With the elimination of Emanuel ‘Curly’ Seal and Richard Holmes, the remaining eight players have been condensed into a single table for the run to the money in the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney High Roller event.

Holmes (Q-J) fell to the pocket queens of Jarred flopnutsonyou Graham after the board fell 4-7-J-A-8. Graham, a 19-year-old from Adelaide in South Australia, is firmly ranked inside Australia’s top 10 online players.

The single table now comprises Masa Kagawa (100,000), Tony Dunst (50,000), Adriano Cendron (90,000), Jeff Lisandro (30,000), Sam Korman (70,000), Jarred Graham (160,000), Andrew Pantling (150,000) and Chad Brown (80,000).

We should also mention that another side event wrapped up tonight – a $1000 No Limit Hold’em tournament – and the winner was Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker.

Sydney seems to agree with Chris. He’s been a regular fixture in the poker room for cash games and tournaments and said after winning that he would love to keep coming back to Sydney for this event. Well played, sir.

John Juanda has been a great supporter of the APPT, with appearances in both Macau events, Manila and now Sydney. The man who won the WSOP Europe main event will be free to check out the sights of the town after being eliminated from the APPT Sydney High Roller event by 'Colonel' Sam Korman.

Other players to fall by the wayside in the past hour were James Andy McLEOD Obst, who check-raised all-in on a flush draw but Adriano Cendron’s pocket aces held up.

Grant Levy’s tournament ended when he failed to fill a flush draw of his own against Richard Holmes and Wooka Kim bowed out when Jarred Graham flopped a set of 10s against her A-Q.

The two tables of five players have a very different dynamic – there’s very little banter between Dunst, Holmes, Kagawa, Pantling and Graham but on the other table, Chad Brown and Jeff Lisandro are deep in discussion about the Oscar De La Hoya v Manny Pacquiao fight scheduled for tomorrow.

He might not be the most verbose player in poker but find a topic that interests Lisandro and he’ll talk the legs off a chair. The blinds are now at 500/1000 (ante 100) with 10 players remaining.

Chip count (approximate) at the end of level 9

Andrew Pantling 125,000
Jarred Graham 110,000
Richard Holmes 85,000
Adriano Cendron 80,000
Sam Korman 80,000
Chad Brown 70,000
Masa Kagawa 60,000
Tony Dunst 55,000
Jeff Lisandro 25,000
Emanuel Seal 20,000

Watch APPT Sydney S2: Inside the mind of a pro couple. on PokerStars.tv

2.45am on a Sunday morning at Star City Casino in Sydney – the railbirds and punters are well refreshed, there’s enough skin on show for an X-rating and the security guards are busier than a termite in a sawmill.

After two very quiet levels (read: no eliminations), three players have been eliminated in quick succession as the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney High Roller ticks into level eight with 12 of the 37 players remaining.

Among the recent departures was 2008 WSOP main event winner Peter Eastgate. The young man has had a ball during his time in Sydney and was a welcome entrant in this event.

He’d enjoyed a sweet run of cards in the early stages of the event but was short-stacked when he committed his remaining chips and received a call from Japan’s Wooka Kim.

It was an old-fashioned race with Kim holding A-K against Eastgate’s pocket queens. A flop of A-Q-7 gave the Dane yet another set, but a K on the turn gave her outs, and a 10 on the river sent Kim squealing and clapping in delight.

Tony Dunst has closed to within reach of the lead when he doubled through Andrew Pantling, but the Canadian still leads from Jarred Graham and Dunst.

Chip count (approximate) at the end of level 8

Andrew Pantling 88,000
Jarred Graham 87,000
Sam Korman 80,000
Tony Dunst 76,000
Richard Holmes 65,000
Adriano Cendron 65,000
Masa Kagawa 48,000
Chad Brown 38,000
Jeff Lisandro 32,000
Emanuel Seal 28,000
John Juanda 28,000

With the excitement of the final elimination on day 3 of the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final subsided, focus has firmly shifted to the opening session of the APPT Sydney High Roller event.

Of the 37 players who paid the $15,000 entry fee, 19 players have been eliminated. Recent departures have included Tony Kambouroglou, Josh Pang Ang, Warwick Mirzikinian, David Steicke, Andrew Scott, Julian Powell and Bill Jordanou.

