After an early flurry of all-ins at the beginning of the day, the average stack size has increased to the point where most players are comfortable playing small-ball poker. Only a couple of players are occasionally being forced to put everything on the line with an all-in.

One of those players is Andrew “I won a race!” Scott, who was just all-in on a hand with PokerStars sponsored player, Van Marcus. With the board showing Kc-4c-5s, Van asked Scott: “Should I call? I’ve got three seven of clubs.” “You can go fishing all you like, Van,” Scott replied, “you won’t get anything from me.” Marcus considered this comment only briefly before saying: “I got enough,” and folded his cards. Marcus continued talking however, this time to Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem, also sitting at their table; “I’m a nice guy to talk to though, hey Joe?” Hachem just laughed in return.

Eric Assadourian also wandered by the same table and noticed Hachem was below the average stack size. “C’mon Joe,” said his countryman, “one time!” However, after considering his statement briefly, he changed his mind: “Actually, one MORE time Joe! For the rest of us, it’s ‘one time,’ but for you, it’s ‘one more time.’ Again, Hachem was just left to chuckle at the dry Australian humour pervading the otherwise general quiet at the tables.

Watch APPT Macau 08: Joe Hachem on PokerStars.tv

Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem was weeks away from becoming 2005 WSOP main event champion when Quinn Do saluted the judge in the $2500 Limit Hold’em event.

Like many of his contemporaries, Do was born in Vietnam and arrived in the US as a youngster, with his family settling in the Seattle area. He studied criminology at the University of Washington and considered a career as an investigator before turning those skills of deduction to the poker table.

They’re working a treat on day two of the PokerStars.net APPT Macau High Roller event. Do’s stack just grew to within a few thousand of chip leader after he bet Johnny Chan to the river and showed a set of fives to win a huge pot against the 1987-88 world champion.

And just as quickly as Wei Will Ma took half of Do’s stack when he shoved all-in and made a flush against Do’s two pair, he was back up to 120,000 when he eliminated Xuan Nguyen. The last of x2then’s chips went in with As-8d on a flop of 3h-7c-10h only to find a smiling Do show pocket aces.

Andrew Pantling has also left the tournament area after he made a stand with pocket nines, only to find Charles Chua wake-up with pocket queens. Pantling took the lead when the flop landed Ad-9h-4h but Chua hit a two-outer Qd on the turn to take his stack above 100,000 for the first time in this tournament.

The Malaysian-based Aussie is now well placed to make consecutive APPT Macau final tables after finishing runner-up in the main event that wrapped up two days ago.

With 17 players remaining (eight short of the final table), David Steicke still leads from Canadian Wei Will Ma (135,000), Mike McDonald (135,000), Quinn Do (120,000) and PokerStars Sponsored player Eric Assadourian (103,000).

Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem is on 35,000, while PokerStars Sponsored players Ivan Tan (75,000) and Van sirens Marcus (55,000) are holding firm.

There are 21 players still in the APPT High Roller field at the Grand Waldo Casino in Macau: an appropriate figure given that former professional black jack player Andrew Scott has just taken out Roger Spets.

After Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem made it 2200, Scott called, Spets pushed all-in for 16,000, Hachem folded and Scott called, showing pocket 10s, which were in a race against Ac-Qs for the Swede, now living in Malaysia.

Spets connected on the flop, but so did Scott (As-4d-10c), and just to make certain of it, the remaining 10 fell on the river to give Scott quads and send Spets, the only player to make two APPT final tables last year, to the rail.

Matt Kay ran A-9 into the pocket eights of the ultra-aggressive Xuan Nguyen, and the Canadian was on his way up the escalator for one of the cash games on offer at PokerStars Macau when the board came 8d-7h-3s-2s-5c.

Tyler brainwash Cornell has also been eliminated – he pushed for 23,000 from the small blind after Quinn Do’s initial raise. The US-based Korean showed pocket queens, with Cornell needing help (A-9). Do hit a queen on the flop to leave Cornell needing plenty of help.

Johnny Chan has been riding the roller coaster in the past 30 minutes – he was up to 80,000 after Xuan Nguyen folded to Chan’s bet of 15,000 on the turn of 2d-Qc-Kd-8s.

But Nguyen struck back soon after, committing his stack of 21,000 on a flop of 8d-Jd-8h, with Chan making the call. Nguyen showed Kc-Jc for two pair, while Chan was chasing the flush with Kd-Qd. He failed to connect, taking Nguyen back to 65,000 and dropping Chan to 50,000.

