Monday, Aug. 27, 2007

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Parise wins APPT in Manilla

Final-table chip leader Van Marcus.

By Henrik Nilsson-Dahlbom

We have a winner in PokerStars' Asia Pacific tour (APPT). After a dramatic final table Brett Parise, a 22-year-old California college student, has beaten a field of 255 players, winning the APPT main event.

All the well-known pros were already knocked out when play came down to the final nine. Most of the players at the final table were inexperienced; two had never played in a live tournament before. The most seasoned player was the chip leader Van Marcus, with a final table in Pot-Limit Omaha in this year's WSOP and two Aussie Millions final tables to his credit.

The chip counts when the final-table play began were as follows:

Player	Chips
1. Van Marcus	738,000
2. Roger Spets	413,000
3. Derick Hernande	287,000
4. Nicolas Bamman	240,000
5. Bas van Liere	207,000
6. Maor Feldinger	199,000
7. Ira Blumenthal	184,000
8. Brett Parise	173,000
9. Kazuhiro Sato	109,000

The first player to get knocked out, after a series of bad beats, was local favorite Derick Hernandez. In the final hand Hernandez's pocket aces were busted by Brett Parise who flopped a set with his pocket tens. Hernandez earned $11,386 for his ninth-place finish.

Kazuhiro Sato doubled up early after hitting an ace on the flop with his A9s against Hernandez's pocket queens. But he still busted out in eighth place. Sato called an all-in from Maor Feldinger with AT on a ten high flop. This proved to be a bad move. Feldinger showed JJ and Sato was left severely crippled when he failed to improve his hand. He was knocked out in the very next hand by Ira Blumenthal, a 45-year-old attorney, taking $14,981 for eighth place.

The next player to go was Bas van Liere. He went all-in with ATs against Feldinger's pocket kings. When an ace failed to appear, Liere was sent to the rail in seventh place ($20,974). The Swede Roger Spets came in sixth after moving all-in as a short stack with 66 against Ira Blumenthal's JJ, earning $26,966.

Feldinger's stack dwindled down and he went all-in with J9s. He failed to improve his hand and was knocked out by Nicholas Bamman who called with A7. Fifth place gave Feldinger $35,955.

The chip leader when final table play begun, Van Marcus, saw his stack steadily diminish. His tournament was over when he pushed all-in with A5 and was called by Parise holding AJ. A jack on the flop and another at the river ended the tournament in fourth place for Marcus ($44,944).

This was Parise's day. He called Nicholas Bamman when Bamman pushed all-in over the top of him. Parise was well behind with A7 against Bamman's pocket kings, but two sevens on the board sent Bamman packing. Bamman earned $62,921 for his fine third-place finish.

The heads-up match between Parise and Ira Blumenthal took nearly three hours. In the final hand the short-stacked Blumenthal went all-in pre-flop with J5s and was quickly called by Parise holding pocket tens. With the flop K-Q-9 Blumenthal picked up an inside straight draw, but with another K on the turn and a 9 on the river it was all over.

Parise won the APPT title along with $179,775. Blumenthal received $113,858 for his runner-up finish.

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