Over the weekend and the period briefly prior to it, Christchurch Casino hosted its annual November Champs, along with the NZ Masters. The events were of great success, with good turnouts in a number of fields, and a nice take home prize of $18,000.00 to the winner of the NZ Masters main event. Sporting a buyin of $1,100, action was underway around 11:30 early Sunday, with players starting deeply stacked at 15,000 chips. As the day wore on and the money bubble finally burst, seven players remained to be paid at the final table – with Stephen Hodson emerging victorious.

Here are the results from each of the events:

2011 Christchurch NZ Masters Main Event

1st Stephen Hodson $18,000.00
2nd Greg Lochhead $12,000.00
3rd Ned Quill $8,000.00
4th Matthew Mitchell $6,000.00
5th Malcolm South $4,500.00
6th Mike King $3,000.00
7th Mark Hepi $2,500.00

2011 November No Limit Championship

1st Shane Foglietta $7,000.00
2nd Scott Hamilton -Hill $5,500.00
3rd Mike King $4,000.00
4th Tony Bainbridge $3,000.00
5th Terry Choi $2,000.00
6th Scott laming $1,500.00

2011 November No Limit Turbo Championship

1st Richard Hone Morrison $5,500.00
2nd Jae Do Nam $4,000.00
3rd Ryan Peters $2,900.00
4th Silva Chitral $2,100.00
5th Jack Efariamo $1,500.00
6th Mike King $1,100.00
7th Eamonn Hylanel $850.00
8th Shane Wilson $650.00

2011 November Champs Womens Event

1st Selina Smith
2nd Nicky Edwards
3rd Trang Harris

After a successful NZ Champs earlier this year, and another good weekend behind them, Christchurch Casino is great venue for poker this year, whether it’s tournaments, cash, or a combination of NLHE and PLO. Stay tuned to PokerNZ as we follow events from their end, and be sure to check out the Casino’s Facebook page as they keep the public updated on the availability of games.

After taking a massive chip lead on day 2, Turker fell from grace courtesy of his hyper-aggressive style.

After two more days of grueling deep stacked play, the final table of APPT Snowfest is ready. There were a number of harsh casualties as the play continued onto day 2, with Koray Turker taking an early lead above day 1C chip leader Alicia Sale. Koray dominated play for a long time, only to later find himself all in with A5 offsuit against Tom Grigg’s pocket Kings.

Starting out with a lot of history and action between the two, the spot finally came when Griggs 3-bet Turker’s initial raise of 1800 to 4750, only to have Turker reportedly tout that Griggs was “about to get owned”, as he clicked it back to roughly 12,000 total. Griggs followed with the 5-bet to induce further action, and Turker pulled the trigger only to be shown Griggs’ monster hand with the pot around 192,000, or 250 big blinds. It was then not to be for Turker, who crashed out spectacularly as the day wore on, which also saw Alicia Sale’s dreams crushed, as her big stack was swiftly acquired by 2010 APPT Sydney champion Jonathan ‘xMONSTERxDONGx’ Karamalikis.

After a massive call hero call against Tom Griggs with AQ high in a 4-bet pre-flop pot, German Marcus Schreiner shot to the chip lead at the end of day 2, which left the field with 21 players. Day 3 was delayed to a late start in order to give players some more rest, and more time to enjoy the deep structure. APPT and SKYCITY officials eventually made some changes to the structure, in order to keep the average stack size as large as possible. After a few eliminations, the first of the big names to go was Cole Swannack, who pushed his stack into the middle after Matty Yates made a 3-bet preflop. Swannack was instantly called by pocket kings, only to table a measly 56 offsuit himself. Swannack found some hope when the flop ran out A 2 4, but ultimately found bricks on the turn and river to finish in 15th.

As the day wore on, Ben Paurini saw his great tournament come to an end; after picking what looked like a great cold 4-bet spot, shipping AQs over the top of active players Matty Yates and Marcus Schreiner. Schreiner, who eventually made a relatively thin call off with 55, then held to knock out Paurini, who was rewarded $6,000 for his efforts. Shortly after, Ryan Mckay’s tournament life came to an end too, as he found himself all-in and crushed by Hugh Cohen’s pocket tens, with Ryan holding 33. Gavin Vickers was the next to join the rail, having turned his initial freeroll qualifier on Pokerstars into a healthy $7,720 for 12th. Eleventh place went to Charles Caris after shoving all-in pre-flop with A2o and failing to improve against Karamalikis’ pocket tens.

