Home / Poker News September 2010 / PokerStars APPT Auckland – Day 1A report
PokerStars APPT Auckland – Day 1A report
Posted by: James Carter. - Thu, 2010-09-16 11:36
Day 1A of the PokerStars’ APPT Auckland event saw a starting field of 89 players welcomed in the SkyCity Casino’s poker room by a traditional Haka performance.
Though kind of smallish by European and US standards, the starting field was by no means short on talent. Team
PokerStars was represented by a whole bunch of “name” players, like Victorino Torres and Aaron Benton. The local posse was out in force too, represented by Jackson Zheng and Kevin Clark.
Benton started out by doubling up early in the
poker tournament. He eventually lost steam though and he got hit by some bad luck as well: he lost two pots having his pocket pairs cracked by two outers. Those hands paved the way for his exit, which eventually happened just before the last break.
Ricky Kroesen had an excellent Day 1A. You may not have heard of this guy yet, but he is one of the hottest running tournament players Down Under at the moment. He confirmed his outstanding shape once again. He took down two massive pots which propelled him right into the top echelon of the leader-board. With Lady Luck firmly nestled by his side, he took his A,Jo to victory over an opponent’s Qh, 10h. He then proceeded to hit a boat against another guy’s flopped flush to top things off.
Torres had been doing well too in the beginning, but then he got his chips into the middle on two bluffs, which both got busted, sending him onto the brink of elimination.
Andrew Hinrichsen did things the other way around. He dropped a few massive pots early on to hang a huge question-mark over his ability to survive day 1A. Then he promptly bounced back, eventually finishing on a more than healthy stack.
The chip lead ended up in Noah Vogelman’s possession.
