Main Event
Day 1a Started
PokerStars.net ANZPT Season 6 Sydney
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
PokerStars.net ANZPT Season 6 Sydney
Buy-in
2,000 AUD
Prize Pool
916,000 AUD
Entries
458
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Welcome back to Sydney for the next ANZPT
![[user162117]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Here we are once again at The Star on the beautiful Darling Harbour for the next edition of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. This is the third stop on Season 6 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour and it's likely to be the biggest yet - maybe even the biggest ANZPT ever.
Sydney has consistently hosted the largest ANZPT of the year, with 460 and 461 players partaking in the Main Event over the last two years. Last year it was Dinesh Alt who was crowned the champion, overcoming a total field of 460, including a tough final table with players like Gary Benson, Dominik Nitsche, Dejan Divkovic and Michael "WaGe N WaRz" Fadersen part of the final nine. In 2012, Gordon Huntly defeated a field of 461 and a final table which featured Liam "MON3Y$HOT" O'Rourke and Oliver Speidel, just to name a couple.
How many players will hit the felt for ANZPT Sydney this year is unknown at this point, but we do the amount of online qualifiers are very large and the live qualifiers in The Star have been strong. Regardless, players have two chances to play, with Day 1a commencing at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday evening and Day 1b set for 12:30 p.m. on Friday.
Be sure to join us here at PokerNews for live updates of ANZPT Sydney and check out our friends over at the PokerStarsBlog for some feature stories throughout the tournament.
Kicking Off The ANZPT In a New Room
We are in a new poker room here at The Star and boy can we tell you, it’s impressive. There are 30 tables spread over three areas, with great music-themed aesthetics and a couple of nearby bars. The overall ambience in the room is, for lack of a better word, pleasing.
At the moment dozens of players are filtering onto the tables in preparation for the beginning of Day 1a, which kicks off at 6:15 p.m. local time – around 10 minutes from now. A large majority of the around 140 online qualifiers are in tonight’s field, so we expect a packed poker room.
Stay tuned for all the live updates!
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Cards in Air on Day 1a
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The cards on the air on Day 1a of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event!
The tournament clock tells us that 161 players are at the tables so far, but we would venture a guess and suggest there are quite a few more.
The Plan
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
We have tried to find out exactly how many levels we will be playing today, but haven't been able to receive a straight answer. The common consensus is that we will be playing eight levels, which seems like a little bit of overkill considering this year's ANZPT Sydney Main Event has added a full day compared to the last couple of years. It does, however, mean either Day 2 or Day 3 will be quite short, so that's the silver lining. If we do play eight levels, Day 1a will draw to a close at around 3.00 a.m. local time.
Now it's time to go see who is playing Day 1a! We have already spotted plenty of notables.
Familiar Faces All Around
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
As expected there are plenty of notable names at the felt for Day 1a of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event and with the tournament clock now ticking past 200 entries, the familiar faces continue to filter in.
Players like 2012 ANZPT Queenstown champion David Allan, dual APPT / ANZPT champion Grant Levy, 2009 APPT Sydney champ Aaron Benton, Australian poker legend Mel Judah and his fellow Hall of Fame member Jason Gray, Full Tilt ANZPT Ambassador Tom Grigg, WSOP bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen and 2011 ANZPT Sydney champ Michael Kanaan are just a handful of the many names you will recognise in the list below.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
Huge Early Pot for Aston
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
You don’t generally expect to see a player exiting the poker room this early in a tournament, but that’s exactly what has just happened here on Day 1a of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event – much to the delight of former ANZ Player of the Year runner-up Anthony Aston.
We didn’t catch all the action, we just showed up once all the fireworks had already occurred. What we can tell you is that a 
board was on the felt and Aston’s lone opponent had checked to Aston, who moved all in. The two players had similar stacks of around 12,000 or so, with the rest of their starting stacks presumably already in the pot. The player called and quickly mucked and exited the tournament when Aston showed 
for a set of nines.
Just like that, Aston is the early chip leader with more than 35,000 in chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
36,000 | 16,000 |
Early Chips for Kiwi Zheng
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Kiwi Jackson Zheng has had plenty of success around the Asia-Pacific poker scene, but has yet to break through with a big result on the ANZPT. That could change here in Sydney and so far Zheng has found a pretty good start.
We arrived at a recent hand Zheng was involved in on the river of a 
board. There was already quite a large pot in the middle and Zhend led out for 2,100, coming up against one opponent. The player tanked and eventually called, but quickly mucked when Zheng turned over 
for two-pair.
Zheng is up to around 25,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
25,000 | 5,000 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0