Kiwi poker player Shane Tamihana holds the chip lead over the remaining 34 players at the Sky City Festival of Poker Main Event at Auckland casino.
108 poker players put up $1,650 to enter the event which has generated a prizepool of $178,000.
After the completion of Day 1b early this morning, Tamihana holds 185,300 in chips where the average for the remaining 34 players is 61,700.
Last year Tamihana won $55,490 after chopping the Main Event prizepool three handed along with Te Rangi Matenga and Darren Lukas, who are also both still alive in the 2016 Main Event.
The top 10 finishers will all make the money.