The last event of Season Three of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour- the Sydney Grand Final- began today in the newly refurbished Sydney Star City Casino poker room, with 81 Day 1a players sitting down to play.

Among those 81 sat many well known pros, despite a European Poker Tour main event also starting today in Prague, potentially splitting the Poker World's attention.  Some of the more recognizable faces at the Star City Casino included Casey Kastle, Eric Assadourian, Lee "Final Table" Nelson and Tony Dunst, who ended the day as the chip leader as well as one of the few players to have compiled more than 100,000 in tournament chips.

The APPT Sydney Grand Final has two more starting flights scheduled for tomorrow and the next day before Dunst and the rest of the 51 Day 1a survivors have a chance to sit down again on Friday to continue building their stacks on Day 2, and given that often the later starting flights attract even more players than the early ones, it is highly conceivable at this point that this $6,300 buy-in APPT Grand Final could eventually end up with a total prize pool worth over $1.5 million for those players.

For more information on the APPT Sydney Grand Final visit www.appt.com or check out the PokerStars blog for highlights and current chip counts.
 

Story by Mark Anderson