The price of poker is up to 250/500 with an ante of 50 (level 6), with Andrew Pantling still leading the field. The Canadian, who plays mainly online, has been a great supporter of the APPT since relocating to Australia.

He said the APPT events were a great excuse to travel around the region. And he’s already tasted some modest success. After leading the APPT Auckland main event, he finished 12th, then placed 41st in the APPT Macau main event.

Close behind Pantling is last year’s APPT Grand Final winner Grant Levy, who’s enjoying the chance to focus purely on his poker after a tough PR schedule leading up to this year’s event. Others placed prominently are Tony Dunst, Masa Kagawa, John Juanda and Jeff Lisandro.

Chip count (approximate) after level 5

Andrew Pantling (Canada) 78,000
Grant Levy (Australia) 58,000
Tony Dunst (USA) 54,000
Masa Kagawa (Japan) 46,000
John Juanda (USA) 44,000
Van Tran (Australia) 42,000
Jeff Lisandro (Australia) 42,000
Peter Eastgate (Denmark) 35,000
Chad Brown (USA) 34,000
Danny Huynh (Australia) 28,000
Nat Seet (Singapore) 24,000
Sam Korman (Australia) 14,000
Shane Dye (Australia) 11,000

The entire field of 37 had yet to be seated in the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney High Roller when the first two players were eliminated. After winning his first major title here last year in the APPT Tournament of Champions, 2005 WSOP champion and Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem won’t win a second, at least tonight.

Canadian Andrew Pantling flopped a set of 10s, which held-up against the numerous flush and straight draws of Hachem. It’s Saturday night in Sydney, so the Aussie poker icon shouldn’t struggle to find something to do for the rest of the evening.

Since then, Sam Youssef (the six-handed champ here last week and a dual High Stakes hold’em winner at Crown in 2008), Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso, Steve Leonard and Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros are among the seven players eliminated in the early going.

Pantling (81,000) leads in the early going from Van Tran (43,000), Richard Holmes (36,000), John Juanda (31,000) and Tony Dunst (29,000). The remaining 30 players will be playing for a slice of the AUD $555,000 prize pool, with first taking home AUD $222,000, runner-up AUD $133,200, third-place AUD $88,800, fourth AUD $66,600 and fifth AUD $44,400.

There have been many innovations on the APPT since its first event last year, none more popular than the addition of big buy-in ‘High Roller’ events to the schedule.

The first High Roller tournament was played in Macau last year. Eric Assadourian, who just placed 20th in the APPT Grand Final, won that event, conquering a field of 64 of the world’s best players to win the first prize of USD $368,640.

In season two of the APPT, High Roller events were played in Macau (won by Nam Le), Auckland (where Carter Gill won) and Manila. So it’s appropriate that the big names are back for the APPT Sydney High Roller.

The $15,000 buy-in event has attracted the finest field ever assembled at the one time for an event in Sydney. The line-up includes WSOP champions, Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem and Peter Eastgate plus WSOP bracelet winners John Juanda and Jeff Lisandro.

Team PokerStars Pros Chad Brown and Vanessa Rousso are in the field, along with local online standouts James Andy McLEOD Obst, Tony bond18 Dunst and Steve stevo Leonard.

There are internationals like Wooka Kim, Masa Kagawa (both Japan), Nathanael Seet, Josh Pang Ang (both Singapore), David Steicke (Hong Kong) and Andrew Pantling (Canada).

Again, the locals have turned out in force, including 2007 APPT Grand Final winner Grant Levy, David Saab, Julius Colman, Richard Holmes, Shane Dye, Warwick Mirzikinian, Bill Jordanou, Emanuel Seal and Andrew Scott.

Players start with 20,000 in chips, with levels of 60 minutes. With a field of approximately 35 players, it’s anticipated that we’ll be here until play reaches the money. So get comfy, it’s going to be a long, long night.

Structure for APPT Sydney High Roller

Level 1: 50/100
Level 2: 100/200
Level 3: 100/200 (ante 25)
Level 4: 150/300 (ante 25)
Level 5: 200/400 (ante 25)
Level 6: 250/500 (ante 50)
Level 7: 300/600 (ante 50)
Level 8: 400/800 (ante 100)
Level 9: 500/1000 (ante 100)
Level 10: 600/1200 (ante 200)