We started out nearly eleven hours ago with 76 hopefuls entering the Casino Canberra poker room in their quest for ANZPT glory. We had previous ANZPT champions, Australian poker legends and several young guns in contention. But after a day full of psychological warfare, we are left with just fifteen men standing.

They're a happy bunch and will sleep well tonight knowing they are a minimum of $4,690 wealthier. Some will be more than satisfied with that, but there are a few others who want nothing more than to go all the way to claim the title and $73,700 first place prize.

Along the way today there was plenty of roadkill, with the biggest of them all falling in the opening minutes of the day.

Team PokerStars Pro Tony Hachem was in dire need of a quick double up and when he looked down and found the pocket rockets it seemed like a perfect opportunity. However a cruel river gave his opponents trips and Hachem departed.

Other high profile casualties included ANZPT Adelaide champion Octavian Voegele, ANZPT Sydney winner Michael Kanaan, day one chip leaders Scott Kerr and Leo Boxell, Rennie Carnevale, Michael Guzzardi, Sal Fazzino and ANZ Player of the Year contenders Oliver Grujic, Sebastian Pagana and Graeme Putt.

It left the door open for reigning Aussie Millions champion David Gorr as the only player in the current POTY top ten to remain in contention. Gorr battled for long periods today on a short stack, and had to survive some intense duels with the ultra-aggressive James Broom, but Gorr managed to make it through the day and can now finish as high as second in the rankings with a good result tomorrow.

As players approached the money stage, the likes of Luke Edwards, Jarred Graham and Germany's Khiem Nguyen moved through the field to grab the chip lead. Nguyen was particularly impressive as he picked the right spots to throw jabs and accumulate. When he eliminated David Steele he shot into the chip lead and never relinquished that position as he enters the final day of play as our chip leader.

When George Moussa's courageous run came to an end in devastating fashion at the hands of a creative Tristan Bain, the bubble had burst and we were in the money. Here's the redraw for play tomorrow:

Table 5
Seat 1: Tristan Bain (Australia) - 263,300
Seat 2: Xiuming "Sammy" Huang (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - 191,400
Seat 3: Brett Chalhoub (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - 119,700
Seat 4: James Broom (Australia) - 203,700
Seat 5: Tony Kambouroglou (Australia) - 255,000
Seat 8: Luke Edwards (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - 233,200
Seat 9: Gioreio Graziani (Australia) - 187,800

Table 6
Seat 1: Jarred Graham (Australia) - 95,500
Seat 2: Naz Sibaei (Australia) - 35,500
Seat 3: Khiem Nguyen (Germany) - 325,600
Seat 4: Andrew Watson (Australia) (PokerStars Player) - 233,900
Seat 5: Leigh Warne (Australia) - 311,600
Seat 6: Mario Ljubicic (Australia) - 39,300
Seat 8: David Gorr (Australia) - 112,500
Seat 9: Takahiro Morooka (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - 77,700

We'll recommence play at 12:15pm tomorrow (GMT+10) and play all the way down until a new ANZPT champion is crowned. Looking at the lineup, it's set to be a stellar final table and should provide plenty of great highlights from the nation's capital. Until then, enjoy your Sunday evening and we'll see you tomorrow!

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Read More... [Source: PokerStars Poker Blog :: Tournaments]