May 2009 Archives

So the World Series is underway, the biggest poker series in the world taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Outside the 100 degree heat of the desert turns people into card board, while inside the ferocious air conditioning puts frost in your veins. It's something every poker player should experience at least once.

But any thought of a trip to the City that never sleeps is crudely interrupted when reality reappears, the $10,000 buy-in being too steep for most of us. So the Vegas trip will have to wait another year. Or will it? PokerStars might just change that.

Poker is about competition and on PokerStars.net we know about poker. That's why we're giving you the chance to compete in the world's biggest and most famous poker tournament - the World Series main event - at the Rio Hotel and Casino, the same place Peter Eastgate won more than $9 million last November.

From now until June 21 we're giving away one seat to the World Series every week! It's free to enter and you can play every day. This is your chance to go to the big dance in the desert courtesy of PokerStars. Check out the details on PokerStars.

"There are people counting on me."

Brad Willis reports on another flash back to World Series's of yore...

I remember Barry Greenstein saying that to me a few years back. It was so antithetical to the well-established poker mindset, it was hard to fit in my head. If you ask most poker players to go out of their way during the most important month of the year to help someone else they might very well laugh you out onto Las Vegas Boulevard.

But that's what Greenstein was saying, and he meant it. He was busting his ass and playing in as many tournaments as he could during the WSOP because people had picked him in fantasy leagues. He knew people had money on him and the last thing he was going to do was get some rest--even if he'd been awake for several days and needed a nap.

It didn't always work out 100% the way it was supposed to. The human body can only take so much. One night in 2006, Greenstein called me to explain his absence in his tournament seat. Turned out, he'd taken a nap at a dinner break and his alarm hadn't gone off. Next thing he knew, his phone was ringing off the hook. He made it back down to the tournament in room to see his last chips blinded off. Greenstein signed his book for the man who won the pot and went off to play elsewhere.

That was an exception, though. The other 99% of the time, Greenstein was seated peacefully at the table. He may have been working on no sleep, but he was working better than most of his other opponents.

Of all the Team PokerStars Pros, Greenstein is among the top two or three most accessible. Despite being one of the world's biggest poker celebrities, he's been very kind to us. He lets us follow him around and is very patient with our endless questions. One of the best moments came in 2007 when Greenstein let us tag along as he played two tournaments at the very same time. As I wrote at the time...

Barry Greenstein is wearing a comfortable pair of rubber-soled black slip-ons. In a juking running back-style gait, it is 17 of his steps from Table 34 to Table 58. Like Ladanian Tomlinson, his eyes are never set short. He's looking 30 feet away at his next move...

Barry is on the move and wearing a seventeen-step path in the Amazon Room carpet.

Read the whole thing if you want a taste of what it's like to be Barry Greenstein for a day. And if you want to really feel it, remove sleep from your daily schedule and play two WSOP events at the very same time.

It is still one of the most fun moments I've had as a poker tournament reporter.

With the 40th World Series kicking off this week in Las Vegas it's a good time to look back on a few moments caught by members of the PokerStars blog team over the last few years, as Brad Willis reports...

There is a live version of the Eagles' Take It to the Limit that ends with the former bassist Randy Meisner hitting every high note with perfect pitch and then mellowing out to the crowd's cheers. As the instruments go silent, one of Meisner's bandmates pulls out his best John Wayne impersonation.

"Pretty good, Randy," he drawls.

***

The 2006 World Series was the last of its kind, really. There was something end-of-the-world-ish about it that only people who were there could truly understand. The power brokers on the right coast had been fooling around and within a few months the players and qualifiers would be wondering if they would ever see a big WSOP again. With the future in flux, the 2006 Series was one giant poker party that nobody wanted to miss for fear of it ending without them.

They were heady times to be sure. It was the first time we saw one of PokerStars' signature player suites. It's still one of the best I've ever seen. All day long, the top PokerStars players would mingle with the Team PokerStars Pros and whoever else managed to find their way inside. The latter made for one story we didn't tell at the time, but is fun to remember now.

That year, PokerStars had a beautiful Fender Telecaster sitting sitting at the back of the room. It was going to be up for raffle at some point, but for the moment, it was just there to covet. No matter how disinterested in music a visitor was, he had to step back and have a gander at the six strings of Fender sweetness.

One such person made his way into the room one afternoon and paid special attention to the guitar. I was in the Amazon Room when my phone rang.

"The guy from the Eagles is in here looking at the guitar," someone said.

"Which guy?"

It was Randy Meisner, the man who had provided the bass line for the Eagles all the way from 1971 to Hotel California.

I expressed my regrets, but couldn't go down to meet Mssr. Meisner. I had tournament coverage to look after. While I wasn't in the room at the time, Meisner's appearance started to draw crowds. The glad-handing began. The picture-taking commenced.

Now, it wasn't as if Hendrix or Jerry Garcia had risen from the dead and started working the PokerStars suite, but Meisner was a celebrity of sorts, or at least he had been. That was reason enough for people to crowd around and gawk.

If you've spent any time around the World Series, you know there are people with semi-famous faces who hang around and eventually get bought into the Main Event for promotional purposes. I'm not going to name any names, but you know who ends up on television. It was logical to think Meisner might have picked up the poker bug.

Then again, we really had no way of knowing, did we? To figure out if Randy Meisner cared a lick for poker, we would've had to have actually been in the presence of Randy Meisner.

***

In 1989, an Atlanta, GA man named Lewis Morgan started doing something no one had apparently ever thought to do.

Morgan traveled through California and Nevada impersonating Randy Meisner. Unlike the dealertainers at the Imperial Palace, Morgan apparently had no interest in playing the bass or singing at octaves high enough to make dogs whimper.

Nope. Morgan apparently was only looking for the perks of being Randy Meisner--parties, women, booze. The act worked for a very long time. The act worked until...well, until it didn't anymore. A cop got wise and Morgan ended up in the pokey for a bit. That whole story was chronicled in a San Francisco Weekly article titled "Fake It to the Limit" in 1998. One would've thought Morgan would've learned his lesson.

But this was 2006. This was Las Vegas. This was the biggest World Series of Poker in history. You couldn't fall out of your poker chair without landing in some massive party. How could Morgan/Meisner/Whoever miss that?

***

It would fantastic if I could tell you that the guy was, in fact, Randy Meisner, that we hung out, played some music, and drank beer in the PokerStars suite. That's not what happened.

Before long (and before anything disastrous happened), we figured out that the man taking pictures with his fans was not the old Eagle. To be fair, we have no idea who he was. It might have been Morgan. It might have been somebody else. Who knows?

Though the con man never convinced us he was the old Eagle, he had some success elsewhere. The Meisner impersonator did manage to party it up on other peoples' dime during his 2006 stay in Vegas. If the stories read correctly, he made off with some good booze, lobster, and party time before disappearing again.

Pretty good, Randy...or whoever you were.

The history of Aussie poker is intrinsically linked with Crown Casino. The nation's largest gaming property has been the backdrop for some of the pivotal moments in local poker folklore.

From the first Australasian Championships back in 1998 (played as a $1000 buy-in Limit Hold'em event) to the first Summer Championship in 2000 and the first Aussie Millions in 2003, Crown has been the undisputed home of poker in Australia for more than a decade.

The Crown calendar has been constantly refined and improved over the years, and casino management have always been quick to move with the times when a new idea is presented.

As such, it was hardly surprising that Crown hosted an event as part of the first season of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT), incorporating the tournament into its highly popular Melbourne Poker Championships schedule.

And what an event it proved to be - 218 of the region's best players including 61 PokerStars qualifiers, Team Australia pros and sponsored players. The tournament also served up arguably the most intriguing heads-up combination in Australian tournament history.

Chris Levick is one of Australia's most known poker businessman, having established a string of poker rooms and the highly successful Oz Poker Tour competition throughout NSW over the past three years. Levick has also been a big improver on the tournament scene, as shown by his two APPT cashes and top-15 finish at the recent ANZPT Sydney event.

His opponent was Heath Chick, a 30-year-old Tasmanian who is rightly regarded as one of Australia's most respected poker media writers and commentators via Poker Network, home to Australia's most popular poker forum.

It was an appropriate pairing, as both players had been among the biggest stacks in the field throughout the entire event. But Levick's dominance at the final table - he eliminated six players - meant he took a 5:1 chip lead into the heads-up duel.

But it wasn't meant to be easy. Chick twice doubled up to eradicate the deficit and when Levick pushed all-in on the third last hand, Chick agonised before throwing his hand into the muck.

The tournament was decided when Levick raised to 150k, Chick re-raised to 300,000, Levick pushed all-in and Chick snap-called with [qh] [qc]. Levick's [ah] [jh] needed help, and it duly arrived on a flop of [8c] [as] [3c]. The board ran out [3h] [6c] for Chris Levick to be confirmed ANZPT Melbourne champion for AUD $158,050. A gallant Heath Chick takes home AUD $103,550.

Earlier, the heads-up line-up was decided when Shillig pushed all-in for his remaining 265k holding [kd] [9c]. Again, it was Chris Levick waiting with the call, and his [qd] [td] hit the flop big-time -board runs out [qs] [qc] [5c] [jd] [2h] - to leave the Queenslander out in third, but AUD $59,950 to the better.

In addition to winning the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne trophy, Levick has snatched the ANZPT Overall Points lead from PokerStars.net Team Australia player Tony Hachem, who celebrated his third successive ANZPT cash in this event.

On behalf of Landon Blackhall, our photographer Shannon Morris and the entire ANZPT team, thanks for following all the action from Crown Casino in our hometown of Melbourne, Australia over the past three days.

We'd like to also take this opportunity to wish our Aussie and Kiwi players the best of luck at the 2009 WSOP. Just days after the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table is decided, we'll be in the stunning New Zealand alpine town of Queenstown from July 20-25 for the next event on the PokerStars.net ANZPT.

PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne final results

1st Chris Levick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier AUD $158,050
2nd Heath Chick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier AUD $103,550
3rd Greg Shillig (Australia) AUD $59,950
4th Peter Aristidou (Australia) AUD $49,050
5th Sam Khouiss (Australia) AUD $38,150
6th Jie Gao (Australia) AUD $27,250
7th Kristian Lunardi (Australia) AUD $21,800
8th Ben Savage (Australia) AUD $16,350
9th Rodney Burles (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier AUD $10,900
10th Peter Kotsiris (Australia) AUD $8175
11th Salvatore Fazzino (Australia) AUD $8175
12th Brent Thomas (Australia) AUD $8175
13th Trevor McCarthy (Australia) AUD $8175
14th Amanda Simpson (Australia) AUD $5450
15th Antonio Casale (Australia) AUD $5450
16th Tony Hachem (Australia) PokerStars.net Team Australia AUD $5450
17th Lance Patison (Australia) AUD $5450
18th David Zhao (Australia) AUD $5450

Level 22: 12,000/24,000 (ante 3000): Like a heavyweight title fight, there have been plenty of body shots and just one KO blow during the final level before the dinner break on the final table of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne at Crown.

Heath Chick made a significant move when he won a big pot from Greg Shillig. Chick raised to 46k, with Shillig making the call in the big blind before a flop of [6c] [js] [8d].

Both checked, the turn came [9c], Shillig bet 75K and Chick made the call. The river was [qs], Shillig check-called Chick's bet of 80k, but mucks when the man from Hobart turned over [as] [qh].

Shillig then made a contribution to Jie Gao's stack after the Melburnian shoved all-in on a flop of [9d] [kd] [7c]. The Queenslander went deep into the tank as Gao nervously paced the floor, before eventually folding.

Then as the hunger pangs started to set in, the gritty comeback of Kristian Lunardi ended when he pushed all-in pre-flop for 200k with [7h] [7c], with Shillig calling with [ad] [kc].

The board ran out [2h] [9s] [ah] [9h] [3c], making a better two-pair for Shillig to reverse the downward trend of his stack and eliminating the local youngster in seventh position for AUD $21,800.

As players consider their evening meal option ahead of what promises to be a long night, Chris Levick leads on 1.2 million from Shillig (790,000), Gao (760,000), Chick (750,000), Aristidou (370,000) and the short-stacked Sam Khouiss (120,000).

Level 21: 10,000/20,000 (ante 2000): Chris Levick seems firmly saddled on a horse called destiny after taking his stack back above one million thanks to two pivotal hands at the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne final table.

Shortly after the first break of the day, Levick found himself in a big hand with Sam Khouiss. With the board showing [ad] [8c] [9d] [5h], Levick bet 150k from the small blind, Khouiss tanked and eventually folded. Levick showed pocket nines for a set. "Only a set of nines? Nice hand, I only had an ace," Sammy quipped.

A few minutes later, Ben Savage bet 60k on a flop of [2h] [4h] [10s], Levick raised to 500k and Savage called to be all-in. He showed [ad] [10d] for top pair, but Levick's pocket jacks were ahead, where they stayed as the board ran out [8d] [6s], sending the 2006 Victorian Champs runner-up to the cashier's cage to collect AUD $16,350.

On the next hand, the revival of Kristian Lunardi continued when his shove with pocket eights was met with interest from Peter Aristidou (pocket fours). The snowmen held up, and Lunardi is back to 375,000, with Aristidou down to 395,000.

As we tick into the final stages of level 21, Levick leads on 1.5 million from Gao (725,000), Chick (455,000), Shillig (435,000), Lunardi (410,000), Khouiss (400,000) and Aristidou (335,000).

Level 20: 8000/16,000 (ante 2000): One Tasmanian may have tumbled, but the other Apple Islander is ensuring he has a big say in the outcome of today's PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne final table.

In the biggest hand of the day so far, Heath Chick raised to 28k in middle position, Ben Savage re-raised to 80k, Chick three-bet another 98k on top, Savage threw a whole heap of chocolate-coloured chips into the middle and Chick snap-shoved the rest of the stack.

Savage showed [10h] [10c], while Chick held [kd] [kc]. The flop came [ad] [ah] [9c] [5c] [9s], which propelled Chick to 780k while Savage is down to 465k.

Kristian Lunardi's stack has also headed south after he found himself in a world of pre-flop action with Peter Aristidou. Lunardi showed [ac] [kd] but Aristidou showed [as] [ah]. The board of [7s] [jc] [7d] [2s] [3s] brought no love for Lunardi as he tumbled to 65k while Aristidou climbed to 700,000.

Some of those chips now reside in the stack of Sam Khouiss. He limped from middle position, Jie Gao made it 40,000 with Aristidou and Khouiss making the call.

Aristidou bet 80,000 on the turn of [10s] after the flop of [5c] [8d] [3c] had been checked by the three players. Khouiss called, Gao mucked and both players checked the [2c] river.
Aristidou showed [5h] [6h] for middle pair but Khouiss' [qd] [10d] was good enough to take down a nice pot.

On the first break of the day, the approximate chip counts are Chris Levick 880,000, Jie Gao 865,000, Heath Chick 585,000, Sam Khouiss 530,000, Peter Aristidou 500,000, Greg Shillig 360,000 and Kristian Lunardi 170,000.

Level 19: 6000/12,000 (ante 1000): After losing the first hand of the final table to Ben Savage, Chris Levick quickly made amends by claiming the first scalp of the day in the chase for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne title. Nursing the short stack, Rodney Burles raised to 30,000, Levick popped it to 80,000, the action was folded back to Burles who pushed all-in.

Levick called and showed [qc] [qs], which were neatly placed against the Tasmanian's [10s] [10c]. The board ran out [qh] [2h] [js] [2c] [4c] to send Burles, playing in his first ever live tournament, out in ninth and Levick up to more than 1.1 million - the first player to break the seven-figure barrier.

The verbal sparring is also underway - in a recent hand, Aristidou called under-the-gun for 12k, Lunardi raised to 38k, Gao called from the small blind, then Savage picked up his big blind, added enough chips to call but decided against it, and returned his big blind to the table.

"What's the ruling? How can you do this, you pick up your chips and then fold?" Aristidou queried as he eventually raked in pot. "I just had to go with my gut," was all Savage could offer.

At the end of level 19, Gao (880,000) has edged ahead of Levick (875,000) with Savage also close behind on 840,000. Aristidou (385,000), Lunardi (375,000), Shillig (350,000), Chick (335,000) and Khouiss (315,000) are all separated by just 70,000 in chips.

Seat 1: Heath Chick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier (283,000 in chips): His role in the local poker media has meant this Tasmanian has had little time to ply his trade on the felt. But given this opportunity, the "Tassie Devil" has rarely been out of the top 10 stacks in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event, and the 30-year-old brings solid form to the final table after his cash in the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series Main Event back in March.

Seat 2: Rodney Burles (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier (168,000 in chips): It might be the smallest state in Australia, but Tasmania has two representatives at today's final table. He has a lot of work to do as the short stack, but is thrilled to have reached his first major final table. A union official, the 34-year-old qualified for the ANZPT Melbourne event on PokerStars.net. Burles says he feels "fantastic" after nursing a short stack through to the final table.

Seat 3: Sam Khouiss, Australia, (354,000 in chips): One of the Australia's most accomplished and successful poker players, the Sydney veteran's record includes eight final tables at the Aussie Millions and victory in the $1k NLHE event in 2006 plus successive Main Event cashes at the WSOP 2006 and 2007. The 47-year-old father of seven also won the 2001 Australasian Championship - the forerunner to the Aussie Millions. He looms as a real danger at today's final table

Seat 4: Chris Levick (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier (969,000 in chips): Best known for his role in the business of poker through the Sydney-based PokerDome Group and Oz Poker Tour, the 43-year-old father-of-two is starting to make a serious mark on the regional poker scene. He is one of only a handful of players to have cashed twice on the PokerStars.net APPT, and is coming off a 12th-place finish in the recent PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney event. He enters the final table as chip leader.

Seat 5: Jie Gao, Australia (517,000 in chips): A local Melburnian, Jie Gao has done his city proud so far, ending up at chip leader at the end of day one and continuing his stellar form on the felt, coming into today's final table third in chips on 517,000. The 48-year-old family man is softly spoken, but his style of play has been hard, fast and aggressive, earning him the respect of his tablemates.

Seat 6: Ben Savage, Australia (682,000 in chips): One of the many respected Crown players who've made their mark on home turf in recent years, this 37-year-old sales representative local was runner-up in the 2006 Victorian Championships Main Event (worth more than AUD 80,000) and has since compiled a respectable record including two Aussie Millions cashes. He is third in chips and well positioned for a charge at the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne title.

Seat 7: Greg Shillig, Australia (190,000 in chips): The lone Queenslander to come back into today's final table, the 48-year-old environmental health officer's biggest highlight of the tournament so far was flopping quad fours against an opponent's pocket jacks and doubling through. Shillig, who lives in Brisbane, bought into this event directly finished fourth in the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series Main Event.

