APPT Sydney 2008, Day 1a: Phillip Willcocks Leads

The 2008 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) kicked off in Sydney yesterday at our very own Star City Casino. Boasting players from all around the world, 108 players played on Day 1a with only 48 of them making it through to the second day of play.

Last year’s winner Grant Levy was at hand to give the honours of starting play with the famous words of “shuffle up and deal”. Notable exits on the day included Australian poker player David Saab who made it deep in this year’s 2008 WSOP Main Event, Jay Kinkade, Vanessa Rousso and James Obst.

Phil Willcocks ended the day on 120,000 chips and one of only two players who finished with over 100k in chips. He holds a commanding lead over the rest of the pack, but with plenty of action still to come there is plenty of opportunity for the field to catch him.

The top ten chip stacks of the day are as follows:

Phil Willcocks – 129,000
Steven Musca – 103,200
Daniel Kowalski – 98,500
David Lovell – 92,500
Greg Cook – 85,100
Kevin Wagler – 78,900
Ray Lapitan – 77,200
Daniel Ginnane – 69,200
John Cordue – 69,100
Michael Russell – 66,900
Derrick Wall – 66,700

Day 1b is in full swing today and we will give you a full recap of the action that took place when it is over. Stay tuned for the latest news on your favourite players!