There’s an awesome buzz around Star City Casino tonight – big money up for grabs, top pros battling it out at final tables, high-stakes cash games heaving and the players’ party about to kick-off.

Having just celebrated out final visit to the Garden Buffet and gorged down the last of the bread and butter pudding in record time, here’s a quick wrap-up of what’s going on around the room tonight.

• The PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final is into level 25, with blinds at 30,000/60,000 with a 5000 ante. Martin Rowe is a huge chip leader (5.5 million ahead of Sydney pro Jason Gray (1.6 million), Canada’s Tony Basile (1.1 million) and Antonio Fazzolari (1.1 million). Rowe is ideally positioned to keep the APPT Grand Final title in Sydney after Grant Levy’s win last year.

• The $3000 heads-up event has reached round three with players progressing from round two including David Steicke (who defeated last night’s $1000 NLHE event winner Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker), Joon Hee Yeh, Bill Jordanou (after a surprise win over Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson), Roy Vandersluis and Terrence Chan.

The prize pool for the heads-up event is AUD $41,520 for first, AUD $23,700 for second, $15,360 for third and $15,360 for fourth.

• We’re down to four in the PokerStars.net APPT Sydney High Roller event after the first hour of play. The five players to be assured a cash were Andrew Pantling (270,000), Jarred Graham (190,000), Sam Korman (190,000), Adriano Cendron (75,000) and Jeff Lisandro (58,000).

Graham crippled Lisandro with aces against jacks to send the 2007 WSOP bracelet winner to the rail in fifth.
Then ‘Colonel’ Sam Korman used kings to remove his closest rival Andrew Pantling (jacks) in third, to give the Melbourne veteran a massive chip lead over Graham and Cendron. They’re playing for a first prize of AUD $222,000.

Martin Rowe, the local insurance man, has been the big mover in the past hour to take a big chip lead into the dinner break with just four players remaining in the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final.

More and more fans are crowding around the final table as Rowe climbs to more than four million in chips. He has played very solid poker and has started to increase his tempo and pick up some chips. He won a very nice pot against Antonio Fazzolari when he flopped a set of fives and Fazzolari was lucky not to lose more chips when he made two-pair on the river.

He then sent Frank Saffioti to the rail; a player who has brought plenty of colour and excitement to the tournament today with his large supporter group. Saffioti pushed in all of his chips against Rowe when he hit an ace on the flop (Ac-6s-7s). His A-Q, however, was far behind Rowe who had hit yet another small set (sevens).

The turn card was the best in the deck for Frank (Qc), giving him two-pair and a flush draw but the river was a blank (9d) and Saffioti departed.

Then on the final hand before the dinner break, Tim English bowed out in fifth position. Holding A-K, the final PokerStars qualifier in the field shoved all his chips in on a rainbow flop of 2-9-10. Rowe thought long and hard before calling with Q-J. English was in front, but Rowe had plenty of outs.

A jack on the turn was enough to knock out the youngest remaining player. Rowe now has more than 5.5 million, well over half the chips in play. Blinds will be at 30,000/60,000 with a 500 ante when players return.

For a guy without any real major tournament experience, Antonio Fazzolari is looking surprisingly composed and continues to control the final table at the PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final. He continues to lead the field but behind him, the chips continue to be shuffled around the table.

The remaining six have some very contrasting styles. Gray and Rowe at one end of the table seem content to sit and wait for their opportunities. At the other end of the table the Italian duo of Fazzolari and Saffioti are both showing plenty of aggression and are continuing to serve up the pressure on their more experienced opposition.

If anything, the crowd is bigger now than when play started, with solid cheering sections for five of the remaining six players (we’re doing what we can for the Canadian Tony Basile).

Gray’s fans just had reason to cheer when he took down a huge pot against the aggressive Saffioti. Jason found pocket aces against Saffioti’s A-K. Gray let Saffioti do all the betting in the hand. Saffioti pushed all-in on the turn and Jason snap called and, to his delight, found that Saffioti was drawing dead on a board that filled out 3c-7c-10s-7d-Jd. The pot takes Gray to nearly 1.5 million in chips while Saffioti is back to just 500,000.

With the three early eliminations there are plenty of chips in play and it will take some time for the blinds to catch up. Last year’s APPT Grand Final winner, PokerStars Sponsored player Grant Levy has just popped over to check on the action.

