By Landon Blackhall and Sean Callander

Amid the rapid growth of poker in Asia, Taiwan counts as a newcomer on the scene. However, it's widely recognised as one of the boom markets in Asian poker, as reflected by a sizeable delegation from the island, which lies off the south-east coast of mainland China.

One of the chip leaders in the early going today is Jonathan Lin (holding just under 50,000). He started playing poker while studying abroad - small stakes to start before moving on to more serious money.

Lin has been a regular tournament and cash game player at the PokerStars Macau Poker Room, since it launched in 2008. Besides crushing the cash games regularly at the Macau poker rooms he has made his mark as a talented tournament player, featuring in the celebrity poker TV show Let's All-in in Taiwan as a celebrity player and tournament director.

Other Taiwanese players in today's field include Lin's PokerStars.net teammate Raymond Wu, PokerStars qualifier Carlos Chang, Jung Chou Lee and Peter Wang.

Lin's tournament is off to a promising start, but it's already over for Australian online young gun Jay SEABEAST Kinkade. On a board that read [8s] [6c] [9s] [2h] [9h], the all-in plaque was in front of French player Bernard Vu who had tabled [ah] [ac] for the winning hand. After all the chips were cut down, it was Kinkade that came up short.

Kinkade looked clearly miffed as he picked up his bag to exit the poker room - it didn't help that Vu was showing off to a nearby cameraman, happily waving and smiling as he stacked up his newly acquired chips.

But his celebratory mood didn't last long. Holding pocket eights, Aussie Sean Keeton was in a race against Vu's A-K and found himself behind on the flop and turn of [10d] [2h] [kh] [7s]. However, as Chinese luck would have it, the [8h] sailed down the river!

Nearby on table two, Charles Lam came unstuck in a big hand against PokerStars Macau satellite winner Jao Tin. Lam called Tin's raise of 700 to see a flop of [ad] [ks] [kh]. Tin checked to Lam who fired out 1,500. Tin called, then led out for 2,300 on the turn of the [as].

Lam flat-called and checked after Tin on the river [qh]. Tin turned up [ac] [10h] for a full house; Lam slammed the table with his hand and flashed a king before throwing his cards into the muck. Tin moved back up to around 18,500 in chips whilst Lam went back down to 47,500.

It's also been a tough day at the office for David Steicke, but he managed to double up to 26,500 after moving all-in preflop holding [kh] [kc]. He found himself ahead of the [as] [qd] of Swedish PokerStars Qualifier Rasmus Åkerblom. The flop of [6h] [ks] [10h] put Steicke further ahead and the turn and river would run out [9d] [qs].

We're coming up to the second break of the day, with 93 of the 119 starters set to return for level five. Japan's Kazuki Ikeuchi (52,000) holds a narrow chip lead from US PokerStars Player Brandon Demes (50,000) with Jonathan Lin, Mike Kim, James Akenhead and Wally Sombero all close behind.

Poker players who travel the world become accustomed to the quirks of playing in different countries, where the rules are mostly the same with the odd local variant. Here at the Grand Lisboa, players are warned to be extremely careful about betting out of turn, as any chips that are placed in the pot at any point (even out of turn) must remain in the pot.

There's also one other aspect of playing here to which westerners must readjust - smoking is permitted in the casino, well, basically anywhere. During the APPT Macau Main Event, it has been deemed that smoking is only allowed outside the tournament area, but the haze inside is reminiscent of the smog outside. Note to self: check tobacco shares on Hang Seng Index!

The internationals are also having a hard time adjusting to a local contingent that have an extra 12 months of experience thanks to the regular events at PokerStars Macau. Normally a tournament is tight for the first two or three levels - that's not the case here and it's caught the foreigners off guard.

One of those local players, Hong Kong's Charles "Spring" Lam, is dominating on table two after increasing to 55,000 in chips by eliminating well-known local player (and Late Night Poker pioneer) Jin Cailin, who finished 10th in the APPT Macau Main Event last year.

The money was all-in the middle on a flop that read [ah] [qs] [4s] - Jin was severely short stacked and was in bad shape, holding [as] [8s] against Lam's [ac] [jc]. There would be no hope for Jin when the turn and river bricked out [5h] [2h], sending Jin to the bar (he'll need something strong).

