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The race for the money gets serious tomorrow when we return to the ballroom at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in the Filipino capital for the penultimate day’s play in the PokerStars.net APPT Manila main event. Just 77 of the 285 players who took their seats on the two flights of day one will return for day two – their first aim will be to reach the payout stage.

The total prize pool is PHP 26,790,000 (approximately USD $542,856), with the top 32 players set to receive a payout. Our winner will take home PHP 8,037,000 (approximately USD $162,856) and the title of 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Manila champion.

It's quiet now, but 77 players will be back tomorrow in pursuit of the APPT Manila title.

The day 1B field of 136 ensured that the total number of players surpassed last year’s figure by 30, underlining the growth in the popularity of poker regionally in the past 12 months (all set against the backdrop of a financial woes across the globe).

The big names were out in force today, led by the only Team PokerStars Pro to find his way to Manila, New Zealand’s Lee “Final Table” Nelson. The field also included PokerStars Sponsored players Celina Lin, Ivan Tan, Van sirens Marcus, JJ Liu, 2008 APPT Manila champion Brett Parise and Japanese duo Yoshihiro Tasaka and Hidenari Shiono.

There was also a massive local presence – FPT3 winner Neil “Dirty Ice Cream” Arce, 2004 Miss Earth Priscilla Meirelles and pool legend Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan were just a few.

Other prominent names playing were James AndyMcLEOD Obst, Nali “Iraqi Nick” Kaselias, David Steicke, Roger Spets, Eddy Sabat and Casey Kastle.

The player best placed to add their name to the APPT honour roll from day 1B was Scotland’s Natasha Ellis. She made her move during the mid-stages of day 1B, and shot to the chip lead when she KO-ed three players in one hand just before dinner. She lost a big pot to Van Marcus shortly after the main break, but was back in the lead shortly before day’s end.

Blondes have more fun: Day 1B chip leader Natasha Ellis

Paul Kim raised from early position, and Ellis called from the small blind. The flop came 9h-2c-3h, Ellis bet 2100 and Kim raised to 7500. Ellis pushed all-in, and Kim called with a further 20,000 chips behind. Ellis made a set of deuces on the flop, while Kim held A-9. The turn came Kh and river Ad, delivering Ellis a solid chip lead, with 112,100 chips.

Other players prominently placed included Marcus, who final-tabled here last year (69,700), Denmark’s Jeppe Drivsholm (65,400), Canada’s Dimitrios Pappis (63,300) and Chris Roh from Korea (57,500).

Tomorrow’s day 2 field will also include Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson (32,000) and Ivan Tan (37,300), Priscilla Meirelles (24,100), Celina Lin (27,400) and last year’s winner Brett Parise (13,300).

Lee Nelson congratulates Priscilla Meirelles on her tremendous achievement to reach day 2 in the APPT Manila main event

We’ll be back at 12.30pm tomorrow for the continuation of play in the PokerStars.net APPT Manila main event, plus updates from the APPT Manila High Roller event.

Less than one-quarter of the 149 players who started day 1A of the PokerStars.net APPT Manila main event will return for day 2 on Saturday after a dramatic day of play at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino.

Just 38 players had chips to bag at day’s end as the blinds took their toll in the hour either side of the dinner break.

Korea’s Chang Yong Suk and Michael Shell both finished the day on 124,300. Singapore’s Josh Pang Ang (88,800), Swede Daniel Nordstrom (75,200) and Donny Morris (71,700) filled out the top five.

The day ended in sensational circumstances on either side of the room. Suk ascended the chip count after taking a huge pot against Eric Sia. The chips were in pre-flop, with Sia holding Ac-Qs while Suk showed pocket kings. The board stayed low (2h-8c-10d-6s-5h) and Suk had snared the chip lead in the final minutes of the day.

Across on table 18, the battle between Rudy Lim and Rumil Tandoc escalated to all-out war after a series of raises and a flop of 10d-2d-4h. Lim picked up chips to bet but before he could release them, Tandoc announced all-in. Lim pulled back the chips.

APPT tournament director Danny McDonagh ruled that Lim appeared to have no intention of deceiving Tandoc but had acted out of turn.

Lim considered his options but instead showed his hand (Ah-Qh), then folded his hand. Unfortunately, Lim’s decision to expose his hand meant a one-round (eight-hand) penalty, half of which will need to be served on day 2. It was a stunning end to another memorable day for the APPT.