“In a few hours I won’t be the champ anymore. Jason Gray is a good friend and a very solid player but Antonio Fazzolari has plenty of chips and is an exciting player and would make an excellent champion,” Levy said.

With about five minutes remaining at level 23, blinds will soon pop up to 20,000/40,000 with an ante of 5000. The small blind now represents the starting stack of each entrant!

Australia has a strong Italian influence thanks to the massive influx of migrants after World War II. That influence has flowed over into today’s final table, as three of the participants recently discovered.

Three of the player’s heritages lie in the Calabria region in the south of Italy. Antonio Fazzolari, Frank Saffioti and Tony Basile make up the trio – this final table could end up sounding like one of Tony Soprano’s home games!

Two of those three are the aggressors so far – a strategy that has worked for chip leader Antonio Fazzolari but has sent the stack of Frank Saffioti almost down to the felt.

In contrast, Daniel Kowalski featured in the opening pot of the tournament but has been barely sighted – indeed, he’s barely moved at all – so far in the opening two levels. However, he’s just made a move: out of his chair and out of the tournament in seventh position.

Four players saw a flop, which included an ace. Saffioti, who was first to speak, led out at the flop and was called by the others. The turn brought another low card and it was quickly checked around to Kowalski on the button. Kowalski bet 60,000 into a pot of around 400,000 and Saffioti immediately moved all-in.

Fazzolari and Rowe quickly folded and the action came back to Kowalski who pushed in his final 300,000. Both players had an ace but Kowalski had severe kicker problems and when the river failed to bring a 9 it was all over for the Pole.

We also lost Hai Bo Chu in eighth position. The well credentialled Melburnian picked up a gutshot draw on the flop after he called a small raise from Rowe in early position.

Chu, who was first to act, checked the flop and shoved over the top of Rowe who led strongly at the 10-high flop. Rowe wasted no time calling and turned over pocket queens. The remaining two cards didn’t help Chu and he was the second player to depart the tournament arena.

“I was starting to get low on chips and was looking for a good spot to be aggressive. I didn’t have him that strong and thought I would get him out on that flop,” he said. Blinds will be at level 23 (15,000/30,000 with a 5000 ante) after players take a quick break.

Watch APPT Sydney S2: Daniel Kowalski Final Tablist on PokerStars.tv

Welcome to our final table coverage of the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final. Cards are in the air on a massive day here, with a new poker millionaire to be anointed later today.

This is the most intimate setting of any APPT final table played so far. The feature table has been set up in the foyer area of one of the two theatres here at Star City, and bleachers have been set up. They are packed to capacity, and unlike events like the WSOP, the crowd are close enough to the table to see every heartbeat and twitch.

Meanwhile in the main poker area, the $3000 heads-up event has attracted a stellar field including Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker, Lee Nelson and Vanessa Rousso plus PokerStars Sponsored players Grant Levy, Van Marcus and Emad Tahtouh plus David Saab, David Steicke, James Obst and Graeme Putt.

And later tonight, the top five players who’ve made the money in the $15,000 APPT Sydney High Roller event will return to decide who will take home the first prize of AUD $222,000. Canadian Andrew Pantling, Jeff Lisandro and Jarred Graham remain in the running for that title, which will decide at 6pm tonight (play finished at 8am this morning)!

With blinds at level 21 (10,000/20,000 with a 3000 ante) and the tournament only a few hands old we have lost Tom Rafferty in ninth position. In a remarkable hand (given the even stacks at the start of the final table), Rafferty raised in the cut-off and Fazzolari called on the button.

The blinds folded and players saw the flop come A-10-7 with two clubs. Rafferty fired a pot-sized bet at the flop and was instantly raised by Fazzolari. Rafferty just as quickly moved all-in and Fazzolari called with top two-pair. Rafferty turned over a flush draw and was left desperately searching for a club to hit the board.

The turn and river bought no joy for the young Australian as Fazzolari raked in a huge pot giving him a commanding chip lead with a stack of more than three million. Blinds are about to go up to level 22 (12,000/24,000 with a 4000 ante).

Watch APPT Sydney S2: Tom Rafferty on PokerStars.tv

The final table line-up for the 2008 PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final has been decided, and the odds remain firmly in place that another local will be crowned champion. Seven of the nine players are Aussies, with Daniel Kowalski (a UK based Pole) and Canada’s Tony Basile representing the internationals.

