The field for the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event has been confirmed at 218, and already 12 of those players have been sent to the rail after the opening two levels of play. The top 18 players will share a slice of the AUD $545,000 prizepool, with the winner set to take home AUD $158,050 and a bucket of points towards the ANZPT overall points competition.

But one player who won't be collecting any more points is ANZPT Sydney winner Paren Arzoomanian. His remaining chips went into the pot holding [jh] [js] against [8h] [5s] on a flop of [9d] [8s] [2c] but the [5d] on the river proved poisonous for Puzz.

Two players renowned for their ability to run deep into tournaments, Bruno Portaro and Leo Boxell, have also been shock departures in the early going.

Boxell, who was runner-up in the 2003 Aussie Millions Main Event, lost a significant pot when he folded pocket queens against pocket queens, then lost his remaining chips with pocket kings against the pocket aces of Jack Panagiotou.

Portaro's miserable afternoon ended when his A-K improved to two-pair only to find his opponent had made a straight, holding Q-J. Online wunderkind James AndyMcLEOD Obst is also out, after walking pocket queens into pocket kings.

Some big stacks to emerge in the early going include PokerStars qualifier Ben Delaney (41,000), James Broom (36,000), Jarrad Graham (34,000) and PokerStars.net Team Australia duo Tony Hachem and Emad Tahtouh (31,000 apiece). Players are back from their first break, with blinds up to level three (100/200).