Jackson Zheng was eliminated in 10th place, rivered, ironically, by the card he had called for.

The day finally came to an end in brutal fashion, with kiwi Jackson Zheng falling just short of another big final table. Zheng had raised from under the gun with KcQc, only to have Matty Yates call from the small blind. The flop fanned Th Ks 4d, which was met with a check, a bet from Zheng, and a flat call from Yates. The turn brought the Queen of spades, which led Zheng to follow with another barrel, this time for 24,000 total. Yates then check-raised all in for a further 90,000 to Zheng, who instantly made the call, despite the boards’ dangerous texture. Zheng obviously knew he was ahead as he watched Yates table just As Qh for just middle pair and a gutshot. Excitement ensued on the rail as the river was left to be dealt. Thinking perhaps that he could fade a card through calling for it himself, Zheng then called for the Jack to the come on the river. Moments later the dealer had put out the J of hearts, dashing Zheng’s chances of a commanding chip count going into the final table, eliminating him in 10th for $7,720 in change. Behind Schreiner, Yates is now second in chips, holding the highest count of any New Zealander left.

Here are the final table chip counts:

Seat 1: Hugh Cohen (Australia) 146,500 PokerStars Qualifier
Seat 2: Marcel Schreiner (Germany) 591,500
Seat 3: Daniel Laidlaw (Australia) 193,000 PokerStars Qualifier
Seat 4: Jonathan Karamalikis (Australia) 174,000 PokerStars Qualifier
Seat 5: Carl Knox (New Zealand) 180,500
Seat 6: Tom Grigg (Australia) 296,000
Seat 7: Matty Yates (New Zealand) 523,500
Seat 8: John Waterman (New Zealand) 153,500 PokerStars Qualifier
Seat 9: Xiao Dong Xia (China) 107,500

For more profiling information regarding players not covered here, please see Pokerstars’ ongoing blog for the event, found here. With a table combining many Aussies and Kiwi’s, it’s certainly shaping up to be a trans-tasman battle of epic proportions.  We’ll be doing a round-up to cover action after the final table is concluded, so stay tuned — it’s going to be a long day.

Simon Watt was eliminated toward the end of day 1B, after 4-betting all in with 55.

By JAMES PUGSLEY, AUGUST 26TH, 2011

After three 8 hour days of intense tournament poker, it’s finally time to begin day 2 of ANZPT Queenstown Snowfest. Many big names joined the rail throughout the deep stacked play of the first days, with Pokerstars Team Pro Joe Hachem departing from SKYCITY’s Summit Room around 5 pm on day 1B. Hachem was reportedly knocked out after being shown trips as he triple barreled his stack away on a flop with two tens in the window. Simon Watt also joined the ranks of vanquished champions when he 4-bet shoved 55 into the 99 of Reggie Lyons, who found a board full of bricks to send Watt home.

Cole Swannack returns to day 2 with a massive stack and a wealth of experience.

As for those still in the running, there is a tonne of talent ready to come out of the gates on day 2, which starts today at 12:30. Day 1A saw a slew of competent grinders climb the ranks, with the likes of Jackson Zheng (80,125), Koray Turker (85,075) and Cole Swannack (86,050) all sitting near the top of the leader board after crushing the tables on day 1A. Our chip leader for day 2 however, came from day 1C — where Selina Sale ended the day as overall chip leader at 91,750.

Sale found a massive comeback after limping pre-flop with Ad 6s, only to find the nut flush draw when Leo Boxell raised her and they went three ways to a flop of Qd 9d 2d. Sale then overcame Boxell’s top pair and another contenders flopped flush, by turning the better flush, and was off running. Shortly after, Australian player Joel Dodds ran a massive bluff against the kiwi, who eventually got all her money in with As 3h after again limping in pre-flop. After isolating the action with a raise, Dodds bet out at a board of  Ac 5c 3s, only to find a raise, which he then re-raised again as a bluff. With the turn bringing the K of diamonds, Dodds completed his bluff, putting in the remainder of his stack — with Sale eventually making the call. Dodds tabled QhTh for complete air, while Sale raked in the massive pot to shoot up to 103,000. After losing a few smaller pots, Sale bagged up for the day as chip leader for the whole event.

