The final stop of Season 8 of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour would see us venture to Auckland in New Zealand with a field of 54 players taking to the felt for Day 1a of the NZ$2,500 APPT Auckland Main Event.
The early 10:15am start time will require a powerful coffee from most before jumping into the action with eight levels reducing the sector to simply 19 by the top of the day.
The field was mostly filled with locals but included the likes of Oliver Gill, Angie Fitzgerald, Dean Francis, James Honeybone, Cole Swannack, Australian Poker Hall of Famer Leo Boxell and last year's bubble boy Dean Blatt.
Honeybone was excited to be a part of the APPT Auckland Main Event after prior commitments in his second home of São Paulo forced him to overlook last year's event. But the Brazilian-Kiwi was probably the most first to be eliminated with a straight over straight.
Leo Boxell, Dean Francis and Oliver Gill would also meet their demise, while on the other end of the counts, the large stacks began to emerge in Qiang Fu and Ben Rendall.
Fu would win an enormous pot in a battle of the blinds against local Angie Fitzgerald. The 2 saw a board of 8♦T♥K♣K♥2♥ with the action erupting at the river Fitzgerald's K♦2♦ trumped by Fu's K♠8♣ for a larger full house.
That hand would see Fu become the primary players into six figures, nevertheless it wasn't enough to snatch the end-of-day chip lead as Ben Rendall had an afternoon out.
Everything Rendall touched turned to gold before an enormous pot within the final level saw Rendall call a check-raise at the flop, a chance at the turn after which another big bet at the river on a board of 9♠J♣8♠3♥3♦. Rendall showed Q♦9♥ for just second pair and that was good as his opponent revealed T♦9♦.
Rendall would bag up a monstrous 179,600 in chips that is over 16% of the whole chips in play for the day! It is a huge number and sets Rendall as much as make a deep run on the title.
APPT Auckland Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Ben Rendall (New Zealand) - 179,600Qiang Fu (New Zealand) - 114,600Tae Hoon Han (New Zealand) - 83,000Brett Unkovich (New Zealand) - 75,900Ryan Shiffman (New Zealand) - 72,100Jun Huh (New Zealand) - 65,600Daryl Hussey (New Zealand) - 64,500Cory Fransham (New Zealand) - 56,100Rachel Bellard (New Zealand) - 52,200Simen Romslo (New Zealand) - 44,600
18 of the nineteen survivors were locals with former ANZPT Perth runner up Dean Blatt the one Australian to make it through to Day 2 as one of the most short stacks. Head to the live reporting section for the entire chip counts.
The 19 survivors may be capable of enjoy a few days off around Auckland before returning for Day 2 on Saturday. Before then, we now have two more opening flights to get through. Various PokerStars qualifiers are expected on Thursday for Day 1b while the most important flight might be stuffed with internationals on Day 1c on Friday. Play will again commence on the bright and early time slot of 10:15am (GMT+12). We glance forward to you joining us then!
Heath "TassieDevil" Chick is a contract Contributor for the PokerStars Blog.
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