The Asian contingent isn't limited to those from Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Representing Japan is Kazuki Ikeuchi, from Tokyo. Two years ago he made an appearance at the first ever APPT Macau and finished seventh in a side event.

Months later he went on to cash in four events in the 2008 World Series of Poker, including 36th place in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em World Championship. As the only Japanese player in Day 1A and with such an impressive career so far, he's only too happy to shoulder the nation's hopes today.

By Landon Blackhall, level 1 update

Though the locals have come out in force this year for the PokerStars.net APPT day one flight, the internationals are getting involved in some heavy action in the early going.

In particular, table seven is bound to offer some of the best play today, which sees Hong Kong-based Australian poker icon David Steicke (fresh from his APT High Roller triumph), PokerStars.net Team Australia Pro Grant Levy and two-time WSOP Main Event champion Johnny Chan. Forget Ali versus Frazier, this is the ultimate battle of poker heavyweights.

In one hand we encountered, Levy raised it up pre-flop to 275 from under the gun. The action folded around to young online poker pro Joel Dodds who called from the button.
On a flop of [8h] [7c] [6s], Levy opened for 525 and Dodds called, then check-called Dodds' bet of 1,025 on the turn of the [4h]. Both players checked the river [10c]; Levy rolled up [10s] [8s] for two pair and Dodds nodded at him to signify that it was good enough as he mucked his hand.

The Australians are already off to a flying start, but Sydneysider Mark Cornwall has had a little bit of Chinese luck fall his way; we caught him turning over [2s] [2c] after the action was complete on a board that read [2h] [as] [qc] [2d] [3c]. Two multiplied by four is eight, which is considered a very lucky number in Eastern culture. As a result he's up to 43,000 in chips.

Some of the other notables we've spotted include Emad Tahtouh, who arrived late but according to the PokerStars.net Team Australia Pro: "I'm looking forward to getting in on the action!"

ANZPT Melbourne final table participant Ben Savage and 2005 WSOP Six-handed bracelet winner Isaac Galazan, Will Ma (sixth in the 2008 APPT Macau High Roller event) and Sean Keeton, who was fourth in the $5000 WSOP six-handed event at the 2009 WSOP, are also in action today.

The atmosphere is tense in the Grand Lisboa Poker Room. With 119 starters confirmed in today's day one flight, the action has been extremely tight; as such, we have only lost one player in the first level: PokerStars Qualifier Aleksei Rostunov.

The "all-in" disc was pointing from Rostunov towards his opponent, PokerStars Player Stephen Costello. He could only shrug his shoulders and watch as the chips were shipped in Costello's direction. Midway through level two, six players have already been eliminated.

The ceremonial duties have been completed, the mask has been changed, handshakes have been exchanged and the cards are in the air for season three of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour.

The buzz is electric in the PokerStars Macau room at the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino where more than 100 players have taken their seats for the first of three day one flights in the HKD $40,000 buy-in APPT Macau Main Event.

The day started with the official media conference, with dignitaries including Grand Lisboa Director of Table Games Michael Au, Grand Lisboa Vice-president of Table Games Timothy Gilbert, APPT President Jeffrey Haas, PokerStars Asia Regional Director David Jung, Team PokerStars Pros and former world champions Chris Moneymaker and Joe Hachem, PokerStars.net Team Asia Pros Celina Lin and Bryan Huang plus Bertrand ElkY Grospellier, who spoke fondly of his time living in Asia.

After some words of thanks for the Grand Lisboa and the people of Macau who've embraced the arrival of poker, it was down to the poker room for the official opening, with Bryan Huang giving the order to "shuffle up and deal".

It's become tradition for each APPT event to start with a slice of local culture - here, players were treated to a mask changing ceremony or "Bian Lian". Originally part of the Sichuan Opera, it is considered one of China's most elusive performing arts. In fact, it was even considered by the Chinese government as a national secret.

