Watch APPT Auckland 08: Celina Lin and David Saab on PokerStars.tv

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Assassinato and Carter Gill on PokerStars.tv

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Eddie Sabat Interview on PokerStars.tv

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Grant Levy Interview on PokerStars.tv

Day 1A of the Pokerstars.net APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker has come to a close after playing a friendly seven levels. After a great day of poker we have 59 players left out of the 168 that started the day. After starting with 10k stacks, the average now is just a shade over 28,000.

The most notable early departure was Emad Tahtouh who unfortunately never got started. The other big name player to go was Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer who was knocked out in one of the last few hands of the day when he pushed his small stack in with 10-10 but ran into J-J.

Much of the cream certainly rose to the top with sponsored players Celina Lin and Tony Hachem making it through. Local Simon Davis finished the day strongly with 33,000 chips. Australian Peter Aristidou with nearly 50,000 in chips will also be well in the hunt on Day 2.

At this point they will all be chasing Nathanael Seet from Singapore who has around 80,000 most of which he got late in the day. Running chipcounts have been posted throughout the day on the PokerStars Blog, and a final count will be added once the numbers have been released.

The poker was especially hot all day and special mention to Eric Assadourian who won the Pot Limit Omaha event and has now played three PLO tournaments in New Zealand for three wins. His dad also made it through Day 1A so it has been a good day for the family.

Tomorrow Eric makes it onto the felt for the Main Event, along with fellow PokerStars Sponsored player Grant Levy and Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem and Lee Nelson. We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow for Day 1B at 12:15pm NZ time!

The last level today is 300/600 with a 75 ante. This is always an exciting time as some of the good players try and build a stack as other players desperately try and make it through to Day 2.

There have been many short stacks surviving in the last half an hour but the most notable knockout was David “Superman” Saab. Saab had seen his stack dwindled down to 20K before he lost the rest in a “train wreck” of a hand after his top pair ran into a set.

“I can go from chip leader to bubble boy in a matter of seconds, that’s my style. I thought I was in front so I pushed my chips in.”

Peter Aristidou is also on the march and has 45k in chips. Peter is a quite ahchiever on the poker table and is deadly with a big stack. Teresa Nousiainen from Finland also just lost a big pot when her J-J was cracked by A-K but she still has nearly 30,000.

One of the interesting things going on at the PokerStars APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker is the inaugural World Poker Seminar. This exciting concept was developed by Team PokerStars Pro's Joe Hachem and Lee Nelson. Joe and Lee host the events, with the help of some of their friends, and are also intending to take the concept to other cities around the world.

The idea is simple: it’s a seminar to help poker players improve and develop their game. There were over 20 players turning out, who ranged from the novice to some very seasoned players, all of whom were keen to see their game move to another level. Lee took 5 minutes out of his busy schedule to explain his motivation behind the seminars.

“I have always enjoyed teaching and I have always wanted to give something back to the game that has given so much to me. I wanted to take the next step from the books that I have written and wanted to try a live teaching format with my mate Joe. If you are going to do something, then do it right. I really feel that we have a formula that will turn learners into good players and good players into even better ones.”

Budding New Zealand pro player James Honeybone, who made the final table of APPT Seoul in 2007 and would love to do the same on home turf in Auckland this year, attended the conference and was the first to sing its praises.

“It was a great thrill to attend today. I have always been a student of the game and chance to learn like the likes of Lee and Joe is something that not everyone gets to do. I especially found the Q and A part of the seminar invaluable because I got the chance to ask some of the tough questions that the very best hate answering.”

Last month Yasuki Shino busted out of the APPT Seoul main event and vowed to change the way he thought about poker.

A modest businessman from Tokyo, Shino used to always want to make sure that the people around him were having a good time on the table and never cared about winning or losing. His upbeat personality hasn’t changed, but his attitude about the game certainly has. His result in the Seoul main event was so disappointing to him that he spent the whole night reviewing his game and preparing for side events to be held next day.

He played in a Japan Poker League event at Walker-hill Casino and got 4th place. Still not satisfied with this improved result, he spent the afternoon reviewing his game again and then entered in a 500,000won satellite to the APPT Auckland main event. This time he got the result he wanted.

