Peter Matusik Leads Final Nine
The last final table ever on the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour was set with nine players remaining in the ANZPT Melbourne Main Event. Those nine players will return to action on Tuesday to play for the title and the AU$261,200 top prize.
Leading the way was none other than Peter "Chewing Gum Pete" Matusik. He dominated the penultimate day of action, finishing up with 2.43 million in chips. His stack was well ahead of Lin Shi with 1.865 million and Manny Stavropoulos on 1.57 million.
Matusik has been a regular of the Asia-Pacific poker scene for several years, amassing a résumé which includes well over $230,000 in tournament results. His most accomplished result was taking down the 2011 ANZPT Gold Coast Main Event for AU$145,100.
Matusik will be looking to win his second ANZPT title this week, but will have to overcome a tough final table including players such as reigning Aussie Millions Main Event champion Manny Stavropoulos and 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event third-place finisher Mile Krstanoski.
Here is how the final table stacks up:
| Seat | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manny Stavropoulos | 1,570,000 |
| 2 | Kenn Langcake | 650,000 |
| 3 | Mile Krstanoski | 525,000 |
| 4 | Carl Knox | 860,000 |
| 5 | George Balandinos | 990,000 |
| 6 | Erich Stadler | 490,000 |
| 7 | Peter Matusik | 2,430,000 |
| 8 | Lin Shi | 1,865,000 |
| 9 | Nikolce Trajkovski | 800,000 |
There were 63 players to begin Day 3, and 54 of those were eliminated throughout the action. Of those players, it was perhaps Adam Monaghan who ended up the most disappointed when he was deemed the final table "bubble boy."
There were a steady stream of notable eliminations with Rory Young (60th), Liam O’Rourke (55th), Sam Rotar (47th), Aleks Brkovic (46th) Tien Pham (33rd), Jim Psaros (30th), Ben Savage (28th), Team PokerStars Pro Chen-An Lin (25th), Sam Higgs (23rd), [Removed:415] (22nd), Ivan Zalac (18th), and Charles Caris (14th) all falling throughout the day.
It didn’t take long for 10 to become nine, when Monaghan, a local player, found himself all in holding the 
against Kenn Langcake’s 
. Monaghan would flop a pair to take the lead, but an ace on the turn gave it straight back to Langcake. No help came on the river and Monaghan would have to settle for 10th place and AU$11,725 in prize money.
Each player at the final table has guaranteed himself at least AU$19,120, but they'll all be hoping to ride the pay waves up to a six-figure victory. Play kicks off at 12:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, so make sure you return PokerNews then to find out who wins.