Seat 8: Peter Aristidou, Australia (432,000 in chips): This 46-year-old Crown regular has amassed a tournament record up there with the very best local players in recent years. He was runner-up in the 2007-08 Crown Poker Player of the Year, and seven of his last 10 tournament cashes have been final table finishes. A true gentleman off the table, he is a fierce competitor and desperate to break through for his first major title.

Seat 9: Kristian Lunardi, Australia (713,000 in chips): An experienced player despite being the youngest player at the final table at age 22, this university student from Melbourne was responsible for the scalp of 2007 APPT Sydney Grand Final champion Grant Levy and has already had a lot of success playing online, especially in the cash-game sphere. He returns today in second chip position and well placed for a run at his first major title.

The office crowd may be kicking back for a leisurely lunch - you know, sushi rolls, a couple of soy decaf lattes - but it's peak-hour in the Crown poker room in the half-hour before the start of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne final table.

A handful of the contenders are already pacing the tournament floor, slowly gathering their thoughts before the final race to the AUD $158,050 first prize.

It might be early afternoon, but the room is almost filled to capacity thanks to the $550 six-handed event being played as part of Crown's annual Melbourne Poker Championships.

But our focus today will be the third event of the first ANZPT season. Having already secured back-to-back ANZPT cashes, Sydney's PokerStars qualifier Chris Levick leads the final nine players.

It looms as a real test of youth versus experience with the old guard represented by Sam Khouiss and Peter Aristidou up against young guns like Heath Chick and Kristian Lunardi.
Throw in the composed Jie Gao, who's been among the chip leaders almost from the starting hand, PokerStars qualifier Rodney Burles and Greg Shillig, coming off an impressive fourth in the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series Main Event. The structure for today's play is:

Level 19: 6000/12,000 (ante 1000)
Level 20: 8000/16,000 (ante 2000)
Level 21: 10,000/20,000 (ante 2000)
Level 22: 12,000/24,000 (ante 3000)
Level 23: 15,000/30,000 (ante 3000)
Level 24: 20,000/40,000 (ante 4000)
Level 25: 30,000/60,000 (ante 5000)
Level 26: 40,000/80,000 (ante 5000)
Level 27: 50,000/100,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 28: 60,000/120,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 29: 80,000/160,000 (ante 20,000)
Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (ante 30,000)

Final table

Seat 1: Heath Chick (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier 283,000
Seat 2: Rodney Burles (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier 168,000
Seat 3: Sam Khouiss (Australia) 354,000
Seat 4: Chris Levick (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier 969,000
Seat 5: Jie Gao (Australia) 517,000
Seat 6: Ben Savage (Australia) 682,000
Seat 7: Greg Shillig (Australia) 190,000
Seat 8: Peter Aristidou (Australia) 432,000
Seat 9: Kristian Lunardi (Australia) 713,000

What we thought might be a short and sharp sprint to the final table turned into a marathon battle of wit and will before the final table was decided for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne tournament.

More than 13 hours after the first hand was dealt to the 69 players who started day two, the nine players who will contest today's final table were decided, led by PokerStars qualifier Chris Levick from Sydney.

Day two ended in dramatic fashion when Ben Savage bet 45,000 and Peter Kotsiris pushed in his last chips, with Rodney Burles also making the call. The board of [3h] [8d] [ks] [3d] [9d] was checked all the way until Savage bet 45,000. Burles mucked, Kotsiris showed pocket 10s but Savage revealed [3c] [3s] for quads!

Earlier, Tony Hachem has set a record that may take some beating after celebrating his third cash in as many PokerStars.net ANZPT events. The PokerStars.net Team Australia player added 16th-place in Melbourne to his 13th in Adelaide and 17th in Sydney.

The end came for the younger brother of Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem when he pushed in his remaining 90,000, with Greg Shillig making the call. Hachem showed [8c] [8d] but could only grin when Shillig showed [ac] [as], The board fell [6c] [qh] [9s] [2h] [2d] and Hachem was headed for the Las Vegas Bar here in the Crown poker room.

Shortly after, 2008 Aussie Millions sixth-place finisher Antonio Casale bowed out in 15th when his chips went in on a board showing [6h] [qs] [6d] [5d].

Chris Levick showed [kd] [qh] for two-pair, while Casale's [ah] [kh] needed help. The [10d] on the river sent him to the cage but continued an impressive run for the veteran in his home poker room over the past 18 months.

The gallant run of Amanda Simpson ended in 14th when she ended up in a three-way pot with Jie Gao and Salvatore Fazzino. Gao's bet of 35,000 on the flop of [10d] [8d] [3d] was enough to push Fazzino aside, leaving Simpson's [jd] [qs] up against Gao's [10d] [jc]. The board ran out [4s] [5c], and the final female player in the field was out.

"Irish" Trevor McCarthy lost a race with pocket threes against Lunardi's [qc] [jc] to send him to the rail in 13th as Lunardi stormed to a big chip lead.

The run of former chip leader Brent Thomas ended in 12th when his [kc] [9h] made two-pair on a board of [qs] [9s] [5s] [kh] only to find Chris Levick with [js] [6s] and a made flush.

Salvatore Fazzino's short stack then came under attack - his [ks] [10s] was in a world of hurt against the [ah] [qh] of Ben Savage and Jie Gao's [as] [4s] on a board of [9c] [ad] [6s] [7c] [2h] as he exited in 11th.

The final table is scheduled to start at 2pm local time (3am GMT) and will comprise:

Seat 1: Heath Chick (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier 283,000
Seat 2: Rodney Burles (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier 168,000
Seat 3: Sam Khouiss (Australia) 354,000
Seat 4: Chris Levick (Australia) Pokerstars Qualifier 969,000
Seat 5: Jie Gao (Australia) 517,000
Seat 6: Ben Savage (Australia) 682,000
Seat 7: Greg Shillig (Australia) 190,000
Seat 8: Peter Aristidou (Australia) 432,000
Seat 9: Kristian Lunardi (Australia) 713,000

We're in the money at Crown where John Joannou has earned the unwanted title of bubble boy in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event.

The last of his dwindling stack went in with [ad] [8s], Jie Gao slammed over the top all-in with [as] [qs]. Sam Khouiss thought before folding his [ah] [kh], which would have taken the lot on a board of [6h] [jc] [3d] [10s] [5h].

Earlier, PokerStars qualifier Daniel Laidlaw ran his [ks] [qs] into the [ac] [kc] of Chris Levick, with the Sydneysider's hand holding up as the board showed [jc] [7s] [4d] [7c] [ad].

David Zhao made it back-to-back ANZPT cashes when he was KOed in 18th. With the blinds at 4000/8000 with a 500 ante, Salvatore Fazzino raised in early position to 24,000.

Rodney Burles then made it 65,000 to go and Zhao moved all-in over the top from the big blind. Fazzino got out of the way as Burles made the call and revealed pocket jacks. Zhao silently stood and turned over his pocket nines. The flop came down [qh] [qc][jc] - the [6h] appeared on the turn, signalling Zhao's move to the cage to collect AUD $5450.

Just as the players were leaving to stretch their legs, we lost another player in Lance Pattison as his pocket queens ran into Kristian Lunardi's pocket aces. The rockets held, sending Patison packing.

Lunardi has regained the chip lead on 680,000 ahead of Brent Thomas (600,000), Jie Gao (420,000), PokerStars qualifier Rodney Burles (400,000) and Sam Khouiss (320,000).

Having devoured our body weight in risotto, we're back for what promises to be a dramatic evening session on day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event. After an extremely tense level 15 in which only two players were eliminated, the moves are now coming thick and fast with the blinds now at 3000/6000 with a 500 ante.

Having had his stack slashed by Heath Chick just before the dinner break, New Zealander Robert Wang committed his remaining chips with [2s] [3d] on a flop of [6s] [3c] [4d], with David Zhao making the call after a long deliberation .

It proved an astute play, as he found his [6c] [9c] marginally ahead, where it stayed as the board ran out [ah] [7h]. That left Zhao well placed to make successive ANZPT final tables with more than 300,000 in chips.

Next to go was Ben Barclay, who ran [ac] [ks] into the [8s] [8d] of Jie Gao, only to watch his pair of aces overtaken on the river as the board fell [10d] [jd] [6d] [as [7d]. It was another impressive showing from Barclay, who cashed 14th in the ANZPT Sydney main event.

Matthew Konnecke is still pacing through the tournament area, replaying the circumstances of his stunning elimination. The 2008 APPT Auckland runner-up hit a dream flop of [jh] [jc] [6h] holding [js] [6s] against the [ad] [ah] of "Irish" Trevor McCarthy. The turn was harmless [3h], but [ac] on the river set both players screaming - McCarthy in ecstasy, Konnecke in agony. Tough beat fella.

The points bubble burst when Marc Des Anges was KOed in 23rd. His [ah] [6c] was narrowly pipped by the [ad] [8h] of Kristian Lunardi as the board ran out [qc] [2h] [ac] [qd] [7h].

Speaking of points, the man atop the ANZPT leaderboard Tony Hachem is set for another big haul after he doubled through John Joannou to break through the 150,000-chip mark for the first time today. Ticking down to the end of level 16 just four spots short of the money, four players hold more than 300,000 in chips - Brent Thomas, Heath Chick, Jie Gao and David Zhao.

By Landon Blackhall

The inaugural season of the PokerStars.net ANZPT has already produced some fantastic stories - Karl Krautschneider's first major tournament victory from out of the shadows of the poker giants who shared the final table; and Paren Arzoomanian's triumph in Sydney in the wake of his cancer battle.

Could the ANZPT Melbourne event produce another rags-to-riches story? Amanda Simpson could be just that Cinderella as she continues her charge to the final table.
Already assured the title as the highest placed female player in this event, Simpson was born and bred in the spiritual home of poker, Texas.

She arrived in Australia nine years ago with her partner, and after watching her man from the rail playing cash games and tournament poker, she was inspired to take up the game herself.

"I started playing free games with my church group every Sunday after Mass," Simpson said. "I've also played a lot of small buy-in tournaments here along with my partner. I only decided to enter this tournament for fun!"

She may still be learning the ropes when it comes to the finer points of tournament poker, but her rivals are taking her very seriously as she continues to take down pot after pot, always having the best hand and taking advantage of the opponents who dare doubt her ability. As a result, Simpson's stack of 320,000 towers over those of her rivals on table 32.

At the other end of the scale, Tony Hachem's stack is on life support but he just received a slice of divine intervention to keep his hopes of a third successive ANZPT cash alive.

The overall points leader called Jarrad Graham's all-in and found himself in good shape with [ad] [kh] against the South Australian's [ad] [kh]. But Hachem reeled when the flop came [6d] [6c] [kc], and the turn [3c] also brought no joy. Sure enough, Hachem hit a two-outer [6c] to propel his stack above 65,000 and a shell-shocked Graham to the rail.

As we tick down to the dinner break, it's Amanda Simpson leading from Sam Khouiss (285,000), Brent Thomas (250,000), 2008 Western Classic winner Marc Des Anges (235,000) and David Zhao (225,000). There are 27 players remaining, nine short of the money.

Much is made of the rivalry between Australia's biggest cities Melbourne and Sydney. Nowhere more is the difference between the cities reflected than in Australia's two most popular soap operas.

Home and Away is archetypically Sydney - set in the idyllic Summer Bay where the sun shines everyday, the waves are always perfect and the never-ending death toll barely raises an eyebrow.

But ask any backpacker worth their salt, and the king of soaps resides in Melbourne. Neighbours is one of the most successful shows in Australian TV history, appearing in 50 countries and watched by an estimated 100 million viewers around the world each day.

Scores of tours run daily from the city to Ramsay Street, Erinsborough AKA Pinoak Court, Vermont South - in the heart of Melbourne middle suburbia.

While car crashes, natural diasters and serial killers wipe out the cast of Home and Away at a greater rate than the Ebola virus, the most pressing issue you're likely to find in Ramsay Street is whether the evening roast has been overcooked, or if a brown belt is appropriate with black shoes.

The show has been a launching pad for several actors to cross over into film and music careers including Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, Guy Pierce, Natalie Imbruglia, Daniel MacPherson, Holly Valance and Delta Goodrem. Now you know who to blame.

• Meanwhile, our very own version of Harold Bishop, ANZPT commissioner Danny McDonagh, has just informed us that the race for the ANZPT Overall Points Championship is really heating up.

The top three players at the end of the season will win a share of an estimated AUD $100,000 sponsorship package from PokerStars.net, with the winner being given the chance to play all season four PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour events and the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event.

"We've created a unique points structure that is based on the number of players in the tournament and not weighted by the amount of the buy-in so as to encourage as many people as we can," McDonagh said.

"All players receive 10 participation points by simply entering any ANZPT event and the payout structures are also on fixed percentages based on the number of entries. From there, either the top 18 players or 10 per cent of the field (whichever is the greater and to a maximum of 45) are awarded bonus points.

"We believe that the added bonus of becoming a PokerStars.net sponsored player is really drawing the players in. Plus we're seeing many more playing multiple events as everyone starts to realise just how much more they're playing for.

"For all our players the inaugural season of the ANZPT is an education process, but to have the bragging rights of being the first ANZPT champion would be fantastic for anybody!" Check out www.anzpt.com for more details.

We're getting down to the business end of things here at Crown Casino with only 33 players in contention of the 218 who started the chase for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne title. In the last level, we saw Andy Meldrum, Michael Guzzardi, Sam Youssef, John Apostolidis, Mario Doria, Jimmy Siu, Rodger Heath and Grant Harris join the list of eliminations for the day.

Siu's stack was decimated when Nikolaos Haidaris made a gutsy all-in call at showdown with the board showing [10c] [2h] [8s] [7c] [7h]. Haidaris held [ad] [10d] to just nose Siu's [kh] [10h], and he departed soon after.

Former chip leader Kristian Lunardi is in freefall after losing two big pots - first when Sam Khouiss hit a set of queens on the river against his kings, then David Zhao flopped a wheel to leave Lunardi with barely 100,000. Queens were again the weapon of choice for Khouiss when he KOed Tino Lechich, who held A-J.

Those hands left Khouiss, a controversial omission from the first intake of players into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame, in outright second chip position behind Brent Thomas and ahead of ANZPT Sydney ninth-place finisher David Zhao, Ben Barclay and Peter Aristidou.

PokerStars freeroll qualifier Jack Stewart is also hanging tough, having just KOed fellow PokerStars qualifier Andrew Hinrichsen when he flopped a set of sevens.

Our last remaining PokerStars.net Team Australia man Tony Hachem is still in contention for a third successive ANZPT but holds one of the smaller stacks in the room.

Players are taking their second break for the day and when they return, blinds will be up to 1500/3000 with an ante 500 (level 14) with just 15 spots remaining until the bubble bursts.

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander

The PokerStars.net Team Australia challenge is down to one after the elimination of 2007 APPT Grand Final winner Grant Levy from the ANZPT Melbourne field. Levy's [4s] [4h] was counterfeited when Tino Lechich's [as] [js] played on a board of [qd] [5d] [9c] [qh] [9s] to send the popular Sydneysider to the rail.

We've also lost ANZPT Adelaide champion Karl Krautschneider after he committed his remaining chips with [3h] [3c], only to find Brent Thomas waiting with [7h] [7c]. The board ran out [2c] [8c] [9h] [4d] [kh] to leave Thomas above 140,000 in chips and Krautschneider with a free afternoon.

Meanwhile on table 29 fellow Aussie Johnny Huynh found his money in the middle against Kristian Lunardi. It was the ultimate showdown of the two big stacks, both with premium hands.

Huynh turned over pocket kings, only to cringe as Lunardi as he rolled up [as] [ac]. The board bricked out and after the stacks were cut down, Huynh was sent home, leaving Lunardi to rake in 270,000 in chips, good enough for the chip lead.

Another man on the move is Sydney's Chris Levick. Fresh from his 13th-place in the ANZPT Sydney Main Event, Levick used [ah] [ad] against the [10h] [10d] on a board of [2s] [2d] [4s] [kc] [kh] to end the tournament of Raj Ramakrishnan.

Other departures in the first two levels today have been Jim Sachinidis, Jimmy Siu, Darko Balaban, Julius Colman, Sam Higgs, Ray Sukkar, Dennis Huntly, Joel Dodds and Michael Pinzone.

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander

We're used to hearing crap from poker players, but the smell from a burst sewerage pipe that is wafting through the Crown poker room is adding a whole new challenge for the remaining 52 players in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event. But our sole international player is bravely forging ahead amid the odourous assault.

We started the day with two PokerStars qualifiers from abroad. Tzahi Degampur, hailing from Israel, found himself all-in early holding [as] [kc] against Aaron Tran's pocket sevens. The board ran out [jh] [2s] [8s] [2d] [3d], sending Degampur back to his hotel room to pack for an early flight home.

Nearby on table 32, our other visitor, Hein Kristiansen, is faring much better after returning to the tournament today with 92,100 in chips. Kristiansen has had plenty of online experience - not difficult when you're working in information technology.

"I made my way through to this event playing a 500 FPP rebuy event," he said. "The action is always good here at Crown; I've been here four times but this is one of the best tournaments I've played so far."

The 39-year-old Thailand-based Norwegian has taken a sabbatical from his IT career to focus on poker and hopes to play in more ANZPT events.

On the other side of the poker room, another one of our Australian qualifiers continues his charge. Melbourne's own Mark DeMartino is a 39-year-old financier who qualified via PokerStars.net. He has plenty of online miles under his belt, but the ANZPT Melbourne Feature Event is only his first live poker tournament.

"It's interesting but refreshing to watch how different the strategy is between playing live and online," DeMartino said. "But I'm having a great time and I've been meeting a lot of great people, so I'm definitely looking to play more events on the circuit - I've heard great things about Queenstown!"

In the latter stages of level 11, Kristian Lunardi is the new chip leader on 260,000 ahead of Jie Gao (230,000), John Joannou (150,000), Heath Chick (145,000) and Chris Kittos (135,000). Blinds will soon be up to level 12 (1000/2000 with an ante of 300).

Players are beginning to file into the Crown poker room for the start of day two in the battle for the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne title.

Sparked by a latte or two and hearty breakfast at one of the many riverside restaurants here at Crown, the 69 remaining players (including 21 PokerStars qualifiers, pros and players) will be shooting for a spot in the top-18 money positions, and ultimately, the AUD $158,050 first prize.

