The final flight of starting days is set to begin shortly at 12:30 p.m. local time. The field plans to be a bonanza of pros and big names. Those expected to play are Team PokerStars Pros Celina Lin, Grant Levy, Emad Tahtouh, Tony Hachem, Bryan Huang and Raymond Wu. The brother of Tony and former WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem is also slated to play along with fellow world champ Peter Eastgate.
There's already 185 players signed up for the day, crushing the numbers from either of the other two starting days. That number will continue to grow, but it is tentatively capped at 250.
The final and official chip counts from the previous starting days are in on their respective pages. It is of note that the chip counts on Day 1b include those from Day 1a as well.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews.com for all the live updates from the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final.
There's already been one bust out on the day. On one of the first hands of action, Richard Raffaelli and Joey Masangcay got all in on the board of with one card to come.
Raffaelli held against Masangcay's . The river was the , sending Raffaelli to the rail almost immediately after taking his seat in the event.
On a final board of , Aussie Millions champion Stewart Scott called a bet of 2,000 from his opponent. Scott tabled against his opponent's to rake in the pot.
The player admitting to thinking he held instead of . Scott's up to 34,000.
David Saab is always up for activity. After raising to 300 preflop, Saab was called by Bryan Huang. The two players took a flop of . Saab bet 300 after Huang checked and was called.
The turn brought the and both players checked. The river was the and Saab fired with a bet of 500 saying, "I value bet 500 pesos." Huang made the call and was shown by Saab, just ace high. Huang mucked his hand.
On the next hand, Saab raised to 300 again and Andrew Hinrichsen reraised to 1,000. Saab made the call.
The flop came down and both players checked. The turn brought the and both checked again. After the river fell with the , Saab fired 1,400. Hinrichsen folded and Saab scooped the pot.
Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis raised a player's bet of 300 to 1,000. His opponent, David Borg, then reraised to 3,000. Karamalikis made the call. The flop came down with two hearts. The actual suits of each card were unknown.
Karamalikis bet 3,500 and Borg raised to 8,000. Karamalikis moved in and Borg called, holding two kings. Karamalikis held a heart draw with the .
The turn and river bricked for Karamalikis and he was sent packing.
In a raised pot, James Broom fired a continuation bet of 250 on a flop of . He was called by his lone opponent in the hand.
The turn was the and the river was the . Both players checked on each street following the flop. Broom tabled and his opponent held , causing a chopped pot.