahtouh (holding Kd Kc).

The board came 4s Ah Ks 6s 9s, leaving ElkY down to just 10,000. They went straight in on the next hand with 3d 6c, with Charlie Chua’s Qh 7c filling out to a straight (8c-9s-10d-4d-6d). ElkY was on his way out of the tournament area before the final card hit the board.

On the next hand, one of the most amazing bubble hands we’ve ever witnessed played out, featuring chip leader Kenny Hicks and another big stack, David Steicke.

It started with a pre-flop raise to 5000 from Hicks, with Steicke making the call and seeing a flop of Kd 9c Kc. Steicke checked, Hicks bet 9000, Steicke bumped it to 20,000 and Hicks called. The turn came the 10c; Steicke checked, Hicks bet 30,000 and Steicke made the call after a long time in the tank.

With the crowd four-deep, the river card was the 9h and Hicks stunned everyone by declaring “all-in”. Steicke thought for about 30 seconds before saying “ok, ok, I call”. He knew he had it before Hicks sheepishly turned over Jc-8d. Steicke didn’t have much more (Ac-10d), but it was enough to make two-pair and take down a pot worth more than 150,000.

Hicks then coughed up another 60,000 in chips two hands later when David Chiu rivered a set of fours against Hicks’ A-10 for top pair. Hero to not quite zero in just three hands!

The actual bubble hand was an anti-climax in comparison with Chris Grigorian’s stack so short he couldn’t complete the big blind. The Armenian Express was derailed in 57th position.

But there was more drama on the bubble hand, again involving PokerStars Sponsored player Emad Tahtouh. He made it 8000 pre-flop with Yeongsok Choi making the call. The board came Kd 6s 2d, Emad c-bet 13,000, Choi called and the turn showed 8d. Emad checked, Choi bet 13,000, Tahtouh added an extra 32,000 but Choi called. The river was the 2c, Tahtouh checked perhaps realising he was beaten. He was – Choi showed the nut flush (Ad Qd), while Emad flashed Ah-4c.

One hand later, Tahtouh was out. He was ahead of Charles Chua pre-flop, with nines against sixes, but mirroring the luck that Chua has ridden all day, the board filled out 7h-6d-3d-Kh-6c giving Chua quads.

So after a dramatic bubble period, the clock has been wound back 25 minutes in level 13, with players just back in their seats for the final hour of play. Our chip leader is Australia’s Charles Chua on 360,000, followed by Keith Wintermans (340,000), Yeongsok Choi (295,000), Tian Chen (270,000) and Taneli Tiikkaja (265,000).

There’s an intriguing blend of pros, direct buy-in players and online qualifiers remaining in the field.
Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand ElkY Grospellier and Lee Nelson plus a pair of PokerStars Sponsored players – Emad Tahtouh and Elton Tsang – are waving the flag for the tour sponsor.

ElkY and Emad just butted heads on the lightning rod that is table six, with Emad folding to ElkY’s post-flop bet of 15,000 into a pot of 25,000 on a board of K-9-8. Emad showed A-Q and ElkY J-10. “Would you have pushed?” Emad inquired. “Yes.”

Watch APPT Macau 08: Van Nguyen & Lee Nelson on PokerStars.tv

Another PokerStars Sponsored player, Men “The Master” Nguyen, has just been eliminated by Norway’s Ole Johan Steinvik. The Scandinavian made a set of queens on the flop against The Master’s pocket aces to take his stack to 135,000.

A handful of big names remain, including three-time WSOP bracelet winner John Juanda and 2008 WSOP Championship winner David Chiu while Daisy Wain has already locked up the title for the highest placed female player.

Melbourne’s Charles Chua is the chip leader on 294,000 ahead of Andre Wagner (280,000), Yeongsok Choi (255,000), Taneli Tiikkaja (250,000) and Edward Sabat (170,000).

Another member of Team PokerStars Pro, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was recently just placed in seat four, eliciting a friendly jibe from PokerStars Sponsored player Emad Tahtouh: "I was wondering where my chips were going to come from, before you turned up ElkY ..." Grospellier just smiled at him.

Soon afterwards, the player who had been seated in Hachem's former pew, found himself with pocket jacks in the hole, and looking down at a board of Jx-8x-6x-8x-5x.

All his chips went in on the river, with what appeared to be the immortal nuts. However, Charles Chua, calmly flipped over pocket eights, for the second set of quad eights today, and a cry of "sick!" in unison from the players gathered around to watch the hand.

Daisy ‘Chain’ Wain, under-the-gun, sat back and chewed on her gum thoughtfully for a couple of minutes before counting out 12,000 chips for the call.

