APPT Sydney Grand Final Main Event Day 1a | 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final

APPT Sydney Grand Final Main Event

Day 1a Completed

12-01-2009 20:47 UTC+11

Day 1a Is a Wrap

Donnie Peters

Day 1a on the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final saw 81 runners take to the felt. When action ended, around 50 players remained. That official number along with the official chip counts will be posted as soon as it's received.

Some of the notables that began their quest today included Julian Powell, Jason Gray and Joel "StrongPlay" Dodds. All three of those failed to survive the day. On the other hand, Graeme "Kiwi G" Putt, Dennis Waterman, Casey Kastle and Jamie Pickering will be coming back for Day 2.

Team PokerStars PRO members Eric Assadourian and Lee "Final Table" Nelson were also in action today. Both of them made it to the bag-and-tag portion of the night.

The big story of the day came not from the actual play of poker. A fight broke out between Mark Ericksen, who was playing in the high roller event, and an unknown man not participating in anything. There was an unscheduled, lengthy pause while things got settled and the tournament staff resolved the issues. Shortly thereafter, play resumed back to normal.

Tony "Bond18" Dunst was able to come out on the positive end of a few big confrontations, allowing him to boast the biggest chip stack in the room at the end of the day. He finished up with 104,325 chips, well over three times the starting stack.

The second flight is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. local time. We'll see you right back here at PokerNews.com for all the live updates as the next round of players hits the felt.

Tags: "Bond18"Tony Dunst

12-01-2009 20:31 UTC+11

Five and Done

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Tournament Director Danny McDonagh has just announced that we'll be playing five more hands tonight before the bag and tag. The tournament clock currently shows 51 players remaining in the Day 1a field.

12-01-2009 20:21 UTC+11

High Roller Update

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Midway through the 5th level of play, there are 21 players remaining in the high roller's event.

Here are a few notable chip counts:

Andrew Scott - 15,525
Danny Huynh - 34,200
Jonathan Karamalikis - 44,200
Terrence Chan - 29,100
Antonis 'Toothpick' Kambouroglou - 49,600
Warwick Mirzikinian - 45,100
Ben De'laney - 7,125
David Steicke - Busto
Jarred Graham - 20,300

12-01-2009 20:18 UTC+11

Ivan the Doubler

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Donnie Peters

Mike Ivan just doubled up with pocket twos against an opponent holding {A-Spades}

. The board ran out {10-Spades}

and Ivan now has 23,000 chips.

Tags: Mike Ivan

12-01-2009 20:14 UTC+11

Caught With His Hand in the Cookie Jar

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At table 22 a sizable pot unfolded when Frank Galea popped it up in early position to 1,600. Both Nick Velcic and Charles Lam called and all three saw a flop of {4-Hearts}

prompting a series of checks.

The turn card was the {Q-Spades}

, and Galea once again checked. Velcic checked as well, and Lam tossed out four red chips, betting 4,000. Galea made the call, and Velcic folded.

The river brough the {7-Spades}

and Galea chose to check, leading Lam to bet 8,000, a bet slightly smaller than the size of the pot. After thinking it through, Galea decided to make the call and flipped over {Q-Diamonds}