2010 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Day 1c: Brkovic Leading Field
Thursday saw the final Day 1 flight kick off of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Sydney Grand Final with the Star City Casino playing host to a highly anticipated Day 1c! More than half the field sat down to battle it out on the felt with 189 players forming a 289-player field to take the total prize pool to AU$1,734,000 and thirty-two players guaranteed a piece of the prize pool.
With AU$459,510 for first up for grabs, the Team PokerStars flag was waved by Joe Hachem, Tony Hachem, Lee Nelson and Chris Moneymaker. Australian online players Steve "stevoL" Leonard, James "Andy McLEOD" Obst, Ben "CNT_CRUSHER" Delaney, Matthew "ROOJAR_M" Pilat, Julian "intimad8or32" Cohen and Hugh "jackovich" Cohen also came out to try their hand at a title shot.
Five ANZPT and two APPT Champions were in the field today, but that was quickly reduced by one when Nauv Kashyap found himself on the rail courtesy of a set-crushing defeat. Tony Hachem literally limped into the tournament and surprising appearances were made by Tony Guoga and Roland de Wolfe, who ended up getting the same table draw.
PokerStars WCOOP Player of the Series and APPT Sydney AU$15,300 High Rollers Champion Obst was in late, and out early when his less superior two pair failed to improve. Amazingly it would be APPT Sydney and ANZPT Darwin Champion Danny "Brotha D" Leaoasavaii who soared out to the chip lead before Delaney, Pilat and Leonard all exited to the rail.
It managed to take Moneymaker thrity-hours to arrive in Sydney from his home in the USA, but only six hours to bust from the Main Event. Tony Hachem limped out soon after along with multiple WSOP Bracelet holder Jeffrey Lisandro and APPT and ANZPT Champions Binh Nguyen and Scott Kerr.
With another successful day wrapping up on the felt, it would be Melbournian Aleks Brkovic sitting well placed on top with an amassed 129,100 in chips which was powered up through catching a fellow high stakes player bluff and cracking A?A? with A?K? when two kings dropped on the flop.
Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts:
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Aleks Brkovic | Australia | 129,100 |
| 2 | Antonis Kambouroglou | Australia | 119,200 |
| 3 | Andrew Hiscox | Australia | 107,600 |
| 4 | Barry Forrester | Australia | 107,200 |
| 5 | Tyron Krost | Australia | 100,800 |
| 6 | David Saghabi | Australia | 97,700 |
| 7 | Andrew Kanaridis | Australia | 96,800 |
| 8 | Jarred Graham | Australia | 93,000 |
| 9 | Antoine Amourette | France | 90,100 |
| 10 | Norman Doucette | Canada | 90,000 |
As Brkovic headlined the 83 players remaining, it would be a majority of locals rounding out the top ten with Antonis Kambouroglou (119,200) fresh off his win in the opening event and a cash in the High Rollers (for a combined near AU$100,000) sitting just ahead of last years sixth-place finisherAndrew Hiscox (107,600), 2010 Aussie Millions Champion Tyron Krost (100,800) and Jarred "FlopNutsOnYou" Graham (93,000).
De Wolfe (83,200), Guoga (47,800), Joe Hachem (46,000) and Nelson (15,100) will just be a few of the notables alive when the 83 players from today, and the 41 and 39 players from Day 1a and 1b respectively form to make a 163-player Day 2 field.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Daniel Neilson | Australia | 164,100 |
| 2 | Aaron Tran | Australia | 147,200 |
| 3 | Manuel Hansimikali | Australia | 136,600 |
| 4 | Reza Vakili | Australia | 129,800 |
| 5 | Aleks Brkovic | Australia | 129,100 |
| 6 | Brent Bibby | Canada | 128,800 |
| 7 | Antonis Kambouroglou | Australia | 119,200 |
| 8 | Vijayan Nagarajan | Malaysia | 118,300 |
| 9 | Jai Kemp | Australia | 108,600 |
| 10 | Andrew Hiscox | Australia | 107,600 |
PokerNews will again be on the floor providing exclusive live coverage of all the Day 2 action as we look to play down, or close, to the money in the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final!
