The Australian dollar has been on the decline recently.

We wouldn't blame you for thinking that'd mean an absence of Aussies at this ACOP series in Macau, but that's evidently not the case as the field here is riddled with players from Down Under.

At the start of the day there were 15 Australians still in the hunt - most of whom have stellar results on both the live circuit and the virtual felt.

WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem, fellow WSOP bracelet winners Jarred Graham and Sam Higgs, Aussie Millions champion Manny Stavropoulos, APPT Seoul High Roller winner Stevan Chew and ANZPT Melbourne champion Martin Kozlov are all on the tournament floor this afternoon.

The top three leading the way for the Australian contingent at the start of play were Matthew Wakeman (128,200), Billy 'The Croc' Argyros (112,700) and Andrew Hinrichsen (86,000).

Wakeman kicked off Day 2 in seventh place on the chip leader board. Mostly known for his online success, Wakeman is currently ranked second in Australia and eleventh worldwide according to PocketFives. He's already had a great year, taking down WCOOP Event 36: $215 NLH 1R1A in September for $82,080. Wakeman's biggest score, however, came in 2013 when he won the PokerStars Super Tuesday for $97,660.

The Australian with the second-most chips starting today is poker veteran Billy 'The Croc' Argyros. With cashes dating back to 1989 Argyros is one of the most recognisable faces in Australian poker. His biggest cash to date came back in 2008 when he final tabled the WSOP Pot Limit Omaha championship. He would ultimately finish fourth for a $268, 605 payday. Since then he emerged victorious in the 2013 APPT Melbourne Main Event.

And closing out the Australian podium for today's frontrunners is Andrew Hinrichsen. He started the day in 20th spot. Hinrichsen has over $1.1 million in live career earnings to his name, a good portion of which was earned back in 2011. That year saw the Aussie prove triumphant in a WSOPE Cannes event for $197,748 and make a deep run in the WSOP Main Event, finishing 23rd for $302,005.

By the latest reports these three all appear to still be going strong. You can follow their progress and all the action at the live reporting section on the top of the Main ACOP page.* Stay tuned for more stories from here at PokerStars LIVE Macau and updates on the player counts and prize pool information.

Day 2.

Where the survivors from the first two opening flights will battle it out in a bid to edge closer to the next ACOP Main Event title.

We don't quite yet know what they'll be playing for, with late registration still open for the first 90 minutes. The current total entrant count is at 255 but that could climb if anyone decides to make a late arrival.

There were 157 who qualified from Day 1A and Day 1B. They'll be chasing Japan's Yasuhiro Ojiri who made a late charge last night to bag up 149,000 in chips. Ojiri final tabled the MPC23 Baby Dragon event right here in Macau for HK$97,100 ($US12,528) and has worked his way into a good position to improve on that result this week.

On top of the ACOP Main Event title and a nice score, a few players will also be well aware of the Asia Player of the Year points on offer. The current leader Alan King Lun Lau found the exit during Day 1A and current second place KC Wong and fourth spot Yuguang Li are both in the field today.

Also at the table is poker legend Erik Seidel. He begins the day fifth in chips on a stack of 130,400. Seidel is third on the all-time money list and will be hunting another big score here at PokerStars LIVE Macau.

As for the Team PokerStars contingent, seven pros will return to the felt today. Mikhail Shalamov (100,500) leads the way, followed by Isaac Haxton (71,800), Vivian Im (53,500), Bryan Huang (38,900), Yaxi Zhu (28,600), Kosei Ichinose (18,100) and Aditya Agarwal (12,800).

The plan for today's action will see a shorter day than the last two. With the ACOP Players Party tonight there are only five blind levels on the schedule. Those levels will be 90 minutes a piece with play resuming at 400/800 with a 100 ante, and the average stack hovering around 50,000.

For now the action is just getting underway. Stay with us here at the PokerStars Blog for all the feature stories while the team at PokerNews bring you the live reports from the felt.

Let's go!

