The title of Australian poker capital has been shipped around numerous cities over the past 30 years. It started at Australia's first casino in Hobart, Tasmania, then settled in Adelaide during the late 1980s and 1990s, briefly adopted Canberra before setting up shop in Melbourne.

However, a new challenger is emerging. After the success of the 2007 and 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Finals, the poker room at Star City Casino in Sydney is buzzing like never before.

Amid the current financial crisis, the PokerStars.net Australian New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) somehow managed to establish a new record for an event up to $3000 buy-in, with a field of 493 players and a prize pool of AUD $986,000.

Remember, this is a tour in its first year and holding just its second event. But poker-hungry Sydneysiders showed their hunger for such events by packing out the events on the preliminary schedule before building a Main Event field comparable with the showpiece of the Star City poker program: the APPT Grand Final.

After four days and 28 one-hour levels, the battle for the first ANZPT Sydney Main Event title came down to a showdown between an eclectic pair - 49-year-old mother-of-six and Gold Coast mortgage broker Lisa Walsh, and 25-year-old Sydney student and aspiring poker pro Paren "Puzz" Arzoomanian.

Supported by a large and boisterous rail, who iced a bottle of champagne on the media desk in expectation of his victory, Puzz was cheered to the line and just before 1am on Monday morning, he duly saluted to take home the first prize of AUD $246,500. Not bad for a guy who has recently finished chemotherapy after a bout of cancer.

Play had stagnated when it reached four-handed, but the elimination of Chris Kittos finally sparked some action and when the final PokerStars qualifier John Caridad was KOed in third, it was Walsh versus Arzoomanian for the title.

Walsh was poised for a slice of local poker history, with the title of winning the biggest prize ever captured by a female on Australian soil in her grasp.

She trailed when the heads-up battle started, wrested the lead but eventually fell one step short. The end came when she committed her short stack with [kh] [9c], but Puzz making the call and showing [ac] [5d]. The board ran out [js] [8s] [8d] [5c] [ad], and the Dom Perignon was flowing for Paren Arzoomanian.

In the end, it was an appropriate result for a Sydney local, and another step up the ladder for Sydney as the home of Aussie poker.

But the New South Welshmen will be on enemy territory in three weeks' time when the PokerStars.net ANZPT treks across the Victorian border for ANZPT Melbourne at Crown Casino. State pride will be on the line in what is sure to be a fiercely contested $2700 buy-in event.

And the man everyone will be watching is PokerStars.net Team Australia player, Melbourne's own Tony Hachem, the new leader in the race for the ANZPT Player of the Year title.

We look forward to joining from May 25-27 in our hometown for the third event on the 2009 PokerStars.net ANZPT. Farewell from Star City Casino and Sydney, Australia.

We're down to the final two in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event, with Lisa Walsh narrowly trailing Paren Arzoomanian for the title.

Chris Kittos busted in fourth spot after he came out on the wrong end of a race against Walsh. It was [3c] [3h] against [ah] [ks] for Kittos, with the board of [2c] [4c] [5d] [5s] [js] ending his tournament.

The heads-up line-up was decided when Walsh used a big slick of her own - [ac] [kh] - against the [ad] [8c] of John Caridad. The board of [10h] [2d] [3c] [7h] [jd] missed both players, and Caridad, the final PokerStars qualifier in the tournament, was out in third.

That left Walsh on 4.1 million and Puzz holding 5.6 million as the heads-up battle started. Walsh remains on track to capture the biggest tournament prize ever won by a female on Australian soil, and the biggest tournament prize ever captured by an Australian female anywhere in the world. And then there's Puzz, with a bunch of railbirds who've yet to sleep in the past 40 hours, fuelled by enough vodka Red Bulls to power a lunar mission. Should be fun!

Players have just returned from a 10-minute break (with the exception of Paren "Puzz" Arzoomanian, who obviously needed 15) for the final sprint to the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

That extra rest just proved beneficial as he just doubled through Lisa Walsh to reignite his failing challenge. It was Walsh who sweetened the pot with a pre-flop raise to 225,000, then Puzz pushed all-in, putting Walsh to the test.

She called and showed [4d] [4h], and it was off to the races with his [ah] [kh]. He connected on the flop of [kc] [qs] [6c], and stayed ahead as the board ran out [5s] [2s]. That left Walsh with just 1.8 million, while Arzoomanian climbed back above 3 million.

Most of Puzz's chips had been shipped to Caridad, the final PokerStars qualifier in the field, when they launched a massive pre-flop war. It went 125,000 to Arzoomanian, 450,000 to Caridad, 760,000 to Arzoomanian and all-in from Caridad. Puz folded, and Caridad scooped up more 1.25 million in chips without a card being revealed.