Twelve hours ago, organisers held their breath that the recent economic downturn wouldn’t put a serious dent in the number of players entering the APPT Manila main event.

But fuelled by the massive growth in the popularity of poker in the Philippines since last year’s historic first APPT event here in Manila, entries soared to almost 150. It seems last year’s tally of 255 will almost certainly be surpassed on day 1B.

While many of the big names will be in action tomorrow, today’s field wasn’t bereft of talent. The line-up included several PokerStars players highlighted by the strong local contingent of Sunshine Samson, Wally “The Dream” Sombrero, Derick Hernandez and Ronald Singson. Samson and Sombrero survived – Sombrero is seventh in chips (60,100) while Samson is down to just 8700.

PokerStars player Bryan Huang was also in action, but his hopes of securing a fourth APPT cash in a row ended midway through the day. Other notables in the day 1A field were 1991 WSOP main event winner Brad Daugherty, Singapore’s Josh Ang Pang, in-form Australians David Saab, Michael Chrisanthopoulos, James Broom, Dave Lee and APPT Macau High Roller runner-up Andrew Scott. Saab, Chrisanthopoulos and Broom will be back on Saturday.

There’ll be no shortage of big names in action tomorrow, including Team PokerStars Pro Lee “Final Table” Nelson. Play starts at 12.30pm local time, and will continue for eight-and-a-half levels.

By James Potter and Eliot James

Well the party is over, we have crowned our champion, Kiwi Daniel Craker, and now it is time to reflect on yet another great event from the Asian Pacific Poker Tour. The PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Festival of Poker has certainly rocketed poker’s profile in the country. SkyCity Auckland has smashed all records here in New Zealand and can now lay claim to being the home of poker here.

PokerStars.net APPT Auckland 2008 Main Event Champion, Daniel Craker of New Zealand

The poker here has been nothing short of amazing with some of the world’s best flying in to enjoy all that was on offer. Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and local celebrity Lee Nelson were all here and spent time out of their busy schedules, not only to play the game they love, but to spend their time with other players and the many fans that have flocked into the Festival.

SkyCity Executive Manager of Table Games, Ejaaz Dean, awarding the cheque to APPT Auckland Champion Daniel Craker

Notable Sydney duo and sponsored PokerStars players Eric Assadourian and Grant Levy have both had good weeks and showed that they are also great ambassadors of poker. Assadourian and Levy went head to head in the $550 Pot Limit Omaha side event during the series, taking an hour and a half to find a winner, with Assadourian finally taking first and $12,000 NZD, while Levy pocketed himself $7,500 NZD.

PokerStars Sponsored Player Eric Assadourian

While the remaining few players continued in the Main Event, the table next to it saw the High Rollers event in an epic heads up battle between Carter Gill and Michael Long, both from the USA. Finally it was Carter Gill who triumphed and took away $83,000 NZD for his troubles.

The final five from the APPT Auckland High Rollers. Winner, Carter Gill, on the far right

From a local perspective we had the antics of James “Paddywhack” Honeybone and his side-kick Chris Walton who both made Day 2 of the Main Event and showed some real New Zealand flair. The duo were often spotted wrapped in New Zealand flags or, for an appealing alternative, flanked by girls behind them holding the flags up.

Chris Walton and James Honeybone, pictured with James' girlfriend Christina

The final table of the main event was the real highlight as locals packed the into the SkyCity Poker Room to watch Daniel Craker from Wellington, New Zealand, walk away with $257,040 NZD and the title of the APPT Auckland 2008 Main Event Champion. Daniel will be a great ambassador and it was fantastic to see the title (and the cash) stay in New Zealand. South Korean born New Zealander, Wang Che Jung, 3rd place, and Australain Matthew Konnecke, 2nd place, also performed amazingly throughout the event and it was a pleasure to watch them play.

The local crowd packs into SkyCity Casino Auckland to watch the Final Table battle

The pressure was intense and even though we got to the final table quite quickly it was a hard fought event. Once the play was down to four handed things moved slowly and the action became steady and serious as the players came to terms with how close they really were to holding the first New Zealand Main Event title for the PokerStars.net APPT Series.