The rest of the table folded around to Joe, who tabled A-J offsuit, and then hung his head as Wain flipped over A-Q offsuit. The board ran out 10-high, and Hachem quickly exited the tournament area muttering under his breath as he passed the blogging table. Wain continues to profit from calling all-ins with many types of hands.

Hachem has become one of the 102 players who have already left the Grand Waldo Casino tournament area today. It is quite possible we may not need to play all seven levels planned for today before the APPT Macau bubble bursts.
Another notable elimination was Van Nguyen, Men “The Master” Nguyen’s wife, who stood up and vanished so quickly after being knocked out, that nobody got a chance to ask her what happened. We’ll probably get an opportunity a little later on if she comes back to support her husband from the rail.

We also have a new APPT Macau chip leader. Andre Wagner rose to the chip lead way back on day 1A and held it until just recently, when Yeongsok Choi, from Korea, won a massive pot, catapulting him into leading position with 250,000 chips.

David Steicke, who finished as chip leader of the day 1B flight, has also continued his good form from Tuesday, and is sitting behind a sizable stack of 165,000. Wagner isn’t too far behind though in third chip position, holding steady on the 150,000 he held early in today’s play.

Watch APPT Macau 08: Tom Carter $8 Qualifier on PokerStars.tv

The young American had already doubled up Steicke (Farkye’s K-Q failed to connect with a 10-high board, which paired Steicke’s A-10), action in the pivotal hand between the pair started with a pre-flop raise from early position, Farkye called then Steicke popped it to 13,600. The EP player folded, Farkye pushed all-in for about 48,000 and Steicke called, after a long think.

The Hong Kong-based Aussie showed pocket eights (appropriately, a lucky number in Chinese society), with Farkye showing Ad-10h. The board again missed Farkye (9s-3h-Kd-6d-4h), and the man who barely utters a word at the table was rendered completely speechless. That hand propelled Steicke to 170,000 and into third spot on the chip count behind Andre Wagner and Yeongsok Choi.

It’s been a lousy session for the Team PokerStars Pros with Joe Hachem’s elimination being preceded by Chad Brown’s departure at the hands of Andre Wagner.

Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier’s stack was taken off life support after she pushed all-in for her last 8400 from the cut-off with Qh-9d, with the call coming from Indonesia’s Steve Djingga. He showed Qs-Js, Mercier took the lead with a nine on the flop but Djingga hit a jack on the turn.

Seated next to the masked man John Juanda, Lee “Final Table” Nelson lost half his stack to the Indonesian-born pro Juanda when the board missed his A-Q (2-4-6-10-7) against pocket jacks. Nelson is down to 16,000 and looking for help.

PokerStars Sponsored player Dan Schreiber, who final tabled at the APPT Seoul main event last year, has also left the tournament area when he failed to chase down pocket queens on a Kh-Jc-5s-9c-8h board.

The make-up might be missing, but ElkY was invoked the spirit of The Joker and taken his stack to more than 70,000 to keep the Team PokerStars Pro flag waving on day 2.

Play in level 11 has just commenced, with 99 players remaining. Already 109 players have been eliminated today in just over three hours, and we’re only 43 spots away from the money.

Watch APPT Macau 08: Selection of Interviews on PokerStars.tv

We’re sad to announce that Mark “Chuck” Ioli has been eliminated from the PokerStars.net APPT Macau main event. Yesterday, Ioli (our agreement not to use his name does not include today) ruined a perfectly good cap when the previous evening’s activities came back to haunt him – metaphorically and literally.

Ioli was back today, refreshed and ready to play, until he found himself in a pot with Western Australia’s Michael Pedley on a flop of 7d-Kh-8h. Pedley bet 3000, Ioli pushed all-in and Pedley called, showing Ah-10h for a flush draw while “Chucky” showed 10c-9c for a draw of his own.

The board eventually missed both players (4c on the turn, Ks on the river) giving Pedley the pot and sending Chucky back to the bar. Spewin’ for him. In hindsight, maybe he should have paid a visit to the Monkey Bar last night.

Right in front of our blogging station is table six, where Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem has now been joined by PokerStars Sponsored player and good mate Emad Tahtouh.

At the same table, Daisy Wain just doubled-up Charlie Chua when her pocket queens were overtaken by Chua’s two pair (aces and kings), but she quickly rebounded to eliminate PokerStars Sponsored player Terrence Chan.

Holding a pair and straight draw with 7c-8s on a flop of 10h-8d-9h, Wain showed Ad-Jd and filled her higher straight when the board ran out 9d Qs. Terrence “Not Johnny” Chan and Johnny “Not Terrence” Chan have both been eliminated in the opening 90 minutes of play today.