The ever-changing picture of the chip count currently reads Walsh 1.39 million, Kittos 2 million, Arzoomanian 3.1 million and Caridad 3.21 million. The players are currently discussing a deal, but the negotiations are moving about as smoothly as relations on the Korean peninsula so we expect level 26 to resume soon, with blinds at 40,000/80,000 with a 5000 ante.

Lisa Walsh was poised to write a slice of Aussie poker history after taking a stranglehold on the final table at the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event. But as quick as she wins 'em, back they go!

Departures have been rapid since the dinner break, with the latest elimination Billy "The Croc" Argyros in sixth place. Having returned from dinner in a jovial mood, "The Croc" was in the mood for action and found it when John Caridad called his pre-flop raise of 110,000.

The flop came down [qc] [10c] [9h], Caridad checked, Argyros pushed all-in and Caridad called. He showed [qh] [10d] for two-pair while Crocky's [kd] [ks] needed help. It didn't arrive with the board running out [7s] [3s], and the Hall of Famer was out in sixth.

Shortly after, Lisa Walsh and Majed Haddad clashed in what may prove the pivotal hand of the tournament. Walsh raised to 125,000 pre-flop, Haddad called and they watched a flop of [qc] [4d] [5c]. Both players checked and the turn fell [3h].

Haddad bet 175,000, Walsh made it 500,000, Haddad declared all-in and Walsh made the call. Wow. She showed [qd] [jd] to be a whisker ahead of Haddad's [qh] [9d]. But a whisker was enough as the [kd] landed on the river, allowing Walsh to scoop up a pot worth 4.6 million.

On the next hand, Haddad committed his remaining few chips, with Caridad and Arzoomanian calling and checking down the board of [jc] [2s] [qh] [10s] [5c]. Puzz's [kd] [10d] was good enough to win the pot ahead of Caridad's [as] [4c] and Haddad's [5h] [6h], sending the former chip leader to the rail in fifth position.

Walsh has since butted heads twice with Caridad - once in a split pot when the board came a queen-high straight, which saved Caridad's two-pair against Walsh's set of eights.
Then she called Caridad's all-in, again holding a set of eights - [8d] [8h] on a flop of [7d] [8c] [js] - against his [6s] 5h], but the [4h] turn made him a straight and, for the first time, Caridad had taken the chip lead.

That left Walsh on 2.85 million, ahead of Arzoomanian (2.5 million) and Chris Kittos (800,000) but trailing Caridad on 3.4 million.

And then there were six. Lisa Walsh looks to be a hurry to get home after claiming the two players to fall since the dinner break on the final day of the PokerStars.net AN ZPT Sydney Main Event.

In the first elimination, Walsh started the action with a raise to 125,000, Arzoomanian called then James Newhan pushed all-in for 572,000. Walsh called, Puzz got out of the way and it was Lisa's [ks] [kd] against James' [as] [js]. The Sydneysider failed to hit on the board of [7h] [6d] [3c] [6s] [qc] and was out in eighth.

Barely five minutes later, Joel Dodds was all-in pre-flop and again it was Walsh who came to the party. He showed [3s] [3h], with Walsh holding [ah] [jh]. The board of [10h] [ks] [as] [qd] [8c] missed Dodds, who departed to a nice round of applause from the packed rail here at Star City tonight.

The crowd is five-deep watching the final table, helped by players waiting their turn in the teams' event, in which PokerStars.net Team Australia members Tony Hachem and Eric Assadourian are having a ball.

We're also delighted to announce - in a world exclusive for the PokerStarsblog - that Chris Eva has been confirmed as the first contestant for The Poker Star, Joe Hachem's new poker reality show that will hit the screens later this year in Australia.

Players qualified for this single table tournament via a series of freerolls on PokerStars.net, with average fields of 2500 and a total entry over the two-week period of 13,000!

In the Main Event, we're ticking down to the start of level 25 (30,000/60,000 with an ante of 5000) with six players remaining.

Like most other parts of the world, poker has become a younger man's (and woman's) game in Australia. Over the past three years, names like PokerStars.net Team Australia players Grant Levy and Eric Assadourian, James Broom, Dory Zayneh, Stewart Scott, Haibo Chu, Daniel Botta and Luke Santo have topped the honours in Australia's biggest tournaments.

But the old guard have been biding their time, and today could be the day they have their revenge. That's not to say that Billy "The Croc" Argyros is about to be shipped off to the retirement home, but in poker terms, he's not far off getting a telegram from the Queen.

Indeed, Argyros, one of the inaugural inductees into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame, has been around long enough that his nickname was coined by the legendary Johnny Moss.

