We have come to the end of Day 2 of the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Festival of Poker Main Event. It has been a long day with 9 levels being played. The poker, however, has certainly been first rate. The SkyCity Poker Room has never seen action like this before and the locals are packed to the rafters to watch the biggest poker event in the countries history.

It was an early day for PokerStars sponsored player Celina Lin who was one of the many very early casualties. Team PokerStars pro Joe Hachem fought hard all day but never got the cards to put up a major challenge. It was a credit to the champion to make it so deep when things weren’t going his way. Joe’s brother, the likable poker playboy Tony, kept all entertained and made the money and showed he is the real deal.

Grant Levy also finished in the money and another good finish from our APPT Grand Final Winner last year will add to his growing reputation as one of the region’s best.

We are now down to 11 players who will come back and fight it out in the final day of the tournament. This is what poker players play the game for and these players will all be very excited tonight and might not get too much sleep.

Local boy Luke Stanford is our chip leader and played nearly flawless poker all day. Hot on his tails is Nathanael Seet with 400,000 chips and the Singaporean should start tomorrow as the favorite and will be hard to beat.

Daniel Craker is another one of the local challengers and it has been great to see so many Kiwis make it deep into the money. It certainly is a credit to the game here and it would be a huge result for a local to walk away with the title.

Tune in early tomorrow for bio’s on all the players on the final table and all the action from the APPT Auckland.

In a rush of activity we have just lost 3 players in record time and we are now down to our final two tables.

Trevor Saunders from Sydney Australia has just been eliminated in 16th position and has walked away with over $7,000. Trevor pushed his small stack in with A-J and was called with Q-10. The window card bought a Queen and the rest was history.

You’ve all asked for it, so here it is. Tony Hachem uncut and bought to you by PokerStars.tv. What more could anyone ask for.

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Tony Hachem Day 2 on PokerStars.tv

W Yuan has just put Mat Wall out of the tournament. Wall pushed all in with 9-9 and was quickly called by Yuan who turned over A-K. An ace on the river had Yuan jumping for joy and Wall was eliminated in 20th place. The pace has slowed a little as the stacks are deep and the play is intense.

The boys from PokerStars.tv have come up with another entertaining video blog that will have you chuckling away to yourself as it has been described as 'three poker players having a back slapping good time.'

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Trio of Big Names on PokerStars.tv

Eliminations are coming thick and fast here at the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Casino Festival of Poker. Having just broken the bubble before the dinner break players have now returned to the tables to battle down to at least our final two tables tonight. The play hasn’t slowed down at all and the action all three tables is seeing plenty of chips being shipped onto the felt.

We have already had a further eight eliminations since returning from the dinner break, leaving 24 players spread across the three remaining tables. For pre-dinner chip counts, and the subsequent eliminations, please check on our chipcount page for the latest info.

We will be keeping you posted as the tension mounts here at APPT Auckland and players begin to dig their heels in an effort to make the final table and take their shot at a quarter of a million dollars!

While the players enjoy their dinner break you might like to catch up with a few interviews. We have Teresa Nousiainen one of Finland's finest poker exports. Followed by Mark Oosterveld from Canada who qualified for the tournament on PokerStars for $6 and last but not least, local personality Chris Walton who won his way into the tournament in an emotional fashion at the World Poker Seminar run by Team PokerStars Pro's Joe Hachem and Lee Nelson.

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Teresa Nousianinen on PokerStars.tv

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Mark Oosterveld on PokerStars.tv

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Chris Walton Day 2 on PokerStars.tv

In the space of two minutes we lost two players in what might have otherwise been a long and painful bubble battle. It was a sad time for the room as Kiwi G made his departure to the rails, lamenting what might have been. Grant Levy called down Graeme Putt with two over cards and got straight to business by catching on the flop, rubbing in the salt with a second pair on the river. On the other side of the poker room we lost our official bubble boy, Alex Bond, and the rails erupted with appluase, as did the 32 players that made the money.

Players have just departed for a well earned dinner break. They can all enjoy their supper as they will have all earned a minimum of over $5,000. In the last few minutes before the break we managed to lose Canadian PokerStars Qualifier Jeff Dunbar in 32nd place, taking a nice bundle of dollars back home with him.

When they return the blind levels will be 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante, with average chip count at just under 100,000.

We have just gone to only 40 players. The room is starting to be filled with "ooohhh"s and "ahhhh"s as we really get down to the business end. Eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture but we are about to find eight very unlucky players that are going to miss out on the money. Lets have a look at 3 of the ‘endangered species’

Jeff Dunbar from Vancouver Canada is another one of our PokerStars online qualifyers. He is battling it out but only has a little over 20k in chips which makes him an endangered species.

Assadour Assadourian has warmed the poker room with his presence. The proud father of son Eric is one of the most popular guys in the room. He unfortunately has the shortest stack which makes him…..yes you guessed it, an endangered species.

Graeme Putt, like the kiwi (the bird, not the fruit for those of you wondering), is a treasured, yet threatened New Zealand icon. Kiwi G has got a little under 30k in chips which makes him an endangered species.

If all of this sounds like fun PokerStars are proud to announce that they have started running APPT satellites for the APPT Manila in November. Come on guys get cracking and win your way to a trip of a lifetime.

The game of poker can certainly be a cruel one. In fact for 305 of the 306 players in this tournament there will be a bad beat story to tell. Today was always going to be a challenge for the short stacks to build and remain in the tournament and the challenge of the chip leaders was to not blow up and lose their hard fought gains.