After making it heads-up, he agreed to a deal to give the runner-up their entry fee back. This he had to pay out of pocket after he won the satellite, a chance to represent Japan in New Zealand and accommodations for the trip. He also fronted the cash for a plane ticket and made the 14-hour flight down here yesterday (actually on the same plane as me!).

Now he is on the table with the APPT Macau champion, Eddie Sabat. Shino humbly admits his good fortune with nice starting hands in the first few levels of this event. He has voiced his respect for his opponents’ games, saying that everyone is much stronger than himself, but everyone else can see that he himself is a force to be reckoned with.

In one hand he actually got chips from Sabat by raising pre-flop and getting 2 callers. He hit top pair on the flop, kept Eddie in with second pair, checked Eddie’s 2-pair on the turn and out-drew him for a better 2-pair on the river, calling Sabat’s final bet and turning over the better hand. In another pot he had the nut-straight with A-Q on a straight-flush broadway board, but somehow got his opponent to put chips in with the 9-7 bottom straight to chip-up even more.

Sitting on $26,000 chips at the start of Level 5, Shino is ahead of World Champion and Team PokerStars Pro, Greg Raymer, as well as a number of other well-known players including David Saab and Tony Hachem. We are expecting more great things from the sole Japanese competitor on Day 1a.

Players are back from their break and the blinds are starting to become of interest at 150/300 with a 25 ante. There are now only 108 runners left and some big and small stacks starting to appear. The action is still happening on the Saab/Hachem table with plenty of banter going on. The winner up until this point in time is David Saab who now has 40K in chips. Tony Hachem was heard saying that Saab was killing the table but had got lucky in a few hands. He then proceeded to ask the table is Saab was a “luckbox” which everyone quickly agreed too.

The PokerStars.net APPT Macau Main event winner Eddie Sabat is rolling along nicely with a stack of 14K. Eddie is another one keeping a low profile and waiting for the blinds to increase before he gets busy.

Alexander Fitzgerald is another popular player who originated from Seattle. The Washington State national, who now resides in Malta, is a regular on the APPT and LAPT player who nearly always qualifies online. He is a very well known online player and, we have it on good authority, is also very popular with the ladies. He is a little short at the moment on 10K but is also looking to get busy.

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Promo on PokerStars.tv

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Welcome Party on PokerStars.tv

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Day 1a Intro on PokerStars.tv

Andrew Meldrum from Sydney has stormed to an early chip lead and has just under 40k in chips. Meldrum, who has been a quite achiever in the Asian poker scene, is hot off a successful campaign in America after the WSOP.

Hot on his tail is local Aucklander Simon Davis who has been playing poker now for three years. He won his way into the tournament in a SkyCity satellite for $40. He has been a regular at the SkyCity Poker Room and is looking to deliver the Pokerstars.net APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker Main Event Title to his home town and poker room. He currently has over 35k in chips.

The loudest table in the room is the one featuring David Saab and Tony Hachem. After David welcomed Tony to the table the atmosphere intensified when Saab pleaded with the gallery that it was a quiet table before Hachem arrived. Tony then replied: “where’s your Superman T-Shirt you banana?”

Saab usually wears Superman logos and is looking to be known as David “Superman” Saab. We certainly haven’t heard the last of these two, and Saab just managed to get his hands on some more chips in a recent pot.

Looking down at an unspectacular board of 3-3-7-5-2, Saab was facing a bet of 2.5k into a roughly 4.5k pot. After an initial "do you have Jacks?" Saab went on to mutter to himself in the tank for a full two minutes.

Finally Saab talked himself into a call, holding his cards above the muck pile, but he was beaten to it by his opponent who threw his into the muck without showing, pushing the almost 10k pot in Saab's direction.

We also have the final table of the PLO Omaha running in the room with good friends but fierce rivals and PokerStars Sponsored players Eric Assadourian and Grant Levy clear cut chip leaders with five players left.

There are certainly some great stories here at the PokerStars.net APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker. The first of these may be Canadian Mark Oosterveld.