Argyros won his first title on debut in Adelaide in 1989 and full of confidence, became one of the few local players to have, at that time, made the trip to Las Vegas for the WSOP. The Croc nickname emerged on that trip, when he announced to assembled crowd watching him and the legendary Johnny Moss go heads-up in a satellite (that Argyros would win), "I'm Crocodile Bill from Down Under".

Crocodiles might be prevalent in this part of the world, but this Croc is an endangered species in the final 26 of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

PokerStars.net Team Australia player Tony Hachem is yet to win a major title. He came within a whisker at last year's New Zealand Poker Champs Main Event where he was runner-up, and would love to rid himself of the bridesmaid's tag.

But for Argyros, Hachem and the 24 other challengers, they'll first need to negotiate a tense afternoon of poker before the final table is decided. We'll be playing right through today until the first ANZPT Sydney champion is decided. It promises to be an enthralling day, so join us from 12.30pm today (3.30am GMT) for the final day's play.

Seat allocation

Table 21

Seat 1: Billy Argyros (Australia) 853,000
Seat 2: Ben Barclay (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 777,000
Seat 3: Paren Arzoomanian (Australia) 585,000
Seat 4: Matthew Burgoine (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 333,000
Seat 5: Chris Kittos (Australia) 357,000
Seat 6: Joel Dodds (Australia) 190,000
Seat 7: Joey Lawrence (Australia) 192,000
Seat 8: David Zhao (Australia) 537,000
Seat 9: Danny Joukhader (Australia) 412,000

Table 22

Seat 1: John Caridad (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 269,000
Seat 2: David Hibbott (Australia) 481,000
Seat 3: Phi L Luu (Australia) 160,000
Seat 4: Joseph Nati (Australia) 75,000
Seat 5: Tony Hachem (Australia) Team PokerStars Australia 414,000
Seat 6: James Newhan (Australia) 397,000
Seat 7: Robert Acton (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 245,000
Seat 8: Marcial Dias (Australia) 113,000
Seat 9: Hugh Cohen (Australia) PokerStars Player 272,000

Table 23

Seat 1: Majed Haddad (Australia) 705,000
Seat 2: Chris Levick (Australia) PokerStars Qualifier 124,000
Seat 4: Peter Ling (Australia) 623,000
Seat 5: Marc Liddell (Australia) 218,000
Seat 6: Andy Meldrum (Australia) 314,000
Seat 7: Lisa Walsh (Australia) 656,000
Seat 8: Michael Marvenak (Australia) 128,000
Seat 9: Matthew Pongrass (Australia) 263,000

The structure for today's play is:

Level 20: 8000/16,000 (ante 2000)
Level 21: 10,000/20,000 (ante 2000)
Level 22: 12,000/24,000 (ante 3000)
Level 23: 15,000/30,000 (ante 3000)
Level 24: 20,000/40,000 (ante 4000)
Level 25: 30,000/60,000 (ante 5000)
Level 26: 40,000/80,000 (ante 5000)
Level 27: 50,000/100,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 28: 60,000/120,000 (ante 10,000)
Level 29: 80,000/160,000 (ante 20,000)
Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (ante 30,000)

The stage is set for a gripping finale to the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event with 26 players still in contention for the title and the AUD $246,500 first prize.

After starting day two with 185 hopefuls, eliminations continued steadily throughout the day until play stonewalled on the bubble. It took 12 hands until Mark Lasarow was virtually blinded out, and 45 players celebrated a spot in the cash, with a minimum payout of AUD $4437.

Heading into the final day's play, the chip leader is the most experienced player in the field, Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Billy "The Croc" Argyros, on 853,000.

One of Australia's most colourful players, "The Croc" is a multiple winner of tournaments on both sides of the Tasman and overseas. He is in career best form, as shown by his fourth place in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship at the 2008 WSOP and numerous H.O.R.S.E. titles on home soil in the past 18 months.

PokerStars Qualifier Ben Barclay is next on 777,000, followed by Majed Haddad (705,000), the only female player still in the field Lisa Walsh (656,000) and Peter Ling (623,000).

PokerStars.net Team Australia player Tony Hachem created a spot of history when he became the first player to cash in two ANZPT events. He also leads the ANZPT season leaderboard, but will be hoping to go further in this tournament. He's on 414,000 in ninth position, just above the chip average.

Four other PokerStars qualifiers - Matthew Burgoine, John Caridad, Chris Levick and the only non-Aussie among the final 26, Canada's Robert Acton - will also be back tomorrow.

After a couple of cleansing beverages and a regulation eight hours' shut-eye, we look forward to returning tomorrow at 12.30pm (3.30am GMT) for the final day of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Team PokerStars.net Team Australia contingent has been reduced to one - Tony Hachem - after the elimination of Eric Assadourian. With a big rail of friends and family following his progress, Assadourian looked in great shape with pocket aces against the pocket jacks of Chris Kittos, until a heart-breaking jack landed on the flop.

