March 23 2012, Josh Bell

On Day 1b of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Sydney Main Event, 246 players took to the felt. In addition to the 215 who entered on Day 1a, this year’s event saw a total 461 players create a prize pool of $922,000. That number has easily surpassed last year’s field to prove that poker is prospering in the land Down Under.

By the end of the night approximately 129 players survived the day, and Tam Truong ended in the best position to make a run at the $226,812 first-place prize. Truong had a very successful late-half of the day and bagged 120,700 in chips.

A big hand for Truong occurred late in the evening when a player shoved all in for 20,000 in chips. Truong was directly on the player’s left when he instantly re-shoved his massive stack. The rest of the table got out of the way and the two players turned their hands over. Truong tabled , well ahead of the of his opponent, and the board ran out blank. Truong continued his rise up the counts for the remainder of play.

That great effort means that Truong will start day Day 2 as the fourth biggest chip stack, with Tobin Ryall, from Day 1a being the overall chip leader.

Joining Truong at the top of the chip counts for Day 1b was Justin Cohen (110,625), George Marando (104,950), 83-year old Bill Kennedy (102,675) and Sheldon Mayer (99,300).

The above players may have had a prosperous day at the tables, but it wasn’t the same story for Josh Barrett, John Apostolidis, Ali Khalil and Tim English, as they each made their way to the rail throughout the day.

Faring better than those eliminated included the likes of Luke Edwards (85,150), Mario Ljubicic (69,250), Raemin Alexander (55,450) and Vesko Zmukic (48,900). Each of these players will be in with a fighting chance come Day 2.

Don’t rule out Maria Ho and Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen as these two international players will also return on Saturday.

Also surviving the day were three Australian Poker Hall of Fame members – Leo Boxell (45,700), Gary Benson (36,375) and Mel Judah (19,925) will each return for Day 2 on Saturday.

Approximately 213 players will return for Day 2 action. A full Day 2 seating draw and official end of Day 1b chip counts will be made available as soon as possible. The top five chip counts going into Day 2 can be seen below.

Day 2 Top Five Chip Counts

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will again be on the floor of The Star Poker Room on Saturday from 1230 AEST (1930 PST Friday), so make sure to tune in to all the live updates from the penultimate day of the 2012 ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today!

March 22 2012, Chad Holloway

Season 5 of the PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Chile continued on Thursday at the Enjoy Casino & Resort in Vina del Mar with Day 1b of the Main Event, which attracted 367 players. Combined with Day 1a’s 284, that brought the total to 651 players, surpassing last year’s field of 621 players and creating a prize pool of $651,840.

Among the players who took a shot at the $129,470 first-place prize on Thursday were Team PokerStars Pros Nacho Barbero, Humberto Brenes, Andre Akkari, as well as Flavio Reis, Eric Brenes, Luis Montano, and Thiago “XtheDecanoX” Nishijima, a Brazilian online pro who has had quite a bit of success on both the live and virtual felt.

In one of the more interesting hands of the day, a player in middle position opened for 2,000 and was met with an all-in three-bet to 3,000 by the player on the button. When action was on Nishijima in the big blind, he thought for a moment before putting out a four-bet to 5,200. The player in middle position called and the flop fell.

Nishijima was first to act and slid out a bet of 5,000, which inspired the player in middle position to fold.

Showdown

It was a sweet flop for Nishijima, who held middle set, but the player on the button was in big trouble. The turn did give him a gut-shot straight draw to a jack, but it was not meant to be as the river gave Nishijima quads! He advanced to Day 2 with 92,900.

Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky. Humberto Brenes lasted until after the dinner break, but soon met his demise. It happened when he defended his big blind after the button had raised, leading to a flop. Brenes committed the rest of his stack with , his opponent called with and while the turn changed nothing, the completed the opponent’s straight draw and ended Brenes’ tournament.

Likewise, Akkari put up a good fight for much of the day, but couldn’t hold on after he lost the majority of his chips in a monster pot after hitting an ace with only to have his opponent hit a runner-runner flush with . A short time later, action folded to Akkari on the button and he moved all in for around 12,000, which the player in the big blind called.

Showdown

The flop gave Akkari a pair and a straight draw, but he was behind his opponent’s flopped pair of jacks. Neither the turn nor river were what Akkari needed, and he was eliminated from the tournament.

Others who found themselves on the rail were Barbero, Ariel Celestino, Wilmer Gomez, Miguel Solano, Samar Hodali, Alex Brenes and Fernando Araujo.

Those who managed to punch their ticket to Day 2 were Joao Lopes, who emerged as the Day 1b chip leader with an impressive 207,000; as well as, Alejandro Vargas (162,600), Odilon Machuca (143,500), Julio Kim (130,600), Javier Pinto (127,700), William Espinosa (123,000) and Luis Montano (118,000).

They will all join Day 1a big stacks like Waldermar Barrientos (140,300), Jaime Farriol (128,300), Sebastian Rios (126,200), Carlos Munoz (124,100) and Daniela Horno (122,200), all of who hail from Chile.

End of Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts

The 101 surviving players will combine with the 89 remaining players from Day 1a and return to action on Friday at 1200 CLST (0800 PDT) for Day 2, which will be covered in great detail right here on PokerNews.

Stay up to date on all the latest news by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook.

Follow Chad Holloway on