Alicia Sale leads the day 2 combined field, with an impressive 91,750 to end the day.

Here are the chip leaders as we move into day 2. For more information and comprehensive coverage, you can also check out Pokerstars ANZPT blog, found here.

1 – Alicia Sale (NZ): 91,750

2 – Cole Swannaack (NZ): 86,050

3 – Koray Turker (NZ): 85,075

4- Jackson Zheng (NZ): 80,125

5- Ben Paurini (NZ): 77,225

6 – Marcel Schreiner (Germany): 72,600

7 – Matty Yates (NZ): 62,100

8 – Daniel Laidlaw (Australia): 60,075

9 – Octavian Voegele (Austria): 59,975

10 – Andrew Henrichsen (Australia): 54,450

With a 1st place prize of $94,300, and many good players still remaining,  the most crucial aspects of the tournament are still to come. Stay informed with Poker NZ as we continue coverage over the next few days.

2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem will be attending the event.

After the widely successful New Zealand Poker Champs last weekend, pro’s from all over NZ and throughout Australasia come to battle it out in ANZPT’s Queenstown’s Snowfest. Set to take place at SKYCITY Queenstown, and sponsored by Pokerstars.net, this event is held in high regard for many of the players on the international live circuit. Confirmed to be attending the event are Pokerstars Team Pro’s Joe Hachem and potentially Brian Huang from Team Pro ASIA. Included amongst the big names will be newly inducted Hall of Fame player Leo Boxell; who is straight off a Melbourne APPT title this year worth $330,000 AUD. The 69 year-old bested young kiwi prodigy Phillip Willcocks in a heads-up battle that lasted more than 2 hours to take victory on August 2nd this year.

Leo Boxell will be coming to Queenstown straight off his APPT victory in Melbourne.

Also out for a shot at a second title, will be previous winners Julian Cohen and Danny Chevalier, who took the event down for $75,530 and $87,435 in 2010 and 2009 respectively. Chevalier’s share from his 2009 1st place represents the highest payout from a pool which sat at just over $300,000 total. This might be some indication of the kind of prize pool we can expect, which according to media representatives from Pokerstars, has encouraging numbers, despite the overall decrease in tournament numbers world wide this year.

As for the tournament itself, this features a 20,000 chip starting stack, with blinds starting at 50/100 and eventually broken down into standard denominations with 1 hour intervals. This should make for relatively deep stacked play for the majority of the tournament, with things typically getting a bit shorter toward the final table. Play will begin on Tuesday, 23rd of August at 12:30 with day 1A. Action will then continue on Wednesday and Thursday, with day 1B and 1C starting at the same time. The idea is to spread the field across the starting days, enabling a cap of 200 players total, which would make for an impressive increase over last years 119 player field. For more information regarding registration and SKYCITY Queenstown’s role in the event, visit their website, found here.

Also starting on Monday the 22nd, SKYCITY Queenstown will be running satellites on-demand throughout each of the first days. These will be in the form of $330 single table Sit and Go’s, granting the winner a $3,000 seat to the Main Event. You can also still qualify online at Pokerstars, where you’ll pay a slightly lower rake fee — battling it out for a $2,509 (since Pokerstars uses USD) seat for a $320 entry fee. Stars will continue to run these “seat only” satellites until the evening of day 1A, with the last chance being at 9:15 p.m on Tuesday the 23rd.

Overall it should be a unique event, with plenty of attractions available — poker or otherwise. SKYCITY Queenstown’s manager Michelle Ballie expressed her satisfaction at being able to host such an event, claiming that they “expect this year to be our biggest tournament yet.” More specifically, Michelle reflected that; “not only will there be fantastic poker, but it will be a great boost to Queenstown’s tourism and local economy.” With that in mind, check it out this weekend if you’re in the area, or — just in the mood for a holiday and some great competition. We’ll be keeping a close eye on events as they transpire.

