By James Potter and Eliot James

One of the interesting things going on at the PokerStars APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker is the inaugural World Poker Seminar. This exciting concept was developed by Team PokerStars Pro's Joe Hachem and Lee Nelson. Joe and Lee host the events, with the help of some of their friends, and are also intending to take the concept to other cities around the world.

The idea is simple: it’s a seminar to help poker players improve and develop their game. There were over 20 players turning out, who ranged from the novice to some very seasoned players, all of whom were keen to see their game move to another level. Lee took 5 minutes out of his busy schedule to explain his motivation behind the seminars.

“I have always enjoyed teaching and I have always wanted to give something back to the game that has given so much to me. I wanted to take the next step from the books that I have written and wanted to try a live teaching format with my mate Joe. If you are going to do something, then do it right. I really feel that we have a formula that will turn learners into good players and good players into even better ones.”

Budding New Zealand pro player James Honeybone, who made the final table of APPT Seoul in 2007 and would love to do the same on home turf in Auckland this year, attended the conference and was the first to sing its praises.

“It was a great thrill to attend today. I have always been a student of the game and chance to learn like the likes of Lee and Joe is something that not everyone gets to do. I especially found the Q and A part of the seminar invaluable because I got the chance to ask some of the tough questions that the very best hate answering.”

By James Potter and Eliot James

Andrew Meldrum from Sydney has stormed to an early chip lead and has just under 40k in chips. Meldrum, who has been a quite achiever in the Asian poker scene, is hot off a successful campaign in America after the WSOP.

Hot on his tail is local Aucklander Simon Davis who has been playing poker now for three years. He won his way into the tournament in a SkyCity satellite for $40. He has been a regular at the SkyCity Poker Room and is looking to deliver the Pokerstars.net APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker Main Event Title to his home town and poker room. He currently has over 35k in chips.

The loudest table in the room is the one featuring David Saab and Tony Hachem. After David welcomed Tony to the table the atmosphere intensified when Saab pleaded with the gallery that it was a quiet table before Hachem arrived. Tony then replied: “where’s your Superman T-Shirt you banana?”

Saab usually wears Superman logos and is looking to be known as David “Superman” Saab. We certainly haven’t heard the last of these two, and Saab just managed to get his hands on some more chips in a recent pot.

Looking down at an unspectacular board of 3-3-7-5-2, Saab was facing a bet of 2.5k into a roughly 4.5k pot. After an initial "do you have Jacks?" Saab went on to mutter to himself in the tank for a full two minutes.

Finally Saab talked himself into a call, holding his cards above the muck pile, but he was beaten to it by his opponent who threw his into the muck without showing, pushing the almost 10k pot in Saab's direction.

We also have the final table of the PLO Omaha running in the room with good friends but fierce rivals and PokerStars Sponsored players Eric Assadourian and Grant Levy clear cut chip leaders with five players left.

By James Potter and Eliot James

There are certainly some great stories here at the PokerStars.net APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker. The first of these may be Canadian Mark Oosterveld.

The Canadian won his way through to the tournament for only $6 in a $2 Rebuy, one of the many qualifying tournaments that PokerStars runs for the APPT. If Mark was to be crowned the Champion here he would certainly have turned a handsome dividend on that wisely invested $6.

The other great story is that of Assadour Assadourian. You might recognize the name if not the face. Assadour’s son, Eric, is one of the hottest properties in Australian poker right now and among many other titles was the 2007 PokerStars.net APPT Macau High Roller Champion.

Assadour is a relative newcomer to the poker scene as he has a very successful lighting business back home in Australia. Even though he is ‘wet behind the ears’ when it comes to poker he has certainly made his presence felt here by winning 3 Main Event seats in the many satellites that have been running.

It looks like the Assadourian gene pool has poker running through the veins of this father and son combination with Senior already off to a flyer with over 20k in chips.

In other not so pleasant news, Emad Tahtouh has just described his start to the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland Main Event as “death by a thousand paper cuts” as his stack has dwindled to around 2000. Tahtouh was very focused for this event and was looking for a good finish but has run into a few big hands and has found himself on the wrong side of an excellent bluff.

Players have just returned from the first break and are straight into level three with blinds of 100/200. Only 11 players so far have exited the tournament, however with the blinds moving up casualties will soon follow.

By James Potter and Eliot James

Starting bank for the PokerStars.net APPT Auckland SkyCity Festival of Poker Main Event is 10k. The first early mover is Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer who has moved up to 18K. He just won a very nice pot with 9-7 suited. He made both his flush and straight on the river and left his opponent scratching their head.

David Saab is trying to fly under the radar by keeping a low profile. The flamboyant Australian, who was born in Korea and now resides in the Philippines, is trying to stay out of the way of Tournament director Danny McDonagh who has threatened putting the ‘David Saab rule of excessive talking' into act if Saab starts to talk his table into distraction.

Tony Hachem has just walked into the room looking a little flustered after sleeping in. When asked what happened he replied in true Tony Hachem fashion;

“Of course I’m late for the tournament you banana … guaranteed!”

Numbers for day one have been finalised and 164 players will be battling it out today in an effort to join us on Saturday for Day 2. Stay tuned for further updates as the players here get comfortable and the chips start to find their way onto the felt.

By James Potter and Eliot James

Welcome all to the Pokerstars.net APPT SkyCity Auckland Festival of Poker Day 1A. It looks like we are well on our way to the NZD $1 million mark as we approach 180 players for Day 1A.

As the players drifted into the poker room, some looked fresh and rested; others looked like they may have really enjoyed last night’s welcoming party. The one thing that everyone had in common was they all looked eager and ready for some poker. The energy level built exponentially as we approached our kick-off time of 12:15pm local.

With players shuffling through the poker room here at SkyCity, a few names of note stand out – among those in the crowd are PokerStars Sponsored players Celina Lin, Tony Hachem and Emad Tahtouh, and Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer, all preparing for their Day 1. Many other well known players, such as Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, and local legend Lee Nelson, will be waiting until Day 2A to take their seats.

Tournament Director Danny McDonagh is as busy and keen as ever, preparing to host what will be New Zealand’s largest ever event – in both player numbers and prizepool. Danny told us that he is excited to be running New Zealand’s first APPT event;

“The room here is really buzzing. Not only is it exciting to work in a room that is dedicated to poker, it is also great to be working with such a professional team. SkyCity is really leading the charge in this country when it comes to poker and they are going to break every record when it comes to a tournament here.“

The Main Event was opened with a powhiri, a traditional Maori welcome, which saw APPT President Jeffrey Haas and SkyCity Executive Manager Ejaaz Dean welcomed into the room. Keeping the energy high, a traditional haka was performed by a group of local Maori. The haka is a cultural icon of New Zealand, with its roots sunk deeply in the warrior culture of Maori tradition, giving a symbolic challenge from the local warriors to the incoming visitors. The challenge looks set to be answered by any number of eager players, ready to go to war over the felt.

PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson, being the country’s biggest poker celebrity, took time out from a ‘Learn to Play with the Pros’ seminar being hosted here at SkyCity and got the tournament underway with a traditional “shuffle up and deal!”.

The APPT usually has very friendly first days with only 7 levels usually being played. This will see a large contingency make it through to the Day 2. So buckle up for a long day guys and we will look to keep you up to date with all information, from both on and off the felt, as soon as it comes to hand.