Ultimately it was New Zealander Daniel Craker who took down the title. After winning the main event, Craker said of his victory "I didn't get much sleep last night, I felt that I played flawless poker yesterday but didn't really play that well today. When I got lucky and made two pair with my king-deuce I felt as if I had nothing to lose. I'm not sure what I am going to do now, but I know I'm going to go and celebrate tonight with my Wainuiomata mates!"

So now we move our attention to Manila in the Philippines for the next leg of thePokerStars.net APPT Season 2. APPT Manila is always one of my favourite events. If you are looking to immerse yourself in one of the most fascinating countries in the world for some culture mixed with your poker then put this one on your list of must attend events.

Well that’s all we have for you Auckland, congrats to Daniel Craker, our APPT Auckland Main Event Champion and from the PokerStars blogging team we look forward to bringing you all the action from Manila.

By James Potter and Eliot James

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 country’s 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.

Tony Hachem...Guaranteed!

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 favourite and will be hard to beat.

Luke Stanford leads the way into the final day

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.

Daniel Cracker another of the local challangers still well in the mix

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

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By James Potter and Eliot James

PokerStars.net APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker Day 1B has come to a close, locking in our contenders for Day 2 tomorrow. After a great day of poker we have 47 players left out of the 142 that started the day. That brings the total entrants for the event to 306, an amazing record breaking effort for New Zealand, the APPT, and SkyCity.

The most notable early departure was Eric Assadourian who lasted less than ten minutes before he was making his way to the rails. The other big name player to go was Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson who was knocked out when he pushed on a draw. The crew from PokerStars.tv had an opportunity to chat with Assadourian leading up to today's event:

With the bad beat stories also come the happier ones with a few of the big names making an impact. Team Pokerstars Pro Joe Hachem is still in the tournament with just under 22k in chips. He will have to make an impact early on Day 2 which will make for some interesting poker. The other name to make it through is APPT Sydney Main Event 2007 Champion Grant Levy, on just over 30k, who will be confident of going on with the job tomorrow. Local Jockey Shane Dye remains in the game with a little over 20K, a huge effort given that he slipped to under 3k earlier in the day.

Joe Hachem receiving a helping hand in getting through Day 1B

The chip leader for Day 1B was a neck and neck battle between local Amant Nauhria (94K) and Bryan Huang from Singapore (93K). Huang held a commanding chipstack throughout today's flight and is looking to better his third place in the APPT Macau Main Event last month. They will both join Nathanael Seet from Singapore (Day 1A chip leader with 75k) on top of the leader board.

Day 1 chipleader, Amant Nauhria, with friend New Zealander Ted Everard who just managed to hold on through Day 1A yesterday

Poker was again the winner and field of just over 100 players who have made Day 2 should all be well rested with the relaxed structure of the Day 1 flights. Tomorrow is when it all starts, however, and we could well be in for a long one. The blinds will start to go up, the chip leaders will gain some dominance, and the shortstacks will feel the pressure as we approach the bubble at 33rd place. There will be plenty of play time and Danny McDonaugh the APPT tournament director expects around 9 to 10 levels in what will undoubtedly be another lively battle here at SkyCity Auckland.

By James Potter and Eliot James

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.

Nathanael Seet, more than comfortable behind his stack of chips

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.

Peter Aristidou, Eric Assadourian, and Tony Hachem moments after Eric won himself another PLO title

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!

PokerStars reporter Sean Callander brings coverage of the high roller event at the PokerStars.net APPT Macau event to a close...

It takes time to build tradition in any sporting event. Imagine if The Masters suddenly appeared on the PGA circuit a few years ago and the organisers started handing out green jackets to the winners. It would hardly be a big hit.

But having established more than 80 years of history and stories of triumph and heartbreak, The Masters stands the test of time as an event as relevant today as ever.

In poker, the World Series of Poker built on a tradition established by a core of former Texas road gamblers and is today recognised as the pinnacle of success in tournament poker.

It will take time for similar traditions and legends to be established in Asia with tournament poker in its formative stages, but the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour High Roller event has stolen a march on any challenger that may one day claim the title as most prestigious poker event on the continent.

The APPT High Roller final table

For the second year in a row, the HKD $150,000 buy-in APPT High Roller event (already one of the world’s highest buy-in regularly scheduled tournaments and guaranteeing a prize pool of HKD $10,000,000) attracted a list of the world’s best players – 61 in all.

There were established tournament pros like WSOP main event winners Johnny Chan, Mansour Matloubi and Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem.

