A new chapter in Australian poker history was written today when the first hand was dealt in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Queensland tournament, the final event in the fledgling tour's first season.

In addition to the 54 players who shared in the celebrations at Conrad Treasury Casino in Brisbane, a total of 62 players joined the field here at Conrad Jupiters at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

The list of entrants at Jupiters was headed by PokerStars.net Team Australia pros Emad Tahtouh and Eric Assadourian (both with one ANZPT cash for the season), ANZPT Sydney runner-up Lisa Walsh, ANZPT Queenstown second-place finisher Andrew Hinrichsen and 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event winner Stewart Scott. There were also PokerStars qualifiers from across Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the Netherlands.

Normally, we'd be talking about the chips being bagged at day's end, but here at Jupiters, the chip are counted, recorded and thrown back into the trays ... different strokes for different folks.

The list of chips counts revealed that Danny Joukhadar was the Jupiters and overall day 1A leader with 116,175. Interesting to note that Joukhadar was quick out of the stalls in the recent Melbourne Poker Championships Main Event, where he led after day one before eventually finishing 25th.

Joukhadar is also highly placed in the overall points competition (currently fifth) thanks to his cashes in Sydney and Melbourne and can still overtake second-placed Chris Levick with a strong showing.

There was a big gap back to John Parker (70,250) and Linda Tyler (70,100), while PokerStars Team Australia pro Emad Tahtouh (61,050) and 2009 Aussie Millions champion Stewart Scott (60,000) remain ominously placed just outside the top five. Scott was poised to take the chip lead into day two but lost a big pot late in the final level of the day.

Players eliminated at Jupiters on day 1A included veterans Milo Nadalin, Mike Ivin and Richard Holmes, PokerStars.net Team Australia pro Eric Assadourian, Matthew Konnecke (fourth in last year's APPT Auckland Main Event) plus top local players Jamie Pickering and Lisa Walsh.

Play resumes tomorrow at 12.30pm (1.30am GMT), with the second of the two day one flights. Good evening from Conrad Jupiters Hotel and Casino on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.

PokerStars.net ANZPT Queensland Day 1A chip counts from Jupiters Casino

Danny Joukhadar (Australia) 116,175
John Parker (Australia) 70,250
Linda Tyler (Australia) 70,100
Steven Waters (Australia) 67,375
Sean Cowell (Australia) 62,925
Emad Tahtouh (Australia) Team PokerStars Australia 61,050
Stewart Scott (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 60,000
Josef Switak (Australia) 59,875
Alex Rich (Australia) 51,425
Julian Cohen (Australia) 45,975
George Hess (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 42,375
Brendan Russell-Cooper (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 41,875
Roel Pijpers (Netherlands) PokerStars Player 41,450
Jevon Harvey (Australia) 37,900
Brad Wilson (Australia) 35225
John Apostolidic (Australia) 34,975
Alex Lees (Australia) 30,975
Darrold Sanderlin (United States) PokerStars Qualifier 27,100
Dino Zanchetta (Australia) 27,050
Omar Silajdzija (Australia) 26,650
Yvonne Grant (Australia) 26,600
Brenton Nichols (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 24,800
Greg Hill (Australia) 23,175
Amanda Simpson (Australia) 20,775
Michael Soranson (Australia) PokerStars Player 20,675
Speros Stramarcos (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 20,675
Phillip Willcocks (New Zealand) 18,700
Andrew Hinrichsen (Australia) 15,850
Christopher Mccovert (Australia) 15,800
Michael Driesenaar (Australia) 14,750
Craig Matthews (Australia) 12,175
Rodney Bohan (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 8425
Hugh Cohen (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 7875