An exciting start to the $1,500 Platinum Player Championships at the beautiful Doltone House Western Sydney at Club Marconi saw 148 entrants take their shot at building a stack on Day 1a. It took almost 15 full levels to reach the money, with two players surpassing the million-chip mark. One built up steadily to take a commanding lead at the Australian Poker Open, while the other was the beneficiary of a brutal cooler on the bubble.
Minkyu Jun took control midway through the day and never looked back, bagging an impressive 1,521,000 and a big lead after the first of five opening flights. Greg Davison also crossed 1,000,000 chips, with more than half of them sitting in his stack after the final hand of the night.
That pair lead a group of 19 survivors who will return for Day 2, all in the money having earned at least AUD $2,300.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minkyu Jun | Australia | 1,521,000 |
| 2 | Greg Davison | Australia | 1,078,000 |
| 3 | Adrian Salter | Australia | 627,000 |
| 4 | Gavin Ogilvy | Australia | 541,000 |
| 5 | David Bowen | Australia | 518,000 |
| 6 | Michael Sleiman | Australia | 499,000 |
| 7 | Jesse Alati | Australia | 433,000 |
| 8 | Stylianos Makariou | Australia | 331,000 |
| 9 | Rehman Kassam | United Kingdom | 321,000 |
| 10 | Khanh Le | Australia | 288,000 |
There were fireworks throughout the day in the poker room at Club Marconi, including a flopped royal flush that resulted in a knockout. Lauchlan Swann not only flopped the best hand in poker, but was able to get all of Jarrod Thatcher��s chips after the latter went runner-runner to make a full house.
Day 1a saw a pair of Australian Poker Open Ambassadors hit the felt, each faring quite differently in the opening flight. Bert Perry busted twice after failing to find any momentum, while Rehman Kassam sat down just as late registration closed and amassed a top ten stack with 321,000 chips.
The final hand of the night was also one of the most dramatic, as Davison and Jason Lau got almost identical stacks into the middle with the ultimate preflop cooler �C aces against kings. Davison had the aces and covered Lau by just two big blinds, sending Lau to the rail on the bubble.
Davison finished with the second-largest stack after managing to survive just a short time earlier, turning a flush to triple up and see several opponents at his table hit the rail.
The action will continue on Thursday, March 28 as players return for Day 1b at 3 p.m. local time. Another full day of 40-minute levels begins with blinds of 100/200 and a 200 big blind ante, with all players receiving a starting stack of 50,000 chips.
Breaks will again fall after every three levels of play, and late registration will close at the start of Level 10. Several players took full advantage of the unlimited reentry format on Day 1a, and more of the same is expected as the event continues.
Keep it locked to PokerNews for full coverage of this and other events here at the Australian Poker Open.
