Day 1b in the Bag, Caris Edges Wittkopf
Another early morning finish has seen Day 1b of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Auckland Main Event come to an end.
SKYCITY Auckland Casino had just the 56 players take their seats for a small Day 1b field. Eyes were on several big names, which have had great success in recent times. 2009 APPT Sydney Main Event Champion Aaron Benton was seated on the same table as 2012 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event Champion Sam Razavi, with reigning ANZ POTY Mishel Anunu directly behind them, on a neighboring table. Unfortunately for these three, their days would end relatively short. Others to also fall today were Didier Guerin, Dean Francis and John Harmon.
When all the chips were finally bagged and tagged, it was Australian tournament regular Charles Caris who just edged out Local Marc Wittkopf for the chip lead at the end of the day. He finished with a 108,900-chip stack to lead his 24-strong field into Day 2. Right on his tail was Marc Wittkopf (108,600), Jie Gao (104,500) and Jason Lee (93,300). All had fantastic second halves to their days, and will be amongst the chip leaders heading into Day 2
Day 1c is set to kick off later today at 12:30 p.m NZST. We’ll be hoping to see 80 runners take to the felt, to surpass the 200-player mark for the entire event. Make sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team, for more exciting action!