And the Team PokerStars Pro contingent has been reduced to one after the elimination of Barry Greenstein. After Quinn Do raised to 25,000, Greenstein shoved over the top with Do making the call. Both had live cards – As-Jh for Do and Ks-9s for Greenstein. The Jd on the turn was the killer card for Greenstein, who bowed out in 20th position.

However, the PokerStars Sponsored contingent is going strong, with Assadourian (109,000), Van Marcus (60,000) and Ivan Tan (60,000) all still in the hunt for a spot at the final table.

If you work regular hours, then 9.30am might be time for a coffee break; but the life of a Team PokerStars Pro player is a little different. This morning for example, at 9.30am Barry Greenstein was in the lobby of the Grand Waldo Hotel waiting for a van to take him to a PokerStars.net APPT Macau promotional shoot.

Previous APPT shoots of this nature have included bungee-jumping and surfing; this time it was a Tai Chi lesson with a local Chinese master. Also along for the ride was up-and-coming PokerStars sponsored player, Celina Lin, and the face of the APPT final table TV broadcasts, Miss Australia 2006, Erin McNaught.

After a short ride, the van deposited this group outside the “Jardim de Lou Lim Loc” in the heart of Macau’s casino district. This garden is something of an oasis in the middle of Macau’s concrete jungle, and to the naked eye it is very peaceful … but for the noise coming from the apartment and casino construction sites right next to it.

Waiting for Greenstein, Lin and McNaught, in the garden, was a blue suited Tai Chi master and a TV crew. A change of clothes was in order, and soon all three were wearing the black garb of novice players in this Chinese martial art.

Then underneath a Chinese pagoda, which itself, was standing on stilts over a lily-pond, the master proceeded to teach Greenstein, Lin and McNaught a basic Tai Chi pattern to perform in front of the cameras.

Lin and McNaught seemed to pick it up pretty quickly, with Greenstein needing a little extra attention from the master, although he had no trouble learning the Tai Chi “push” move … something he is very familiar with as a master of poker.

The Team PokerStars Pro player felt so comfortable in his Tai Chi suit, he decided he’d wear it today at day two of the APPT Macau High Roller tournament. Remember that “push” move, Barry!

The race for the HKD $3.7 million first prize in the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau High Roller event steps up a notch with the remaining 28 players eyeing a spot at tomorrow’s final table.

David Steicke, the Australian now based in Hong Kong, continues to show a clean pair of heels to the fields and takes the chip lead into day two ahead of Mike timex McDonald and Australian Eric Assadourian.

Incredibly, Assadourian (the defending champion) and Steicke filled two of the top three placings in this event last year – could lightning strike twice for the PokerStars Sponsored player in 2008?

Watch APPT Macau 08: Day 2 High Roller Intro on PokerStars.tv

There will be a redraw after the first four players have been eliminated today. We’ll be playing until the field is reduced to the final nine players, with the structure:

Level 7: 400/800 (ante 100)
Level 8: 500/1000 (ante 100)
Level 9: 600/1200 (ante 200)
Level 10: 800/1600 (ante 200)
Level 11: 1000/2000 (ante 300)
Level 12: 1200/2400 (ante 400)
Level 13: 1500/3000 (ante 500)
Level 14: 2000/4000 (ante 500)

Chip count after day 1

David Steicke (Hong Kong) 158,400
Mike McDonald (Canada) 95,400
Eric Assadourian (Australia) 90,500
Saehoon Lee (Korea) 83,400
Danny Wong (Canada) 72,200
Tan Zhong Wei (Singapore) 61,900
Andrew Scott (Australia) 57,500
Wei Will Ma (Canada) 49,300
Javed Abrahams (UK) 44,100
Tyler Cornell (USA) 42,500

Day 2 table draw

Table 14

Seat 1: Javed Abrahams (UK) 44,100
Seat 2: David Steicke (Hong Kong) 158,400
Seat 3: Eric Assadourian (Australia) 90,500
Seat 4: Quinn Do (USA) 26,700
Seat 5: Nam Le (USA) 40,900
Seat 7: Steven Silverman (USA) 31,400
Seat 8: Matt Kay (Canada) 15,000

Table 16

Seat 1: Yury Kerzhapkin (Russia) 27,100
Seat 2: Van Marcus (Australia) 32,700
Seat 3: Xuan Nguyen (USA) 40,600
Seat 4: Mike McDonald (Canada) 95,400
Seat 5: Terrence Chan (Canada) 9600
Seat 6: Wing Cheong John Chong (Hong Kong) 23,800
Seat 7: Andrew Scott (Australia) 57,500

