Piskopos Bursts the Bubble to Lead Final 27 Into the Money
The 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific continued on Monday as 250 players turned out for Event #4 AU$1,650 No-Limit Hold’em Terminator, a tournament that put a $500 bounty on everyone’s head. Additionally, a prize pool of AU$250,000 was created with AU$61,250 reserved for the winner.
The plan for the day was to play 10 one-hour levels, but toward the end of the night just 28 players remained, and with all but one of them slated to make the money, the decision was made to play an extra level in the hope of bursting the bubble. It took awhile, but eventually Nick Piskopos, who finished as the Day 1 chip leader, went runner-runner to eliminate 2013 WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess as the bubble boy.
Piskopos got most of his chips in Level 8 (200/400/50) when three players each put in 800 preflop and saw a flop of 
. From there, they each put in 2,675, the dealer burned and turned the 
, and [Removed:415] bet 10,000 from the big blind. The third player folded, and then Piskopos raised all in for roughly 50,000. Doria called off for 38,000 and the cards were turned up.
Piskopos: 
Doria: 
Piskopos decided to ride or die with his up-and-down straight draw, which he needed to his as Doria was sitting with top two pair. The dealer burned one last time and put out the 
on the river. Piskopos spiked his straight and Doria was sent to the rail.
Others who fell on Day 1 were reigning Aussie Millions champ Ami Barer; 13-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth; Australia’s own Jackie Glazier; 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen; birthday boy Winfred Yu; Big One for One Drop champ Antonio Esfandiari; reigning WSOP APAC champ Daniel Negreanu; and Luke Brabin, who was fresh off a bracelet win.
This past weekend, George Danzer passed Brandon Shack-Harris atop the 2014 World Series of Poker Player of the Year leaderboard, which is a race hotly contested between the two. Shack-Harris has exacted some revenge by eliminating Danzer for Event #4 and then going on to make the money, ensuring valuable POY points that will give him back the lead.
In what would be Danzer's final hand, which took place in Level 9 (300/600/75), the player on the button opened for 1,300 an Danzer three-bet to 3,400 from the small blind. Shack-Harris then four-bet to 8,200 from the big, the original raiser folded, and Danzer moved all in for 15,750. Shack-Harris called and it was off to the races.
Shack-Harris: 
Danzer: 
Danzer needed to improve, but that proved easier said than done as the board ran out a clean 
. With that, Danzer sent his $500 bounty chip to Shack-Harris, who went on to bag 21,400.
Others who made it through to Day 2 are David Bowen (119,100), Dylan Hortin (62,000), Daniel Neilson (48,000), Tony Hachem (41,900), Mike Watson (40,600), and Ismael Bojang (26,100).
The remaining 27 players will return to action at 12:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday to play down to the final table of nine. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there every step of the way to bring you all the action and eliminations from the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, so be sure to check back then.