A good mate of the Australian contingent here at the Grand Waldo is Frank Bianco, a floor manager in the poker room at Crown Casino in Melbourne. He’s just rebounded to 22,000 after filling up on the river with 6s-7s against his opponent’s Ad-8c on a board of Ah-Jc-7d-6c-7c.

PokerStars Sponsored player Men “The Master” Nguyen recently claimed the scalp of Aussie battler Rodney Davidson and is up to 57,000 while Kofi Farkye is up to second chip position overall with more than 95,000. The rate of eliminations has barely subsided – 73 players have already been culled from the field today with less than two levels played.

Holding A-K, Chan hoped to double-up against an opponent with pocket Eights, and although an ace appeared on the river, this would be no Barry Greenstein moment, as his vanquisher turned an eight for an unbeatable set.

Nguyen on the other hand is travelling much better, and is sitting behind an above average stack of 39,500. With Chan now gone, “The Master” can now stretch out a bit and is hoping to increase his stack at the expense of those still learning their tournament craft.

Carnage: that’s the word that perfectly describes the opening minutes of level 8 on day 2 of the PokerStars.net APPT Macau main event.

On our first lap of the 21 tables in use at the start of today’s play, the all-in button was present on 16 of them as the short stacks made their move (or the big stacks had a tee time to make).

The main beneficiary of this madness was Team Poker Stars Pro Joe Hachem, who doubled through Daisy Wain on the first hand, then again through Barry O’Callaghan when Joe’s pocket aces stayed ahead of the Irishman’s A-J (despite a scary board of 7-7-7-4-9).

After gallantly carrying his short stack right through day 1A, Harry Demetriou spent barely 10 minutes in his seat before coming his stack with Jc-9c against Mansour Matloubi’s Ah-Kc on a flop of 9s-6c-Ac. Despite plenty of outs, the turn (3s) and river (4h) missed Demetriou and he was out.

Team PokerStars Pro Lee “Final Table” Nelson was another player to double-up in the opening level when his 7-9 improved to a straight on a board of 10-7-8-A-J against his opponent flopped two pair (J 10).

We also just watched overall chip leader Andre Wagner grow his chip stack above 150,000 after he flopped quad aces. When you’re hot, you’re hot!

PokerStars Sponsored player Emad Tahtouh also benefitted from the early shove-fest when he Alexander Jung made a stand with pocket 10s on a board of 6s-7c-6c, only to find Tahtouh with trips (Ah-6h). The Aussie is up to 70,000, and now has the short-stacked Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier seated two spots to his right.

The first level of day 2 has just concluded with the 208 players who took their seats already reduced to 161 – that’s one elimination every 90 seconds. The tournament will be over at 6pm if we continue at this rate!

Watch APPT Macau 08: Day 2 Introduction on PokerStars.tv

Remember Moneymaker’s 2003 WSOP Main Event victory, universally credited as having instigated the “poker boom”, was the first live tournament he ever played.

Moneymaker converted a paltry $39 investment in a PokerStars online satellite, into a $2.5 million payday, but today inside the Grand Waldo Casino, there are two PokerStars online qualifiers who have not paid a single cent to be sitting alongside some of the giants of poker, here in the APPT Macau Main Event.

Players who play online in real money games at PokerStars, earn Frequent Player Points (FPPs) in the site’s VIP Club program. These FPPs can then be traded for items in the PokerStars VIP Store, like poker books, clothing, poker accessories, electronic items, and tournament buy-ins. In this latter VIP reward category both Andras Kovacs, from Hungary, and Chris Battenfield, from the USA, used their FPPs to buy-in to and win APPT Macau satellites, winning all airfares, accommodation, spending money, and of course Main Event buy-in, at the APPT’s Macau tournament.

In an interesting coincidence, both players have been seated at the same table for the start of Day 2, and with the average stack currently 25,500 chips, both Kovacs, with 16,800, and Battenfield, with 24,500, are only a couple of double-ups from the leader, Andre Wagner, from Germany (109,000).

Talking to Kovacs, known as and217 on PokerStars, before the start of play, we learned he qualified for the APPT Macau in a 10,000 FPP buy-in single table Sit-n-Go (SNG), and has previously used FPPs to also qualify for a few other Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), European Poker Tour (EPT) and WSOP events. Battenfield, on the other hand has much less major live tournament experience, having previously only played in the WSOP Main Event in 2005 (via a PokerStars satellite) and mostly plays Pot Limit Omaha online at PokerStars, under the name johnniewalk. Battenfield qualified for the APPT Macau in a 10,000 FPP buy-in satellite; with a 180-player multi-table SNG structure.