Crown director of poker operations Jonno Pittock has just asked players to take their seats. We expect to play down to the final table of nine today, with the structure as follows:

Level 10: 600/1200 (ante 200)
Level 11: 800/1600 (ante 200)
Level 12: 1000/2000 (ante 300)
Level 13: 1200/2400 (ante 400)
Level 14: 1500/3000 (ante 500)
Level 15: 2000/4000 (ante 500)
Level 16: 3000/6000 (ante 500)
Level 17: 4000/8000 (ante 500)
Level 18: 5000/10,000 (ante 1000)

Top 10 chip count

Jie Gao (Australia) 257,400
Heath Chick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 214,100
Chris Kittos (Australia) 146,000
Tino Lechich (Australia) 119,500
John Apostolidis (Australia) 113,000
Salvatore Fazzino (Australia) 109,900
Trevor McCarthy (Australia) 109,100
Johnny Huynh (Australia) 105,100
Jarrod Graham (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 103,300
Brent Thomas (Australia) 99,800

Day 2 table draw

Table 25

Seat 1: Mark Martino (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 30,300
Seat 2: Ben Barclay (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 81,700
Seat 3: Kris Nedanovski (Australia) 87,100
Seat 4: Dennis Huntly (Australia) 24,400
Seat 5: Jack Stevens (Australia) PokerStars Freeroll Qualifier 48,100
Seat 6: Miles Bellman (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 67,400
Seat 7: Gregory Shillig (Australia) 21,700
Seat 8: Heath Chick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 214,100

Table 26

Seat 1: Adam Kane (Australia) 13,800
Seat 2: Brendan Mitchell (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 21,600
Seat 3: Darko Balaban (Australia) 25,500
Seat 4: Mounib Youssef (Australia) 87,500
Seat 5: Jim Sachinidis (Australia) 29,300
Seat 6: Xin Zhao (Australia) 95,900
Seat 7: Matthew Konnecke (Australia) 83,300
Seat 8: Dean Nyberg (Australia) PokerStars Player 38,100

Table 27

Seat 1: Rajkumar Ramakrishnan (Australia) 31,800
Seat 2: Tony Hachem (Australia) Team PokerStars Pro (Australia) 71,600
Seat 3: Mario Doria (Australia) 46,000
Seat 4: Julius Colman (Australia) 15,300
Seat 5: Chris Levick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 51,900
Seat 6: Antonio Casale (Australia) 54,400
Seat 7: Emanuel Seal (Australia) 56,200
Seat 8: Trevor McCarthy (Australia) 109,100

Table 28

Seat 1: Peter Skouteris (Australia) 30,000
Seat 2: Grant Harris (Australia) 48,100
Seat 3: Chris Kittos (Australia) 146,000
Seat 4: Daniel Laidlaw (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 40,500
Seat 5:Robert Wang (NZ) PokerStars Sponsored Player 32,300
Seat 6: Anthony Lavalle (Australia) 51,400
Seat 7: Ismail Sahin (Australia) 33,900
Seat 8: Petros Aristidou (Australia) 89,700
Seat 9: Simon Taberham (UK) PokerStars Player 33,500

Table 29

Seat 1: Samuel Higgs (Australia) 1200
Seat 2: Con Angelakis (Australia) 57,300
Seat 3: Rodger Heath (Australia) 47,000
Seat 4: Grant Levy (Australia) Team PokerStars Pro (Australia) 46,400
Seat 5: Kristian Lunardi (Australia) 84,500
Seat 6: Samir Khoueis (Australia) 66,900
Seat 7: Johnny Huynh (Australia) 105,100
Seat 8: Tino Lechich (Australia) 119,500
Seat 9: Rodney Burles (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 51,100

Table 30

Seat 1: John Apostolidis (Australia) 113,000
Seat 2: Michael Pinzone (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 72,400
Seat 3: Karl Krautschneider (Australia) 94,000
Seat 4: Peter O'Mara (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 34,600
Seat 5: Brent Thomas (Australia) 99,800
Seat 6: Ray Sukkar (Australia) 34,700
Seat 7: Jie Gao (Australia) 257,400
Seat 8: Joel Dodds (Australia) 14,400
Seat 9: John Joannou (Australia) 76,700

Table 31

Seat 1: Danny Joukhadar (Australia) 59,000
Seat 2: Aaron Tran (Australia) 72,600
Seat 3: Marc Desanges (Australia) 54,400
Seat 4: Salvatore Fazzino (Australia) 109,900
Seat 5: Jarrod Graham (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 103,300
Seat 6: Tzahi Degampur (Israel) PokerStars Qualifier 42,100
Seat 7: Andrew Meldrum (Australia) 34,000
Seat 8: Nikolaos Haidaris (Australia) 76,300
Seat 9: Lance Patison (Australia) 39,600

Table 32

Seat 1: David Penny (Australia) 30,100
Seat 2: Jimmy Siu (Australia) 34,100
Seat 3: Greg Manning (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 57,500
Seat 4: Peter Kotsiris (Australia) 23,500
Seat 5: Hein Kristiansen (UK) PokerStars Qualifier 92,100
Seat 6: Ben Savage (Australia) 55,400
Seat 7: Amanda Simpson (Australia) 65,400
Seat 8: Michael Guzzardi (Australia) 28,600
Seat 9: Andrew Hinrichsen (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 97,200

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander

It was a day of firsts at Crown - the first time a PokerStars.net tour event was played in Melbourne; a rare Monday tournament start and a player came from the clouds to snatch the chip lead in the final two hands.

The chips have been bagged after the opening day in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event at Crown Casino, with 69 of the 218 starters set to return for tomorrow's race to the money. The field will be battling for a share of the AUD $545,000 prizepool, and the AUD $158,050 first prize.

Jie Gao took down two massive pots at the death - first, eliminating James Broom, then KOing another two opponents on the final hand of the day to bolt to more than 250,000.

Second in the chip count at day's end was well-known poker reporter Heath Chick, who would have been covering this very tournament until he won a seat on PokerStars.

Clearly, watching scores of poker tournaments has paid dividends for the "Tassie Devil" as he dominated play to finish with the one of only two stacks above the 200,000-mark. His strategy for tomorrow? "I'll value fold all the way!"

Other prominent stacks were in the possession of Chris Kittos (146,000), vastly experienced Aussie pro Tino Lechich (119,500), Salvatore Fazzino (109,900), APPT Grand Final High Roller champ Jarred Graham (103,300), UK PokerStars qualifier Hein Kristiansen (100,000) and ANZPT Sydney ninth-place finisher David Zhao (95,900).

But they'll be keeping an eye over their shoulders tomorrow with players the likes of Peter Aristidou, Sam Khouiss, ANZPT Adelaide winner Karl Krautschneider, Chris Levick, PokerStars.net Team Australia man Grant Levy and 2009 Aussie Millions fourth-place finisher Raj Ramakrishnan still in contention.

Special mention to PokerStars.net Team Australia's Tony Hachem, who again impressed to finish on 73,000. Hachem leads the ANZPT overall points race, and is on target to make it successive cashes in the first three ANZPT events; a stunning achievement.

Players to have been eliminated on day one included PokerStars.net Team Australia trio Eric Assadourian, Emad Tahtouh and Celina Lin, PokerStars Sponsored player Lee Nelson, ANZPT Sydney winner Paren Arzoomanian, 2009 Aussie Millions winner Stewart Scott, 2008 APPT Manila champ Van Marcus, top Aussie online stars James Andy McLEOD Obst, Minh Nguyen, Andrew adgee Jeffreys, Jonathan Karamalikis, Ben Delaney and Matthew OnMyVPlates Pearson, Jay SEABEAST Kinkade; veterans Leo Boxell, Sam Korman, Gary Benson, Martin Comer, David Gorr and Billy "The Croc" Argyros plus hometown hopes Julian Powell, Bruno Portaro, Tim English, Nali "Iraqi Nick" Kaselias, Steve Topakas, Peter Ling, Marwan Nassif, Bill Jordanou and Haibo Chu.

Play resumes tomorrow at 12.10pm (3.10am GMT). Good evening from the Crown Poker Room in Melbourne, Australia.

By Landon Blackhall

Things are never predictable in poker. Chatting with two of the PokerStars qualifiers in today's ANZPT Melbourne field (whose names we didn't immediately recognise), we expected to find a couple of tournament poker greenhorns.

Instead, we found genuine players with plenty of online experience under their belts and looking to take the big step in the daunting live arena of Crown.

Jack Stevens is a 34-year-old chef and father of three from the beachside suburb of Frankston, 40 kilometres south-east of Melbourne. His love of poker wasn't born of the glitz and glamour of the World Poker Tour on television, or Joe Hachem's 2005 WSOP victory.

"I actually started playing poker online five years ago," Stevens said, after he took the time to compose himself after taking down a massive pot with pocket jacks against an opponent's A-10. "My friends were already into it, so I thought would give it a go and I love it!"

Despite having qualified for his first ANZPT event through a series of PokerStars.net freerolls, Stevens has played in 11 previous live tournaments over the past three and a half years.

"My next goal is to qualify for the ANZPT Queenstown event, then see how I go from there. Though I'm not sure about my partner Leanne, she's nervous enough watching from the rail as it is!"

We also caught up with Daniel Laidlaw, a former university student from Adelaide. The 26-year-old started playing low-limit cash games online four years ago and has since capitalised on his success, becoming a full-time cash game player. But he doesn't lack for tournament poker experience.

"I played the ANZPT Sydney event and finished 145th out of 493 runners. No cash, but still really happy with how I went and hope to go one better here in Melbourne," he said.

Laidlaw said that he earned his degree in international studies, which led us to ask if he had plans to stretch his poker experience beyond the shores of Australia.

"Sadly no. I had plans to play the WSOP but I've got other commitments, so I guess I'll just grind it out on the online cash games for the rest of the year!"

Players will soon take their final break for the evening, after which blinds will be up to 500/1000 with an ante of 100. More than half of the 218 players who started the day have been eliminated, with 102 remaining.

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," was a piece of sage advice passed from Vito Corleone to his youngest son Michael. It could have also been written for PokerStars.net Team Australia duo Eric Assadourian and Emad Tahtouh, who'd spent much of the day seated next to each other.

In the early stages of level seven on day one of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event, Tahtouh picked a spot to commit his short stack, with Assadourian coming to the party in this battle of the blinds.

Tahtouh showed [3c] [4s] while Assadourian revealed [8s] [4d], and one of the Melburnian's outs. The board ran out [as] [ad] [8h] [10s] [6d] sending Tahtouh for an early shower and Assadourian to a smidge under 25,000.

Two of the region's other rising stars have also departed in the early stages of the evening session. After having his stack slashed by ANZPT Adelaide winner Karl Krautschneider, Julian Powell was KOed by Peter Aristidou when his queens wandered into the path of kings.

Then young Kiwi James Honeybone found his [ad] [qc] up against the [as] [kc] of Sam Higgs, with the 10-high board sending Higgs to almost 95,000 in chips and Honeybone in search of the evening's first cleansing ale.

But the story of the day continues to be the rise and rise of PokerStars qualifier Heath Chick. Nicknamed "Tassie Devil" in honour of the fearsome marsupial with which he shares a home state, Chick is a runaway chip leader on 145,000.

Other prominent stacks belong to Adam Kane (100,000), Sam Youssef (75,000), ANZPT Sydney 13th-place finisher Chris Levick (70,000), PokerStars.net Team Australia pair Grant Levy (60,000) and Tony Hachem (58,000) and Sam Khouiss (54,000).

Hachem is aiming for a third successive cash in the ANZPT, which would put him in the box seat to take out the first prize in the overall points race - a PokerStars.net sponsorship package for the APPT and Aussie Millions. Joe who?

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander

As we tick down to the dinner break on day one of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event with 144 of the 218 starters still in contention, players are starting to make their dinner plans.

Readers of this blog will recall our fondness for the Garden Buffet at Star City in Sydney, the previous stop on the ANZPT and host venue for the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final.
But there'll be no need to join the buffet queue here at Crown due to an astounding array of dining options all within the complex.

The most popular top-end destination for poker players seems to be the world famous Japanese eatery Nobu. Whether this shows impeccable taste or an ability to eavesdrop on the other players at the table, we're not sure.

Regardless, the hungry horde will be able to chow down on everything from a $100 steak at Rockpool to a $2 cheeseburger at McDonald's at the end of level six.

Sean O'Reilly's evening meal won't taste quite as sweet after he drifted back to the field leaving an incredibly even race for the chip lead after six levels of play. The list of players vying for the top slot includes Heath Chick, Sammy Youssef, PokerStars qualifier Chris Levick, Michael Pinzone, James "Jabba" Broom, Sam Khouiss and Jon Karamalikis.

There was action aplenty in the high stakes area of the Crown poker room just before the dinner break where Tino Lechich, one of Australia's most respected players, claimed a scalp with A-K against pocket 10s to climb above 50,000.

Then veteran Antonio Casale took a huge hit to his stack from Jason Spooner after finding their chips in the middle with the flop and turn reading [5d] [kd] [js] [2h]. "Come on, let an old guy win a pot," Casale said.

"I think it's time for the young guy to win a pot," Spooner replied, to which Lechich quipped, "I don't know if he knows who you're messing with!"

However the table groaned as the cards were turned over - Casale held [kh] [qs] for top pair, top kicker, but Spooner was well ahead with his pocket twos for a turned set. Despite the [kc] falling on the river, it was of no help and Casale has only 12,000 in chips remaining while Spooner is up to 30,500.

We'll be back at 7.45pm local time (11.45am GMT) for the remaining three levels of play on the opening day of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne tournament.

We're going to resist the temptation to make a lousy gag about the luck of the Irish at the expense of Sean O'Reilly. Instead, let's give credit where credit is due for the guy who has smashed the field in the early going on day one of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event.

Just before the last break, O'Reilly used pocket aces to eliminate Andrew Tieu and take his stack to almost 90,000 - a clear chip leader.

Close behind O'Reilly is Tasmania's Heath Chick, best known to local players for his work on local forum PokerNetwork and its parent company PokerNews. The PokerStars qualifier is up to 60,000, showing he can walk the walk as well as he can talk the talk.

In the early stages of level five, we're down to 170 players with the PokerStars.net Team Australia contingent looking solid. ANZPT points leader Tony Hachem is continuing his fine run in these events, sitting comfortably on 38,500.

Grant Levy and Celina Lin have been steady starters (21k and 19k respectively), 2007 APPT Macau High Roller champ Eric Assadourian is on 26,000 but Emad Tahtouh has slumped to 12k.

NZ PokerStars Sponsored man Lee "Final Table" Nelson has started the day strongly in pursuit of his first ANZPT cash, and currently presides over a stack just short of 50,000.

The list of players eliminated includes 2007 APPT Grand Final fifth-place finisher Jai Kemp, online whiz kid Ben Delaney, Andrew adgee Jeffreys, 2008 PokerNews Cup winner Nali "Iraqi Nick" Kaselias, PokerStars qualifier Gary Benson, Bill Jordanou, "The Colonel" Sam Korman, Haibo Chu, Manny Stavropoulos and Tim English.

Crown has played a pivotal role in establishing such a strong poker presence in Australia. Well before Crown signed Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem as its poker ambassador in the wake of his 2005 WSOP Main Event triumph, poker has been played at Australia's largest casino.

Today's players can thanks a small core of poker aficionados who lobbied hard for a poker room to be included as part of the casino when it moved from an "annex" site to its current position on the southern bank of the Yarra River.

As such, Crown was ideally positioned to gain a stranglehold on the poker market when the trickle of new players became a flood as Hachem's win drove the popularity in poker to unprecedented heights in Australia.

In mid-2006, Crown completed a $1.3 million refurbishment of its poker room, creating a new high stakes area, and last week it was announced that the casino had received permission to add an extra 50 poker tables.

Crown's poker room can rightly considered among the best in the world in terms of the quantity and quality of games, the room's amenities and comfort and its tournament schedule.

It's also home to a core of highly skilled but ultra dangerous players barely known beyond the Melbourne city limits. One of those players is Peter Aristidou. Runner-up in last year's Crown Poker Player of the Year race, Aristidou's record in his home poker room is astounding - luckily for players based outside Melbourne, he rarely travels interstate or abroad.

We just witnessed the ultimate battle between youth and experience when Aristidou butted heads with Australia's number one ranked online player, Perth's Jay SEABEAST Kinkade.

The money was in pre-flop with the short-stacked Kinkade showing [ad] [ac] against Aristidou's [as] [ks]. The flop of [7s] [kh] [4c] gave Aristidou hope, but it was the turn [3s] and river [8s] that drove a dagger through Kinkade's heart.

In contrast, the tournament is over for two of the other major hometown hopes - PokerStars Supernova Van Marcus and cult hero Steve "The Big Show" Topakas. Players have just completed level three, with an ante of 25 about to be added to the blinds of 100/200.

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).

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander

PokerStars.net ANZPT points leader and Team Australia member Tony Hachem has just given the order to shuffle up and deal for day one of the AUD $2700 ANZPT Melbourne event. There are a few cases of 'Mondayitis' in the Crown poker room today after last night's welcome party, but the field of close to 200 have quickly settled into rhythm.

The field may be smaller than the 496 players who entered the last ANZPT event in Sydney, but it's certainly not lacking for quality. Joining the PokerStars.net Team Australia contingent of Tony Hachem, Grant Levy, Celina Lin, Eric Assadourian and Emad Tahtouh (seated next to each other on table 50) is Team PokerStars Pro Lee "Final Table" Nelson, fresh from his appearance in the PokerStars EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

Crown, and particularly the Aussie Millions, has been a happy hunting ground for the New Zealander. He won the Speed Poker event in 2005, took out the Aussie Millions Main Event in 2006 for AUD $1.3 million and was victorious in the AUD $1000 Pot Limit Omaha event earlier this year.

Previous ANZPT event winners Karl Krautschneider (Adelaide) and Paren Arzoomanian (Sydney) are here to continue their charge and hopefully secure a second ANZPT title. Arzoomanian's ANZPT Sydney final table rivals are also keen to go one better here in Melbourne, with John Caridad, Chris Kittos, Joel Dodds and Billy Argyros in the field.

Others in action today include 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event champion Stewart Scott plus final table participants Raj Ramakrishnan and Sam Capra, 2009 NZ Poker Champs High Rollers winner Dennis Huntly, 2008 APPT Manila victor Van sirens Marcus, Australian Poker Hall of Fame inductee Gary Benson, online young guns Jarred FlopNutsOnYou Graham, Andrew Adgee Jeffrey, James AndyMcLeod Obst, Dean ninhjo Nyberg, Michael TheBigSiCkO Guzzardi, Jonathan Karamalikis and Ben Delaney.

There's also a huge hometown contingent headed by 2008 Melbourne Champs Main Event winner James Broom, 2007 champ Haibo Chu, Tim English, Jim Sachinidis, David Gorr, Antonio Casale, Michael Guttman, Leo Boxell, Peter Aristidou, Bruno Portaro, Marwan Nassif, Bill Jordanou, Marc DesAnges and Steve "The Big Show" Topakas.
Players have a start bank of 20,000 and we've been informed by ANZPT boss Danny McDonagh that play will continue for nine 60-minute levels today.

