Celina Lin
Graeme Putt opened with a raise to 550 from late position before Celina Lin popped it up to 1,700 from the button. The action folded back around to Putt who asked, "How much do you have left?"
"20,075," came the reply from Lin.
"Do you want to just get it in now? Get it over with?" chirped Putt.
"If you like Graeme," was the diplomatic response from Lin.
Putt then took another look at his cards before sighing and open-folding on the table.
"Meh, I thought I had pocket kings!" laughed Putt.
"Hmmm, that's not a very good hand Graeme!" was the ever-polite response from Lin as she padded her stack.
Emad Tahtouh
We arrived at the table to find PokerStars Team Australia Pro Emad Tahtouh committing all of his last chips into the pot on a .
His two opponents, Stewart Scott from under the gun and an unknown player in late position, had 2,200 each in front of them, and it appeared that Tahtouh had put in a big check-raise for an additional 11,675.
After minutes of deliberation his opponents released and Tahtouh took down a nice pot to get himself back up above starting stack, as he flashed the .
Dennis Waterman
There aren't a lot of Americans in the field today, but two of them are seated next to each other on table 14.
Dennis Waterman and Michael Shinzaki recently tangled in a pot that saw Shinzaki come out on top.
The two Americans went heads up to a flop with Shinzaki leading 900 chips from middle position. Waterman came over the top to 2,950 with Shinzaki tanking before making the call.
On the turn Shinzaki confidently fired out 3,000 chips and Waterman announced call. The river saw both players check, and Shinzaki revealed his . Waterman mucked his cards.
"I would have been all in on the flop with that hand," commented Waterman shaking his head.
Waterman is down to 14,500. Shinzaki moves up to 34,000.
Grant Levy and Joel Dodds
A couple of recent arrivals are Australians Joel "StrongPlay" Dodds and PokerStars Team Australia Pro Grant Levy.
Good friends off the felt, Levy and Dodds are seated directly next to each other, after incredibly also starting on the same table at the APPT Macau event.
Speculation has started over which one has run bad to land such a table draw.
Eden Smith
In a bizarre hand, Eden Smith has doubled up and eliminated an opponent.
Three players took a flop. A player in early position checked, and Smith made it 1,200 to go. The next player to act proceeded to push all in for around 20,000 chips into a pot that wasn't even 2,500 chips.
The early position player folded and Smith made the call with his . The all-in player tabled .
The hit the turn and the completed the board on the river sending the opponent to the rail and moving Smith over 40,000 chips.
With New Zealand the first port of call for many of the smaller island nations of the South Pacific/Oceania region, this tournament is filled with citizens of South Pacific islands.
One player just took a seat at Mike King's table with a French accent. "Are you from New Caledonia?" asked King.
"Yes," came the reply from Douyere Fabrice, a Noumea based, French speaking player.
There are also representatives on Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji among others.
Lee Nelson filling the media in on his elimination
After promising he'd be tough to beat in the pre-tournament address, Lee Nelson has taken a terribly tough beat in the first minutes of play.
With some players not even in their seats yet, Nelson was out of his heading for the rail. We scrambled over to find out that he'd ran a sevens full into the quad fours of Sherif Badran.
With the board reading all the money went in on the river. It has to be disappointing for Nelson to go out of his home tournament so early in such a cooler situation.
It's a near capacity field here in the beautiful SKYCITY Casino poker room, with all but two tables currently in use for this tournament.
Our first lap of the room has uncovered the likes of Celina Lin, Stewart Scott, Graeme Putt, Robert Wang, Daniel Neilson, Emad Tahtouh, Martin Cardno, Dan Sing, Lee Nelson, and defending champ Daniel Craker.
on the table.
.
.
flop with Shinzaki leading 900 chips from middle position. Waterman came over the top to 2,950 with Shinzaki tanking before making the call.
Shinzaki confidently fired out 3,000 chips and Waterman announced call. The river 
. Waterman mucked his cards.
flop. A player in early position checked, and Smith made it 1,200 to go. The next player to act proceeded to push all in for around 20,000 chips into a pot that wasn't even 2,500 chips.
. The all-in player tabled 
.
hit the turn and the 
completed the board on the river sending the opponent to the rail and moving Smith over 40,000 chips.
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