Asia Pacific Poker Tour Kicks off with Melbourne Main Event

Season 5 of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour has officially opened its doors for business, debuting with a brand-new stop, the luxurious Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. The largest casino in the Southern Hemisphere has now partnered with the richest poker tour in Asia for the kickoff to the new season, which currently has two other stops on the schedule in Queenstown, New Zealand and Macau, China.

Headlining the APPT Melbourne main event along with Joe Hachem is fellow Team PokerStars pro Chris Moneymaker, who offered the words, “Shuffle up and deal” to officially get things underway.

The $5,000 buy-in main event attracted a total of 260 runners from 18 different countries, generating a prize pool just north of AUD $1.2 million. First place is scheduled to receive AUD $330,000.

Hachem was eliminated from the contest midway through the first day; axed by fellow Aussie and PokerStars qualifier Liam Moffett. Moneymaker flirted with the top of the leader board throughout the day, but dropped back to the middle of the pack before bagging 34,450 to finish the day.

Australian pro Mitch Carle from Brisbane finished the day atop the leader board with 187,900 in chips. Other notable survivors include Van Marcus, David Steicke, Tony Hachem, James Obst, Stewart Scott, and Jonathan Karamalikis.

Day 1 Top Chip Counts:

Mitchell Carle, Australia – 187,900
Kyle Cheong, Australia – 126,825
David Allen, Australia (PokerStars Player) – 123,700
Ilir Beluli, Australia – 114,275
Francis Artufel, Australia – 111,425
David Bonadio, Australia – 111,300
Phillip Willcocks, New Zealand – 110,100
Koray Turker, New Zealand (PokerStars Qualifier) – 109,800
James Obst, Australia – 108,800
David Steicke, Hong Kong – 107,050

The tournament will crown a champion on Monday, August 1 and you can check back at Card Player at that time for a recap of the final table.

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