Every Tuesday on PokerStars many of the world's top poker players -- live or online -- get together for the weekly $1,050 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament known as the Super Tuesday. And this week featured another super group of competitors, with a final table including EPT High Roller champion Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel as well as the red hot Mario "medmar" Lopez who has been busy collecting titles in South America and Europe over the last couple of years.

Outlasting those two and everyone else, however, was this week's champion, clancywigwam of Ireland, who after a heads-up deal at the final table managed to take away $92,160. clancywigwam topped a field of 552, earning the biggest chunk of the $552,000 prize pool (beating the newly-embiggened $450K guarantee).

It took less than six hours for that big field to play down to 63 players and the money bubble to burst, then by the seven-and-a-half-hour mark they were down to the final 18 gathered around the last two tables. Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel was the leader at that point, sitting with a stack of just over 350,000.

Over the next hour nine more players hit the rail, starting with bartek901 (18th), TaBuLA_Ras4 (17th), and Daris "DEX888" Pedes (16th) who each took away $4,416. Andy "wiisssppppaa" Taylor (15th), Carter "cswidler" Swidler (14th) and Josh "JBT449" Bergman (13th) followed, each earning $5,520. Then David "davidv1213" Vamplew (12th), ClintPower (11th), and n3xD (10th) were successively eliminated, cashing for $6,624 apiece

With Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel still the chip leader having amassed more than 800,000, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Blunty2004 (Germany) -- 334,166
Seat 2: Vegar85 (Norway) -- 242,542
Seat 3: BillLewinsky (Belgium) -- 188,499
Seat 4: Mario "medmar" Lopez (Argentina) -- 261,144
Seat 5: Mihai Nutt (Romania) -- 244,566
Seat 6: Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel (United Kingdom) -- 805,624
Seat 7: nailuj90 (Germany) -- 188,581
Seat 8: 12dürma89 (Austria) -- 186,986
Seat 9: clancywigam (Ireland) -- 307,892

On just the third hand of the final table, the blinds were 3,200/6,400 when it folded around to Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel who opened for 13,376 from the cutoff seat, then 12dürma89 -- fifth-place finisher in the Super Tuesday just a month ago -- pushed all in for 125,898 from the small blind and Carrel called.

It was [Ks][Ts] for 12dürma89 and [As][Kh] for Carrel, and five cards later -- [Ah][3s][2h][Kc][5s] -- 12dürma89 was out in ninth.

As noted, among those at the final table vying with Carrel tonight was none other than Mario "medmar" Lopez who has won two Latin American Poker titles in the past two years, the Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event in Barcelona this past August, and was runner-up for a WSOP bracelet back in June. The Argentinian was in decent shape chip-wise to start this final table, but lost a preflop all-in versus nailuj90 when the latter's [Qc][5c] managed to outdraw his [Kd][Qd], making Lopez the short stack with eight left.

A little while later Lopez min-raised to 16,000 from the hijack seat, Carrel three-bet to 28,228 from the button, Lopez four-bet to 40,456, and Carrel called. The flop came [4c][9d][6d], and after Lopez led for 24,000, Carrel pushed all in and Lopez called with the 66,352 he had left.

Lopez had [As][Ac] for the overpair while Carrel had [7c][6c] for a pair of sixes. The [6s] then dropped down on fourth street, giving Carrel trips, and after the [3s] river Lopez had been sent railward in eighth.

Soon after that BillLewinsky was nearly felted after losing with [Ah][Qs] versus Vegar85's [7c][7s] in a preflop all-in, then on the next hand was all in for less than a big blind with [Qc][7h] versus clancywigam's [As][9c]. The [7s][4d][Ts] flop was good for BillLewinsky, as was the [Kd] turn. But the [Ac] river was not, and BillLewinsky was knocked out in seventh.

Just a couple of minutes later Blunty2004 opened from the cutoff for a little over 2x with 21,500, Mihai Nutt reraised all in from the small blind for 174,019, Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel reraised all in over that with his leading stack, and Blunty2004 stepped aside.

