APPT Macau

Saturday, September 6, 2008

APPT Macau: Sabat Wins!

The PokerStars APPT Season 2 Macau main event wrapped up today with an epic 12-hour final table that finally saw a champion crowned around 2 a.m. Chinese time.

And to no one's surprise, considering the sheer number of online qualifiers who made the trip to China, the title and $450,000+ first-place prize now belongs to a young man who qualified on PokerStars for around eight bucks.

Los Angeles, Calif. native Edward Sabat, 22, is a professional poker player, but wisely decided to use those skills to get himself a seat in the Macau main event for as little cash as he could. And he's sure glad he did now.

When things got going today, the first couple of levels of the final table were marred by tight play and the expected exits of short stacks So Myung Sim (ninth) and Javed Abrahams (eighth).

But it was also about that time that Sabat's smooth road to the title got a little bumpy.

Almost!

Despite holding the dominating K-Q over Mikael Rosen's K-J when he got him all-in, a jack spiked on the flop and Rosen doubled up. Then Sabat lost a monster pot when Diwei Huang rivered a straight against his top pair-dominating kicker.

Eventually, Sabat was forced to let his tournament life ride on an open-ender against Charles Chua's flopped two pair, but got there on the river to stay alive, and despite the extended time it took to win it all, he never really looked back after that.

Tai Chen's untimely exit was next, and had to be disappointing for him. He never found any traction today, and when he got short after becoming the second player to double Rosen, he fell under attack.

Sabat shoved on him from the small blind with two spades and he was forced to make the call with big slick in a hand that truly proved it was Eddie's day. Even though Chen flopped top two, it was Sabat who sent him packing seventh when he found a flush through the back door.

Although he survived for a while by playing the role of invisible man quite well, Macau's own Kuok Wai Will Cheong never really got things going today, and busted soon after Chen, in sixth, when his dominated king couldn't suck out against Sabat.

Aggressive Scandie? Surprise, surprise.

From the get-go Dane Jeppe Drivsholm was the most aggressive player at the table. Before long he had elbowed his way into the top spot.

Eventually he ran out of steam, though, and definitely ran out of luck. First his two overs couldn't beat Charles Chua's small pair and he doubled him up; then a small pair of his own was beaten by Sabat's overs to knock him out fifth.

With the previously mentioned doubles through Sabat and Chen in his back pocket, Rosen looked primed for a run at the title, especially when he managed to pick off Chua by open-shoving for $425k with just jack-nine off.

Unfortunately for the Swede, his big slick got cracked by the two unders when Chucky sucked out a straight on the turn. A few hands later he was sent home fourth and we were down to just three.

Start-of-day chip leader Diwei Huang had played solid if unspectacular poker to this point and sat in the lead when three-handed play began, but he made a brutal call in just the first hand three-handed to practically double Sabat up.

No revenge for Chucky.

The next thing he knew he had shipped another big chunk of change over to Chua and was sinking fast. Soon he got short and that's when the shoving started, only ending when he had run a weak ace into Sabat's big slick to bow out third.

Already 11 hours into the day, heads-up play began with Chua holding a slight lead over Sabat, but that quickly changed. Sabat drew first blood doubling through Chua when he got all-in with top pair and Chua called with just a gut-shot.

Chua doubled right back to get close to even when he got it in with bottom pair and a flush draw against Sabat's top pair and sucked out trips on the river.

But a few hands later he was done when his own top pair couldn't hold against a Sabat flush draw.

And so it was that young Edward Sabat was crowned champion of the biggest poker tournament in Asian history today. Not bad for a lousy eight bucks on Stars.

With its 538 entrants and $1.6 million prize pool behind us, PL.com says goodbye to a successful main event in Macau, but not to Macau itself.

A true high roller now.

Tomorrow we begin anew with the PokerStars APPT Season 2 Macau High Roller Event and its $19,200 buy-in that's sure to attract at least a few of the game's best and brightest.

Things get going at 1:30 p.m. local time Sunday and with very little sleep for the wicked, we will be there all day long providing the finest live updates in the business. You should check it out. We know you want to and we think that's just fine.