The 2008 Victorian Championships kicked off in style today with the opening event seeing 441 hopefuls hit the felt in Event #1: $230 No Limit Holdem.

The field featured plenty of Australian poker talent including 2008 Crown Poker Player of the Year Andrew Demetriou, Emmanuel Seal, Dom Italiano, Jim Sachinidis, Karib Karib, Sarab Bilney, Mitchell Carle, Peter Aristidou, Trung Tran, Andrew Jeffreys, Antonio Casale, Graeme Putt, Ricky Gov, Kevin Khouiss, Steve Topakas, Roy Vandersluis and 2007 Victorian Poker Championships Main Event Winner Jozef Berec.

The action was fast and furious throughout, with players prepared to gamble to build a big stack as the short stacks battled to win preflop races. The top 40 players reached the money and everyone’s fears of a late evening didn’t eventuate as our final table was set by mid-evening.

Young gun Callum Ford will take a commanding overnight chip lead into tomorrow’s final table, where he will be looking to capture the trophy and $17,260 first place prize. All players are guaranteed $1,233.