Season 3 of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) officially commenced on Tuesday as the Grand Lisboa Casino in Macau opened its doors to the first of three Main Event flights that will flow through the PokerStars Macau Poker Room this week. The room was abuzz as pros and amateurs from around the world ponied up the $40,000 HKD buy-in (approx. $5,160 USD), all on a mission to claim their piece of the anticipated $2,000,000 USD prize pool.
Day 1A attracted 119 total runners, of which 60 survived including chip leader and PokerStars player Brandon Demes (102,200), and perhaps the hottest player in the Far East at the moment, David Steicke (82,300). Finishing one and two on the overnight leaderboard, Demes and Steicke’s standout performances perhaps overshadowed one of the more significant storylines of the event thus far: the emergence of PokerStars Team Asia Pro.
Formed earlier this year, PokerStars Team Asia Pro is comprised of Asia’s best and brightest young poker minds, including Dan ‘Rekrul’ Schreiber, Raymond Wu, and Jonathan Lin – all of whom played Day 1A and survived to see Day 2. The team is rounded off by Tae Joon ‘Skat tilt’ Noh, Bryan Huang, and the team’s only female member, Celina Lin. Noh is currently slated to play Day 1B of the Main Event, while Huang and Lin are scheduled to hit the felt on Thursday, Day 1C.
Team PokerStars Pro Australia was also well-represented on Day 1A as team members Eric Assadourian (35,300) and Grant Levy (19,500) safely maneuvered their way through the minefield that was Day 1A. Aussie team member Emad Tahtouh wasn’t as fortunate, and having lost a few sizeable pots to fellow Aussie Danny Huynh early in the day, he was never able to recover hitting the rail near the end of level four.
Other notable Day 1A casualties included former WSOP Main Event Champs Johnny Chan and Monsour Matloubi, as well as young guns Vivek Rajkumar and Jay Kinkade.
Tournament Director Danny McDonagh paused the clock for the evening after seven levels of play, meaning both Day 1B and C flights can expect the same when they hit the felt this week.
For a complete list of Day 1A results, visit the PokerNews Live Reporting page where you’ll also find photos, videos and detailed accounts of the day’s action.
Play is scheduled to resume on Wednesday at 12:15pm local time (GMT +8) when the Day 1B flight takes to the felt. To receive all of the live updates straight to your Twitter, follow us @pokernews_live.
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