There were WSOP bracelet winners including Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, J.C. Tran, Quinn Do, Dan Schreiber, John Phan, John Juanda and David Chiu.

There were some of the young stars from the poker world like Mike timex McDonald, Will cutiepie314 Ma, Tony bond18 Dunst, Shaun shaundeeb Deeb and Team PokerStars Hevad RaiNKhaN Khan.

And there were scores of accomplished tournament players including Team PokerStars Pros Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier, Lee “Final Table” Nelson and Bertrand “ElkY Grospellier; last year’s APPT High Roller champion Eric Assadourian, fellow PokerStars Sponsored players Emad Tahtouh, Van Marcus, Terrence Chan, Ivan Tan and Celina Lin; Harry Demetriou and Nam Le.

Also making a re-appearance just hours after finishing runner-up in the APPT Macau main event was Charles Chua – albeit two hours late.

Any great event needs intrigue, drama and surprises. The 2008 APPT Macau High Roller did not disappoint in this regard.

Early in the first level, players had barely had a chance to put a dent in their start stack of 20,000 when Celina Lin found herself on the rail, her aces cracked by Russian young gun Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

In contrast, David Steicke (the third placed finisher in this event last year), picked up where he left off after finishing 10th in the APPT Macau main event.

By day’s end, Steicke was the talk of the room as he’d charged to 160,000 and a big chip lead over Mike McDonald (95,400) and defending champion Eric Assadourian (90,500). Other players in the 28 to progress included Quinn Do, Nam Le, Van Marcus, Terrence Chan, Johnny Chan, Charles Chua, Ivan Tan and two Team PokerStars Pros – Barry Greenstein and Joe Hachem.

But there was no clue of the drama to come on day two. In last year’s APPT High Roller event in Macau, it took five hours to eliminate the last six players before the final table line-up was decided.

Play gradually slowed once the field was split between two tables but, curiously, all 10 players agreed to converge to a single table with the field one short of the TV and money bubble of nine.

David Steicke celebrated successive final tables at the the APPT High Roller

Those 10 players – Eric Assadourian, Van Marcus, Ivan Tan, still chip leader David Steicke, Andrew Scott, Johnny Chan, Nam Le, Quinn Do, Will Ma and Charles Chua – turned on an enthralling session that lasted four hours until Nam Le claimed the scalp of Assadourian, who was gutted to fall short of successive APPT High Roller final tables.

The final table started with Marcus, Chan, Chua and Tan all short-stacked and under pressure – only Chua had the answers and clawed his way back as the other three became the first victims at the final table.

Will Ma, a 20-year-old from the same small Canadian town as Team PokerStars Pro Steve-Paul Ambrose and Mike timex McDonald, bowed out in sixth while Steicke’s remarkable run ended in fifth; the fearlessness that saw him lead for most of the event proved his undoing.

It would be more than two and a half hours before Charles Chua was KOed by Nam Le, ending a remarkable week for the Malaysian-based Australian in which he finished second in the main event and fourth in the High Roller.

Scott was always going to find it tough against the combination in seats one and two but progressed to the heads-up duel when he took out Quinn Do. He entered the contest against Nam Le trailing 2:1 but the final table experience of a player whose won more than USD $4 million in tournament poker proved telling.

Steadily chipped away, Scott made his final shove with J-10, but Nam Le’s K-2 connected on the board to secure the HKD $3.7 million first prize.

APPT High Roller champion Nam Le

Assadourian, Le – already an impressive list, but one sure to include more of the game’s brightest stars as the tradition continues.

PokerStars.net APPT Macau High Roller event

1 Nam Le (USA) HKD $3,700,000
2 Andrew Scott (Australia) HKD $2,100,000
3 Quinn Do (USA) HKD $1,200,000
4 Charles Chua (Malaysia) HKD $900,000
5 David Steicke (Hong Kong) HKD $700,000
6 Will Ma (Canada) HKD $500,000
7 Johnny Chan (USA) HKD $400,000
8 Ivan Tan (Singapore) HKD $300,000
9 Van Marcus (Australia) HKD $200,000

All photography © Joe Giron/IMPDI

Sean Callander is PokerStars’ man on the ground at the APPT Macau and posted this report on the eve of the high-roller final table.

The final 10 finally became nine after a dramatic day two in the APPT High Roller

It’s a day that will go down in the annals of PokerStars.net APPT history. A day that the APPT came of age, and the APPT Macau High Roller carved out a reputation as the region’s premier poker event.