We are already down to 50 players with the average chip stack now hitting 50k. We have had some early casualties that we should bring to you. PokerStars sponsored player Celina Lin was short stacked at the start of play and was unable to double up early. Ivan Tan, the third of the Singapore Three, also made an early exit. He was the short stacked member of the trio and his two countrymen are still going along very well.

Peter Aristidou was expected to have a big impact on the tournament today but was seen leaving the pit shaking his head after a sick beat. We have also lost our local NZ boys James “Paddywhack” Honeybone and his new best mate Chris Walton. This was certainly sad for the big local crowd that was enjoying their patriotic antics.

The biggest elimination of the day must be that of the overnight chip leader who has now been eliminated. Amant Nauhria ran into a few train wrecks early and was eliminated by Dan Sing who flopped the nut straight on a low board and managed to get all the chips in the middle agains Nauhria's top pair, top kicker. Sing has now joined the 100K club and looks very dangerous at the top of the leaderboard.

PokerStars Qualifier Mark Oosterveld has also had his fairytale dreams crushed here in Day 2. Oosterveld won his seat here for just $6 in one of the many PokerStars APPT Satellites. Earlier in the day, the PokerStars.tv video blog team took the chance to have a chat:

Watch APPT Auckland 08: Mark Oosterveld on PokerStars.tv

Players are just about to go on a break and when they come back we will see if the eliminations continue relentlessly or if play begins to slow down as we get near the bubble here at the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland Main Event.

Ejaaz Dean, Executive Manager of Table Games here at SkyCity Casino here in Auckland, has taken the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Festival of Poker under his wing and should be credited with a large percentage of its success. He took a little time out of his busy schedule to give us his thoughts on the event.

“We have been delighted and proud to host this event. The feedback both from our local and international players has been outstanding. Danny McDonough is the greatest Tournament Director in the world in my opinion and to leverage his expertise and knowledge allows all of our staff to improve. This is just the start though. We embarked on this journey 100 days ago and you can only expect bigger and better things from SkyCity from here. The APPT, and especially Jeffrey (Haas), has been willing to impart his knowledge and we have enjoyed our partnership with APPT and look forward to continuing it in the future.”

People would be forgiven for thinking that there were only two players at Table 9 here in the SkyCity Casino poker room. Player Nathanael Seet from Singapore, our Day 1A chipleader, has been butting heads with PokerStars Sponsored player Grant Levy through the course of several hands. Levy is now nursing a stack of just over 20k after losing the most recent game of chicken while Seet is the continuing to amass chips. Seet has a stack of 132k and is the early chipleader here on Day 2.

Joining him in the 100k club is Sydney player Michael Mariakis with 125k. Early in play today, Mariakis eliminated prominent Australia based jockey Shane Dye from the event. Scooping the pot and beginning to stack the chips, Mariakis commented with a cheeky smile “I suppose it’s only fair to win some back after the money I’ve thrown away on his horses.” Mariakis paid his own way into the event and is a keen online player, playing under the User ID ‘smmmooth’ on PokerStars.

Friend and confidant of the biggest names in poker, Australia’s very own international playboy Tony Hachem, has made it into the poker room on time. From all accounts he fell asleep during a morning massage but has had a shave and a shower and looks ready for action. The PokerStars bloggers bailed up the charismatic poker celebrity and asked him for a few words to send to his legions of fans:

“Buckle up you bananas, Tony Hachem has come to play… that’s guaranteed.”

Kiwi pair James “Paddywhack” Honeybone and his protégée Chris Walton arrived wrapped in the New Zealand flags. Both boys are desperate to survive and even though they are short on chips expect a big showing from these aspiring poker giants. Honeybone took a little time to give us his views on the day.

“I am feeling fresh, I went for a workout this morning and I feel ready to take on the field. I am on a good table here with Grant (Levy) and Putty (Graeme ‘Kiwi G’ Putt). I have always admired Graeme’s game and it is an honour to play with him. I will be targeting Andrew Scott here on my right, he was a little crazy yesterday and I am ready to capitalize on that sort of play.”

His cheer squad is back again and they are ready to start waving the flags as soon as he can double through.

Welcome to Day 2 of the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Festival of Poker Main Event. With Day 1A and Day 1B over, 106 players remain and today the gloves will come off. This is where the real poker starts as the blinds start to mount and the tension starts to build.

APPT Tournament Director Danny McDonaugh thinks that we will be in for 9 to 10 levels today as we play down until we are deep into the money. We may play down to the final table but it is more likely that we will get to a little under 20 when we call it a day. Payouts begin at place 32 and the full payout structure can be found on the Prizes page.

Our chip count reflects that this is truly an international tournament but we certainly have enough local Kiwis in with a good chance of talking away the $257,000 first prize on offer.

Amant Nauhria from Auckland heads the field with nearly 100,000 in chips. The Indian born local was very aggressive and it will be interesting if he continues in that vein today. Just behind are the dynamic duo of the Singapore kids, Diwei Huang and Nathanael Seet, who are running second and third respectively and both have over 80,000 in chips.

In regards to the big names we still have Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem alive who made it through a tough day yesterday. The Aussie icon never really got started yesterday but toughed it out and finished the day on 21,900. The thing that sets players like Joe Hachem ahead of the rest is his ability to re-focus and take control of the situation in the later parts of big tournaments. Expect Joe to make some noise at the very least as both he and his brother, Tony Hachem, battle out for a spot on the Final Table.

Grant Levy PokerStars sponsored player and 2007 APPT Sydney Main Event Champion is ready to pounce with 32,900. Grant doubled up early yesterday and then never looked like getting eliminated. He is another player that we should expect to be there for a long time today.

Put the kettle on and sit back and relax and we will keep you updated on what should be a fascinating day.