Taiwan’s Justin Chu Among Final 50 Players Of WPT Australia Championship; ITM Reached

It was a brutal day for some of the most decorated players that returned to The Star Gold Coast for Day 2 of the AUD 8,000 buy in WPT Australia Championship Event. Notables were sent to the rail throughout the day, some earlier than expected including those that boasted the largest stacks. From a turnout of 396 entries, the field is now down to 50 players, each one is guaranteed a piece of the AUD 2,930,040 (~US$ 1,995,016) prize pool.

Day 1A: 189 entries / 65 players advanced
Day 1B: 207 entries / 84 players advanced
Day 2: 149 players / 50 advanced to ITM round

For the third consecutive year the World Poker Tour has brought its premier tournament to Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The doors opened on September 12, 2024 featuring 23 trophy events and will conclude on September 25, 2024.

Along with an exciting schedule, the iconic Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup made its grand entrance and continues to be on display as it awaits  the newest WPT champion whose victory will be forever immortalized on the trophy. That moment is drawing near with only three days of games remaining.

One of the players still in contention is Taiwan’s Justin Chu with a decent 400,000 (67 bb) in chips. According to the WPT live reports, Chu landed a big pot against Japan’s Kazuyuki Tanemura, pushing on the river.

Tanemura also survived the day’s onslaught with a healthier 599,000 (100 bb). The only other Asian to make it through was another Japanese player, Tatsuki Nakamura with 139,000 (23 bb).

Closing the heat with the biggest stacks in the seven-digit range were WSOP bracelet holder Malcolm Trayner and notable Gautam Dhingra. Also making the cut was last year’s 5th placer Romain Morvan, WPT Australia Prime Championship 3rd placer Travis Endersby, two time WSOP bracelet winner James Obst, WSOPP 3rd placer Daniel Neilson, and Asia circuit players Armon Van Wijk, Jennifer Cassell, and Dylan Foster. 

 Top 10 in chips

On the flipside, one of the first to bust in Day 2 was WPT Player of the Festival race leader Hamish Crawshaw – WPTDS Vietnam champion. WPT World Prime Championship winner and recently crowned EPT Barcelona Main Event champion Stephen Song also went bust. Song was part of a three-way clash with pocket Jacks falling to pocket Kings.

Other casualties of the day were entering chip leaders Campbell Ashton, Amin Riyazati, and decorated players / notables Sean Ragozzini, Bert Perry, Jarrod Thatcher, Gary Lin, Sosia Jiang, Andrew Moreno, Josh McCully, Martin Kozlov, and Ethan “Rampage” Yau whose pocket Aces were cracked by Si Hao Zhu’s flush.

The hardest to fall was New Zealand’s Thomas Ward on the bubble with his top two pair cracked by a Oleg Ivanchenko‘s straight on the turn.

The next stage is Day 3 which runs on September 23, 2024. The players are at ITM and are guaranteed  AUD $15,091 (~US $10,274). They will race until the final 16 has been established. You can track the action via the WPT Live Updates. On September 25, the final table will be livestreamed by Sharehand.