$3,250 Championship Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2009 PokerStars.net APPT Auckland
$3,250 Championship Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2009 PokerStars.net APPT Auckland
Buy-in
$3,000
Entries
263
Level
26
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
5,000
That's A Wrap; Emad Dominates!
![[user67765]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
135 players took to the felt and we started in rather dramatic fashion as home-town hero Lee "Final Table" Nelson didn't quite live up to his nickname as he was incredibly eliminated from his first table on only the second hand of the day.
From that early spike in action, play was methodical for most of the day with Emad Tahtouh putting in a dominant performance. Back-to-back pocket aces was useful to send two opponents to the rail, and from there Tahtouh applied relentless pressure to his opponents and padded his stack all day.
His nearest rivals from today's play include Michael Shinzaki (109,800), James Ciurlionis (105,600), Danny Hall (93,600) and Jacky Tastavin (73,300).
In all, 67 players survived the day including PokerStars Pros Grant Levy (35,600), Celina Lin (16,300) and the defending champ Daniel Cracker (37,000).
Join us again tomorrow from 12:15pm local time (GMT+13) as we do it all again with a new batch of hopefuls as the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland Main Event continues!
Five More Hands
Tahtouh Motors On
.Tahtouh decided to narrow the field with a raise of 3,000, forcing two folds but Michael Shinzaki made the call on the button.
We took a little step closer at the prospect of our two tournament chip leaders playing a huge pot, but it wasn't to be as the scary board of
was checked down.Tahtouh tabled his queens and they were good as Shinzaki mucked. Tahtouh is now up to 160,000 chips and has a massive chip lead over the field.
Waterman Doubles
and after some time in the tank his opponent called with 
.The board ran out
to double him up to 30,000.
No More Cards For Cardno
"You've got two overs," said Cardno, revealing
."I've got eight-high!" replied Levy, flipping
.Cardno had the lead but Levy took it down when the board was spread
. Cardno hits the rail as Levy jumps to 30,000 in chips.
Dan-Sing With Death
and getting a call from a player with 
.The board ran out
to double Sing through. He's still doing it tough though with only about 10,000 chips.
Badran Finds Generous Double Up
He's slowly dropped back amongst the field, but he'll be feeling a little more positive after a recent double up.
Badran shoved from the hijack position for his last 9,475 and action folded to the player in the big blind who went into the tank. So much so, that the clock was called. The player had plenty of chips and decided to make a gambling call with
but found he only had one overcard against Badran's 
.The board ran out
and Badran doubles up to around 21,000.
The End Of Stewart Scott
Scott opened to 2,000 and Tahtouh made it 5,500. Scott then moved all in for about 13,000 and Tahtouh quickly called tabling
. Scott rolled over 
and was going to need some help.It didn't arrive, the board blanked out and Scott is gone.
Party Time In Auckland!
If you've never been to a PokerStars.net APPT event, then you won't have been to one of their infamous player parties. Last night, the drinks were following and the dance floor was more than carved up. Check out the following video to see what you're missing out on!