MELBOURNE, Australia – Season 5 of the PokerStars.net-sponsored Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) has officially opened its doors for business, debuting with a brand new stop: luxurious Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia.
The premier destination for all things poker in Australia, Crown has long been the stomping ground ofJoe Hachem and several of the region’s most talented players. Fitting, then, that the largest casino in the Southern Hemisphere partner with the richest poker tour in Asia for the kickoff to Season 5.
Headlining the APPT Melbourne Main Event alongside Hachem is fellow Team Pro Chris Moneymaker, who offered up a few gracious words to Crown staff for hosting the event before delivering the ‘Shuffle up and deal’ to officially get things underway.
The $5,000 buy-in Main Event attracted a total of 260 runners from 18 different countries, generating a prizepool just north of AUD $1.2 million. First place is scheduled to receive a healthy AUD $330,000.
Hachem was eliminated from the contest midway through the day; axed by fellow Aussie and PokerStars qualifier Liam Moffett.
Moneymaker flirted with the top of the leaderboard throughout the day, but dropped back to the middle of the pack before bagging 34,450 to finish the day.
Team PokerStars was also represented by Bryan Huang (Asia) and Keiran Harris (Team Online); both of whom survived Day 1 with 66,875 and 36,775 in chips respectively.
Australian pro Mitch Carle from Brisbane finished the day atop the leaderboard with 187,900 in chips.
Other notable survivors include Van Marcus, David Steicke, Daniel Neilson, Tony Hachem, Brendon Rubie, Sam Youssef, James Obst, Stewart Scott, Michele Guzzardi and Jonathan Karamalikis.
Notable Day 1 eliminations include Hachem, Graeme Putt, Tom “tollgate” Grigg, Martin Comer, 2010 APPT Sydney Grand Final champ Aaron Benton, Jackie Glazier, Jay Kinkade, Joel Dodds and Aleksandar Brkovic.
The APPT Melbourne Main Event is worth 1.5x points towards the 2011 Australia New Zealand Player of the Year Leaderboard.
TOP TEN DAY 1 CHIP COUNTS
Mitchell Carle, Australia – 187,900
Kyle Cheong, Australia – 126,825
David Allen, Australia (PokerStars Player) – 123,700
Ilir Beluli, Australia – 114,275
Francis Artufel, Australia – 111,425
David Bonadio, Australia – 111,300
Phillip Willcocks, New Zealand – 110,100
Koray Turker, New Zealand (PokerStars Qualifier) – 109,800
James Obst, Australia – 108,800
David Steicke, Hong Kong – 107,050
Action is scheduled to resume at 12:30 p.m. local time (GMT+10) when the remaining 146 players return for Day 2
