Welcome back to Sydney and our continued coverage of the 2007 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final. The players have arrived, some of them very well rested after a two-day break, and we're just about to get underway.
The field is stacked with top pros from around the world, though there's still a very large contingent of players from right here in Australia, each with the same goal - to win the $1 million dollar first prize.
Stay with us - the cards will be in the air momentarily!
Perhaps the best word to describe the scene inside the Star City poker room is "Wow." There have been at least seven or eight all ins in the first five minutes of play, with chips being passed around the tables like a group of kids in a circle playing hot potato.
Australian Kenny Ng has gotten in on the action early, having doubled up through Michael Zowie in a hand that saw Ng run down Zowie's pocket aces with a pocket pair of queens. The pair got all of the money in before the flop and the board filled out giving Ng a set of queens and 100,000 in new chips to start the day.
Some amazing early action on on table 15 with a three way all in on the river!
Vera Milinkovic was loving the action holding on a board of and raked in a great early pot against two opponents - one held a smaller flush and the other had a straight!
Carter Gill raised preflop to 5,000 and Francisicus Dekkers made it 15,000 to go. Gill then came over the top to put Dekkers to a decision for all of his chips. He made the call showing and it proved to be the correct one against Gill's . But the board of gave Gill trip jacks and eliminated Dekkers from the tournament.