Always a big draw for the fans in Macau, Chan held court at his table throughout the day and, while entertaining the fans, also managed to advance to Day 2 with 77,600 chips - well positioned in the top portion of the field.
Combined with the 269 players who bought in yesterday, the total field of 575 for the HK$30,000 Main Event is officially the largest ever for the APPT, topping the previous best of 561 set at the APPT Sydney Grand Final in 2007.
With the cash games booming and a lot of big-name pros circling the city, the tournament field quality has also stepped up a notch with several more notables hitting the felt on Day 1b.
Today's field was highlighted by the legendary Chan, previous APPT Macau champs Eddy Sabat, Dinh Le and Victorino Torres, Team PokerStars Pros Bryan Huang, Celina Lin and Max Lykov plus two-time LAPT champion Jose "Nacho" Barbero.
Also making appearances were 2010 November Niner Joseph Cheong, well known poker pro Terrance Chan and 2011 WSOPE Six-Max runner-up Azusa Maeda.
Another 149 players made it through the day’s action and will join the 155 from yesterday on Day 2.
Chinese Taipei's Jun Sha earned the Day 1b chip lead with 169,400 and will enter Day 2 play second to Day 1a chip leader Chieh Su Shih, who has 171,800.
Also stacked with chips and looking to make a move on Day 2 are Huang (154,100), Amit Varma (123,000), Grant Levy (111,200), Barbero (108,300), 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Joe Ebanks (62,800) and Randy “nanonoko” Lew (53,200).
The man everyone will be watching along with Chan, however, is Phil Ivey, who made his return to tournament poker yesterday after a seven-month hiatus.
Ivey sits just behind Lew with 51,100 in chips.
Another eight levels of play are scheduled for later today in Macau with action back underway at 12:10 pm.
Follow the action live in the PokerStars blog.
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