More than 11 hours ago, 28 players took their seats for day two of the event (including Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem and Barry Greenstein), but the drama didn’t really begin until the clock ticked past 9pm when, inexplicably, the remaining 10 players all agreed to condense the two five-handed tables into one 10-handed table.

However, that decision resulted in the ultimate game of cat-and-mouse between the 10 combatants: PokerStars Sponsored players Eric Assadourian, Van Marcus and Ivan Tan; chip leader David Steicke, Andrew Scott, Johnny Chan, Nam Le, Quinn Do, Will Ma and Charles Chua.

After four hours, in which the short stacks of Johnny Chan, Ivan Tan and Van Marcus all came under threat, it was last year’s winner Eric Assadourian who was finally felted.

Assadourian's gallant run comes to an end

He moved in for his last 17,500 but Nam Le’s re-raise to 31,000 sounded a warning to Assadourian, and the other players who folded. The Aussie showed As-5s, while Nam Le revealed kings. The board ran out 9d-6c-9s-Jd-2h, and it was over. The final table comprises:

Nam Le

Seat 1: Nam Le, Los Angeles, CA, USA (107,000 in chips): One of the most successful tournament poker players of the past four years, the cousin of dual WPT main event winner Tuan Le has won more than $4.3 million. Underlining his consistency is the fact that he’s won only one major title in the time – the 2006 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars event, worth almost USD $1.2 million. He’s cashed 15 times at the WSOP including third in a $1500 No Limit Hold'em event at the 2007 WSOP. The 25-year-old also won the 2006 Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge II and most recently finished fourth at the 2008 WPT LA Poker Classic adding a further $411,770 to his burgeoning bank balance.

Quinn Do

Seat 2: Quinn Do, El Monte, CA, USA (105,000 in chips): Born in Vietnam and raised in Seattle, Washington, this 33-year-old studied criminology at the University of Washington and once considered making a career as an investigator. Also a former restaurant owner, he turned his focus to poker in 2004 and within 12 months had won a WSOP bracelet (in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em event). Other notable finishes on his tournament CV include second at the Bellagio Challenge Cup Championship in 2005 and most recently, a runner-up finish to Phil Ivey at the 2008 LA Poker Classic WPT Championship, worth just over USD $900,000. He is a good friend of Nam Le, who has also reached the final table of this event.

David Steicke

Seat 3: David Steicke, Hong Kong (391,500 in chips): A player who has made an indelible mark on the PokerStars.net APPT, he hadn’t played in a major poker tournament until last year’s APPT Seoul main event. Just weeks later, he charged through the field to finish third in the APPT Macau High Roller Event, winning more than USD $110,000. Since then, the 46-year-old trader has shown that he’s no one trick pony. He finished fourth in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2008 WSOP, winning USD $166,333. Originally from the South Australian town of Murray Bridge, Steicke went within a whisker of another final table when he took 10th in the APPT Macau main event that just concluded, taking home USD $16,209.

Will Ma

Seat 4: Will Ma, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (186,000 in chips): What is it with Waterloo in Ontario, Canada? The city of barely 100,000 residents continues to turn out world class players like Team PokerStars Pro Steve-Paul Ambrose, PokerStars EPT Dortmund winner Mike timex McDonald, Matt ch0ppy Kay (who made day two of this event) and now 20-year-old Will Ma. His online name cutiepi314 is a play that only a maths student would make (from pi = 3.14). His live CV is highlighted by victory in the 2007 €10,000 Grand Prix De Paris main event, worth €422,560 or more than USD $570,000.

Ivan Tan

Seat 5: Zhong Wei ‘Ivan’ Tan, Singapore (60,500 in chips): Last year, Ivan Tan decided to coincide a holiday with his wife with the inaugural APPT Macau tournament, and won a seat into the main event in a mega satellite. After three days, he’d outlasted all but one player to finish runner-up and pocket USD $129,536. Prior to last year’s event, he’d enjoyed the occasional cash game but had little tournament experience. Despite making his home in the emerging poker market of Singapore, the 27-year-old has developed a real affinity with Macau. He placed third in the recent HKD $9600 Red Dragon Tournament at PokerStars Macau.

With the PokerStars.net APPT Macau finished there was still the high roller event to deal with, a record setting jaboree of poker over in China. Sean Callander had all the news...