Mihai Nutt had [As][9h] and needed help against Carrel's [Ac][Kh], but the flop came [Ks][7c][4s], and after the [3h] on the turn Mihai Nutt was drawing dead to finish in sixth.

The remaining five battled on toward the tournament's 10-hour mark, but just before they reached it another knockout took place.

With the blinds at 6,000/12,000 it was Blunty2004 open-pushing all in for 123,549 from the cutoff with [As][5d] with Vegar85 calling from a seat over with [Kc][Qc]. The board ran out [2c][2s][Jc][9c][7h], adding up to a flush for Vegar95 and fifth place for Blunty2004.

They pushed onward with clancywigam moving upward into first position, accumulating a stack of more than 1 million, with nailuj90 next in line with about 870,000, former leader Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel in third with just over 460,000, and Vegar85 last with not quite 365,000.

Then came a hand in which Carrel opened from UTG for 33,4400 (just over the minimum), then nailuj90 three-bet to 78,222 from the button. The blinds stepped aside, Carrel shoved, and nailuj90 was quick with the call.

Carrel had [8s][8c] and was hoping the pair would outlast nailuj90's [Ac][Jc]. But the [Js][Qh][Kh] swiftly gave nailuj90 the edge, and after the [Qs] turn and [3c] river, Carrel's run had ended in fourth.

A few minutes later nailuj90 opened for the minimum with a button raise to 32,000, clancywigwam reraised to 88,000 from the small blind, then Vegar85 pushed all in for 293,858 from the big blind. nailuj90 got out of the way, but clancywigwam called the shove.

Vegar85 had picked up a pair with [4d][4h], but had run into a bigger one as clancywigwam had [Ah][Ad]. The community cards came [Td][6s][Kc][Jc][9h], and Vegar85's run was over in third.

One hand later the final pair stopped the tournament for some deal talk, with nailuj90 then enjoying the edge with 1,617,588 to clancywigwam's 1,142,412. "ICM"-based figures were proposed (leaving $8K to play for), and when nailuj90 asked for a little more to be nudged up to $90K even, clancywigam agreed and a deal was struck.

On the very next hand between them clancywigwam seized the chip lead after flopping trip sixes and check-calling three barrels from nailuj90 who saw a backdoor flush draw fail to fill. Just four hands after that it was nailuj90 min-raising to 32,000 from the button and clancywigwam calling to see a flop come [Js][Jd][4c].

clancywigwam checked, nailuj90 bet 23,120, clancywigwam raised to 60,819, nailuj90 made it 132,211 to go, clancywigwam raised again, and nailuj90 called with the 71,392 left behind.

clancywigwam: [Kh][Jc]
nailuj90: [4d][4s]

Once again clancywigwam had flopped trips, but this time nailuj90 had flopped better with fours full of jacks. But then came the turn -- the [Kd]! Suddenly clancywigwam had the better full house, and nailuj90 was looking for the case four to survive.

Alas the river brought the [7d] and nailuj90 came up one spot shy of the win. Having knocked out an opponent holding pocket fours for a second time, clancywigwam collected the final pot, the extra $8K, and a Super Tuesday title.

Congratulations to clancywigwam for outlasting a big Super Tuesday field and talented final table to earn the win and a nice $92,160 first prize. And kudos as well to nailuj90 for making it to the heads-up deal and grabbing an almost-as-big score of $90K.

11/10/15 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 552
Prize pool: $552,000.00
Places paid: 63

1. clancywigam (Ireland) $92,160.00*
2. nailuj90 (Germany) $90,000.00*
3. Vegar85 (Norway) $56,580.00
4. Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel (United Kingdom) $43,056.00
5. Blunty2004 (Germany) $30,360.00
6. Mihai Nutt (Romania) $23,460.00
7. BillLewinsky (Belgium) $17,940.00
8. Mario "medmar" Lopez (Argentina) $12,420.00
9. 12dürma89 (Austria) $9,163.20
* = denotes a two-way deal leaving $8,000 for the winner

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It was back to the action at PokerStars LIVE Macau this afternoon, and with seven levels in the books, Day 1B is a wrap.