Level 1: 50/100
Level 2: 75/150
Level 3: 100/200
Level 4: 100/200 (ante 25)
Level 5: 150/300 (ante 25)
Level 6: 200/400 (ante 50)
Level 7: 300/600 (ante 75)
Level 8: 400/800 (ante 100)
Level 9: 500/1000 (ante 100)

Melbourne, Australia - it's one of the great sporting cities; it's home to Crown, one of the world's premier casinos; and it's the hometown of 2005 WSOP Main Event winner and Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem. Throw those elements into the blender and it's hardly surprising to find that Melbourne is regarded as one of the top poker destinations in this part of the world.

We like to do things differently here. Melbourne is the home of the Australian Football League, an indigenous game that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators each weekend.

In Melbourne, you are not defined by gender, religion, race or social status - what matters is whether you are a supporter of the Blues, Magpies, Bombers, Hawks, Demons, Saints, Kangaroos, Cats, Bulldogs or Tigers.

And beyond football, Melburnians are mad for virtually all forms of sport. The city hosts the first leg of tennis's grand slam, the Australian Open,; each January, the Australian GP each March and has been the venue for the Olympics (1956) and Commonwealth Games (2006).

Each January, Melbourne's Crown Casino is the venue for the Aussie Millions, rightly regarded as one of the most prestigious tournaments in world poker. Throughout the year, Crown also hosts several fiercely contested tournament series, which is the reason we're here in this unseasonably warm three-day period in late-May.

For the first time, two of the best-known gaming brands in this part of the world - PokerStars and Crown - have come together to host the third event in the first season of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT).

Players have already been contesting the preliminary schedule for a week as part of the 2009 Melbourne Poker Championships. For the budget-conscious, the Melbourne Champs features a low buy-in 'Morning Series' including No Limit Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Mixed Stud and Crazy Pineapple events.

On the main schedule, there are numerous No Limit Hold'em events including a three-day AUD $230 buy-in event, Terminator, Teams, Six-handed and Bounty events, an AUD $5200 High Stakes tournament and an AUD $100,000 winner-takes-all single-table challenge.

That all leads up to the AUD $1100 Melbourne Champs Main Event, which features a repechage format that allows players eliminated in either day 1A or 1B to rebuy for day 1C. As such, the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event has been scheduled as a 'feature event' rather than the 'main event', which is the reason this event is being played on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday rather than a traditional weekend schedule.

The Melbourne Championships started in 2002, when the schedule featured Draw, Manila, Limit Hold'em and Seven-Card Stud events. The Main Event was AUD $300 buy-in and attracted just 66 players.

In 2004, a slice of poker history played out in the 2004 Melbourne Champs Main Event when Stella Coe defeated Sam Khouiss heads-up to become the first female to win a major title in Australia.

Two years later, Joe Hachem made it to the last three but it was PokerStars Team Australia player Eric Assadourian who took home the top prize. So it's only appropriate that Assadourian and his PokerStars.net Team Australia teammates Grant Levy, Tony Hachem, Celina Lin and Emad Tahtouh are here for the AUD $2700 PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne event.

The man in the spotlight will be Joe Hachem's younger brother Tony, who leads the chase in the ANZPT Overall Points Championship after cashing in the two previous ANZPT events in Adelaide and Sydney.

Expect to again see the region's best players joining the PokerStars.net Team Australia pros in the battle for the ANZPT Melbourne title. Join us from 12.10pm on Monday (3.10am GMT) for the opening hand.

Brad Willis reports on a PokerStars player who blows stuff up and has a keen eye for a good photo...

Captain Wes Deaver blows stuff up. He pilots one of the most famous aircraft in the world. He's flown more than 100 combat missions in Iraq. He's done two wartime tours of duty.

Captain Wes Deaver does not monkey around.

Except for when he does.

Born and raised in Bucyrus, Ohio, the sports nut joined the Marines during his junior year at Miami University. After graduation, he was accepted to Officer Candidate School, turned himself into a pilot, and began flying the AV-8B Harrier "jumpjet" (think Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies, but for real).

Known as AV8Pounder on PokerStars, Deaver had been hording his Frequent Player Points. "I had been saving up FPPs for quite a long time so I could get a large TV," he said. He had his sights set on a massive 63" HDTV.

He also has his sights set on a monkey (because, who doesn't love a monkey, right?). Fortunately for Deaver, PokerStars was offering a mischievous little monkey for 1,000 FPPs in the VIP Store. Turned out, there was a bit of a contest going on that involved getting the monkey to pose for some pictures.

"I always enjoy taking photos in the plane," Deaver told us, "I was excited about this promotion."

Deaver won the contest and 100,000 FPPs. With a picture like this, there's little questions why.

"It is a view of the world that most people just don't get to experience," Deaver said, "and I like to be able to share that with family and friends."

And, apparently a monkey.

It almost didn't happen. Deaver was grounded for two months after tearing his MCL in a snowboarding mishap. The monkey arrived in time but it the pilot a while to get back in the place. Fortunately, he got back in the air just in time.

Now, he has a flight-trained monkey and 100,000 FPPS to spend however he likes. The FPPS are going for a 63" Samsung. The monkey? Well, Deaver just became an uncle for the first time. He will get to see his niece this summer.

"I think I will give the monkey to her when I get to see her for the first time," Deaver said. "Maybe someday she will be a player on Pokerstars."

One tour ends, another carries on, as PokerStars reports from The Russian capital...

If you happened to be a patriotic Russian looking to support a local player at a big poker tournament, then Moscow yesterday was the place to be. All nine players at the successful PokerStars Russian Poker Tour final table in Moscow were from the home country. And two of them - Ivan Demidov and Alex Kravchenko - were Team PokerStars Pros. Even their experience, both being previous World Series of Poker Main Event final tablists, was not enough to take down this event. Instead, that went to Vitaly Lunkin, a former backgammon player.

His win, good for 14,323,000 roubles - that's about $445,000 - was no fluke: he has a pedigree of his own having won a WSOP bracelet last summer in the $1,500 no limit hold'em event. And he used his undoubted talents to go from second last in chips yesterday to champion of the $7,000 buy-in RPT Moscow.

Final table play started tightly, but then the first elimination was Evgeny Onishuk. He raised from middle position with [7s] [6s] and was re-raised by Demidov from the button. Onishuk called and they say a flop of 9-7-4, giving Onishuk middle pair. He check called Demidov's 70,000 bet but the Team Pro had a pair of kings and the four turn and six river changed nothing.

Eighth place went to Kravchenko who had moved all in against four opponents, trying to collect some easy chips. Three of them folded, but Vitaly Lunkin decided to look him up, perhaps not surprisingly as he had [jc][jh] - enough against the Team Pro's [7s][4h].

Next out was Dmitry Vitkind, who pushed with [ac][7h] but ran into Lunkin's [as][9s]. The board of [10d][5d][6d][9d][3c] doing the damage. Demidov went in sixth, first losing a big pot to Alexander Khoustov and then leaving when his [Ac][7d] failed to overtake Sergey Artamonov's pocket nines.

At this stage players took a 30-minute break, and then it took a full two hours before the fifth place was determined when Artamonov was busted by Lunkin when his [10c][10h] failed to hold against [ah][js]. Lunkin was at it again soon after, knocking out Oleg Shamardin, who had held the chip lead earlier in the tournament. Lunkin's [Qd][Qc] was too good for Shamardin's [Ac][5c].

It took another hour to lose the third-place finisher, Khaustov, who moved all-in with [as][6s] and was called - not surprisingly - by Lunkin who had [9c][9d].

Tournament Director Thomas Kremser introduced the final two to the audience, and with blinds at 20,000-40,000 it was always going to be a brief heads-up seeing as Lunkin had 2,790,000 chips to Vyacheslav Goryachev's 310,000. Indeed, just minutes later Goryachev moved all-in with [ad][6c] and was called by Lunkin who once again found a hand at the right time with pocket tens. The board came [Qd][8d][6h][4c][8s] and Vitaly Lunkin became Champion of RPT Moscow.

Final table payouts (in rubles):

1. Vitaly Lunkin, 14,323,000
2. Vyacheslav Goryachev, 7,877,000
3. Alexander Khoustov, 4,028,000
4. Oleg Shamardin, 3,133,000
5. Sergey Artamonov, 2,685,000
6. Ivan Demidov, Team PokerStars Pro 2,238,000
7. Dmitry Vitkind, 1,790,000
8. Alex Kravchenko, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,342,000
9. Evgeny Onishuk, 895,000

As summer approaches it means the end to another season of the European Poker Tour. But while keen eyes turn towards Las Vegas and the looming World Series it's worth having a look back over season five's winners, each owning stiking talent and each likely to head to Vegas with similar results in mind...

EPT Barcelona - Ruthenberg reigns in Spain

Sebastian Ruthenberg kicked off the season with a win. The PokerStars ShootingStar from Germany, who had won his first World Series bracelet in the seven card stud hi/lo event three months earlier, added €1,361,000 to his career earnings, defeating Fintan Gavin heads up. The first event of the season attracted a massive field of 619.

EPT London - Chip and a chair champ

Then it was on to London, the home nation of the tour. While Jason Mercier won the first High Roller event to be staged in the EPT's home town, Michael Martin recovered from a chip and a chair to win the lot - that's £1 million to you and me.

EPT Hungary - Fry turns up the heat

The EPT then swung east for a three stop trip around the newer end of the tour. Budapest made its first appearance as a fixture. A field of 532 packed into the casino ballroom where Englishman William Fry stunned the masses with a dominating performance, good for €595,839.

EPT Warsaw - All yours Barbosa

Warsaw saw a lead candidate for player of the year emerge in Portuguese pro Joao Barbosa. Barbosa would win a final table that featured Dario Minieri, Arnaud Mattern, Ludovic Lacay and Andrea Benelli, a feat worth €367,141. It was the best of seven cash finishes Barbosa would record in season five alone.

EPT Prague - From out of nowhere

Mattern had triumphed in the Czech capital 12 months earlier but this year the even bigger event belonged to Italian player Salvatore Bonavena. In a tournament loaded with Italians Bonavena came out best, winning €774,000.

PCA - See you on the beach

After swinging east the EPT headed west, way west, across the Atlantic to a far off corner of Europe known as the Bahamas. Paradise Island to be exact, where Poorya Nazari won the event 1,347 players entered with dreams of winning. His reward for doing just that in the PCA was $3 million and easy access to a beach to relax on afterwards.

EPT Deauville - To a slightly colder beach

Swapping warm ocean water for cold Normandy coast winds came next for EPT regulars as they descended once more on the French town of Deauville after a three year leave of absence. It was like the tour had never left though with 645 players raiding the town in pursuit of a first prize of €851,400. That honour went to German player Moritz Kranich.

EPT Copenhagen - Pipped at the post

Copenhagen never fails to host a good show and this year was no different. It had looked like popular EPT regular Peter Hedlund was all set to win his first title in Denmark until Finland's Jens' Kyllonen shoved him out of the way, taking the €878,057 first prize for himself.

EPT Dortmund - No joke it's Naujoks in Germany

Mike McDonald became the youngest ever EPT winner when he won in Dortmund back in season four. This year he was attempting to do the same, and came within five places of doing just that. He hadn't counted on the Black Mamba herself, Sandra Naujoks, then the newest member of the PokerStars ShootingStar team to spoil the party. Naujoks beat a field of 667 to win her first EPT, worth €917,000.

EPT San Remo - Constant show of expertise

As winter faded away and spring brought new hope the tour rolled into the picturesque town of San Remo, perched along the Riviera coast in northern Italy. A total of 1,178 made this the largest European field ever in EPT history with a prize pool of more than €5.7 million up for grabs. Croatian player Dragan Galic led the field nearly from start to finish but ultimately it was Constant Rijkenberg, a 20 year old from Amsterdam with a talent for poker and for catching a shade of luck at the right time, who took €1,508,000 back to Holland.

EPT Monte Carlo - And Grand Finally

That left Monte Carlo, the fifth incarnation of the grand final in the spiritual home of European poker. After a typically thrilling final Dutchman Pieter De Korver recovered from little more than a big blind to take the lot against American Matthew Woodward, landing himself €2,300,000 and European poker's biggest prize, bringing an end to another fantastic year.

As the summer arrives thoughts turn to Las Vegas and the World Series. It's one of poker's big questions - just how do you go about winning the World Series Main Event, ahead of a field of thousands of players? Well, luckily enough PokerStars has a few World Champions of its own to give their thoughts on the matter, including last year's winner Peter Eastgate.

We asked him to write down his thoughts on going deep in Vegas. As he scooped more than $9.1 million doing just that, then it may be best to read what he has to say...

by Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate

A question I have been asked repeatedly is: "What is the best way, from a strategy perspective, to play the WSOP Main Event?" I think the WSOP Main Event is unique: the number of players is more than in any other big buy-in tournament and the quality of the players is also very varied.

A lot of recreational players play it because it is the tournament to play if you are going to take a shot at fame and fortune. This makes for a special tournament and, unlike a PokerStars EPT or a WPT event, it is very hard to come up with a pre-tournament strategy.

My personal strategy when winning the event last year was that I had no pre-tournament strategy! At a big event like the WSOP Main Event, there are so many unknown variables, such as table draw, quality of the cards dealt and, most importantly, the immediate emotional state of the other players at the table. You have to pay close attention to what is going on at the table - and how the other players are reacting to playing in such a big event.

It is very important to be in tune with your opponent's emotional state and base your decisions on how you feel he or she is feeling in any given situation.

Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate

The key to playing in a long and hard tournament like this is to find the balance between accumulation of chips, and maintaining your chips stack. Obviously, the best way to maintain a healthy chip stack is through accumulation, but it is important to keep in mind what kind of risks you are willing to take in order to accumulate chips. In last year's tournament I pride myself with the fact that I was only all-in (with the chance of losing my entire chip stack) two times. The reason this was possible was that the structure of the tournament is nice and slow.

I had an above average chip stack most of the tournament and I did not play many hands where I had a lot of chips invested in the hand pre-flop. I played a kind of small-ball strategy that has become very popular among some of the better professional poker players, which in essence is a strategy that tries to control the pot size. This strategy was not pre-determined, but was the best feasible approach considering my table draws.

I have spoken to several very good young professional tournament players, who told me that they had tough table draws, in that the overall level of aggression on their table was very high, thus creating a much higher volatility. I was very lucky that my tables were fairly soft, which allowed me to slowly chip up and control the pot size, since very few of my opponents played back at me.

It is also important to understand that no two people are the same. When playing a long and grueling tournament like the WSOP Main Event it is very important to know yourself and your habits. Some people like running 10K before they play; some people eat fruit or smoke a pack of cigarettes. You have to do whatever makes you the most alert and physically fit to withstand the pressure of the tournament.

To sum up, I do not think there is a correct pre-tournament strategy that will guarantee success. Take every situation and evaluate throughout the tournament what strategy fits best to the situation you are faced with. That way you will have the best possible chance of making it deep. Always think a couple of steps ahead when you play a hand. "What will happen on the river if I call the turn?" And: "What amount will my opponent likely bet?" But always remember that there will be more tournaments in the future and that putting too much pressure on yourself will make you more tense.

You need be relaxed to make the right decisions. Stay cool when the money and pressure increases.

Good luck in the Main Event!

It's been quite a last two weeks in the world of PokerStars and particularly on the PokerStars Blogs with tournaments played on one side of the planet and the other.

At the heart of the action was the Italian and French Riviera's, a strip of luxury real estate on the Mediterranean, home to the final two stops on the European Poker Tour. Now in its second year the EPT San Remo is a must play event for any poker player warming up for the grand final and it's starting field of over a thousand.

Then there's Monte Carlo, European poker's spiritual home, unrivalled for opulence and luxury, hosting the fifth incarnation of the EPT Grand Final. Not only that put on an under card of High Roller event that cost a mere €25,000 to play. The result was some of the finest poker seen anywhere and some of the biggest checks ever handed out to tournament winners this side of the Atlantic.

What happened you ask? Well it's funny you mention it - you can recap on all the action from that roller coaster fortnight the last week at the links below. Enjoy...

EPT San Remo

Dragan Galic leads on day 1a
Josipovic leads on day 1b
Tomorrow the money
Galic still ahead
Reaching the final eight
Roller coaster ride to new San Remo winner

EPT Grand Final

An action filled day 1a
A full house on day 1b
A new look for day two
Into the money on day three
Final eight in place
Thrilling finale to final table

EPT Grand Final €25,000 high roller event

A winner the Monte Carlo high roller event

The title of Australian poker capital has been shipped around numerous cities over the past 30 years. It started at Australia's first casino in Hobart, Tasmania, then settled in Adelaide during the late 1980s and 1990s, briefly adopted Canberra before setting up shop in Melbourne.

However, a new challenger is emerging. After the success of the 2007 and 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Finals, the poker room at Star City Casino in Sydney is buzzing like never before.

Amid the current financial crisis, the PokerStars.net Australian New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) somehow managed to establish a new record for an event up to $3000 buy-in, with a field of 493 players and a prize pool of AUD $986,000.

Remember, this is a tour in its first year and holding just its second event. But poker-hungry Sydneysiders showed their hunger for such events by packing out the events on the preliminary schedule before building a Main Event field comparable with the showpiece of the Star City poker program: the APPT Grand Final.

After four days and 28 one-hour levels, the battle for the first ANZPT Sydney Main Event title came down to a showdown between an eclectic pair - 49-year-old mother-of-six and Gold Coast mortgage broker Lisa Walsh, and 25-year-old Sydney student and aspiring poker pro Paren "Puzz" Arzoomanian.

Supported by a large and boisterous rail, who iced a bottle of champagne on the media desk in expectation of his victory, Puzz was cheered to the line and just before 1am on Monday morning, he duly saluted to take home the first prize of AUD $246,500. Not bad for a guy who has recently finished chemotherapy after a bout of cancer.

Play had stagnated when it reached four-handed, but the elimination of Chris Kittos finally sparked some action and when the final PokerStars qualifier John Caridad was KOed in third, it was Walsh versus Arzoomanian for the title.

Walsh was poised for a slice of local poker history, with the title of winning the biggest prize ever captured by a female on Australian soil in her grasp.

She trailed when the heads-up battle started, wrested the lead but eventually fell one step short. The end came when she committed her short stack with [kh] [9c], but Puzz making the call and showing [ac] [5d]. The board ran out [js] [8s] [8d] [5c] [ad], and the Dom Perignon was flowing for Paren Arzoomanian.

In the end, it was an appropriate result for a Sydney local, and another step up the ladder for Sydney as the home of Aussie poker.

But the New South Welshmen will be on enemy territory in three weeks' time when the PokerStars.net ANZPT treks across the Victorian border for ANZPT Melbourne at Crown Casino. State pride will be on the line in what is sure to be a fiercely contested $2700 buy-in event.

And the man everyone will be watching is PokerStars.net Team Australia player, Melbourne's own Tony Hachem, the new leader in the race for the ANZPT Player of the Year title.