But it's no secret that we'll be playing a maximum of eight 60-minute levels today, with all players starting with 20,000 in chips and a pile of PokerStars merchandise. APPT tournament director Danny McDonagh has also announced that players with holding the top 10 chip stacks after day one will be placed on separate tables for day two.

Players in action today include PokerStars.net Team Australia pros Eric Assadourian (High Roller champ here two years ago), 2007 APPT Grand Final winner Grant Levy, WSOP Main Event winners Johnny Chan and Mansour Matloubi, 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event winner Stewart Scott, 2008 WPT Championship winner David Chiu, member of the 2009 "November Nine" James Akenhead, number one ranked Australian online player Jay SEABEAST Kinkade, 2008 WPT Borgata Open winner Vivek psyduck Rajkumar and Filipino poker icon Wally Sombero.

PokerStars.net Team Asia trio Dan Schreiber, Jonathan Lin and Raymond Wu are also in action today, as is Joel strongplay Dodds, who is chasing the unusual record of three successive 14th-place finishes in the APPT Macau Main Event.

The structure for today's play is:

Level 1: 50/100
Level 2: 100/200
Level 3: 100/200 (ante 25)
Level 4: 150/300 (ante 25)
Level 5: 200/400 (ante 50)
Level 6: 300/600 (ante 75)
Level 7: 400/800 (ante 75)
Level 8: 500/1000 (ante 100)

Less than four years, it was almost unthinkable to envisage an international poker calendar that included stops such as Kyiv and Macau.

But just days after the opening event on season six of the PokerStars.net EPT wrapped up in the Ukrainian capital, the eyes of the poker world turn east for the first tournament on season three of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour.

Welcome to the world's gaming capital, Macau and the stunning Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino for the next gripping chapter in the growth of poker in this fledgling poker region.
Macau is one of the two special administrative regions in the People's Republic of China - the other, Hong Kong, is about a 40km trip on one of the many high-speed ferry services that operate across this expanse of the South China Sea.

Home to 550,000 people, Macau is the world's most densely populated enclave and among the wealthiest cities on the planet, thanks to its 30 casinos which generate a staggering USD $17 billion each year.

So much has changed since we were here last year. This year's tournament is being held in the new "PokerStars Macau at the Grand Lisboa" live poker room, right in the heart of Macau's casino row.

The design of the stunning 58-floor Grand Lisboa building is based on a bright yellow lotus leaf, making it the instantly identifiable in Macau and one of the most striking buildings anywhere in the world.

PokerStars Macau is the largest poker room in continental Asia with 33 tables and 24-hour cash games. The room has been packed to capacity every night throughout the APPT Macau Poker Festival, which started on August 15.

Last year's tournament was played against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, with Macau, and its heavy reliance on gaming revenue, in the direct firing line. Twelve months on, and the signs of recovery are everywhere. The cranes are again on the move across the city's skyline while the casinos are turning over more patacas/dollars/yuan than ever.

The first and last European colony in China, Macau returned to Chinese control on December 20, 1999 after more than 110 years under Portuguese control. Preparations are well underway for 10th birthday celebrations, which are already creating a buzz around town.

Three years since poker arrived in Macau thanks to the APPT, the game is establishing a firm foothold with terrific cash action at PokerStars Macau along with great fields in the preliminary events played last weekend, which included the first Limit Hold'em tournament ever played in Asia (and hosted by PokerStars Player Terrence Chan).

Players had a chance to let off some steam before the APPT Macau Main Event starts with hundreds packing The Grand Buffet at the Grand Lisboa for the traditional Welcome Party.

After an introduction from APPT President Jeffrey Haas, PokerStars qualifiers and scores of other players swarmed the buffet for a taste of the region's finest cuisine before rubbing shoulders with Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem and Bertrand ElkY Grospellier, members of PokerStars Team Australia and Team Asia and a gaggle of glamourous girls from FTV, who were in great demand for a quick pic.

But the last glass of champagne has been drained, the last piece of dim sum consumed and it's down to business - day 1A of the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Macau Main Event starts at 12.15pm (GMT +8hrs) at PokerStars Macau in the Grand Lisboa Hotel and Casino.

And don't forget that you call follow all the APPT action at our Chinese (click here) and Japanese (click here) language blogs.