Table 20

Seat 1: Suk Min Sung (USA) 12,600
Seat 2: Danny Wong (Canada) 72,200
Seat 3: Roger Spets (Malaysia) 9200
Seat 4: Andrew Pantling (Canada) 37,500
Seat 5: Julian Powell (Australia) 15,100
Seat 7: Saehoon Lee (Korea) 83,400
Seat 8: Johnny Chan (USA) 39,100

Table 22

Seat 2: Pakinai Lisawad (Thailand) 34,900
Seat 3: Charles Chua (Malaysia) 27,400
Seat 4: Tan Zhong Wei (Singapore) 61,900
Seat 5: Barry Greenstein (USA) 21,700
Seat 6: Joe Hachem (Australia) 27,100
Seat 7: Tyler Cornell (USA) 42,500
Seat 8: Wei Will Ma (Canada) 49,300

If the PokerStars.net APPT had a “Rookie of the Year” award, it seems it would have to go to David Steicke. After only one year of tournament poker experience, the Australian-born trader continues to dominate the tournament floor here at the Grand Waldo Casino in Macau. Steicke was the 10th placed final table “bubble boy” in the main event, and his name was amongst the leaders almost the entire time. Nothing has changed in this high-roller tournament either; Steicke has rocketed to the top of the chip leaderboard, eliminating multiple opponents along the way. Such as been his dominance, the bloggers have started calling him, David “The Spider” Steicke, as opponents just keep getting stuck in his web.

In Team PokerStars Pro news, Barry Greenstein, after running into the brick wall that was Steicke, managed to recapture some of his chips courtesy of APT Singapore champion, David Saab. Saab went all-in pre-flop with 98 of diamonds, but was called by Greenstein’s pair of tens. The board gave no assistance to Saab, and Greenstein added 6,000 chips to his stack, improving him to 16,000.

The news wasn’t so good for PokerStars sponsored Australian player, Emad Tahtouh, who has also been eliminated from the APPT Macau high-roller’s event. On a turned board of Jx-Jx-8x-Jx, Tahtouh check-raised his opponent with his last 11,000. After some time in the tank, the Australian called the clock on the other player, who appeared to translate it as a sign of weakness, calling instantly. Tahtouh wasn’t weak; he held Qx8x for a full house, but the pocket tens of his opponent means we’ll next be seeing the Melbourne resident at the APPT Auckland (he had wandered past us to say he won’t be going to Korea for the next APPT stop).

The pace of eliminations has increased as players take their final break on day one of the PokerStars.net APPT High Roller event. And the main recipient has been David Steicke, who now leads the tournament with a stack of almost 80,000.

The short-stacked Liz Lieu made her move with A-J and found herself in a coin-flip with Steicke, who showed pocket sevens – a hand with which he’s already enjoyed success today.

The flop came 5-3-2, with the killer 7 landing on the turn to give Steicke a set and send Lieu out of the two APPT events in straight sets.

Only a few minutes later, Team PokerStars Pro Lee “Final Table” Nelson became Steicke’s next victim when he made a set of jacks on the turn against Nelson’s top pair (A-K on a board of K-10-3-J). The river blanked 4h) and the man in the matching magenta cap and T-shirt had another scalp to his name.

Despite the loaded field, it’s a number of relative unknowns who are dominating with Steicke leading from Matt Kay (56,000), Xuan Nguyen (55,000), Andrew Robl, Andrew Scott and Pakinai Lisawad (all on approximately 50,000). Of the 61 players who started the event, 38 remain. Blinds are at level five (200/400 with an ante of 50).

We have a new chip leader over at Andrew “I won a race!” Scott’s table. Xuan Ngyuen, a highly-successful online player, has been bossing Scott, PokerStars sponsored player Emad Tahtouh, and the rest of the table relentlessly with raise after raise. Even when re-raised himself, he has fearlessly come back over the top to force other players to fold. However, just when the temperature seemed to be rising to boiling point, he has changed gears, and is calmly nodding his head away to whatever tunes are emanating from his expensive MP3 headphones.

Most of the other tables have been happy to play small-ball poker and engage in pleasant conversation, as the average stacks are large relative to the blinds. Some are enjoying massages while they play.

Over at PokerStars sponsored player, Van Marcus’ table, a tournament director was called to explain to another player who had mucked his hand after being called on the river by Marcus, that in order to force another player to show their cards, they needed to show their own. It was all very friendly, and Marcus was happy to show everyone his winning two pair as a gesture of goodwill once it was all sorted out.

The only issue today appears to be the requirement for head tournament director, Danny McDonagh, to continue to remind one table not to mark the cards, as players are complaining about fingernail marks in the cards. The dealer has been instructed to check all cards as they are folded by the players.