"If I'm lucky that angel will fall on him": Barry Greenstein experienced the joy of David Saab's incessant chatter

There may not have been an abundance of big-name pros at the final table of the APPT Macau main event but that shouldn’t be a problem when the final nine players are decided for the PokerStars.net APPT Macau High Roller tomorrow.

A total of 61 players paid the HKD $150,000 buy-in (approximately USD $19,200) but after six 75-minute levels, the field had been reduced to 30.

Mike timex McDonald impressed on day one of the APPT High Roller

After the dour nature of the final table, the big characters were back in force and light-hearted banter was the order of the day. And there are some familiar names at the pointy end of the chip count after day one, including Mike timex McDonald (winner of the PokerStars EPT Dortmund earlier this year) on 100,000, Danny Wong (80,000), last year’s APPT Macau main event runner-up and PokerStars Sponsored player Ivan Tan (55,000).

Xuan Nguyen underlined his status as a player to be respected

But not for the first time on the APPT, the story of the day has been the run of David Steicke, who took out several well-known pros including Team PokerStars Pro Lee “Final Table” Nelson, to snare the chip lead on 160,000.

David Steicke: Either the pros can't work him out, or he's just better

Steicke finished third in this event last year, and is determined to improve on that result, especially after finishing 10th in the APPT Macau main event that finished earlier today.

As Van Marcus said to Steicke just before play ended for the day, “You don’t run like God; God runs like you!”

Joe Hachem leads the Team PokerStars Pro charge into day two

Those still in contention include Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem and Barry Greenstein, PokerStars Sponsored players Marcus, Eric Assadourian (last year’s winner of this event and a big improver to 90,000 late in the day) and Terrence Chan. Other big names set to return tomorrow are dual WSOP main event winner Johnny Chan, Nam Le, Andrew Scott, Quinn Do and two players who featured at yesterday’s APPT Macau main event final table: Charles Chua and Javed Abrahams.

The list of casualties features Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Isabelle Mercier and Hevad Khan, PokerStars Sponsored players Emad Tahtouh, Dan Schreiber and Celina Lin, David Chiu, J.C. Tran, Shaun Deeb, Liz Lieu, Harry Demetriou, John Juanda, Kofi Farkye, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, John Phan and Tony bond18 Dunst.

Play will recommence tomorrow at 2pm, and will continue until the final nine has been decided. The winner will take home HKD $3.7 million; second HKD $2.1 million; third HKD $1.2 million; fourth HKD $900,000; fifth HKD $700,000; sixth HKD $500,000; seventh HKD $400,000; eighth HKD $300,000 and ninth HKD $200,000.

Sean Callander reports for PokerStars on the last day of the PokerStars.net APPT Macau...

APPT Macau main event champion Eddie Sabat

Macau is considered the hottest gaming destination on the planet, and with good reason. Since the opening of the Sands in 2002, the big Vegas operators have been clawing over each other to grab a slice of this exclusive but lucrative pie.

The pressure to keep up is immense. New Vegas-style hotels and casinos are popping up at an astounding rate as the eyes of the gaming world turn to the east for the first time since gambling was legalised in the former Portuguese colony more than 150 years ago.

So it was only natural that poker, the game that has taken the world by storm, should eventually sweep into the Special Administrative Region of Macau like a typhoon from the South China Sea.

Less than 12 months ago, the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino in Macau (the first one-stop hotel and entertainment resort to open here) hosted the first no-limit hold’em tournament ever played in the People’s Republic of China. The champion was a player with heritage that, like Macau, bridged East and West – Vietnamese-born Dinh Le, who now resides in the UK.

The APPT returned to Macau in 2008 and set a standard for poker comparable to the image and success of Macau as the world’s premier gaming market.

Preceding the 2008 APPT Macau main event was the opening of PokerStars Macau, the first live poker room to open in a Macanese casino. Then over the past six days, the APPT rewrote every record in Asian tournament poker history with the biggest field (538 entrants) and biggest prize pool (HKD $12,643,000 or USD $1,620,897) ever offered on the continent.

Players came from the across the world to experience Macau and the APPT – from world champions like Johnny Chan to Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, Lee Nelson, Isabelle Mercier, Chad Brown, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Vanessa Rousso to many of the world’s most accomplished pros – all representing a total of 73 different nations.