Michael Guzzardi bubbled the final table when he pushed in the last of his extremely short stack pre-flop and was joined by Hai Bo Chu and Antonio Fazzolari.

Play was checked down on a board of 7c-Ad-4d-Jc-2s before Fazzolari showed pocket fives, Chu edged ahead with pocket sixes while Guzzardi’s 10d-3h completely missed.

Despite losing that hand, Fazzolari remains chip leader ahead of Jason Gray and Tom Rafferty. There are three PokerStars Online Qualifiers (Chu, Kowalski and Tim English) at the final table. We look forward to bringing you all the action at the final table from 1.30pm local time.

Seat 1: Martin Rowe, Australia (995,000 in chips): A self employed local from North Sydney, this 34-year-old insurance worker has been playing poker for three years. In his first PokerStars.net APPT event, Martin goes into the final table 3rd in chips. A regular at Star City, Martin has also played and cashed in preliminary events at the Aussie Millions.

Seat 2: Jason Gray, Sydney (1,188,000 in chips): Don’t let the calm exterior or quiet demeanour of this poker pro fool you. He’s been playing poker full-time for three years but has featured in the nation’s biggest cash games for more than two decades. His best tournament results have come in the past 18 months – he won the $15,000 buy-in event at the 2007 Victorian Championships for more than AUD $125,000, then placed third in the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo Split World Championship at the 2008 WSOP for more than USD $200,000.

Seat 3: Tony Basile 863,000 in chips: A 39-year-old racehorse owner from Canada bought in directly to this year’s PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final. Playing poker for the last 15 years, his career highlight was placing 309th from a field of 6844 in this year’s World Series of Poker main event. Heading into the final table 7th in chips he hopes to make the APPT Grand Final his first major win.

Seat 4: Timothy English (945,000 in chips): This 23-year-old science student from Melbourne’s Glen Iris qualified online at PokerStars in a Last Chance Qualifier last Monday. In his first big tournament he is ecstatic to have made the final 9 and will be cheered on by his mates who fly up from Melbourne on Sunday morning, ensuring he has plenty of support to take the title. He currently sits 6th in chips heading into the final day.

Seat 5: Daniel Kowalski, Poland (959,000 in chips): Not to be confused with the Aussie swimming great, 35-year old Pole Daniel Kowalski has been playing poker for a mere six months. In his first major tournament, Daniel is fifth heading into the final table having won his seat to Sydney on PokerStars. A self employed business man, Daniel resides in England. The APPT Grand Final in Sydney is his first tournament down under.

Seat 6: Frank Saffioti, Australia/Italy (790,000 in chips): This 37-year-old Australian born Italian has been playing poker for three years. A local of Sydney beachside suburb Seaforth, Frank owns a traditional Italian Restaurant in Sydney. Considering himself a poker enthusiast, Frank won his seat in a satellite on PokerStars and lies sixth in chips heading into the final table.

Seat 7: Tom Rafferty (1,101,000 in chips): Originally from Canberra, Tom Rafferty now calls Sydney home. This 24-year-old has been playing poker professionally for 16 months and is celebrating his tournament debut in perfect fashion – with a final table appearance and enough chips and determination to go all the way to the title. Tom is part of the new online poker generation and is excited to potentially become the next PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final Champion.

Seat 8: Antonio Fazzolari (1,775,000 in chips): Claiming to “invent the game,” Antonio is no newcomer to poker. The 58-year-old Melbourne resident, who owned a poker club in Jersey where Phil Ivey used to play, is chip leader heading into the final table. The retired engineer moved to Australia eight years ago and is looking forward to the chance to take out Sydney’s biggest poker tournament.

Seat 9: Hai Bo Chu (781,000 in chips): Qualifying on PokerStars for just $11, this marketing executive from Templestone in Melbourne will be cheered on from the stands by wife Bomi. Hai Bo has been playing poker for the last five years, however it has really started to pay off in the past 12 months – 186th in the WSOP Main Event, pocketing USD $38,600 for his efforts and taking out the Melbourne Champs main event last year for $100,000. Heading into the final table as the short-stacked player, Hai Bo will be looking for chips early in the day in order to become the next PokerStars.net APPT champion.