We are pretty excited to be back in Western Australia this week as the ANZPT Perth Main Event kicked off today. Perth is such a cool city, and the people are some of the friendliest I’ve met in the industry. The WA players who we see on tour are a great bunch of guys, and they enjoy playing hosts for the week, as evident by a local basketball game held this afternoon between some players and staff.
The Burswood poker room staff led by Deb Wyatt are also extremely welcoming. From the issuing of security passes this morning, all the way through to providing a little background information about our chip leader as the last hands were dealt today, the Burswood poker room staff are friendly, professional and knowledgeable.
So what could they tell us about Peter Zaknic? Apparently he’s a local who is deceptively consistent in the Burswood weekly tournaments, often finding his way onto the final tables. He seemed an unlikely chip leader after we caught him earlier in the day doubling up with a rather marginal king-deuce. But later in the day he won a healthy pot with pocket kings to eliminate Vanda Williams and ended the day with 91,100 for the heaviest bag in the room.
On a day that was dominated by locals, 42 of the 89 starters survived with Luch Monte, Mark Marson and last year’s runner up John Corr all progressing well. Corr will be eyeing a repeat final table after falling at the final hurdle against Grant Levy last year.
Others to survive the day include Leo Boxell, Ali Ghezelbash, Sabastian Pagana and Tony Tartaglia who will need to double his short stack early on Day 2 to give himself a chance at reaching the cash after qualifying for this event over ten times through online satellites on PokerStars.
This evening the players are letting their hair down at the welcome party at Eve nightclub. The promise of free drinks, nibbles and live entertainment is too much to resist. We’re going to mosey off and join them, but we promise to be back same time, same place tomorrow for the final flight of the ANZPT Perth Main Event. It will no doubt be a much larger field tomorrow, with the total number expected to be in excess of 250 runners.
Join us for exclusive live updates on the PokerStars Blog from 12:30pm (GMT+8).
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