March 22 2012, Josh Bell

The fourth season of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour kicked off with Day 1a of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. There were 214 players who began the day on Thursday evening, making it a huge field and setting the event on target to easily surpass the 393 players who took part in last year’s ANZPT Sydney. Of those players, approximately 98 will return on Day 2.

The player who finished up in the best shape at the end of Day 1a was Tobin Ryall. Throughout the day, Ryall accumulated chips and ended with a stack of 138,500. His largest pot came when he held on a board showing . That hand was enough to send his opponent’s cards into the muck and so began Ryall’s late domination.

Joining Ryall at the top of the counts will be Nabil Edgtton (125,100), Gordon Huntly (121,500) and Rhys Gould (119,600).

Although those players prospered on Day 1a, it wasn’t the same story for others. Tom Grigg, David Steicke, Aaron Benton, Daniel Neilson, Grant Levy and Andrew Hinrichsen were all eliminated throughout the day.

Also joining the above players on the rail was 2010 APPT Sydney champion, Jonathan Karamalikis.

Karamalikis was one of the early chip leaders on Thursday evening, but that all changed late in the night when nothing seemed to go his way. First Karamalikis lost a massive flip holding against and then he lost all but a few of chips when he missed his double-belly-buster draw holding on a board which showed . On the next hand, Karamalikis was all in for just 250 in chips and found no luck to save him from an exit.

Returning with plenty of chips on Day 2 will be Mishel Anunu (80,600), Oliver Speidel (70,900), Dan Kelly (70,600) and 2011 ANZPT Sydney champion, Michael Kanaan (70,200).

Peter Aristidou (52,400), Tony Hachem (48,100), Jackson Zheng (24,000) and Billy Argyros (22,600) will also return with a fighting chance on Day 2.

ANZPT Sydney End of Day 1a Chip Counts

The play on Day 1b is set to kick off on Friday at 1230 AEST (1930 PST Thursday). Make sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as they will again be on the floor providing all the action from 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!