By the time play concluded we had seen 145 new players enter, eclipsing yesterday's 110 and bringing the current total to 245. Registration will still be open for the first 90 minutes of play tomorrow so that number could climb even further.

Just like yesterday it was football legend Ronaldo Nazario who announced shuffle up and deal. When that duty was done he pulled up a seat in the hunt for this ACOP Main Event title.

The Brazilian superstar had a steady time at the table today, hovering above the average stack for most of play. It wasn't until the final level when Ronaldo ran into some trouble. He would first bust PokerStars Team Online Randy Lew before running pocket sixes into an opponent's pocket aces to find the rail with 40 minutes left on the clock.

Joining Ronaldo and Lew on the felt today was a large number of their PokerStars counterparts. Bryan Huang, Kosei Ichinose, Isaac Haxton, Vivian Im, Celina Lin, Yaxi Zhu, Aditya Agarwal and late arrival Mikhail Shalamov all took a shot on Day 1B. Of those we would see Huang (38,900), Agarwal (12,800), Zhu (28,600), Ichinose (18,100), Haxton (71,800) and Shalamov (100,500) all qualify for Day 2 tomorrow.

And leading the way at the start of play tomorrow will be Japan's Yasuhiro Ojiri. He took charge in the final level tonight and emerged with 149,900 in chips to conclude the day. Ojiri has already seen success in Macau, final tabling the MPC23 Baby Dragon event in August and finishing fifth for HK$97,100 ($US12,528).

Also making a return tomorrow will be Billy Argyros (112,700), Russell Thomas (97,000), Steve O'Dwyer (53,600), Tom Alner (75,200), Manny Stavropoulos (11,400), Ivan Luca (44,100), Matthew Wakeman (128,200), Stevan Chew (49,400), Dean Blatt (11,400), Dario Sammartino (35,800), John Juanda (29,800), Connor Drinan (25,100) and KC Wong (54,900).

ACOP Main Event Day 1B Top Ten

Yasuhiro Ojiri (Japan) - 149,900
Ningdan Shi (China) - 131,000
Tse Jui Tsai (Chinese Taipei) - 129,600
Matthew Wakeman (Australia) - 128,200
Shinobu Tanaka (Japan) - 127,200
Wei Zhang (China) - 123,000
Yan Li (China) - 120,500
Billy Argyros (Australia) - 112,700
Mikhail Shalamov (Russia) - 100,500
Russell Thomas (USA) - 97,000

So we're now left with a total of 157 coming back tomorrow for the official Day 2. Play kicks off at 2pm local time for another exciting day at PokerStars LIVE Macau. As usual we'll be here sweating the action - we hope you can join us then!

We're entering the home stretch of this Day 1 flight now.

Before play kicked off we were expecting big things and that's exactly what we saw.

It didn't take long for yesterday's field of 100 to be surpassed here this afternoon. At the moment today's count sits at 145 for a total of 255 entrants so far. Registration remains open until the end of Level 8 so players can join the hunt up to 90 minutes into the action tomorrow.

The latest edition to the field was notable American player Bryn Kenney. He took his seat during Level 5 but luckily for him, with the generous ACOP Main Event structure, he sits down with 75 big blinds to play with.

Another late addition today was member of Team PokerStars Online Mikhail 'innerpsy' Shalamov. He rounds off the nine names among the field from the PokerStars contingent, all of whom still appear to have chips. Shalamov has already added to his stack, climbing to 52,000 from the 30,000 start stack.

As for the rest of the field, it was stacked with notable names. We've already covered a bunch throughout the day but there are plenty more worth a mention.

Dario Sammartino, Jason Mo, Sunny Jung, Russell Thomas, Anton Astapau, Steve O'Dwyer, Zhenru Xie, Chane Kampanatsanyakorn, Connor Drinan, Billy Argyros, Matthew Wakeman, Pratyush Buddiga, Tom Alner, Aaron Lim, Raiden Kan, KC Wong and Sparrow Cheung all showed up for the second Day 1 flight this afternoon.

