August 25 2011, Josh Bell

The final Day 1 flight at the 2011 PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Queenstown Main Event came to a close on Thursday with another small field adding 23 more players to Friday’s Day 2 action.

Forty-three players entered Day 1c, but only 36 actually took their seats; however, there were no complaints. The seven no-shows left thousands of dollars of dead money in the prize pool.

After six levels of play, 23 players remained and will join the 20 and 28 players from Day 1a and 1b, respectively, to form the 71-player Day 2 field. Some players from Day 1c who won’t be making an appearance on Day 2 include Julian Cohen, Andrew Scott and Joel Dodds.

After taking down the 2011 APPT Melbourne Main Event a few weeks ago, Leo Boxell was looking good to continue his solid run in the APPT, but his Day 2 hopes in Queenstown were cut short late into Day 1c by the eventual chip leader, Alicia Sale.

Sale managed to work her way up the chip leaderboard throughout the day after falling early to 4,000 in chips. Her rise culminated in the double elimination of Boxell and Joshua Jurcic. Both players were all-in on the flop. Boxell was in trouble holding against Jurcic’s , while Sale held . She managed to hit the on the turn to make the nut flush and send both opponents to the rail.

Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts

Sale not only managed to top the counts after Day 1c, but she will return for Day 2 on Friday as the overall chip leader. Sale adds to the Kiwi domination of APPT Queenstown. The players with the top five chip stacks all hail from New Zealand.

The closest international player to Sale going into Day 2 is Germany’s Marcel Schreiner, while Australia’s Daniel Laidlaw and Austrian Octavian Voegele also sit close by the New Zealanders.

Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

The returning players will take their seats at the felt at 1230 NZST (1700 PDT) on Friday all vying for the $94,300 NZD first-place prize. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as they bring you all the action from Day 2 of the 2011 APPT Queenstown Snowfest.

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