July 26 2012, Josh Bell

The third and final Day 1 flight of the 2012 PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Queenstown Snowfest Main Event came to a close on Thursday. At the end of the day, Nurlan Boobekov had emerged as the chip leader, bagging up a stack of 69,200.

Forty-nine entries from Day 1c, combined with 51 from Day 1a and the 49 from Day 1b, created a total field of 149 and a prize pool of NZD$402,300. The remaining players will be chasing the NZD$110,600 first-place prize. With 27 players surviving Day 1a, 31 surviving Day 1b and the 29 still alive after Thursday’s Day 1c, there are 87 players who are still in contention to become the 2012 Queenstown Snowfest champion.

Some of those who began Day 1c but fell short of securing a Day 2 berth include Jan Suchanek, Keith Walker, John Apostolidis, Matty Yates and Australian Poker Hall of Fame member, Lee Nelson. Nelson’s run ended when he ran into Alicia Sale’s . The short-stacked Nelson simply showed a as he exited the tournament area.

Aaron Benton, Jarred Graham and Kristian Lunardi managed to use the final starting day as a springboard into Friday’s Day 2. 2011 APPT Melbourne champion Leo Boxell also survived Day 1c and is still in contention for the Queenstown Snowfest title.

Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang and PokerStars Team Online Pro Roy “GodlikeRoy” Bhasin are two other players who will be looking to make an impact in the late stages of this tournament. Huang and Bhasin both played on Day 1c, and both managed to bag up some chips at the end of the day.

Day 1c Top 10 Chip Stacks

The overall chip leader heading into Day 2 is David Allan from Day 1a, who holds a stack of 98,200. Interestingly enough, the top five chip stacks are all from Day 1a, with Ken Demlakian from Day 1b and Day 1c’s Boobekov filling the sixth and seventh spots on the leaderboard.

Day 2 will play out in a somewhat unique way with half the field engaged in three levels of action on Day 2a at 1230 NZST Friday (Saturday 1700 PDT). The other half will play three levels on Day 2b at 1600 NZST Friday (Saturday 2100 PDT). Surviving players from both Day 2 fields will then be combined later that same evening. Make sure to join the PokerNews live reporting team as they continue to bring you all the action from the 2012 ANZPT Queenstown Snowfest Main Event.

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July 14 2012, PokerNews Staff

To allow as many PokerNews customers as possible participate in our $20,000 freeroll on PokerStars, we have extended the qualification period to July 31. But this does not give you the excuse to sit on your hands because July 31 is still only a shade over two weeks away.

On Aug. 7 at 1400 EDT, PokerStars will be hosting a $20,000 freeroll only open to our valued PokerNews customers. This value-packed promotion is available to both new and existing PokerStars customers who signed up using PokerNews bonus codes, and this means the field size will be drastically lower than in a typical freeroll, increasing your chances of winning some free cash.

If you have already signed up to PokerStars through PokerNews and used our bonus codes to do so, all you need to do to participate in the PokerNews $20,000 Freeroll is to earn 50 VPPs between July 1 and 31. Earn the 50 VPPs and a ticket to the freeroll will be placed in your account. It really is as simple as that.

New customers have an even easier route to the $20,000 freeroll. All you need to do if you do not have a PokerStars account is to download PokerStars through PokerNews, enter the marketing code “POKERNEWS.COM” and make a deposit using the bonus code “STARS600” and not only will you be eligible for a 100% match up to $600 first-deposit bonus, but you will also be given a free ticket to the PokerNews $20,000 Freeroll.

• Tournament Name: PokerNews $20,000 Freeroll
• Tournament ID: 576897423
• Date: Aug. 7, 2012
• Time: 14:00 ET
• Prize pool: $20,000
• Exclusive to PokerNews players

When play begins, each player will have 3,000 chips to work with and will play to PokerStars’ tried-and-tested 15-minute blind structure and prizes paid out as per the standard PokerStars prize distribution.

Please be aware that it will be PokerStars that issues the tickets to this restricted event so please direct any ticket-related questions to their excellent support team.

By signing up to PokerStars through PokerNews, you automatically gain access to all future promotions we hold together, and there have been dozens of them. Since January 2011, we have run PokerNews-exclusive promotions that have had combined prize pools of over $380,000! Nowhere else online can you can get so much value just for signing up for PokerStars. What are you waiting for? Download PokerStars and get involved in our amazing promotions!

If you experience any other problems with this or any of our promotions, please contact our Ticketed Promo Support System.

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