Unfortunately for the only two-time APPT Main Event title holder Aaron Lim he'd find the exit today. His final hand began with him opening to 1,000 from middle position and after a call from Ivan Luca, Dong Zhao put the squeeze on by popping it up to 3,000. Lim decided to commit his final 9,300 in chips, and with Luca out of the way, Lim saw the bad news when Zhao called with a stranglehold on the hand.

Lim: [As][Qd]
Zhao: [Ah][Ad]

Lim needed a lot of help but he couldn't find it on the [9h][kc][8h][7c][7h] run out and headed to the exit.

Also having a rough day on the felt was Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin. She seemed to have a hard time accumulating chips and was ultimately sent to the rail in a recent hand with KC Wong. The latter opened the action with a raise from the hijack to 1,100 and Lin came along from the big blind. The flop landed [9h][th][7c] and after a check from Lin, Wong continued for 1,700.

It was then that Lin made her all in move for a total of 12,400. Wong deliberated momentarily but decided to call it off. Players tabled their cards and Lin saw that she was in the lead.

Lin: [Td][7d]
Wong: [qh][7h]

Lin held top and bottom pair but was at risk against Wong's bottom pair and flush draw. The [Qd] turn was horrible news for the Team PokerStars Pro and with only two tens left to save her, it wasn't to be as the [5c] river rolled off.

For Australian Matthew 'mjw006' Wakeman, however, it seems a different story in the closing stages here. Fresh off a PokerStars WCOOP victory in September, Wakeman currently sits as one of our chip leaders on a stack of around 100,000.

The final level of play has just begun which signals 90 minutes remaining in the day. Players will be trying to hang on to Day 2 tomorrow and bag up a healthy stack when all is said and done. We'll have a full recap of today's action on the PokerStars Blog after play concludes.

Stay tuned!

One of the added bonuses of buying in to a great tournament like the ACOP Main Event is the chance to play with the Team PokerStars Pros.

For those among the field today it's highly likely that they'll face off with at least one player from the PokerStars contingent, with eight members of Team Pro and Team Online here for Day 1B.

Those from Team PokerStars Pro include Aditya Agarwal, Kosei Ichinose, Vivian Im, Celina Lin, Yaxi Zhu and Bryan Huang, while Isaac Haxton and Randy 'nanonoko' Lew represent Team PokerStars Online.

We're about four hours into the day here and every one of these players is still in contention. They started the day with 30,000 in chips and here's how they sit after a recent chip update.

Bryan Huang - 32,600
Aditya Agarwal - 31,700
Kosei Ichinose - 29,200
Isaac Haxton - 28,200
Yaxi Zhu - 27,700
Celina Lin - 25,500
Vivian Im - 19,600
Randy Lew - 19,225

While none of them are yet to break away from the pack, they all sit with healthy stacks as the current level sees blinds at 200/400 and a 50 ante.

It seems that the PokerStars Team have avoided big confrontations on the felt so far, but Lin recently found herself on the right end of a decent pot.

The hand began with Alex Ward opening to 500 from middle position and after a call from the player in the cutoff, the Team PokerStars Pro came along from the button. The flop landed [3c][4s][qd] and Ward gave up the betting lead by checking to the player in the cutoff. He opted for a bet of 800 and Lin made the call before Ward got out of the way.

The dealer turned the [4c] and after another bet to 1,200, Lin raised her opponent up to 3,000 to go. Met with a call the action checked to Lin on the [5h] river and she tried for another 5,000. The bet was ultimately called and Lin tabled [6d][4d] for turned trips. Her opponent promptly mucked and Lin took her stack back up to 25,500.

Will Lin or any of the other seven from the PokerStars team manage to run up a stack and survive to Day 2 tomorrow? We'll be here following along to keep you updated on their progress. Stay tuned to the PokerStars Blog!

