Local face Paul "The Virus" Ravesi has finally arrived well into level three. He joins an already spirited table one that includes Sam Khouiss and Mike "Timex" McDonald. Ravesi sat down to examine what late fees he'd paid in blinds, but quickly noted that he seemed to be in a much better position than normal for this stage of the day.

Wandering around the room, two of the early chip leaders at this point are Chris Chronis and Tony Dunst.

Melbourne-based Chronis has been playing tournament poker at Crown casino for some years now, recording some credible high finishes in Aussie tournaments. As I walked passed his table a few moments ago he was raking in a pot over 20,000, taking his stack to more than 42,000.

Dunst, an adopted Aussie formerly of the United States, has final table finishes here and in the US, and has performed admirably in the WSOP main event in past years. Despite a table that also features Grant Levy and Sam Youssef Dunst has amassed a stack of more than 38,000.

Away from the tables Chris Chronis is a women's fashion designer and owner of a high profile fashion label named after himself. While Tony on the other hand comes to these shores mostly as a poker player and claims his interest in fashion was limited to the models he chased. Regardless, both can play poker at the top end of the game.