Pickering Leads Advancing 19 Players; Late Registration Remains Open
On Tuesday, 73 players entered the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Event #5 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and after 10 one-hour levels of play, just 19 of the remained with Jamie Pickering and his stack of 105,900 leading the way. The number of entrants may go up as registration for this event is open until the start of Day 2.
It didn��t take long for the first elimination of the day to occur. In Level 1 (25/50) action exploded on a 
flop between Edward Hatzakortzian and Sam Higgs that resulted in the former getting his last 10,000 or so in the pot.
Hatzakortzian: 
Higgs: 
Hatzakortzian held two pair, but he admitted he didn't like the situation as Higgs held a queens with overs and a flush draw.
"Straight away," a resigned Hatzakortzian said after the 
turn gave Higgs the flush. Hatzakortzian could still win with either a queen of three, but it wasn't in the cards as the 
blanked on the river. With that, Hatzakortzian became the first player eliminated from the tournament, though he would be far from the last.
Others who hit the rail on Day 1 were 2014 WSOP Player of the Year contender George Danzer; Jeff Lisandro, who had just won his sixth gold bracelet; reigning Aussie Millions champ Ami Barer; 13-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth; 2005 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem; and 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, who was playing in his first WSOP APAC event.
Likewise, 2012 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Merson played his first event upon arriving in Melbourne after some nightmarish travel delays. Merson, who bagged up 63,800, spoke with Senior New Editor Chad Holloway about the delays:
Others who will be returning for Day 2 are Aaron Lim (45,000), Richard Ashby (39,600), Jeff Rossiter (35,200), John Dalessandri (17,400), Billy ��The Croc�� Argyros (12,300), and Dan Heimiller (5,200).
The remaining 19 players will return to action at 12:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday for Day 2 action, and of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to capture all the action from the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. We'll see you then!