A collective hangover lingers over the room this afternoon.

Players are fighting it, but it’s clear the ANZPT Melbourne Welcome Party has left a few of them a little worse for wear.

The fun kicked off just after the poker action concluded last night. The chips were bagged up and players headed to the lavish cocktail bar Lumia to unwind away from the tables.

Greeted by ANZPT Commissioner Danny McDonagh with a wristband for free food and bottomless drinks, we made our way to the bar.

Aussies Stevan Chew and Anthony Legg were there enjoying a celebratory drink, as was Team PokerStars Pro Chen-an Lin. They all planned ahead and played the first Main Event flight so they’ll have all of today to recover. The three of them qualified for Day 2 and will be back to the action tomorrow.

Media and Events Manager Sam Dawson, Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang and one of Australia’s finest poker writers Joshua Bell were all in attendance too.

As the weak fell by the wayside later into the night, the true warriors partied on. Moving to the next venue a sea of young and old danced to the throwback tunes of a live band. McDonagh was still handing out drinks as players and staff reminisced on past ANZPT tour stops.

Then it was time for the third and final location for the night – another bar by the casino floor. Having clearly not had enough action on the felt this week, Didier Guerin was posing some strange prop bets to anyone willing to gamble. The bartender seemed somewhat taken aback when McDonagh asked what date her father was born, but when she finally answered, money exchanged hands between the degens.

Finally it was time to depart as everyone went their separate ways. A few of those party-goers look a little weary in the poker room here, but hopefully last night doesn’t affect their poker decisions too much.

We’ll be watching to see how the second half of Day 1B unfolds here, we hope you can stay with us!

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