The Canadian won his way through to the tournament for only $6 in a $2 Rebuy, one of the many qualifying tournaments that PokerStars runs for the APPT. If Mark was to be crowned the Champion here he would certainly have turned a handsome dividend on that wisely invested $6.

The other great story is that of Assadour Assadourian. You might recognize the name if not the face. Assadour’s son, Eric, is one of the hottest properties in Australian poker right now and among many other titles was the 2007 PokerStars.net APPT Macau High Roller Champion.

Assadour is a relative newcomer to the poker scene as he has a very successful lighting business back home in Australia. Even though he is ‘wet behind the ears’ when it comes to poker he has certainly made his presence felt here by winning 3 Main Event seats in the many satellites that have been running.

It looks like the Assadourian gene pool has poker running through the veins of this father and son combination with Senior already off to a flyer with over 20k in chips.

In other not so pleasant news, Emad Tahtouh has just described his start to the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland Main Event as “death by a thousand paper cuts” as his stack has dwindled to around 2000. Tahtouh was very focused for this event and was looking for a good finish but has run into a few big hands and has found himself on the wrong side of an excellent bluff.

Players have just returned from the first break and are straight into level three with blinds of 100/200. Only 11 players so far have exited the tournament, however with the blinds moving up casualties will soon follow.

Starting bank for the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Festival of Poker Main Event is 10k. The first early mover is Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer who has moved up to 18K. He just won a very nice pot with 9-7 suited. He made both his flush and straight on the river and left his opponent scratching their head.

David Saab is trying to fly under the radar by keeping a low profile. The flamboyant Australian, who was born in Korea and now resides in the Philippines, is trying to stay out of the way of Tournament director Danny McDonagh who has threatened putting the ‘David Saab rule of excessive talking' into act if Saab starts to talk his table into distraction.

Tony Hachem has just walked into the room looking a little flustered after sleeping in. When asked what happened he replied in true Tony Hachem fashion;

“Of course I’m late for the tournament you banana … guaranteed!”

Numbers for day one have been finalised and 164 players will be battling it out today in an effort to join us on Saturday for Day 2. Stay tuned for further updates as the players here get comfortable and the chips start to find their way onto the felt.

Welcome all to the Pokerstars.net APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker Day 1A. It looks like we are well on our way to the NZD $1 million mark as we approach 180 players for Day 1A.

As the players drifted into the poker room, some looked fresh and rested; others looked like they may have really enjoyed last night’s welcoming party. The one thing that everyone had in common was they all looked eager and ready for some poker. The energy level built exponentially as we approached our kick-off time of 12:15pm local.

With players shuffling through the poker room here at SkyCity, a few names of note stand out – among those in the crowd are PokerStars Sponsored players Celina Lin, Tony Hachem and Emad Tahtouh, and Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer, all preparing for their Day 1. Many other well known players, such as Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, and local legend Lee Nelson, will be waiting until Day 2A to take their seats.

Tournament Director Danny McDonagh is as busy and keen as ever, preparing to host what will be New Zealand’s largest ever event – in both player numbers and prizepool. Danny told us that he is excited to be running New Zealand’s first APPT event;

“The room here is really buzzing. Not only is it exciting to work in a room that is dedicated to poker, it is also great to be working with such a professional team. SkyCity is really leading the charge in this country when it comes to poker and they are going to break every record when it comes to a tournament here.“

The Main Event was opened with a powhiri, a traditional Maori welcome, which saw APPT President Jeffrey Haas and SkyCity Executive Manager Ejaaz Dean welcomed into the room. Keeping the energy high, a traditional haka was performed by a group of local Maori. The haka is a cultural icon of New Zealand, with its roots sunk deeply in the warrior culture of Maori tradition, giving a symbolic challenge from the local warriors to the incoming visitors. The challenge looks set to be answered by any number of eager players, ready to go to war over the felt.

PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson, being the country’s biggest poker celebrity, took time out from a ‘Learn to Play with the Pros’ seminar being hosted here at SkyCity and got the tournament underway with a traditional “shuffle up and deal!”.

The APPT usually has very friendly first days with only 7 levels usually being played. This will see a large contingency make it through to the Day 2. So buckle up for a long day guys and we will look to keep you up to date with all information, from both on and off the felt, as soon as it comes to hand.