Importantly, more than 15 per cent of the field was made of players from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, representing the future of the game in this fledgling poker market.

The eventual winner bore an eerie resemblance to the player who took out the first event of the tour in 2007. Like APPT Manila champion Brett Parise, Eddie Sabat is a young college graduate from the USA. But unlike Parise, Sabat brought some solid experience to Macau despite his relative youth.

The youngest player at the final table, the PokerStars player had compiled some impressive results over the previous 12 months, including third in the WSOP Circuit Series event at Harrah’s Rincon in San Diego, worth $70,680, back in February.

He also cashed in the PokerStars.net LAPT event in Brazil last month, and finished in the money twice at the 2008 WSOP. The 22-year-old recently completed his accountancy studies at USC but his poker education continues in the card clubs of LA.

Sabat’s road to victory took more twists and turns than the Great Wall of China: “It was such an up and down day for me. I bled chips early and got aggressive when I need to. I suppose it was meant to be in the end. It’s such an unreal feeling, and it was great to share it with my friends, who were great supporters all day,” Sabat said.

After three day one flights that featured a who’s who of poker, the field of 538 was slashed to 208 for day two with Germany’s Andre Wagner (109,700) leading the field from PokerStars qualifier Mark Walsh (95,000) and Australian (now living in Hong Kong) David Steicke (87,700).

Day two was a remarkable day of poker with the rate of eliminations not letting up all day with just 39 plays still standing amid the ruins. The man on top of the pile was 22-year-old Eddie Sabat, a PokerStars player from California with 379,5000. He led Charles Chua, a Malaysian-based Aussie (369,500) and another PokerStars player, Canadian Keith Wintermans (358,000).

The pace continued unabated on day three with the 39 players whittled down to the final nine in less than six levels.

The final table line-up was a fitting tribute to the APPT Macau main event and the development of tournament poker in Asia, featuring a Macau resident (Will Cheong), a Beijing local (Tian Chen), a Singaporean (Diwei “Bryan” Huang) and a Korean (So Myung Sim), plus Chua, Sabat, a pair of Scandinavians (Mikael Rosen and Jeppe Drivsholm) plus Englishman Javed Abrahams.

Huang and Sabat held the only stacks of more than one million – Sabat’s chips coming mainly thanks to a massive pot late on day three when his pocket aces took out two opponents.

After two days of chaos, the final table provided a dramatic contrast with players carefully picking their mark until the short stacks began to tumble.

The chip lead was swapped among Sabat, Chua, Huang and Drivsholm until Chua (who’d been down to just 245,000 earlier in the day) went on a charge late in the evening to take the lead into the heads-up battle against Sabat.

Eddie Sabat and Charles Chua go heads-up

The end came after the pair had swapped the lead on three occasions, with Chua opening for 150,000. Sabat called and the flop came 6c-Qd-6d. He checked, Chua bet 275,000, Sabat check-raised to 550,000, Chua pushed in and Sabat called.

Sabat showed Kd-Jd for a flush draw, while Chua’s Qs-3c gave him two-pair. The turn (Ac) brought more outs, but the 2d on the river sent Sabat into the arms of the poker buddies who’d railed him all day. He collected HKD $3,540,040 (USD $453,851) for the win.

Less than a month after the world’s athletes farewelled China after the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, it’s appropriate that the PokerStars.net APPT Macau main event followed so soon after. So it’s gold to Eddie Sabat (USA), silver to Charles Chua (Malaysia) and bronze to Bryan Huang (Singapore).

PokerStars.net APPT Macau main event

1 Eddie Sabat (USA) HKD $3,540,040 (USD $453,851.28)
2 Charles Chua (Malaysia) HKD $2,275,740 (USD $291,761.54)
3 Bryan Huang (Singapore) HKD $1,201,080 (USD $153,984.62)
4 Mikael Rosen (Sweden) HKD $847,080 (USD $108,600.00)
5 Jeppe Drivsholm (Denmark) HKD $632,150 (USD $81,044.87)
6 Will Cheong (Macau) HKD $442,500 (USD $56,730.77)
7 Tian Chen (China) HKD $328,720 (USD $42,143.59)
8 Javed Abrahams (UK) HKD $240,220 (USD $30,797.44)
9 So Myung Sim (South Korea) HKD $177,000 (USD $22,692.31)

All photography © Joe Giron/IMPDI