We look forward to joining from May 25-27 in our hometown for the third event on the 2009 PokerStars.net ANZPT. Farewell from Star City Casino and Sydney, Australia.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso already had more than $1.3 million in tournament winnings when she arrived in Monte Carlo. She hardly needed to prove her ability to the poker world, but if there's one thing that cements a place among the game's great and the good, then winning a High Roller event will do the trick. It's not just the big prize money, it's the knowledge you have beaten some of the very best players to get it.

This field in the EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller was no different. Three days ago, 79 of the world's best players paid up, including a host of Team PokerStars Pros like ElkY - who won the High Roller in the PCA in January - Peter Eastgate, Barry Greenstein, William Thorson and Alexandre Gomes. Also lining up were Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, Devilfish and Tony G, the last of whom went on to take third place earlier today.

We reached a final table of eight late last night, and when we lost half of those in the first three hours of play today, everyone was prepared for an early finish. But it took a couple of hours before PokerStars ShootingStar Florian Langmann departed, and around five more hours before Tony G bust when his A-6 failed to hold up against Randy Dorfman's Q-9.

Heads-up developed into something of a marathon, too. Dorfman started with a 2-1 chip lead, lengthened it, lost it, got it back again, then lost it all. The killer blow came on a 3-9-8-5-K board, when Dorfman's K-5 for two pair ran into Rousso's 6-7 for the nut straight. He had been a worthy opponent, and will draw some comfort from going home with €434,000.

The night, though, belonged to Rousso, who was supported on the rail all day by her partner, fellow Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso

"As long as I got my money in good I thought I had a chance. I'm probably going to go and have a good cry after this!

"I have given 110% over the last three days. A few weeks ago I finished second in the NBC Heads Up Championships and I was happy, but at the end of the day second places are no good. You want to win."

Congratulations, Vanessa, on a brilliant performance.

By Howard Swains

We have clocked more than 13,000 miles on the European Poker Tour this season, crowning 11 champions in cities from Barcelona to the Bahamas, Deauville to Dortmund. And as the curtain comes down tonight on a season that shattered all previous records, the man with the widest smile and the fattest wallet is the 26-year-old Team PokerStars Netherlands Pro, Pieter de Korver.

De Korver was the last man standing from 935 players who filed into the Salle des Etoiles at the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo this week, and when he stacked all of their chips in front of him this evening, he could prop on the top a cheque written out for €2,300,000. Beside it were two cards - the [9s] and the [6s] - the hand with which he ultimately defeated the PokerStars player Matthew Woodward to become the EPT Grand Final champion.

But that hand represented only the ten-yard dash over the finishing line in what had been a marathon recovery from the brink of elimination. De Korver was down to only three big blinds at one stage of final table proceedings, but he rallied and scrapped and staged a genuine zero-to-hero comeback, becoming the second Dutch winner of an EPT main event in seven days.

"I was loving the atmosphere and enjoying playing cards," De Korver said. "I had a little bit of luck and I won. That's the best part of poker."

The last eight arrived today with Dag Martin Mikkelsen leading the way. And within the first level of final table play, there was nothing but clear, crisp Norwegian air between the youngster and any of his challengers.

Mikkelsen knocked out Peter Traply, the Hungarian, who came to the final table second in chips, in what seemed certain to be a championship-defining pot. Mikkelsen took a chip lead of more than 11 million at that stage, and then eliminated Daniel Zink in seventh place.

The title seemed destined to be heading back to Stavanger - but we hadn't accounted for Lazarus de Korver.

Mikhail Tulchinskiy, from St Petersburg, Russia, momentarily took centre stage, picking off the short-stacked Alem Shah and Eric Qu in short order, but still trailing Mikkelsen by a country mile. At the other end of the leaderboard, De Korver had only 400,000, with blinds at 80,000-160,000. But when De Korver tripled up with Q-4, through Woodward and Mikkelsen, the momentum dramatically shifted. De Korver repeatedly shoved and repeatedly won, while Mikkelson couldn't catch a break. The Dane took a speculative all in shy at a board showing two sevens and a six, but De Korver was going nowhere with his full boat - he was holding pocket sixes - and vaulted into the lead at Mikkelsen's expense.

Woodward put Mikkelsen out of his misery soon after, leaving us three handed, and then the American, who had seemed at ultimate ease on the first final table of his career, took pocket threes up against Tulchinskiy's Q-T and sent the Russian out of the building.

But those skirmishes seemed like harmless bumps between dodgem cars compared with the juggernaut of momentum that was fuelling De Korver. Woodward battled gamely for close to an hour in the heads up joust, until he flopped middle pair and a flush draw, against De Korver's middle pair, bigger kicker, and a massive all in raise.

Woodward called, missed his outs, and sent the bar owners of Monte Carlo to the cash and carry to accommodate the legion of Dutch fans pouring out of the bleachers and into the party spirit. Woodward took €1,300,000 for his second spot - and a whole stack of credit. De Korver, however, takes the title, the plaudits, the two-point-three million big ones and a place on the front pages of newspapers and magazines across Europe.

That, then, is that from the European Poker Tour for another season. It started with Sebastian Ruthenberg's victory in Barcelona last August, and finished this week in Monte Carlo with the richest tournament in European poker history. I dare say we'll do something very similar next year -- only bigger, longer and better.

Thanks for tuning into the coverage at PokerStars Blog, where there'll be plenty more throughout the EPT close season, not least the World Series Main Event from Las Vegas in July.

All photography comes from the razor-sharp lens of Neil Stoddart.

Cheerio.

Final table payouts at EPT Grand Final

1 - Pieter de Korver, Holland, Team PokerStars Pro Netherlands, €2,300,000
2 - Matthew Woodward, USA, PokerStars qualifier, €1,300,000
3 - Mikhail Tulchinskiy, Russia, PokerStars player, €800,000
4 - Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Norway, €600,000
5 - Eric Qu, France, €470,000
6 - Alem Shah, Germany, €350,000
7 - Daniel Zink, Germany, €250,000
8 - Peter Traply, Hungary, PokerStars qualifier, €170,000

We're down to the final two in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event, with Lisa Walsh narrowly trailing Paren Arzoomanian for the title.

Chris Kittos busted in fourth spot after he came out on the wrong end of a race against Walsh. It was [3c] [3h] against [ah] [ks] for Kittos, with the board of [2c] [4c] [5d] [5s] [js] ending his tournament.

The heads-up line-up was decided when Walsh used a big slick of her own - [ac] [kh] - against the [ad] [8c] of John Caridad. The board of [10h] [2d] [3c] [7h] [jd] missed both players, and Caridad, the final PokerStars qualifier in the tournament, was out in third.

That left Walsh on 4.1 million and Puzz holding 5.6 million as the heads-up battle started. Walsh remains on track to capture the biggest tournament prize ever won by a female on Australian soil, and the biggest tournament prize ever captured by an Australian female anywhere in the world. And then there's Puzz, with a bunch of railbirds who've yet to sleep in the past 40 hours, fuelled by enough vodka Red Bulls to power a lunar mission. Should be fun! Blinds are at level 27 - 50,000/100,000 with an ante of 10,000.

Players have just returned from a 10-minute break (with the exception of Paren "Puzz" Arzoomanian, who obviously needed 15) for the final sprint to the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

That extra rest just proved beneficial as he just doubled through Lisa Walsh to reignite his failing challenge. It was Walsh who sweetened the pot with a pre-flop raise to 225,000, then Puzz pushed all-in, putting Walsh to the test.

She called and showed [4d] [4h], and it was off to the races with his [ah] [kh]. He connected on the flop of [kc] [qs] [6c], and stayed ahead as the board ran out [5s] [2s]. That left Walsh with just 1.8 million, while Arzoomanian climbed back above 3 million.

Most of Puzz's chips had been shipped to Caridad, the final PokerStars qualifier in the field, when they launched a massive pre-flop war. It went 125,000 to Arzoomanian, 450,000 to Caridad, 760,000 to Arzoomanian and all-in from Caridad. Puz folded, and Caridad scooped up more 1.25 million in chips without a card being revealed.

The ever-changing picture of the chip count currently reads Walsh 1.39 million, Kittos 2 million, Arzoomanian 3.1 million and Caridad 3.21 million. The players are currently discussing a deal, but the negotiations are moving about as smoothly as relations on the Korean peninsula so we expect level 26 to resume soon, with blinds at 40,000/80,000 with a 5000 ante.

Lisa Walsh was poised to write a slice of Aussie poker history after taking a stranglehold on the final table at the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. But as quick as she wins 'em, back they go!

Departures have been rapid since the dinner break, with the latest elimination Billy "The Croc" Argyros in sixth place. Having returned from dinner in a jovial mood, "The Croc" was in the mood for action and found it when John Caridad called his pre-flop raise of 110,000.

The flop came down [qc] [10c] [9h], Caridad checked, Argyros pushed all-in and Caridad called. He showed [qh] [10d] for two-pair while Crocky's [kd] [ks] needed help. It didn't arrive with the board running out [7s] [3s], and the Hall of Famer was out in sixth.

Shortly after, Lisa Walsh and Majed Haddad clashed in what may prove the pivotal hand of the tournament. Walsh raised to 125,000 pre-flop, Haddad called and they watched a flop of [qc] [4d] [5c]. Both players checked and the turn fell [3h].

Haddad bet 175,000, Walsh made it 500,000, Haddad declared all-in and Walsh made the call. Wow. She showed [qd] [jd] to be a whisker ahead of Haddad's [qh] [9d]. But a whisker was enough as the [kd] landed on the river, allowing Walsh to scoop up a pot worth 4.6 million.

On the next hand, Haddad committed his remaining few chips, with Caridad and Arzoomanian calling and checking down the board of [jc] [2s] [qh] [10s] [5c]. Puzz's [kd] [10d] was good enough to win the pot ahead of Caridad's [as] [4c] and Haddad's [5h] [6h], sending the former chip leader to the rail in fifth position.

Walsh has since butted heads twice with Caridad - once in a split pot when the board came a queen-high straight, which saved Caridad's two-pair against Walsh's set of eights.
Then she called Caridad's all-in, again holding a set of eights - [8d] [8h] on a flop of [7d] [8c] [js] - against his [6s] 5h], but the [4h] turn made him a straight and, for the first time, Caridad had taken the chip lead.

That left Walsh on 2.85 million, ahead of Arzoomanian (2.5 million) and Chris Kittos (800,000) but trailing Caridad on 3.4 million.

And then there were six. Lisa Walsh looks to be a hurry to get home after claiming the two players to fall since the dinner break on the final day of the PokerStars.net AN ZPT Sydney Main Event.

In the first elimination, Walsh started the action with a raise to 125,000, Arzoomanian called then James Newhan pushed all-in for 572,000. Walsh called, Puzz got out of the way and it was Lisa's [ks] [kd] against James' [as] [js]. The Sydneysider failed to hit on the board of [7h] [6d] [3c] [6s] [qc] and was out in eighth.

Barely five minutes later, Joel Dodds was all-in pre-flop and again it was Walsh who came to the party. He showed [3s] [3h], with Walsh holding [ah] [jh]. The board of [10h] [ks] [as] [qd] [8c] missed Dodds, who departed to a nice round of applause from the packed rail here at Star City tonight.

The crowd is five-deep watching the final table, helped by players waiting their turn in the teams' event, in which PokerStars.net Team Australia members Tony Hachem and Eric Assadourian are having a ball.

We're also delighted to announce - in a world exclusive for the PokerStarsblog - that Chris Eva has been confirmed as the first contestant for The Poker Star, Joe Hachem's new poker reality show that will hit the screens later this year in Australia.

Players qualified for this single table tournament via a series of freerolls on PokerStars.net, with average fields of 2500 and a total entry over the two-week period of 13,000!

In the Main Event, we're ticking down to the start of level 25 (30,000/60,000 with an ante of 5000) with six players remaining.

The eight remaining players in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event have headed off on their dinner break. For some, it will be their last supper at the Garden Buffet. And if any of the players choose to launch an attack on the world oyster eating record set by ANZPT skipper Danny McDonagh at the Garden Buffet last night, it may be their last ever supper.

We digress ... it's been a fairly sedate start to the final table, with David Zhao the sole departure. It was Billy Argyros who kicked off the action with a raise to 90,000, Xhao committed the last of his chips and Argyros called.

He showed [jd] [js], while Xin held [as] [10d]. The flop of [8d] [kc] [10s] brought some hope, but the turn [8s] and river [2c] missed Xhao as he exited in ninth place.

It's been a tough start to the final table for Lisa Walsh, who is aiming to become the first woman to etch her name in the ANZPT record books.

Joel Dodds caught Walsh on the hop when he pushed all-in with [ac] [js], in response to her raise with [kh] [8h]. The board ran out [5s] [9d] [6c] [9s] 5h], Dodds was up to 530,000 while Walsh fell to 970,000.

Haddad also sliced a fair slab of chips off Walsh when he bet 600,000 on a board of [9h] [js] [2c] [4d]. She folded, while he cheekily flashed the [2s].

That left the chip count Arzoomanian (2,524,000), Haddad (2,035,000), Walsh (1,110,000), Kittos (1,090,000), Caridad (918,000), Dodds (495,000) and Argyros the short stack on 414,000. When players return after dinner, blinds will be at 20,000/40,000 with a 5000 ante.

Seat 1: Lisa Walsh, Gold Coast, Qld, Australia (1,481,000 in chips): She might be making her first final table tournament appearance, but this 49-year-old mother of six (with her first grandchild on the way) brings plenty of big game experience to the table despite only three years' experience under her belt. The Gold Coast mortgage broker considers herself a cash-game specialist and she can regularly be found on the tables at casinos around the country. Her best tournament result came in the 2008 Victorian Championships Main Event, where she placed 19th.

Seat 2: Billy Argyros, Melbourne, Vic, Australia (789,000 in chips): The most experienced player at the final table, Billy "The Croc" - famous for the crocodile memorabilia he wears at the table - was among the first players inducted to the Australian Poker Hall of Fame in January. He's a multiple winner of events throughout Australia and New Zealand, including several preliminary titles at the Aussie Millions, but his biggest career tournament cash came at the 2008 WSOP where he placed fourth in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship.

Seat 3: David Zhao, Melbourne, Vic, Australia (456,000 in chips): A 23-year-old professional poker player and a former commerce graduate from Melbourne, this shy and reserving character told us that he was "relieved" that he's managed to make it to the final table. He was one of the few players to buy into the ANZPT Sydney Main Event directly. Expect to see some aggression from Zhao early - he's the short stack on 456,000.

Seat 4: Joel Dodds, Sydney, NSW, Australia (483,000 in chips): One of the great characters of Aussie poker, the softly spoken Sydneysider combines tough-as-teak skills with a caustic wit at the poker table. The 25-year-old holds the amazing record of having placed 14th in both the 2007 and 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Macau main events. A student and aspiring poker pro, Dodds, known as strongplay due to his preference for only the best starting hands, is looking forward to playing a full schedule at the 2009 WSOP.

Seat 5: Chris Kittos, Sydney, NSW, Australia (1,287,000 in chips): A 41-year-old mechanical engineer from the Sydney suburb of San Souci, this father-of two honed his skills in the numerous pub poker venues that offer cash-entry tournaments around the New South Wales capital. His best finishes have been in the weekly PokerDome events, including victory in a $12k guaranteed event. He also final-tabled the $1100 NLHE event on the 2007 APPT Grand Final preliminary schedule, but is expecting bigger things here today.

Seat 6: Paren Arzoomanian, Sydney, NSW, Australia (2,065,000 in chips): Assured the lion's share of the crowd support, the chip leader is a 25-year-old student who is studying software engineering and finance, would like to turn his attention to poker full-time. A cash-game specialist, his best tournament cash is 24th in the 2007 PokerNews Cup, which earned him a modest AUD 10,000. He's already guaranteed a bigger payday than that here in Sydney, but is greedily eyeing the top spot on the podium.

Seat 7: John Caridad, Sydney, NSW, Australia (638,000 in chips): This 35-year-old Sydneysider has been playing poker for about five or six years. He's no freshman to live tournament poker, as he's already taken part in the APPT Grand Final here two years ago and plays quite a lot online. Caridad, a property developer by trade, qualified for this event on PokerStars and is the only online qualifier still contention. He enters the final table with 638,000 in chips.

Seat 8: James Newhan, Sydney, NSW, Australia (989,000 in chips): This 38-year-old hails from the suburb of Glebe, a stone's throw away from Star City. The self-confessed poker tragic is extremely excited to be here at the final table, though "he's had to put in a lot of hard work to get here." After managing to win his seat via a $200 satellite at Star City, he managed to survive the carnage to enter the final table with a respectable 989,000.

Seat 9: Majed Haddad, Sydney, NSW, Australia (1,689,000 in chips): Despite this being his first major cash tournament final table, the 31-year-old truck driver from Sydney is used to being in the spotlight after his runner-up finish in the Australian Poker League Wild Turkey Poker Classic at Crown in Melbourne. That result earned him a package to the 2009 WSOP Main Event. He's ideally placed to emulate if not surpass his second-place in the WTPC with the second biggest stack entering the final table.

The final table has been decided for the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. The road was paved for the final nine throughout level 24, with the elimination of Marcial Dias setting the tone for a swift reduction in the field.

Dias committed his last 125,000 in chips with a respectable [7s] [7d] and was happy to find himself up against the [ad] [2c] of Lisa Walsh. But the board of [2d] [jh] [qs] [as] [9c] gave Walsh two-pair and another scalp.

Chris Levick had climbed off the floor today and carefully picked his moment to make a last stand holding [ks] [qd]. Walsh was again the caller, this time with [ah] [jc]. But it was the Gold Coast mortgage broker who improved her hand on a board of [js] [8d] [5h] [8s] [10d], and the Sydney pub poker impresario and PokerStars qualifier was out in 13th.

Ben Barclay looked to be cruising to the final table but slipped back and was forced to make a stand with [ad] [9s]. Paren Arzoomanian was waiting with [ac] [qs], and neither player connected with the board sending the PokerStars Qualifier on his way.

One of the great stories of the tournament was the run today of Joseph Nati. The short stack entering day three, Nati fought and scratched for every chip but finally succumbed in a race - pocket twos against the A-4 of John Caridad - to finish a gallant 11th.

The final table line-up was then decided when PokerStars player Hugh Cohen pushed in his short stack with [ah] [7h], with Walsh making the call and showing [qd] [8d]. Again, the board brought Walsh what she needed with the board coming [qc] [4h] [jc] [kd] [kc].

After a short break, the final table has just kicked off with the blinds wound back to level 22 (12,000/24,000 with an ante of 3000).

By Landon Blackhall

With little action to report in the past level, we caught up with the man who represented the rest of the world against the Aussie charge.

Canadian PokerStars qualifier Robert Acton can take pride in being the last international in the tournament, with his 20th place earning him AUD $6902 for his efforts.

