The town itself can take a fair bit of credit for this, Queenstown is impressive. It is a rare combination of pristine scenery, beautiful restaurants and Brazilian / Swedish staff. Thank you Jesus. Many if not all  of this years international participants (over 60% of ther field) have said they’ll be back and they’ll be bringing a crowd.

Of course as usual the Tournament itself was flawless. ANZPT commissioner Danny McDonagh will one day be canonized in this  part of the poker world.  He himself is a rare combination: Diligent, focused and knowledgeable by day.

Drunk, challenge taking long distance running party animal by night.  I don’t see how he does it on so little sleep. Remember that movie where the magician turns out to be two identical brothers… Mystery solved.

Point of this little notice. Book it. Make it your one locked and loaded event of next year. It was A-Mazing…

Cohen wins Queenstown...

9:50pm

Julian Cohen wins ANZPT Queenstown Main Event! Andrew Watson has been eliminated in 2nd place.

As Andrew Watson and Julian Cohen comenced heads up you’d have been a brave man to have backed Cohen. With a massive chip disadvantage it was all up hill for The Australian. But if watson had been paying attention he’d know this was Cohen’s tournament. Day 2 saw him finish with a royal flush on the last hand. Day 3 had him turn over quads when Tony Hashem stuffed at him. Through out heads up Cohen gained on Watson until on the final hand of the tournament, Watson opened all in from the button for about 450,000. Julian Cohen snap-called with AdTc dominating Watson’s KhTd to end the tournament. the board came 4dJc4h7d9c. That ended Watson’s run in 2nd place and crowned Cohen the champion, making him just over $73,000 richer.

2.30

Final table!

We’re down to 9 and our final table here at The ANZPT Queenstown 2010.

It’s another beautiful day here in Queenstown, perfect weather for Snowboarding, sightseeing or just enjoying what is one of New Zealand’s most beautiful cities. Not the day some would say for lurking in a casino watching poker players battle it out for $73,141. BUT believe me this is good. In what can only be described as furious the first hour has seen shoves raises and re-shoves galore. We’ve already lost 3, Andrew Shore, Surge, and now most notably Robert Wang who took a pretty tough beat QQ vs 88 to double up Emerson Rewi then short had his A4o beat by 75o. Here are the day’s starting chip stacks. I hope to get you updated chip stacks by the break although I’m playing high rollers just past 1pm.

1.20pm:

Toni announces blinds are up to 300, 600, with a $75 anti as we start level 7 of what will be a short (3 and a half hour) Day 2. So far it’s been pretty mellow with small stacks trying to double up or head snowboarding. As a result we’ve lost 10 starters.

1.40pm

Chip update

Lee Nelson: (was down to 3,400 2 levels ago) 95,000

Michael Spilkin: 100,000

Tony Hachem: 14,000

Jessie McKenzie: 80,000

12.45pm

Day 1b in Queenstown has started with a hiss and a roar. Less then 5 minutes into the first level one table has already lost 2 of it’s runners.

With WSOP bracelet winner Simon Watt on the button Jessie McKenzie made it 225 to go. (blinds 50-100) Ben Gilholme flatted in mid position as did Dale Marslen one seat behind, finally Simon Called from the button. Now for the flop.

5,6,7 Rainbow. With action to the pre-flop raiser McKenzie lead out 625 and again got a flat call from Ben. Dale Marslen thought it through, then re-popped it 2k. Now it was heating up… Jessie called. Queue the fire works… Ben Gilholme re-raises to 5k, a minute passed before Dale Marslen surprisingly stuffed it, 20k.

Jessie snap called and after a  little deliberation Ben reluctantly called and showed 77 for top set. Marslen turned over A8 for the up and down only to be floored as McKenzie tabled 8,9 for the made straight. As the players stood the dealer turned an 8 and a harmless 4… Jessie McKenzie gave himself a little high five and rakes in over 60,000 in chips, Dale left without saying a word and Ben sat down to 125 chips. What a hand.

Lee Nelson’s never been one to shy away from a confrontation – (in poker that is) but the last hour of play today would have seemed fast and furious even for the Kill Phil author. IN the space of less than 30 minutes Lee was all in taking him from a scratchy 3500 in chips to a healthy stack of just under 40k. Anyone who’s ever seen Lee on a run like this knows just how dangerous he can be.

Other notable players still in the hunt include Australia’s Tom Grigg and the Cohen brothers.