Woodworth Leads Day 1a of ANZPT Perth

After a couple of months on hiatus, Season 5 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour continued on Wednesday evening. This week it was time for ANZPT Perth to take centre stage, with players from all around the Australia, and the world, taking to the felt of Crown Perth.

The ANZPT Perth Main Event has a rich history, with the likes of Tony Hachem and Grant Levy a few of the alumni to lift the trophy. This year saw 67 players begin the first of two Day 1 flights with the hopes of beginning their journey towards joining Hachem and Levy as an ANZPT Perth champion.

Kicking off at 7.00pm local time, the Day 1a schedule would see players only needing to last six 60-minute levels to make it through the night.

Unfortunately it’s not always a happy ending in the world of poker and so some of the players who would be licking their wounds after early departures include Tom Grigg, Kristian Lunardi, WSOP Europe Gold Bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen and the UK’s Rupert Elder.

Some of the players who prospered through various stages of the day and made it through the night include Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Gary Benson, local hero Dale Marsland and Aussie poker favourites Ricky Kroesen and Andrew Jeffreys.

One of the large pots that went Marsland’s way saw him call a huge bet on the river of a board. Marsland didn’t look too confident when he made the call, but that changed quickly when his opponent turned over for a pair of jacks – not strong enough for Marsland’s .

Despite Marsland's best efforts to finish up as the chip leader, it was Peter Woodworth who bagged the largest chip stack. By the time it was all over, Woodworth's 84,0215 in chips was a fair margin in front of Marsland's 70,625. The full end-of-day 1a chip counts will be posted as soon as they are made available.

In the end there were 38 players who bagged up some chips and will return to the felt on Friday to fight it out for a spot on Day 3 of the ANZPT Perth Main Event. For now though, these players must relax and watch on as a new batch of players begin their journey on tomorrow's Day 1b. The action is set to kick off at 12.30 pm local time, so be sure to join us then!

For now, we will leave you with Lynn Gilmartin's tour of this beautiful city: