Reinkemeier Leads Day 1a of the 2014 WSOP APAC Main Event
The premiere event of the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific — the AU$10,000 Main Event — kicked off today at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. The first of two starting flights attracted 129 players, but after six 90-minute levels of play just 70 remained with Tobias Reinkemeier and his stack of 171,925 leading the way.
The German got some of his stack just before the dinner break when a preflop raising war resulted in Ashley Mason getting his stack of 11,000 all in holding the 
only to run into the 
of Reinkemeier. The board ran out clean, and Reinkemeier sent a tough competitor to the rail.
Others who made it through Day 1a with big stacks were Asa Smith (156,450), Ivan Zhou (153,200), Craig Blight (144,950), and Sean Winter (124,175).
Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through the Day 1a minefield. Jonathan Dimmig, who topped a field of 7,977 entries in this summer’s $1,500 Millionaire Maker to win $1.3 million, was one such player.
"It’s definitely changed my life for the future," Dimmig told PokerNews in an interview after that win. "I think it makes it a lot nicer for me options-wise to pick and choose what types of tournaments and cash games I want to play in. It’s not like I immediately jumped up into high stakes. I took some weeks off after the long grind of the summer, but I think I’ll be doing more traveling now and try to combine some vacations with good poker tournaments throughout the U.S. and maybe even the world eventually."
True to his word, Dimmig did do some traveling, specifically to Melbourne, Australia, for the 2014 WSOP Asia-Pacific. Unfortunately for him, his stay in the Main Event was short and not so sweet. His demise came in Level 2 (100/200) when he opened for 525 from middle position and 2012 WSOP Main Event runner-up Jesse Sylvia called from the button. The big blind came along, and the three players saw a flop of 
. The first player checked, Dimmig bet 700, and Sylvia raised to 2,050. The player in the big blind folded, Dimming shoved all in for 9,025, and Sylvia wasted little time in making the call.
Sylvia: 
Dimmig: 
Sylvia had flopped top two pair while Dimmig opted to ride or die with his flush draw. The 
turn and 
river both blanked for Dimmig, and he was sent to the rail while Sylvia went on to bag up a healthy 123,050.
Others who would join him in elimination throughout the day were Mohsin Charania, Jan Suchanek, Dan Shak, Mike Leah, Michael Kanaan, Daniel Neilson, and 2013 WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess, who fell in Level 5 when he played a big pot against recent WSOP bracelet winner Sam Higgs.
Riess' end happened when Higgs raised to 1,000 and got two callers before Riess made it 5,000 out of the big blind. Higgs, as well as the two other opponents, called and they went four ways to the 
flop. Riess checked, Higgs bet 12,000, got one call and one fold, then the former WSOP Main Event champion check-raised all in for just over 30,000 on top of Higgs' bet. Higgs moved all in to isolate, and the cold caller folded.
Higgs showed 
, and Riess was in trouble with 
. Both the 
on the turn and 
on the river failed to improve "Riess the Beast," and he was gone.
While many fell, plenty of notables punched their tickets to Day 2 including Jack Salter (102,300), Jackie Glazier (98,500), Higgs (80,750), David Gorr (58,150), Jonathan Little (56,150), Jeff Lisandro (48,875), and Phil Hellmuth (24,150).
Day 1b will kick off at 12:30 p.m. local time as an entire new slew of players take their shot at poker glory. Among those expected to play are defending champ Daniel Negreanu; current WSOP Player of the Year leader George Danzer, who won his third gold bracelet of 2014 earlier today by taking down Event #7: $5,000 8-Game Mixed for AU$84,600; former WSOP champs Greg Merson and Jonathan Duhamel; and Ismael Bojang, who has cashed in four of eight events thus far at the 2014 WSOP Asia-Pacific.