"I'm really happy with the way I played. The field has been a hundred times better than anywhere else I've played, the locals have been really friendly and fiercely competitive and the ANZPT has been run really well and has the best structure," he said.

The British Columbian construction company owner is not new to the game and he's looking to continue his journeys on the international poker circuit. "I'm looking to play in more events on the PokerStars European and Latin American Poker Tours."

One thing's for sure - despite the fact that the ANZPT Sydney Main Event title is staying on home soil, Acton will be back next year, along with a larger international contingent. From all reports, our foreign visitors have had nothing but praise for this fledgling tour, which underlines Australia and New Zealand's status as one of the best poker destinations on the planet.

Matthew Pongrass was the only player to hit the rail during level 22. His [ac] [8d] found Paren Arzoomanian waiting with [10h] [10s], and the board of [9h] [jc] [ks] [3h] [kd] brought no joy.

After the third level of play today, blinds are about to be cranked up to level 23 (15,000/30,000 with an ante of 3000). There are 14 players remaining, with Arzoomanian's aggression earning him the chip lead ahead of Haddad and Argyros.

We're down to two tables in the battle for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event, and players continue to steadily stream from the tournament area.

Eight of the 26 players who started the final day were eliminated during the opening level of the day, with Michael Marvenak out in 22nd when Matthew Pongrass' K-J improved to a pair of jacks after Marvenak had also flopped a pair, albeit nines.

Andy Meldrum's run ended in 21st when his [kc] [6c] failed to connect on a board of [5d] [9d] [jc] [8d] [3d] as Matthew Pongrass' [ad] [7d] turned a flush.

The final non-Australian in the field, PokerStars qualifier Robert Acton, fell in 20th spot when his [ac] [8h] and James Newhan's [10h] [6h] both made a straight on a board of [5d] [4d] [2d] [3h] [10s], but Newhan's six prevailed.

In the biggest pot of the day so far, Peter Ling's [qh] [qc] looked in great shape against the [7s] [7d] of Majed Haddad, but the board of [9d] [kc] [6d] [2d] [qd] gave the local a flush and propelled him to the chip lead with 1.4 million.

The field was redrawn at 18, and it didn't take long for David Hibbott to join the others on the rail. After plenty of pre-flop action, Hibbott, holding [ad] [10h] found himself up against the [jd] [jh] of Ben Barclay, and the jacks prevailed as the board ran out [8s] [7s] [8h] [3d] [5s].

Just before the level ended, PokerStars.net Team Australia player Tony Hachem's dream of a breakthrough tournament victory was dashed. In pole position to double through Joel Dodds, Hachem's pocket aces were cracked when Dodds' kings improved to a set on the flop. He then bowed to the [ks] [kh] of Chris Kittos when the board of [2h] [8s] [10c] [5h] [qc] missed Hachem's [ac] [7d].

Matt Burgoine, a poker manager at Crown in Melbourne, celebrated his first big tournament cash with 16th as Haddad's pocket kings prevailed over Burgione's A-6.

Haddad (1.5 million) now leads from Billy Argyros (1.2 million), Barclay (920k), Chris Kittos (870k) and a resurgent Lisa Walsh (760k). Blinds will soon be at level 22 (12,000/24,000 with an ante of 3000).

With such an even spread of chips, it's hardly surprising that the progress has been slow and steady in the early going on the final day of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Only two players were KOed in the first 30 minutes, with Phi L Luu first out when he first made a move with [7d] [3s] only to find the short-stacked Joseph Nati waiting with [ks] [kc], then committed the last of his chips with [4s 2c] which had little hope against the [ad] [ac] of Hugh Cohen.

Danny Joukhader was next to go when his pocket 10s led all the way to the river, only for Chris Kittos (A-Q) to make a pair of aces.

Big movers in the early going have been Chris "Lev" Levick (up to 420,000 from a starting stack of just 124,000) and Andy Meldrum, whose sheared a pile of chips from Lisa Walsh when his A-Q hit the flop against Walsh's sixes. The affable Meldrum is up to more than 600,000.

Joel Dodds delivered a mortal wound to Joey Lawrence when his nines held up against pocket sixes, then Billy Argyros celebrated his first scalp of the day when Lawrence's A-3 failed to connect against the nines of "The Croc", building his stack to more than 1,000,000.

Once again, it promises to be a massive day here at Star City, with a PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne satellite underway, a single table tournament underway to decide the first contestant on Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem's new poker reality show The Poker Star, and a $550 teams event scheduled to kick-off at 4pm.

Meanwhile in the Main Event, we're about to kick up to level 21, where the blinds will be 10,000/20,000 with an ante of 2000.

Like most other parts of the world, poker has become a younger man's (and woman's) game in Australia. Over the past three years, names like PokerStars.net Team Australia players Grant Levy and Eric Assadourian, James Broom, Dory Zayneh, Stewart Scott, Haibo Chu, Daniel Botta and Luke Santo have topped the honours in Australia's biggest tournaments.

But the old guard have been biding their time, and today could be the day they have their revenge. That's not to say that Billy "The Croc" Argyros is about to be shipped off to the retirement home, but in poker terms, he's not far off getting a telegram from the Queen.

Indeed, Argyros, one of the inaugural inductees into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame, has been around long enough that his nickname was coined by the legendary Johnny Moss.

Argyros won his first title on debut in Adelaide in 1989 and full of confidence, became one of the few local players to have, at that time, made the trip to Las Vegas for the WSOP. The Croc nickname emerged on that trip, when he announced to assembled crowd watching him and the legendary Johnny Moss go heads-up in a satellite (that Argyros would win), "I'm Crocodile Bill from Down Under".

Crocodiles might be prevalent in this part of the world, but this Croc is an endangered species in the final 26 of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

PokerStars.net Team Australia player Tony Hachem is yet to win a major title. He came within a whisker at last year's New Zealand Poker Champs Main Event where he was runner-up, and would love to rid himself of the bridesmaid's tag.

But for Argyros, Hachem and the 24 other challengers, they'll first need to negotiate a tense afternoon of poker before the final table is decided. We'll be playing right through today until the first ANZPT Sydney champion is decided. It promises to be an enthralling day, so join us from 12.30pm today (3.30am GMT) for the final day's play.

Seat allocation

Table 21

Seat 1: Billy Argyros (Australia) 853,000
Seat 2: Ben Barclay (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 777,000
Seat 3: Paren Arzoomanian (Australia) 585,000
Seat 4: Matthew Burgoine (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 333,000
Seat 5: Chris Kittos (Australia) 357,000
Seat 6: Joel Dodds (Australia) 190,000
Seat 7: Joey Lawrence (Australia) 192,000
Seat 8: David Zhao (Australia) 537,000
Seat 9: Danny Joukhader (Australia) 412,000

Table 22

Seat 1: John Caridad (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 269,000
Seat 2: David Hibbott (Australia) 481,000
Seat 3: Phi L Luu (Australia) 160,000
Seat 4: Joseph Nati (Australia) 75,000
Seat 5: Tony Hachem (Australia) Team PokerStars Australia 414,000
Seat 6: James Newhan (Australia) 397,000
Seat 7: Robert Acton (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 245,000
Seat 8: Marcial Dias (Australia) 113,000
Seat 9: Hugh Cohen (Australia) PokerStars Player 272,000

Table 23

Seat 1: Majed Haddad (Australia) 705,000
Seat 2: Chris Levick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 124,000
Seat 4: Peter Ling (Australia) 623,000
Seat 5: Marc Liddell (Australia) 218,000
Seat 6: Andy Meldrum (Australia) 314,000
Seat 7: Lisa Walsh (Australia) 656,000
Seat 8: Michael Marvenak (Australia) 128,000
Seat 9: Matthew Pongrass (Australia) 263,000

The structure for today's play is:

Level 20: 8000/16,000 (ante 2000)
Level 21: 10,000/20,000 (ante 2000)
Level 22: 12,000/24,000 (ante 3000)
Level 23: 15,000/30,000 (ante 3000)
Level 24: 20,000/40,000 (ante 4000)
Level 25: 30,000/60,000 (ante 5000)
Level 26: 40,000/80,000 (ante 5000)
Level 27: 50,000/100,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 28: 60,000/120,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 29: 80,000/160,000 (ante 20,000)
Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (ante 30,000)

By Stephen Bartley

From Miami John Cernuto to Chris Rossiter - they fell one-by-one on the penultimate day of season five of the EPT. It left us eventually with eight, but nothing today was ever set in stone. Chip leaders became early fallers, while those previously with little hope become giants in short order. So it had to be if we were to reach our Grand Final final table.

Dag Martin Mikkelsen finally saw to that, busting the last British player, Chris Rossiter, with a touch of good fortune, to greatly help his own cause. The Norwegian returns tomorrow in pole position with more than seven million tournament-leading chips.

Chip leader Dag Martin Mikkelsen

Here's how they'll line up:

Seat 1 - Peter Traply, Hungary, PokerStars qualifier, 4,365,000
Seat 2 - Mikhail Tulchinskiy, Russia, 3,220,000
Seat 3 - Eric Qu, France, 2,880,000
Seat 4 - Peter De Korver, Holland, PokerStars player, 2,500,000
Seat 5 - Alem Shah, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, 1,490,000
Seat 6 - Daniel Zink, Gemany, 1,865,000
Seat 7- Martin Woodward, USA, PokerStars qualifier, 4,560,000
Seat 8 - Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Norway, 7,315,000

Throughout the week, top German pros had been edging towards the top of the chip lists, a similar story that has played out all season. The likes of Sandra Naujoks and Sebastian Ruthenberg may have departed yesterday, but their hopes rested on the talented shoulders of George Danzer and Johannes Strassmann, two players who had demonstrated an ability to make others look bad.

George Danzer

Danzer arrived with great confidence but his early fighting spirit was stamped on prematurely, out in 24th place. Strassmann fared better, his steely approach guiding him through the early levels, but his plans were put on hold until next time, falling short of the final table in 14th position.

Johannes Strassmann

If 14th was unlucky for Strassmann, 13th was just as bad for Annette Obrestad. When she busted the atmosphere changed - the plot we were all following was ripped up, shredded and swapped for something no one had expected. The purists' favourite was suddenly gone, victim to some bad aces, crushed by Peter De Korver's nines that first made a set, then the quads. Obrestad had seemed in control, her class showing through yesterday when recovering from a knock that sent her back to 150,000. She recovered then but not today. The final table would have been richer with her along too.

Annette Obrestad

But those left showed a determination to fight every inch of the way, making tomorrow's final entirely unpredictable, peppered with unknown quantities. He may have flown under the radar before arriving in Monte Carlo but Mikael Tulchinskiy might well turn out to provide the kind of zero-to-hero, chip and a chair, stories so beloved of the poker myth-makers. Despite starting among the short stacks, a few double ups will work wonders, and Tulchinskiy did just that, at one point assuming the chip lead and then reclining for the cruise to the final table.

Mikhail Tulchinskiy

Ludovic Lacay's story was almost precisely the opposite. Primed for action on arrival this afternoon, the Frenchman was soon forced to endure the bad times of beat after beat, culminating in a make-or-break shove with Q-J that ran slap bang into Strassmann's A-K. Lacay left the building in 21st place.

Ludovic Lacay

There were some weighty fallers in the closing stages. The online wizard turned EPT serial-casher Stephen Silverman would depart 12th, the brilliantly named Grayson Physioc in 11th, then Marc Naalden, one of the few players left with EPT final table experience, seen off in tenth by Dag Martin Mikkelsen. With Rossiter gone on the TV bubble that was that.

We have our final table, the last of season five, ready to make history tomorrow afternoon.

Chris Rossiter

That's where all eyes now turn. Eight players will enter the Salle des Etoiles, but only one will leave with the EPT trophy. Most will claim that to be the true goal, but the €2.3 million that goes with it might be hard to ignore.

Until tomorrow it's goodnight.

The stage is set for a gripping finale to the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event with 26 players still in contention for the title and the AUD $246,500 first prize.

After starting day two with 185 hopefuls, eliminations continued steadily throughout the day until play stonewalled on the bubble. It took 12 hands until Mark Lasarow was virtually blinded out, and 45 players celebrated a spot in the cash, with a minimum payout of AUD $4437.

Heading into the final day's play, the chip leader is the most experienced player in the field, Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Billy "The Croc" Argyros, on 853,000.

One of Australia's most colourful players, "The Croc" is a multiple winner of tournaments on both sides of the Tasman and overseas. He is in career best form, as shown by his fourth place in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship at the 2008 WSOP and numerous H.O.R.S.E. titles on home soil in the past 18 months.

PokerStars Qualifier Ben Barclay is next on 777,000, followed by Majed Haddad (705,000), the only female player still in the field Lisa Walsh (656,000) and Peter Ling (623,000).

PokerStars.net Team Australia player Tony Hachem created a spot of history when he became the first player to cash in two ANZPT events. He also leads the ANZPT season leaderboard, but will be hoping to go further in this tournament. He's on 414,000 in ninth position, just above the chip average.

Four other PokerStars qualifiers - Matthew Burgoine, John Caridad, Chris Levick and the only non-Aussie among the final 26, Canada's Robert Acton - will also be back tomorrow.

After a couple of cleansing beverages and a regulation eight hours' shut-eye, we look forward to returning tomorrow at 12.30pm (3.30am GMT) for the final day of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Team PokerStars.net Team Australia contingent has been reduced to one - Tony Hachem - after the elimination of Eric Assadourian. With a big rail of friends and family following his progress, Assadourian looked in great shape with pocket aces against the pocket jacks of Chris Kittos, until a heart-breaking jack landed on the flop.

That meant 28th position for Assadourian, adding another cash to his long list of in-the-money finishes in Australasian poker.

Other recent eliminations have been Antonis 'Toothpick Tony' Kambouroglou (35th), Bruce Nguyen (34th), Markelos Conias (33rd), Van Tran (32nd), Michael Manttan (31st), Brendan Mitchell (30th) and Maria Martinez (29th).

Mitchell's elimination was particularly nasty. He was all-in with [8d] [8c] against the [4d 4c] of Robert Acton, and watched the flop come [2d] [ad] 7d]. The turn bricked [2c] but the [4h] sent him to the exit.

Nguyen's elimination wasn't much better. He took [as] [qc] to the starting post against the [10c] 10h] but was quickly gathering his personals after the flop came [5d] [10s] [10d]. Ouch.

In contrast, our man from Brisbane, Jeremy Norton received a much-need injection of chips courtesy of Matt Burgoine. It was Norton's [ac] [7c] against Burgoine's [qd] [jd], and the first four cards - [kd] [10s][7h] [jh] had Norton poised for elimination. Bang - the [7s] sails down the river to save the tournament life of the PokerStars qualifier.

With just five hands remaining in day two, it seems we'll be left with 26 or 27 players for tomorrow's finale to the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney event.

Let the carnage begin! A long bubble period is usually followed by some quickfire eliminations, and that's certainly been the case late on day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Terry Tserdamis, Taner Durust, Monica Nguyen, Milan Gurung wasted little time collecting their $4437 cheques, while Alexander Shishkin crashed out in 41st. That came after he shoved [kh] [10h] into a flop of [qc] [as] [7s], only to find Billy "The Croc" Argyros waiting with [ad] [ks]. The board ran out [2s] [qs], and Shishkin was shish-kebabed.

Argyros also claimed the scalp of Owen Oates when "The Croc" filled up with [9d] [9c] on a board of [2d] 2h] [6h] [10s] [9s] against Oates' [ks] [qh].

Tty Ly (39th) and Henry Sun (38th) were next out, with Sun unlucky when Maria Martinez's [8d] [2h] improved to a pair of eights on a board of [5d] [7c] [8c] [ah] [ac] against the Sydneysider's [ks] [2d].

Michael Tran followed in 37th when he pushed with [ac] [8c] but Peter Ling [qd] [jh] flopped a straight as the board showed [9d] [kh] [10c][7h] [js].

Argyros was at it again as Aussie PokerStars' qualifier Torgeir Solemdal launched a pre-flop raising war with the wily veteran. The money was all-in with Argyros' [js] [jh] in good shape against Solemdal's [ad] [jd]. The board came [9c] [6h] [qd] [3c] [8s] and "The Croc" was snapping at the one-million mark.

Entering the final hour of play, Peter Ling is the chip leader on 840,000 ahead of Argyros (800,000), Lisa Walsh (500,000), Phil Luu (460,000), Van Tran (445,000) and Majed Haddad (400,00). Blinds are at 6000/12,000 with a 1000 ante, with less than an hour of play remaining for today.

The never-ending bubble has finally burst and the top 45 players in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event have been decided. It took 12 hands for Sydney-based South African Mark Lasarow to commit his last remaining 1000 chip with K-7, only to find Robert Acton poised with K-Q, and a relieved group of players headed for a well-deserved break after the board ran out 10-high.

Several players had flirted with extinction during the bubble period - the now short-stacked Monica Nguyen had her stack slashed to less than 20,000 when her 8-7 ran into two players with A-K, while a handful of other short stacks, such as Maria Martinez and Michael Manttan, made the commitment only for the other players to fold.

That means the remaining 45 players are assured a minimum payout of AUD $4437, with PokerStars.net Team Australia duo Eric Assadourian and Tony Hachem among those to have cashed. And Hachem becomes the first player in ANZPT history to have cashed in two events.

The atmosphere at Star City night is amazing - the rail is three deep watching the Main Event and the $10,000 High Roller event, which attracted a field of 22 players.

They include PokerStars.net Team Australia trio Grant Levy, Celina Lin and Emad Tahtouh (a last-minute starter), Andrew Scott, high stakes regulars Sammy Youssef, Jason Gray, Jamie Pickering, Bill Jordanou and Warwick Mirzikinian and young guns Jonathan Karamalikis, Ben Delaney, Harris Pavlou and Daniel Neilson.

Already, Hoi Wing Cheung and Johnny Huynh have been eliminated, leaving Karamalikis an early chip leader but it promises to be a long night for the High Rollers field.

The tension creeps up another notch with blinds up to 4000/8000 with an ante of 500, and we're just four players short of the money in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Main Event.

Surprisingly, the action is still running thick and fast with the short stacks forced to make a stand or suffer the consequences. It proved a successful tactic for Chris Levick as his A-Q connected against pocket jacks but not so for PokerStars qualifier Nick Muzha, who pushed A-K into the pocket jacks of Lisa Walsh, but missed the board.

Matt Burgione also received a timely double-up when his A-K hit a king on the flop against the pocket nines of Monica Nguyen, although it barely put a dent in her massive stack.

We also have a new chip leader: Peter Ling. Talk about staying under the radar - Ling, who finished fifth behind Alexander Kostritsyn in the 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event, and cashed in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, has just smashed through the 800,000-chip barrier.

And we've just received a special request from Jeremy Norton, a PokerStars qualifier from Brisbane. Message to wife Linda: "Hi, I'm doing fine and sitting on about 125,000 in chips." Stick the Moet on ice Linda!