It's a rare sight that a poker player has their own security on the tournament floor.

Today, however, that's exactly what we're witnessing.

Football superstar Ronaldo Nazario is among the field here today, with two members of his personal security team posted at each end of the table.

It may seem excessive but with what we've seen this week it makes sense. Ronaldo was here yesterday for a press conference and a promotional sit n go, and he seemed unable to go anywhere away from the poker area without being followed by a horde of fans.

The Brazilian football legend first teamed up with PokerStars back in 2013. It was then that he joined Team PokerStars SportStar in a bid to grow the game in his home nation and the world.

Ronaldo is considered one of football's greatest players with a pro career spanning 19 years. The all-time leading World Cup goal scorer, he is now channelling his competitive spirit and sporting success to the poker tables.

Earlier this year Ronaldo proved he was well-deserved of a spot on Team PokerStars SportStar. A 26th place finish in the PCA Paradise Island Main Event saw him pocket $42,180. With this week's Main Event prize pool guaranteed to be a healthy one, Ronaldo will be looking to eclipse that cash and set himself a new record.

Ronaldo's presence is definitely good for the game here in Macau, but one person seemingly more excited than the rest is Team PokerStars Pro Online Randy 'nanonoko' Lew. He just happens to be sitting on Ronaldo's table today and has taken to social media to share his enthusiasm.

"Group picture with @Ronaldo in @PokerStarsMacau !!! And of course the other team pros! but it's RONALDO!!! #2015ACOP" Lew Tweeted after yesterday's press conference.

And after taking his seat this afternoon Lew added, "OMG @Ronaldo 2 to my left! Day1b of the $100k HKD #2015ACOP Main Event now! Such an honor. Teach him a poker lesson?"

Time will tell whether it's poker experience or a sporting background that proves the most valuable today. We'll be following both Ronaldo and Lew's progress here for Day 1B. The team at PokerNews will be bringing you all the action from the tables while the PokerStars Blog delivers you the stories from on and off the felt.

Stay with us!

Notable names and bigger numbers.

That's what we're expecting here today for Day 1B of the ACOP Main Event.

Yesterday saw 110 runners pack the tournament floor here at PokerStars LIVE Macau and that number is predicted to be eclipsed this afternoon.

It was an action-packed day, with football legend Ronaldo Nazario kicking us off before jumping in a side sit n go with some lucky contest winners. He ultimately won that tournament and we'll be keeping an eye out to see if he can continue the run good as he's registered to play Main Event Day 1B.

Setting the pace for those pulling up seats today was China's Zhengye Yao. The final hand last night would see him just outdo Andy Andrejevic by 300 chips, finishing the day with the lead on 136,500. The starting stack is 30,000 today and this new bunch of hopefuls will be looking to spin it up even further than Yao did.

The plan is the same as Day 1A. Seven levels with the first four set at 60-minutes, before the final three boasting a generous 90-minutes each to play through. That means including breaks the action is will conclude shortly after midnight local time.

Players have now wandered in to take their seats and Ronaldo has just taken to the microphone to start us off once again.

"Good luck, have fun and shuffle up and deal!" said the sporting superstar.

And with that we're underway!

As mentioned we're expecting a bigger field and even more notable names today. We've already spotted John Juanda, Akira 'Clutch Hero' Ohyama, Christoph Vogelsang, Manny Stavropoulos, Dean Blatt and Stevan Chew among the field. Chew is fresh off a High Roller final table finish yesterday and will be chasing another impressive finish in the Main Event.

Also likely to play are members of Team PokerStars Bryan Huang, Celina Lin, Randy 'nanonoko' Lew, Isaac Haxton, Vivian Im, Aditya Agarwal and Kosei Ichinose. The entrant count has just ticked over the 100-player mark and with a line still at the registration desk, we already look almost guaranteed to beat yesterday's numbers.

So for now it's to the tournament floor to catch all of the action. We'll be keeping an eye out to see if any more notable names join the field today. We hope you can join our coverage of the ACOP Main Event Day 1B!