That meant 28th position for Assadourian, adding another cash to his long list of in-the-money finishes in Australasian poker.

Other recent eliminations have been Antonis 'Toothpick Tony' Kambouroglou (35th), Bruce Nguyen (34th), Markelos Conias (33rd), Van Tran (32nd), Michael Manttan (31st), Brendan Mitchell (30th) and Maria Martinez (29th).

Mitchell's elimination was particularly nasty. He was all-in with [8d] [8c] against the [4d 4c] of Robert Acton, and watched the flop come [2d] [ad] 7d]. The turn bricked [2c] but the [4h] sent him to the exit.

Nguyen's elimination wasn't much better. He took [as] [qc] to the starting post against the [10c] 10h] but was quickly gathering his personals after the flop came [5d] [10s] [10d]. Ouch.

In contrast, our man from Brisbane, Jeremy Norton received a much-need injection of chips courtesy of Matt Burgoine. It was Norton's [ac] [7c] against Burgoine's [qd] [jd], and the first four cards - [kd] [10s][7h] [jh] had Norton poised for elimination. Bang - the [7s] sails down the river to save the tournament life of the PokerStars qualifier.

With just five hands remaining in day two, it seems we'll be left with 26 or 27 players for tomorrow's finale to the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney event.

Let the carnage begin! A long bubble period is usually followed by some quickfire eliminations, and that's certainly been the case late on day two of the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

Terry Tserdamis, Taner Durust, Monica Nguyen, Milan Gurung wasted little time collecting their $4437 cheques, while Alexander Shishkin crashed out in 41st. That came after he shoved [kh] [10h] into a flop of [qc] [as] [7s], only to find Billy "The Croc" Argyros waiting with [ad] [ks]. The board ran out [2s] [qs], and Shishkin was shish-kebabed.

Argyros also claimed the scalp of Owen Oates when "The Croc" filled up with [9d] [9c] on a board of [2d] 2h] [6h] [10s] [9s] against Oates' [ks] [qh].

Tty Ly (39th) and Henry Sun (38th) were next out, with Sun unlucky when Maria Martinez's [8d] [2h] improved to a pair of eights on a board of [5d] [7c] [8c] [ah] [ac] against the Sydneysider's [ks] [2d].

Michael Tran followed in 37th when he pushed with [ac] [8c] but Peter Ling [qd] [jh] flopped a straight as the board showed [9d] [kh] [10c][7h] [js].

Argyros was at it again as Aussie PokerStars' qualifier Torgeir Solemdal launched a pre-flop raising war with the wily veteran. The money was all-in with Argyros' [js] [jh] in good shape against Solemdal's [ad] [jd]. The board came [9c] [6h] [qd] [3c] [8s] and "The Croc" was snapping at the one-million mark.

Entering the final hour of play, Peter Ling is the chip leader on 840,000 ahead of Argyros (800,000), Lisa Walsh (500,000), Phil Luu (460,000), Van Tran (445,000) and Majed Haddad (400,00). Blinds are at 6000/12,000 with a 1000 ante, with less than an hour of play remaining for today.

The never-ending bubble has finally burst and the top 45 players in the PokerStars.net ANZPT Sydney Main Event have been decided. It took 12 hands for Sydney-based South African Mark Lasarow to commit his last remaining 1000 chip with K-7, only to find Robert Acton poised with K-Q, and a relieved group of players headed for a well-deserved break after the board ran out 10-high.

Several players had flirted with extinction during the bubble period - the now short-stacked Monica Nguyen had her stack slashed to less than 20,000 when her 8-7 ran into two players with A-K, while a handful of other short stacks, such as Maria Martinez and Michael Manttan, made the commitment only for the other players to fold.

That means the remaining 45 players are assured a minimum payout of AUD $4437, with PokerStars.net Team Australia duo Eric Assadourian and Tony Hachem among those to have cashed. And Hachem becomes the first player in ANZPT history to have cashed in two events.

The atmosphere at Star City night is amazing - the rail is three deep watching the Main Event and the $10,000 High Roller event, which attracted a field of 22 players.

They include PokerStars.net Team Australia trio Grant Levy, Celina Lin and Emad Tahtouh (a last-minute starter), Andrew Scott, high stakes regulars Sammy Youssef, Jason Gray, Jamie Pickering, Bill Jordanou and Warwick Mirzikinian and young guns Jonathan Karamalikis, Ben Delaney, Harris Pavlou and Daniel Neilson.

Already, Hoi Wing Cheung and Johnny Huynh have been eliminated, leaving Karamalikis an early chip leader but it promises to be a long night for the High Rollers field.