21 Players Advance to $10,000 Trojan Day 2; Registration Still Open
At the end of 12 levels, there is still everything to play for in The Trojan as 21 players punched their tickets to Day 2 here at the Australian Poker Open at Doltone House Western Sydney at Club Marconi.
Leading the way is Daniel Veljkovic (396,500) narrowly ahead of Cooper Feltham (384,000) and Malcolm Trayner (372,500), but there is only six big blinds separating the trio.
Day 2 resumes at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2, with late registration still open for the first 60-minute level. Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage!
The Trojan Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Veljkovic | 396,500 | 99 |
| 2 | Cooper Feltham | 384,000 | 96 |
| 3 | Malcolm Trayner | 372,500 | 93 |
| 4 | Benjamin Bottles | 311,000 | 78 |
| 5 | Jai Duffy | 262,000 | 66 |
| 6 | Noman Mirza | 231,000 | 58 |
| 7 | Slade Fisher | 197,500 | 49 |
| 8 | Robert Spano | 184,000 | 46 |
| 9 | Martin Finger | 184,000 | 46 |
| 10 | Victor Dai | 169,000 | 42 |
Day 1 Recap
The largest buy-in event of the festival so far started slowly, but players trickled in throughout the day as the field swelled to 38 in total.
The first levels were cagey, with Daniel Veljkovic holding a modest chip lead before being overtaken by Didier Guerin.
APO Main Event champion Hasan Onay made a brief appearance, eventually shoving into the queens of Malcolm Trayner to bust midway through the day.
Trayner looked to kick on, but a stunning double elimination from Benjamin Bottles looked like he would sew up the chip lead. However, he was overtaken by Trayner and Cooper Feltham before Veljkovic regained a narrow chip lead late in the day.
The survivors will undoubtedly be joined by more players ahead of Day 2. Rehman Kassam was the last person to register on Day 1, sitting down and bagging an immaculate 100,000 stack. He, like others, will be hoping to run up a stack on Day 2.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we crown another Australian Poker Open champion!