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!