September is the start of many things, from the new school year to the National Football League. But of course there's also poker. The new season of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour has begun and our reporter at the scene Sean Callander has all the latest from the first day of play...

Play has wrapped on the opening day of the 2008 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour here at the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino in Macau, with 46 of the 125 starters able to cool their heels until Thursday.

APPT tournament director Danny McDonagh prepares to bag up the chips after the opening day of the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT

After seven one-hour levels, the chip leader was Germany’s Andre Wagner, who ran deep into the recent PokerStars.net LAPT event in Costa Rica. On the final hand of the evening, Wagner not only ascended the top of the leaderboard, he ended the tournament of 2008 WSOP Mixed Games World Champion Anthony Rivera.

Day 1A chip leader Andre Wagner of Germany

The money went in pre-flop with Wagner’s pocket 10s up against Rivera’s A-K. The board of 10c-8s-6h-Jd-6c only brought heartbreak for Rivera as Wagner improved his 10s to a set. He finished the day on approximately 105,000.

kofi Farkye, second in chips after day 1A

Close behind is US youngster Kofi Farkye. As a 19-year-old, he finished fifth in the 2007 WPT North American Poker Championship in Canada and could well add to that record should he continue the aggressive style that delivered him a stack of 85,000 at day’s end.

On a day that saw big names like Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein (one of the first players to be eliminated), PokerStars Sponsored players Eric Assadourian, Celina Lin and Grant Levy, plus Liz Lieu and Tony Dunst hit the rail, Harry Demetriou is one of the few recognisable faces still in the field.

After a torrid day where he rarely held more than his starting stack of 10,000, the UK pro doubled-up twice late in the evening to finish on 27,000. Three-time WSOP bracelet winner John Juanda finished not far behind Demetriou on 21,000.

Play starts at 1.30pm local time tomorrow and will again run over seven 60-minute levels, with the line-up highlighted by Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Rousso, Isabelle Mercier, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Chad Brown.

All photography © Joe Giron/IMPDI