When the PokerStars media teams finished up at around 4.30 am last night, you wouldn’t have blamed us bloggers for being a little on the weary side. While Day 1a only featured eight levels, a late 6.30 pm start would see us having to adjust our sleeping patterns a little. However, cut to twelve hours later and we are ready for more and eager to see how Day 1b of the ANZPT Auckland Main Event plays out.
Beginning at 6.30 pm local time once again, Day 1b is the set to be the day of the online player. There are already around 50 PokerStars online qualifiers registered for today’s play and we are sure we will recognize plenty of the Asia-Pacific young guns.
Last night saw 66 players whittled down to just 26 survivors. Tonight we expect a field of closer to 100 and if that’s the case, the ANZPT Auckland Main Event will easily surpass the 149 entrants that took to the felt in the south of New Zealand for ANZPT Queenstown in July. Dave Allan was the winner of that event and we have an inkling that we might see him in the field today.
One of the other players we know will be at the felt today is last season’s ANZ Player of the Year, Mishel Anunu. A big Season 4 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour saw Anunu finish up with the top prize. If he has a strong showing this week, he could be in contention to be the first player to win back-to-back prizes. Also expected to be at the tables is the Season 6 APPT Melbourne champion, Sam Razavi. Hailing from the United Kingdom, Razavi has come a long way and will surely be looking to make it count.
It’s going to be another eight levels tonight, with players of course starting with a stack of 20,000 in chips and with blinds commencing at 50-100. Make sure to stay tuned to the PokerStars Blog today as we once again bring some little anecdotes from Auckland, while PokerNews will be on the floor providing the live updates.
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