The first day of the PokerStars-sponsored ANZPT Main Event began at the SKYCITY casino in Adelaide today, with 104 players sitting down for the 12:15pm "shuffle up and deal" performed by Team PokerStars Pro and WSOP 2005 Champion Joe Hachem.

All 12 tables of the Adelaide casino poker room were in use with the players populating them paying either $3,000 AUD to play or winning there way here through various satellite options on PokerStars. The official count will be known tomorrow but already looks likely to be around the 200 mark.

It wasn't long before the inevitable happened - kings under-the-gun found aces in the big blind, and the tournament found it's first departure with Steve Tapakas the beneficiary, taking the early lead. He eventually survived the day, finishing on 32,000 chips, up on the starting stack of 20,000.

Of the Team PokerStars Pros and other sponsored players, Stewart Scott, the 2009 Aussie Millions champion, departed fairly early. Lee Nelson had Sydney-sider Garry Benson at his table, and these two skirmished often with Benson seeing off Nelson with an A-K broadside to top the Team Pro's A-T.

Joe Hachem slowly but surely built his stack up, finishing on about average with 43,700. PokerStars-sponsored Emad Tahtouh came with his game face on, finishing with 37,900.

Eric Assadourian, another PokerStars sponsored player, lasted to within minutes of the close, calling for all his chips with his A-8 when the board read A-3-5. His opponent, however, turned over A-Q and Eric was on his way to the rail.

That left 37 players to bag chips tonight. They get a day off tomorrow before they link up with the remnants of day 1b tomorrow, returning on Friday to play on.

The bulkiest bag of chips belonged to James Broom with 183,500. The evening had been punctuated by him swallowing up the stacks of players brave enough to take him on. Sure, fortunes often turn around on the second day of events like these but James will be coming back on Friday with a handsome buffer, assuming no one can match his progress tomorrow.

Following Broom is Derren Bullock on 125,000, and the very popular - his entourage on the rail numbered over a dozen - Robert Goodwin on 108,600. Two PokerStars players come next, Karl Krautschneider on 107,100 and Michael Guzzardi with 105,300.

Tomorrow should prove to be equally as calamitous for some and as successful for others.

You can catch up on all the overnight chip counts right here.

Until tomorrow.

Chris "The Barracuda" Newton