But for Andrew Jeffreys, Tolly Sakellariou and Adam Kane, the dream of reaching the money has been dashed - desperately close to the line.

The chip count currently reads Peter Ling (800,000), Phi Luu (510,000), Van Tran (500,000), Billy Argyros (465,000) and Lisa Walsh (460,000).

The talk over dinner centred around a bizarre hand late in level 15 that had the entire field crowded around table 22. It's not to explain, but we'll do our best!

A player under the gun raised all-in pre-flop holding pocket queens. Another player in late position announced raise, in turn, but did not know how much so he was required to make a minimum raise (for a lot more).

Then the player in the small blind announce call, in turn, but thought he was only calling the all-in bet from the player under the gun. Nope. So he had to call the minimum raise from the player in late position (which was also for a lot more chips).

Off to the flop, which came [5d] [js] [6h]. The under-the-gun player (Brett Hoole), checked to the late position player (Thomas Richter) who moved all in for his last 70,000. Hoole called, turning over pocket queens. Richter was holding pocket nines, and the small blind player (David Hibbott), turned over [ad] [qd].

"Hold up, just one time," Hoole cried. The [6h] on the turn was of no help to any player, but then Hibbott caught lightning in a bottle - the [ac] on the river! Hibbott got down on his knees, pumped his fists and screamed triumphantly while the railbirds cheered, booed and gasped.

When order was eventually restored and the crowd cleared, Hibbott was the only player remaining, stacking up to 400,000 in chips, while Hoole headed for the door and Richter dwindled to a very short stack. At least, we thought that was the case, as the crowd almost trampled us to the ground.

We've also recently lost Swedish PokerStars qualifier Ola Jernberg, with Monica Nguyen claiming another victim while Chris Levick, one of the top performers yesterday, received a much-needed double-up when he took out Torgeir Solemdal with aces over kings.

Phil Luu has also been a big mover in recent times, after he slashed a mountain of chips from Paren Arzoomanian's stack. We're now getting close to the bubble with 52 players still in the hunt, just seven spots before the bubble bursts. The top five stacks belong to Billy "The Croc' Argyros (450,000), David Hibbott (440,000), Phil Luu (420,000), Peter Ling (420,000) and Van Tran (400,000).

By Landon Blackhall

Paren "Puzz" Arzoomanian started day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Main Event with just 27,000 in chips, well below the average of 53,000. He's now a massive chip leader after the biggest pot of the tournament. And his unfortunate victim was PokerStars qualifier and former chip leader Yue Wang.

We caught the action on the turn as the board read [5d] [3c] [6s] [7s]. Wang was first to act and moved his 252,000 stack all in. Arzoomanian went into the tank for several minutes, then reluctantly made the call. He need not have worried, as his set of sevens was well ahead of the [ad] [3d] of Wang.

Wang could only hope for one of three fours to appear on the river to chop the pot, but it wasn't to be. As soon as the [2s] fell, tournament staff got busy counting the stacks of both players.

When ANZPT tribal chief Danny McDonagh announced that Arzoomanian had Wang outchipped by more than 100,000, Wang could only sit there, staring at the now empty space of felt in front of him, on the verge of tears. Eventually he muttered, "thank you", then slowly got out of his seat and walked away.

Arzoomanian is now the outright chip leader with more than 600,000 and is in fine form to go very deep into this tournament.

With all that drama passed, we then chatted with PokerStars qualifier Ola Jernberg, who continues to dominate his table - even eliminating another opponent while talking to us between hands. He's sitting on a respectable 214,500 and is confident of making a deep run in this tournament.

"I hope I make the final table, I've been playing well but I know there's still a long way to go," the Chinese-based Swede said.

"I've always wanted to come to Australia, it's my first time here and I'm enjoying it. Like any of the overseas players that have come here, we all love poker and we're happy to play anywhere. The ANZPT may be in its first year, but it's a great field and a great tournament, I'm sure it's going to do very well!"

We're on the downhill stretch to dinner and another Garden Buffet extravaganza, with 73 players remaining - just 28 short of the money. Blinds are currently at level 15 (2000/4000 with an ante of 500).

The Star City poker room has taken on a surreal atmosphere this afternoon as the race for the money heats-up in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Over the past few days, a bevy of stunning swimwear models have been staying at Star City, culminating in last night's salubrious and prestigious Ralph Magazine Australian Swimwear Model of the Year.

A hush fell over the room, the chips stopped clinking, the cards fell dead halfway through the air and the heads all turned in one direction as the Ralph girls made their way through the poker room for their own promotional poker tournament. The temptation to make a thousand bad puns is almost irresistible, but we will contain ourselves - for now.

Oh yeh, back to the tournament. PokerStars.net Team Australia player Eric Assadourian has been steadily climbing the chip count throughout the day, and raked in another big pot when Mathew Rolfe folded on the river after a bet of 35k from Eric with the board showing [kd] [5c] [ad] [7h] [3s].

In contrast, Trung Tran's tournament has just come to a sudden end. After climbing back from the felt in the early going, he picked the wrong moment to push all-in with the board showing [qs] [5c] [10d] [qd].

Lisa Walsh couldn't believe her luck, called and showed [5s] [5h] for a full house, while Tran's [6d] [7d] was in a world of hurt. The river fell [2h], leaving down to a handful of chips.

Another player whose enjoyed a solid day is Majed Haddad. He recently finished second in a major Australian Poker League tournament, which earned him a seta in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

The 30-year-old truck driver has been playing in the pub-based competition for the past three years and said he'd love to buy a Ferrari - "or two" - should he win the big one in November. For now, he's travelling nicely towards the cash and a shot at the first ANZPT Sydney title.

The race for chip lead has become a close tussle between PokerStars qualifier Yue Wang (330,000), Nathan Davis (320,000) and Paren "Puzz" Arzoomanian (290,000). Players have just returned from their second break of the day, with blinds up to 1500/3000 and a 500 ante.

We're about to tick over the three-hour mark on day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event, and already the field has been slashed from 185 to 108 - 53 spots short of the money.

In what is set to be a battle of the ages, Eric Assadourian has joined fellow Team Australia PokerStars Pro Tony Hachem on table 19. Despite the constant battle for state pride between Victoria and New South Wales in this tournament (or any tournament in Australia, for that matter), the two are good mates and are sure to be a threat to the others at their table, who include Angela Connell, Majed Haddad and local cult figure Antonis 'Toothpick Tony' Kambouroglou.

Earlier, 'Toothpick' took down a massive 100,000 pot to eliminate Tim Clarke. The money went in before the flop - Kambouroglou held A-5 off-suit while Clarke was ahead with pocket sevens. However the flop of [ac] [ts] [5c] gave Kambouroglou two-pair to take the lead. The turn and river bricked out, sending Clarke to the rail.

Meanwhile Bruce Nguyen is having a tough day on table 17. He's down to 77,500 after Michael Confos open-shoved on the turn with the board reading [2d] [kh] [7s] [ad]. Nguyen considered the call for some time, but then elected to lay it down.

Tablemate and former chip leader Joseph Moussa has had a quiet day so far, but is still sitting pretty on 220,000, quite content to take his time.

Jai Kemp seems to has lost his mojo on table 14 - he's shrunk back down to 165,000 while Monica Nguyen soldiers on, doubling through two players to get back up to 115,000. Ola Jernberg is holding steady on 265,000 in chips, though he did lose a pot to PokerStars qualifier Jeremy Norton, who is now on an impressive 285,000.

All the action aside, it is still Yue Wang who is dominating Day 2 of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event, coasting along to an almost certain berth into Day 3 with a monolithic stack of 370,000.

Players we've farewelled so far today include Daren Yoon, Oz Poker Tour's Brad Locking, Narbeh Hovsepian, Matthew onmyVplates Pearson, Harris Pavlou, Ben Savage, US PokerStars qualifier Dennis Hanshew, Ben Delaney, Michael Mayar, David St Eloi, Jeff Lisandro, Sam Jessop, Assadour Assadourian (father of PokerStars.net Team Australia player Eric Assadourian), Brooke Howard-Smith, Shaun Gray and WA's favourite son Max Veenhuyzen.

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander

Monica Nguyen is one of the most popular on the local poker circuit, so it was hardly surprising that her recent double-up in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney was greeted with roars of approval from the rail.

At the recent Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series at Crown (which will host the next ANZPT event later this month), Nguyen joined just a handful of female players to have won an event at a major local championship. She earned AUD $64k for her win in the $2700 buy-in High Stakes event against a field that included many of the top players on the local scene.

She's still firmly in the race to become the first female to win a major title in Australia after a recent double-up took her to more than 100,000.

The most dramatic hand of the day was just played out, which allowed Melbourne local and PokerStars online qualifier Andrew Jeffreys has managed to build up his dwindling stack in sensational fashion.

Jeffreys found his money in the middle with Con Angelakis and Theodore Kyiacou. So off to the flop they went with Angelakis holding [ks] [kh], Kyiacou [9s] [9h] and Jeffreys [qc] [10h].

The flop came out [9c] [8c] [qs] - though Jeffreys had hit top pair, Kyiacou was well ahead over with his set of nines. However the turn and river of the [10s] [qd] filled up Jeffreys, who pumped his fist in the air, triumphantly shouting, "Ship the justice", which is the catch cry for the Insane Poker Crew members here in Sydney, who include Nguyen and Matt Burgoine. Jeffreys is now back up to 84,000 in chips.

Meanwhile the rich keep getting richer. Yue Wang is dialled in, having won pot after pot and moving up to the overall chip lead with 354,000. Ola Jernberg continues to dominate on table 20 with 209,000 after busting Jason Brown. However Johnny Huynh has taken a hit to his stack after losing an all-in race with pocket fives against the [as] [qc] of Quoc Nguyen, moving down to 114,500.

Andrew Scott, runner-up to Nam Le in last year's APPT Macau High Roller event, made a last stand with [10d] [4d], with Lisa Walsh [9s] [9c] making the call. The board ran out ah as 3c 5h kd, sending Scott out but he'll be back for tonight's AUD $10,000 buy-in High Roller event.

Brett Chalhoub won the opening event of the ANZPT Sydney schedule but his hopes of adding the Main Event crown ended when his [ks] [qs] ran into the [ah] [8h] of David Zhao. The board showed [9c] [3s] [3d] [3c] [7c], and Chalhoub was out.

Players are just about to take their first break, and already almost 60 players have hit the rail today. Blinds will be up to level 12 (1000/2000 with an ante of 300) when play resumes on day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Working at a poker tournament isn't normally the healthiest environment - lots of late nights, too much junk food and very little exercise. Thankfully, the day-two field in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event have put that last one right, as we've been bolting from one end of the Star City poker room in an attempt to keep up with the flood of eliminations.

A total of 40 players were KOed during the opening level, with the departures including PokerStars Freeroll winner Russell Jeffrey (barely 30 seconds after the start of play), Martin McNicholl, Jeff Timko (coming off two cashes and a win in the preliminary events), Elton Muzha, Nathan Hill, Tim luckyshades Horan and Adam Galea.

In a monster hand at table 16, Zac Boustani committed his chips with A-6, Tim Eduard followed with pocket queens before PokerStars qualifier Yue Wang slammed straight over the top with pocket kings. The cowboys were good, and Wang became the first player to crack 300k.

In-form local Ray Sukkar claimed the scalp of NZ Champs final table participant Shaun Gray while another big stack, Swedish PokerStars qualifier Ola Jernberg, has snared the chip lead after his jacks took down the 10s of Allan Truong to climb above 200,000 in chips.

The big name to tumble in the early going was Australian Poker Hall of Famer Jeff Lisandro. He took a hit with Q-10 against the pocket sixes of PokerStars qualifier Dennis Hanshew, before his 8-7 never improved against the A-K of Damien Griggs.

Crown poker supervisor Matt Burgoine is making the most of his opportunity to play some cards and has powered through the first level, thanks mainly to a double-through Jason Brown's pocket jacks with A-K.

As the first level is about to conclude, players have been dropping at an average of about one every 90 seconds, and it's unlikely that the carnage will cease for some time. "Waiter, oxygen please."

Saturday morning in Sydney - the Darling Harbour craft market is packed, yachts are popping up on Sydney Harbour like a disjointed pattern of cheesecake slices and the sun is bright enough to give a hungover poker player a nasty reminder of Friday night's festivities.

Welcome back to Star City Casino in Sydney for day two in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. Over the past two days, we've watched the field of 493 reduced to 185, but the serious stuff is yet to come.

We're still 140 spots away from money and with the blinds about to seriously bite, the action should be fast and furious today. ANZPT big kahuna Danny McDonagh expects that players will face 10 one-hour levels today, which will leave us a fair way short of the final table.

Not only are players starting to think about making the money and going on to take down the AUD $246,500 first prize, PokerStars.net has added fabulous value with approximately AUD$85,000 in prizes being awarded to the three players who achieve the highest points at all ANZPT events.

The overall point leaders have the opportunity to become sponsored PokerStars.net players. The overall points' champion will win a PokerStars.net sponsorship to the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT).

Sponsorship includes Main Event entry, accommodation and return economy airfare from an Asia Pacific destination (or equivalent travel allowance if residing outside this area). Sponsorship will apply to all Season 4 APPT Main Events during 2010. Based on the projected number of APPT events in 2010, this prize is valued at approximately AUD $50,000.

The overall points runner-up wins an AUD $25,000 sponsorship package while the overall points third place player will be entitled to AUD $10,500 in sponsorship.

ANZPT Adelaide winner Karl Krautschneider currently leads the field, but Mike Stecker (fourth in Adelaide) and Tony Hachem (15th in Adelaide) are still in the hunt here in Sydney and have added incentive to go deep in this event.

Our blog team have made their footy tips, picked a winner or two in the formguide for the local races and stocked up on Aspirin and lozenges for a huge day in the Star City poker room. So join us live from 12.20pm for day 2 of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

The structure for today's play is:

Level 10: 600/1200 (ante 200)
Level 11: 800/1600 (ante 200)
Level 12: 1000/2000 (ante 300)
Level 13: 1200/2400 (ante 400)
Level 14: 1500/3000 (ante 500)
Level 15: 2000/4000 (ante 500)
Level 16: 3000/6000 (ante 500)
Level 17: 4000/8000 (ante 500)
Level 18: 5000/10,000 (ante 1000)
Level 19: 6000/12,000 (ante 1000)

Top 10 chip counts

Adam Cusenza (Australia) 177,200
Jai Kemp (Australia) 163,300
Joseph Moussa (Australia) 151,900
Johnny Huynh (Australia) 151,500
Ola Jernberg (Sweden, PS Qualifier) 147,200
Xin Zhao (Australia) 138,200
Thorsten Schafer (Australia) 130,800
Joey Lawrence (Australia) 130,000
Viet Nguyen (Australia) 127,100
Yue Wang (Australia) 121,300

By Howard Swains

Monte Carlo might as well be a million miles from anywhere. Its laws, luxury and extravagance sets it apart even from Luton, and this poker festival at the end of the EPT calendar is like nothing ever seen on the continent. By the strictest rules of geography, however, Monaco is surrounded by France - and at the end of day three of the EPT Grand Final, it's a local boy and a player far, far from his home in Maine, USA, leading the pack.

Ludovic Lacay, a regular on the EPT and a regular in the money, bagged up close to 2,300,000 chips this evening. Matt Woodward, a new face on the tour but clearly steeped in talent, had more than 2,700,000. The two of them are the closest of 31 remaining players to the EPT Grand Final first-prize of €2,300,000.

Woodward occupied the same seat pretty much all day, and watched his stack grow and grow. He began today with 440,000 but had multiplied that more than six times by day's end. For his part, Lacay picked off a huge bluff from Andreas Hoivold to surge to more than a million in chips, then he despatched the Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano to clamber another rung closer to the top of the leaderboard.

That, of course, wasn't before Pagano had recorded his record-breaking 11th cash on the EPT. Actually, that's not quite right. Pagano already held the record for all-time cashes, so this was a record extender. It's a measure of Pagano's expectations, however, that he was sickened by his exit -- kings against Lacay's A-J, an ace coming on the river -- as his superlative performance through days one and two had brought the elusive title very much into his sights.

Ultimately, Pagano was a victim of one of the fiercest tables seen at any event this season, one wholly fitting of the Grand Final. At one point or another today Annette Obrestad, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Sandra Naujoks, Joe Ebanks, Michael Watson, Ami Barer, Pagano and Lacay occupied seats on table seven. Its denizens either busted (Watson, Ebanks, Pagano, Ruthenberg, and Naujoks, in that order) or dug deep into contention for the massive prizes. Obrestad and Barer join Lacay in the hunt for the millions.

Marc Naalden, yesterday's chip leader, is still also very much in the shake up, with more than 1,700,000 in chips. Likewise the young American Steven Silverman, fresh from a cash in San Remo last week, who joins Johannes Strassmann, George Danzer, Peter Traply and Dag Martin Mikkelsen as the sharks still floating in the pool. It's a noon-time start tomorrow as they will play to the final table of eight.

Spare a thought tonight, though, for Marcel Luske, the Flying Dutchman whose elimination in 89th place made him the bubble boy, but the darling of the assembled press corps. Anyone who was in Monaco for last year's Grand Final is still nursing the wounds from the two-hour bubble. But Luske's A-9 lost to Ruthenberg's flopped set of deuces on only the second deal of hand-for-hand play. Cheerio Marcel, but thanks.

Until then, goodnight.

Just two days ago, Jai Kemp celebrated victory in the $550 six-handed event as part of the preliminary schedule for the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney. It's said that winning form is good form, and Kemp took that saying to heart on day 1B of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Just five levels into the day, Kemp, who finished fifth to Grant Levy in the 2007 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final, had amassed a stack of more than 180,000. The day 1A chip leader Joseph Moussa finished with 152,000.

For a time, Kemp threatened to tear the field apart as he climbed above 200,000, but he steadily leaked chip throughout the evening and finished the day firmly back in the pack but still well positioned heading into day two.

It was an intriguing day with Kemp more than 100,000 clear of the next player for much of the afternoon until several challengers emerged in the last two levels to close the gap.

Adam Cusenza takes the overall chip lead into day two on 177,200, ahead of Kemp (163,300), Joseph Moussa (151,900), Johnny Huynh (151,500) and Swedish PokerStars qualifier Ola Jernberg (147,200).

Other notables to reach day two from day 1B included Ben Delaney, Harris Pavlou, Chris Levick, Monica Nguyen and Peter Ling. And special mention to Michael Confos, who called it a night with 30 minutes remaining in the day, left his chips for the staff to bag and will return tomorrow with 54,200.

The day 1B field of 260 took the total field to 493 and created a prize pool of AUD $986,000 - the biggest for an event up to $3000 buy-in local poker history.

The 96 survivors from day 1B will join the 89 who remain from day 1A for tomorrow's penultimate day of action, with the field first chasing a spot in the top 45 where they'll be guaranteed a payout; then the race starts for the first prize of AUD $246,500.

