In a day dominated by Australians Michael Splikin has towered above all combining luck and skill to make the most of Day 1a of the ANZPT in Queenstown. Splikin has 5 times his original starting stack and looks very comfortable moving forward.

Lee Nelson’s never been one to shy away from a confrontation – (in poker that is) but the last hour of play today would have seemed fast and furious even for the Kill Phil author. IN the space of less than 30 minutes Lee was all in taking him from a scratchy 3500 in chips to a healthy stack of just under 40k. Anyone who’s ever seen Lee on a run like this knows just how dangerous he can be.

Other notable players still in the hunt include Australia’s Tom Grigg and the Cohen brothers.