Action folded to Daniel Negreanu on the button and he put in a min-raise to 50.
"Fifty bucks, I dare ya," Negreanu joked to the player in the small blind, who did indeed call. Ryan Riess then called from the big blind and three players saw a flop of .
Two checks put action on Negreanu, and he followed suit. "Friendly game," he explained.
When the appeared on the turn, the small blind led out for 50, Riess folded, and Negreanu made the call to see the complete the board on the river. Both players returned to checking, and the small blind revealed the for two pair.
"You needed a club? I needed a club," Negreanu proclaimed before showing down the for a better two pair. Negreanu is in a jovial mood, no doubt a result of getting a good night's sleep after missing out on Day 1a.
Currently leading the 2014 World Series of Poker Player of the Year race is Brandon Shack-Harris with 752 points. Trailing closely behind is George Danzer with 745.2 points. Daniel Negreanu, winner of last year's WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event and the reigning WSOP Player of the Year, sits fourth with 519.08 points.
All three players are here for Day 1b and the race is on, although Danzer got a bit of a head start because he was the only player to play Day 1a in this event and bagged up nearly 25,000 in chips that he'll be able to advance with. Shack-Harris missed Day 1a with travel delays, and Negreanu overslept after making the trip Down Under.
While these aren't the only players racing for the 2014 WSOP Player of the Year, they are the only ones from the top 10 that will be here in Melbourne, Australia, chasing the crown. That means the race is on, and it should be one that goes right down to the wire.
It was no straight double up on the very first hand like yesterday for Vanessa Rousso but she did have a good start into the second flight. This was however diminished in a battle button versus small blind.
Rousso led for 350 on a flop of and the opponent on the button called before both checked the on the turn. The river saw her checking and then mucking the cards once the player on the button made it 525 to go.
Last year Daniel Negreanu won the WSOP APAC Main Event on his way to winning the 2013 WSOP POY. Negreanu makes his 2014 WSOP APAC debut today after sleeping through Day 1a.
Today marks the second day of World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific action from Down Under. Yesterday, the festivities kicked off with Day 1a of the opening AU$1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Accumulator event. The first of three starting flights drew 197 entries and only 30 of them survived. Topping the pack after a massive day was two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Scott Clements with 76,575 in chips.
No other player bagged up half of that amount, and those rounding out the top five were Marko Piper (36,825), Zane Ly (36,400), Jamie Pickering (34,150), and last year's runner-up Jonathan Karamalikis (30,900).
Lots of players came and went on Day 1a, but with this unique event each of them will be able to try again here today on Day 1b — or Day 1c which takes place later on today. Of those who failed to "accumulate" enough chips to reach the bag-and-tag portion of last night were Phil Hellmuth, Mike Leah, Jonathan Duhamel, Russell Thomas, Mohsin Charania, Jackie Glazier, Vanessa Rousso, Ami Barer, and Ryan Riess.
One of the players that did bag up chips was George Danzer. He finished on 24,625 and currently sits in a very close second on the 2014 WSOP Player of the Year leader board with 745.2 points. The leader, Brandon Shack-Harris with 752 points, had some travel delays and didn't make it for Day 1a. Also surprising was that Daniel Negreanu didn't show up yesterday despite tweeting about his excitement an hour before play began. We expect both Shack-Harris and Negreanu to be in action today.
Day 1b will see the cards in the air at 12:10 p.m. local time at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. Just like yesterday, eight one-hour levels are on the schedule with 15 breaks after every two levels and no dinner break. Players begin with 3,000 in tournament chips.
Day 1c also begins today, and that will kick off at 6:10 p.m. local time. That means it's going to be a long day of poker, but when there's a big payday and a WSOP gold bracelet up for grabs, what could be better? Stay tuned and we'll see you back here for the start momentarily.