Main Event Day 1a | 2015 ANZPT Melbourne

Player	Chips	Progress
Min Jae Park	118,500 -3,500	-3,500
Nick Morales	91,100 91,100	91,100
Evan Mijo	88,500 88,500	88,500
Chia-Chang Ku	86,900 86,900	86,900
Tristan Bain	85,200 85,200	85,200
Ross Grammer	83,900 83,900	83,900
Liam O'Rourke	80,700 15,700	15,700
Gary Retallick	79,200 79,200	79,200
Adrian Indovino	79,200 79,200	79,200
Selwyn Austin	77,700 77,700	77,700
James Grosso	72,500 72,500	72,500
George Balandinos	68,000 68,000	68,000
Tino Lechich	67,100 67,100	67,100
Aleksandar Brkovic	66,900 66,900	66,900
Vincent Chua	66,800 66,800	66,800
Seonglee Ang	66,100 66,100	66,100
Erich Stadler	65,900 65,900	65,900
Peter Matusik	65,500 38,500	38,500
Claire Jackway	65,000 65,000	65,000
Adam Monaghan	61,800 61,800	61,800
Brett McGrath	61,400 61,400	61,400
Nikolaos Solomos	60,800 60,800	60,800
Aristominis Stavropoulos	59,800 59,800	59,800
Samuel Butters	59,800 59,800	59,800
Stevan Chew	58,700 20,700	20,700

Player

Chips

Progress

Min Jae Park

118,500

-3,500

Nick Morales

91,100

Evan Mijo

88,500

Chia-Chang Ku

86,900

Tristan Bain

85,200

Ross Grammer

83,900

Liam O'Rourke

80,700

15,700

Gary Retallick

79,200

Adrian Indovino

79,200

Selwyn Austin

77,700

James Grosso

72,500

68,000

67,100

66,900

66,800

66,100

65,900

65,500

38,500

Claire Jackway

65,000

Adam Monaghan

61,800

Brett McGrath

61,400

Nikolaos Solomos

60,800

Aristominis Stavropoulos

59,800

Samuel Butters

59,800

Stevan Chew

58,700

20,700

That’s all for Day 1a of the 2015 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event!

At the beginning of the day there were high hopes of a big field making their way into the Crown Poker Room with pre-series news confirming this would be the last ever stop on the ANZPT. In the end, 206 players partook in the first of two Day 1 flights. That puts the event on pace to reach close to 500 players, and at the $2,300 buy-in level, that would mean another massive seven-figure prize pool.

As usual there were plenty of familiar faces at the felt to begin the day, but not all of them made it through the evening. Some of those who were eliminated throughout Day 1a included Martin Rowe, Peter Aristidou, Daniel Neilson, Gary Benson, Jackson Zheng, Ricky Kroesen, Hugh Cohen, Didier Guerin and Tony Tartaglia.

Tartaglia was the main focus early on in the day after receiving an award from Danny McDonagh and Sam Dawson for his "loyalty to the ANZPT." In 19 attempts, Tartaglia was unable to cash in any main event over the tour's seven-year stretch. Today he unfortunately made it 20 attempts with no reward.

While the aforementioned players didn't have a good day at the felt, it was a different story for some others, specifically Min Jae Park, who captured an early lead after taking out Tartaglia in the biggest hand of the day.

After turning a set of eights, Tartaglia committed his remaining chips and was called by Park, who held pocket aces. One of the two last aces spiked on the river seeing Park jump up to 100,000 in chips, which left Tartaglia with a chip in the chair, but was followed by his demise shortly after. Park would finish the day as chip leader bagging up 118,500 in chips.

Some of the other players who finished Day 1a with plenty of chips include Graham Cowan (100,300), Liam O’Rourke (80,700), Aleks Brkovic (66,900), Peter Matusik (65,500), PokerStars Team Pro Chen-An Lin (60,900), Sam Butters (59,800) and reigning Aussie Million champion Manny Stavropoulos (59,800).

Others who survived Day 1a, albeit with smaller stacks than the leaders, include Stevan Chew (58,700), Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros (33,500), Michael Guzzardi (33,500), Anthony Legg (21,300) and Jesse McKenzie (13,800).

All the 93 survivors from Day 1a will return to the felt at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. Before then, the second and final batch of Day 1 players will hit the felt. Day 1b kicks off at 12:30 p.m. local time on Saturday and PokerNews will once again be here providing all the live updates. Be sure to join us then!

2015 ANZPT Melbourne

2015 ANZPT Melbourne

End Of Day 1a Chip Counts (full)

Park Leads 93 Survivors on Day 1a of ANZPT Melbourne