From the cutoff seat, Tony "Bond18" Dunst raised to 300 and was called by the big blind, Nafiz Fafi. The two players saw the flop come down . Fafi checked and Dunst fired 525. His opponent called.
The turn brought the and Fafi checked again. Dunst bet, making it 1,025 this time. Fafi made the call.
The river was the and both players checked.
"King high." announced Fafi, tabling . Dunst showed and scooped the pot. Dunst had dropped a bit, but moved back to 20,500.
As the players begin to settle into their current homes at the tables, we've spotted quite a few names splashing around here in Sydney. Among them are Casey Kastle, Dennis Waterman, Eric Assadourian, Petros Aristidou, Joel Dodds, Jason Gray, and one of the contestants on Joe Hachem's Australian television show "The Poker Star", Donna Ciric.
Catching up with the action on the river, there were approximately 5,000 chips in the pot and a completed board of . Lee "Final Table" Nelson was the first to act of the two players in the pot. He fired a bet of 4,000 after taking about a minute to decide on his play. Action fell to the other player seated in the cutoff seat. He took a minute as well and then raised to 9,000. Another long pause followed before Nelson tossed in a single T5,000 chip to make the call.
His opponent tabled for a full house and then Nelson showed for a higher full house. Both players flopped huge, but Nelson was on the better end of things. He's to 41,500 chips.
Former WSOP Main Event champion and Team PokerStars PRO Australia member Joe Hachem is outside the tournament room signing copies of his book Pass the Sugar for players and fans while the registration desk has four or five lines 10 people deep. The prizepool for the entire event is already reaching AUD $500,000.
We've spotted Graeme "Kiwi G" Putt, Eric Assadourian, Tony "Bond18" Dunst, Con Angelakis and Julian Powell roaming around the tournament area and will have more names to give you when they roll in.
Play is set to begin in a short 15 minutes. Stay tuned!
PokerNews welcomes you to our coverage of the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final, the fourth and final stop on Season 3 of the APPT. For a third consecutive year, the fight for the APPT's crown jewel will be held at the Star City Casino, only this year, Star City boasts a brand new, 25 table, state-of-the-art poker facility, situated next to the 36 Degrees bar.
Over the next three days, poker players from around the world will descend upon the "Land Down Under," to play in their choice of three Day 1 flights. Those lucky enough to survive their respective Day 1 flights will merge with the survivors of the other two groups to form one collective field for Friday's Day 2 play, at which time the remaining players will begin the home stretch toward the final table, scheduled for Sunday, December 6th.
Sydneysider Grant Levy, now a Team PokerStars Australia pro, took down the first APPT Grand Final back in 2007, earning an AUD $1,000,000 payday. In 2008, Aussie Martin Rowe claimed the title and USD $648,046 in prize money after besting a field of 477 players.
Will an Aussie take it down for a third straight year, or will one of the many PokerStars qualifiers swoop in and take the trophy back home with them? To find out, keep your browser pointed right here to PokerNews.com for up-to-the-minute live updates, chip counts, photos and exclusive video interviews direct from the tournament floor.
The action kicks off today 12:30 p.m. local time (GMT +11) when the first of our three Day 1 flights takes to the felt. We hope to see you then!