That race will start with only two of the five members of PokerStars.net Team Australia. Star City ambassador Grant Levy, Celina Lin and Emad Tahtouh all hit the rail, leaving Eric Assadourian and Tony Hachem to represent.

Hachem had been patient all day, and the payoff came in the final level when he flopped a set of jacks against his opponent's A-Q, sending him to a final tally of 101,100.

The 185 players still in contention will be back at 12.20pm AEST (3.20am GMT) tomorrow for day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT. Good evening from the team in Sydney, Australia.

It's been a horror session for the PokerStars.net Team Australia contingent, with Tony Hachem left to wave the flag late into the evening on day 1B of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Emad Tahtouh's stoic battle to survive into day two is over after he disappeared from the chip count shortly after the dinner break.

Grant Levy shared his tale of woe with all at the media desk: after calling out of the small blind with [ks] [js], the flop came down Ax-Kx-Jx with one spade. Levy check-called an opponent's bet of 4000. Everyone else got out of the way as the two men saw the turn of the [4s].

Levy open-shoved for his last 11,000 in chips and his opponent called, turning over Ax-Kx for a higher two pair. Needing either a jack or a spade to stay alive, the river didn't produce either, sending 2008 APPT Grand Final winner Grant Levy to the rail. He's human after all.

Celina Lin looked to be cruising around the chip average but found herself when she walked pocket queens into 6-5 on a flop of 6-6-4 and never improved. After final-tabling in the first ANZPT event in Adelaide Lin was hoping for another good showing but only added appearance points to the race for ANZPT Player of the Year honours.

Meanwhile tournament chip leader Jai Kemp has shown some charity and dropped down to 160,000 while PokerDome founder Chris Levick has moved up to 78,000, and Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series High Stakes champion Monica Nguyen has found more luck with the duck, moving up to well over 70,000 in chips.

Andrew Jeffreys has also recovered after a poor start earlier into today's session, with a sizeable 60,000 in his stack.

Play is about to tick into the final level for day 1B, with approximately 120 of the 260 players (chip average just under 43,000) chasing a spot in the day two line-up.

How much is enough? Players at table 14 clearly have a different concept of "time" as judged by the unusual incident that played out just after the dinner break on day 1B of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

The stragglers were still making their way back to the tournament area when Lisa Walsh made a big bet into a relatively small pot on a board showing [9h] [2c] [6c] [10c]. Kiwi Oliver Gill was perplexed, and went into a tank that resembled a missile silo.

The wait went on, and on, and on ... more than five minutes before one of his tablemates mercifully called time. The New Zealander didn't looked to have made much progress in his decision making process, and mucked.

At a nearby table, a far more engaging battle is raging between high stakes online cash player Harris harrismp Pavlou and Dave Sanis. The first round went to the Queenslander when he committed his chips with [kc] [kh], and was in good shape against the [qd] [qs] of Sanis. The flop came [5h] [3h] [qh], giving Sanis a set but he was back in the mire when the [ah] landed on the turn.

Just minutes later, Sanis gained a measure of revenge when he showed the bluff [kc] [10h] on a board of [4c] [4c] [9h] [jh] [8d] after a bet of 9000 on the river was enough for Pavlou to fold. Forget Hatton v Pacquiao, we'll watch these two butt heads!

In other highlights of level seven, we watched a massive pot on table 24 between 2008 Western Classic champion Marc Des Anges and David Rodwell.

Oz Poker Tour kingpin Brad Locking made it 2675 to go in early position. Des Anges asked for a count on Locking, then re-raised to 5500. The action folded around to Rodwell who tanked for about two minutes before calling.

Des Anges and Rodwell checked the flop of [4d] [5c] [qh], however when the [kh] appeared on the turn Des Anges led out with a bet of 6000. Rodwell raised to 16,000 total, Des Anges re-raised all-in and Rodwell snap-called.

Though Des Anges thought he was ahead momentarily with [as] [ah], Rodwell rolled over [qd] [qc] for a flopped set. The river of the [jc] did not produce the miracle that Des Anges needed, thus Rodwell doubled through to 71,000. Rodwell was modest in his minor victory, quipping, "I owe everything I've learned to Tony Hachem!"

With less than 30 minutes remaining in level six, poker players start asking themselves the important question - "how in Heaven am I going to push through the Friday night crowd to make it to the free oysters at the Garden Buffet?"

We concur; it's going to be elbows at 20 paces. At least there'll be fewer players after a hectic lead-up to the dinner break on day 1B in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Slowly, a handful of players have started to peg back massive chip leader Jai Kemp. Still holding more than 200,000 in chips, the charge to cut the gasp is being led by well-known Sydney poker identity Chris Levick.

The former proprietor of the PokerDome Group, which ran a chain of tournament poker venues throughout Sydney, Levick's exposure to poker each day has manifested into some handy skills at the table.

He won several seats to the ANZPT Sydney Main Event, and has taken control of his table, which includes highly regarded Aussie pro Jamie Pickering and respected Melbourne cash game player Lisa Walsh. Levick is up to 70,000 and steadily on the climb.

Matthew onmyVplates Pearson has continued his momentum into the latter stages of the day with almost 60,000, but it remains Kemp first, daylight second. And the PokerStars.net Team Australia contingent remains intact, although Emad Tahtouh will be looking for some inspiration with his Wagyu to claw back from the felt in the evening session of play.

The list of eliminations so far today includes Dean McIver, Bryan Huang, Billy Sukkar, Ali Khalil, Leo Boxell, Stewart Scott, Bluff Pub Poker Player of the Year for 2008 Suzy Khoueis, James Broom, Michael Pedley and Jonathan Karamalikis.

We're off to fight the hordes (those last 3kgs of shrimp are mine), and when we return, blinds will be at level seven (300/600 with an ante of 75).

By Landon Blackhall

The PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event has brought together some of the biggest and best names in poker from Australia and New Zealand.

But there is a small contingent of international players who have qualified online and have made their way to Australia in an attempt to take the first ANZPT Sydney title abroad.

PokerStars qualifiers have made the long trip from the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Japan and Hong Kong - there was even female online qualifier hailing from the tiny Eastern European country of Moldova, but ANZPT head honcho Danny McDonagh informed the players that she was unable to make the trip so her 16,406.45 Moldovan Leu (AUD $2000) will stay in the prize pool.

We chatted with some of the qualifiers as they slowly worked their way through level five. Daniel Alexander of the UK was thrilled to have won a seat so he could again experience the land Down Under.

"I came over to Australia two years ago," Alexander said. "I've already done a lot of the touristy stuff before, so I've been able to just relax and enjoy my time here at Star City, which has helped me focus on this tournament."

We then met Dennis Hanshew from the US. A diehard fan of the Chicago Cubs, Hanshew's inspiration for making the trip across the Pacific was simple - his passion for poker. However hasn't been a smooth start for him.

"I got here a day late. I was supposed to start yesterday but my original flight was delayed. I've taken quite a few hits early and I'm now on around 8000 in chips, but I'll get there."

Given that we're able to keep a close eye on Hanshew (he's on table 26, right next to our media desk), we're happy to report that he's now back up to 18,000 in chips.

Canadian Zac Avdelopoulos is proudly wearing his Calgary Redwings hockey jersey at the table today (drawing some curious stares from the rugby and Aussie Rules-mad locals), and was happy to step away from his tables and chat to us after a hand in which he was forced to muck after his all-in opponent called time.

"I folded a monster. I had 10-8 offsuit in the blinds and the flop came Q-J-9. So I lead out for 3000 with the straight, but this one guy shoves all in for about 16,000 more. Another player on the button tanks, the all-in guy calls time on him and the button ends up being counted out," he said.

"I sit there and think for ages, but the guy then calls time on me too! I had no choice but to fold; for some reason I just didn't think I was good."

It seems his intuition is helping, as he's still in the tournament with 23,000. We hope that many more international players follow the lead of Zac, Dennis, Daniel and our other PokerStars qualifiers from overseas in the future - see you in Melbourne and Queenstown!

The shackles are off after a sedate start to day 1B in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Main Event at Star City Casino in Sydney. Less than 30 players had been eliminated in the first three levels, but the cry of "all-in, call" is emanating around the room.

The sun is getting low in the sky and the bars around Star City are starting to fill with workers enjoying their weekly beer o'clock festivities. But it's still office hours for the players chasing a slice of the AUD $986,000 on offer.

In a stunning charge, Jai Kemp has bolted to a massive chip lead with 167,745. That's more than Joseph Moussa (152k) finished with yesterday, and there's still five levels to go. Kemp, who finished fifth in the 2008 APPT Grand Final, is ideally positioned to once again go deep here at Star City.

Grant Levy and Celina Lin also enjoyed a successful level four after both just doubled-up. Lin's set of queens overtook Frank "The Bank" Bianco's flopped set of eights to climb back above 25,000 while Levy found aces against Dean McIver's kings to slash the Melburnian's stack almost down to the felt.

That came after he'd made the nut straight against Josh Cunningham's two-pair to take down another nice pot. As the old saying goes, Levy doesn't run like God; God runs like Levy.

Their PokerStars.net Team Australia teammate Tony Hachem has hovered just either side of the 40k mark and is now on 48k but Emad Tahtouh's tournament is on tenterhooks with barely 5000 in chips.

Tahtouh, who finished runner-up to Team PokerStars Pro Victoria Coren in the 2006 EPT London Main Event, hangs on but several big names will be free to make extended dinner plans after bowing out during level four.

The casualties included Perth's Michael Pedley, whose flush was always in strife against Michael "Halloween" Mayar's full-house that turned into quads on the river, while 2009 Aussie Millions winner Stewart Scott never got anything going today. Leo Boxell, Bryan Huang and Ali Khalil have also vacated the tournament area.

The smoking deck is currently packed to capacity as the players enjoy a 15-minute break. An even 200 players remain in contention today, with the average stack just over 25,000. When we return, blinds will be at level five (150/300 with a 25 ante).

By Landon Blackhall

There are lot of animal references in poker - tough players are called sharks, timid players are known as fish and the inexperienced players who get lucky are labelled donkeys. If you hold K-9 off suit, you've got the dog hand, pocket threes are called crabs and pocket twos are known as duck.

Inspired by all these animal references, we just took a Safari-esque expedition around the tables and found several species of fauna not native to the shores of Australia, let alone the felt-like habitat of the Star City Casino poker tables.

On table 10 we ran into Dennis Huntly with a pair of meerkats. Usually found in the plains of Africa and on popular television series Meerkat Manor, this pair of meerkats was found in a souvenir shop in New Zealand.

"(My partner) Jennifer and I love Meerkat Manor and I found this pair at this shop in Christchurch," Huntly said. "They were my mascots during the NZ Championships High Rollers Event and I ended up winning it - hopefully they'll bring me some luck here in Sydney!"

Nearby on table 11 Monica Nguyen has been the talk of the table with her poker duck, which she has been using as her good luck charm since kidnapping it for ransom at the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series from yours truly.

It has been bringing her some luck so far, however fellow Melburnian Andrew Jeffreys has been cited for animal cruelty, taking his frustration for a slow start today out on the poor creature!

Finally, we got up close and personal with Raemin Alexander and his moose on table 23. Alexander explained to us that he's been through a number of card protectors, but the Canadian beast has been bringing him the most luck.

The players have now migrated their way out of the poker pit for their first break of the day. We have lost 18 of the 260-strong herd in today's flight. The total number of entrants for the ANZPT Main Event has been confirmed at 493 with an AUD $986,000 prize pool.

Stay tuned as we bring you all the big game action - even if it's raining cats and dogs. Who will be king of the poker jungle? Who will lose and go ape? Will there 'bee' any more animal references? That's probably enough ...

Matthew Pearson is running hot. The online player known as onmyVplates took down the biggest online tournament win by an Aussie so far in 2009, and has brought similar form to day 1B of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Like so many of Australia's emerging online stars - James AndyMcLEOD Obst, Jonathan Karamalikis, Dean Nyberg and Jarred Graham - the 22-year-old Pearson makes his home in Adelaide, host city for the first ANZPT event.

Most countries have a city that their residents pick on: in Australia, it's Adelaide. South Aussies are quick to point out that their state is the only one not to be settled by convicts, but that doesn't stop the rest of the nation casting aspersions on the Croweaters at any opportunity.

From a poker perspective, South Australia is unquestionably home to our best young online players - maybe there's just not that much else to do! And it's Pearson who might have the last laugh should he continue the form displayed during the opening level today.

He just took down a big pot when he bet into a board of [10d] [6c] [9h] [qd] [6s], with his opponent making the call but quickly mucking when he saw Pearson's pocket kings.

Earlier, he'd raced to more than 40,000 in chips when he made a full house against an opponent's trip jacks. South Australia - great place, just don't drink the water!

A quick round of the room reveals that the PokerStars.net Team Australia pros have all made a steady start. Tony Hachem is chipped up to 35k after betting all the way to the showdown with trip twos, much to the chagrin of his opponent.

Grant Levy and Celina Lin, who is spending much of her time in SE Asia, are just above their starting stack of 20,000. Celina and three other players just watched the board fall [Jc] [8c] [9c] [6c] [7c], but none had a club with a pair of nines good enough to scoop the small pot.

And Emad Tahtouh has recovered from a shaky start to be back to 17,000.
Players are just about to take their first break after the conclusion of the day's first two levels, and when they return, blinds will be at 100/200.

By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander

Random table draw? The seat allocations have thrown up some intriguing battles today as a capacity field of 260 have started day 1B of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Joe Hachem Deep Stack High Stakes winner Monica Nguyen, 2008 APPT Grand Final High Roller runner-up Sam "The Colonel" Korman, the best dealer in the world Steve Williams and Andrew Jeffreys, who final-tabled the $2000 No-Limit Hold'em event at last year's WSOP, are all seated at table 11.

Then at table six, NZ poker celebrity Brooke Howard-Smith, top Aussie online player Harris Pavlou and Crown regular Bruno Portaro are butting heads.

With renovations underway here at Star City, the poker room is a little dimmer than at previous event, and Howard-Smith almost feel victim to the lack of light in the early going. He threw in what he thought was a bet of 700, but it was in fact 7000. No surprisingly, his opponent threw the hand away.

Early contender for play of the day came at table 16, where 2008 Aussie Millions $1k rebuy winner Michael Pedley and 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event final table participant Sam Capra watched a player push all-in on a board of [6s] [7c] [9s] [Qc].

The player under the pump was Sydneysider Michael "Halloween" Mayar, who thought long and hard before folding his pocket sixes. His opponent showed pocket queens - nice fold, sir.

It's been a steady start for the other big names playing today, including Team PokerStars Australia colleagues Tony Hachem, Grant Levy, Emad Tahtouh and Celina Lin and 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event winner Stewart Scott.

Aussie poker stalwart Leo Boxell is here, along with 2008 Western Classic champion Marc DesAnges and James "Jabba" Broom, seated next to Kiwi hope James Honeybone.

At this stage the total number of participants is up to 493. Those numbers will be confirmed later in the day, however based on the figures we have so far, the ANZPT Sydney Main Event has generated an impressive AUD $986,000 prize pool. Giddy up!

It might be casual Friday for Sydney's CBD crowd, but it's serious business for the 240-plus players expected to take their seats for today's day 1B flight of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) Sydney Main Event.

ANZPT chief Danny McDonagh confirmed the field would be at least 463 last night, but that was before qualifiers from a "last chance" live satellite and players buying in directly this morning were added to the tally. There's even a slight chance the prize pool could crack AUD $1 million, which would be a staggering result for a new event on an increasingly crowded tournament schedule.

After yesterday's grey and drizzly weather, the sun is out this morning for players to enjoy brekky at one of the many harbourside eateries before taking their seats at 12.30pm.

The sole PokerStars.net Team Australia representative in action yesterday, Eric Assadourian, cruised through to day two. Today, the other four PokerStars.net Team Australia reps - 2008 APPT Grand Final winner and Star City ambassador Grant Levy, Celina Lin, Emad Tahtouh and Tony Hachem - will be in action.

Others we expect to see playing on day 1B include PokerStars.net Team Asia player Bryan Huang, 2009 Aussie Millions winner Stewart Scott, 2008 Melbourne Champs victor James "Jabba" Broom, 2008 APPT Grand Final fifth-place finisher Tim English, 2009 NZ Champs high roller winner Dennis Huntly and Sam Capra, who was fifth behind Scott in the Aussie Millions Main Event back in January.

Sydney's young guns will be out in force, with Ali Khalil, Monica Nguyen, Tim Horan and Michael Mayar (fifth in the recent NZ Champs) leading the charge while the New Zealand invasion is headed by James Honeybone, Martin Cardno and Brooke Howard-Smith.

We're also expecting big things from some of Australia's top online players, with Jonathan Karamalikis, Ben Delaney, Harris Pavlou and Andrew Jeffreys spotted around the tables last night.

Like day 1A, the structure for today's play (starting stack 20,000) will be nine 60-minute levels:

Level 1:50/100
Level 2: 75/150
Level 3 100/200
Level 4: 100/200 (25 ante)
Level 5: 150/300 (25 ante)
Level 6: 200/400 (50 ante)
Level 7: 300/600 (75 ante)
Level 8: 400/800 (100 ante)
Level 9: 500/1000 (100 ante)

Join us live from Star City in Sydney from 12.30pm for day 1B of the first ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

The chips are in the bags and 89 survivors have ordered their first beverage for the evening after an enthralling opening day at the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Once again, players turned out in force to support a PokerStars.net sponsored event at Star City. Packed fields have filled the casino poker room for the past two editions of the APPT Grand Final, and there's been barely a spare seat all week for the first ANZPT Sydney tournament.

A total of 233 signed up for day 1A, with 144 sent to the rail during the nine one-hour levels. With similar numbers expected tomorrow, the total field should surpass 470 - an excellent result given this event (and tour) is in its first year.

The man in the box seat heading into day two is Aussie Joseph Moussa with 151,900. He leads from Swedish PokerStars qualifier Ola Jernberg (147,200) and local trio Xin Zhao (138,200), Thorsten Schafer (130,800) and Joey Lawrence (130,000).

Other notables to survive day 1A were PokerStars.net Team Australia pro Eric Assadourian), 2008 APPT Macau High Roller runner-up Andrew Scott, Billy "The Croc" Argyros, Jeff Lisandro, Soren Eriksen, "Toothpick Tony" Kambouroglou, Rob Galluzzo and the master of the value fold, Max Veenhuyzen.

Players eliminated included 2008 APPT Grand Final winner Martin Rowe, Graeme "Kiwi G" Putt, Steve "The Big Show" Topakas, Michael Guzzardi, Martin Comer, ANZPT Adelaide winner Karl Krautschneider and Saidal Wardak.

We'll be back from 12.30pm AEST (3.30am GMT) for day 1B in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.