Events at Christchurch Casino came to a close around midnight last night, with Jamil Dia being crowned the winner of the NZPC Main Event. The day started around 1pm with 20 remaining, and the dreaded final table bubble looming. Poker NZ’s Brooke Howard-Smith was one of the earliest bubble boys to depart, as an Ace spiked the flop when he held 88 to his opponents AJ. Shortly after, the possibility of reigning champ Soren Eriksen taking it down again was snuffed out. Eriksen was all in with Doug Giles who held the same hand, AQs, though Doug picked up running flush cards to bust the former champ in 10th.

In the end, after nearly 12 hours of play, Dia put on a commanding lead during the final 3, and eventually took home the title for roughly $35,000. Taking second was Doug Giles, and 3rd, Jeff Baucher. The final placings for the table were as follows:

NZPC 2011 Main Event

NZPC Main Event Champion Jamil Dia.

1. Jamil Dia – $35,700

2. Doug Giles – $23,000

3. Jeff Bucher – $15,000

4. Kevin Clark – $13,000

5. Shane Hicks – $10,000

6. Martin Cardno – $9,000

7. Fern Webber – $7,500

8. Steve Smith – $6,400

9. Selina Smith – $5,100

10. Soren Eriksen – $3,800

11. Andrew Yee – $2,500

12. Aaron Peters – $2,500

Aside from the Main Event, the weekend also saw the South Island and Wellington Champs played out. The South Island champs was, in the end, chopped up three ways. The top 3 were Shane Foglietta, Kevin Clark, and Jeff Baucher — who had an amazing weekend, taking two top 3′s. The official results read:

The Wellington champs were taken down by well-known kiwi comedian Mike King, who took home $11,000 for his efforts. Also taking place during the week, were the Canterbury champs, the Pot-Limit Omaha champs, and finally the Deep Stack Turbo. Below are the results of each individual category:

NZPC 2011 Wellington Championships

1. Mike King – $11,000

Comedian Mike King is the 2011 NZPC Wellington Champion.

2. Graham Freeman – $8,400

3. Graeme Putt – $6,000

4. David La – $4,000

5. Bob Sova – $2,500

6. Jackson Chan – $1,700

NZPC 2011 Cantebury Championships

1. Adrian Robinson – $14,000

2. Aaron Peters – $9,100

3. Kanniga Morgan – $6,200

4. Geoffrey Newman – $5,100

5. Dan Foote – $4,100

Close to claiming a third title, Soren Eriksen was unlucky to bubble the final table in 10th.

6. Andy Domigan – $3,500

7. Paul Bielby – $3,000

8. Geoff Smith – $2,500

9. Nick Hood – $2,000

NZPC 2011 Pot Limit Omaha Championships

1. Andrew Dimock – $7,500

2. Lyndon Armstrong – $5,000

3. Jeremy Kay Wah – $3,500

4. Joe Chiu – $2,000

5. Andrew Yee $1,000

Graeme Putt Won the 2011 NZPC Turbo Deep Stack.

NZPC 2011 Deep Stack Turbo Championships

1. Graeme Putt – $6,700.00

2. Hayden Jackson – $4,400

3. Lui Fai Cheung – $2,900

4. Tuan Mai – $2,500

5. Ellie Sawma – $2,000

6. C J Driver – $1,700

7. Tolu Tuilagi – $1,500

8. Benjamin Sloane – $1,200

9. Shane Ching – $1,000

According to the feedback from many players, and the turnouts above — the series was a great success. Special thanks to Christchurch Casino for running such a fantastic event, while always providing excellent service to the players. Amongst the posts on the Casino’s Facebook feed, were the thanks of many competitors who had success at the event, including Selina Smith and Jackson Zheng, who made comment regarding the in-tournament catering specifically. Keep Poker NZ bookmarked for the up-coming Snowfest in Queenstown.

With Christchurch Casino’s NZ Champs well underway, and five unique events in the dust, all eyes now move toward the crown jewel: the Main Event. Set to attract a field larger than ever before, the Main Event will begin this Saturday at 12:30 pm, August 13th. With around 100 entrants currently registered, 1st place is guaranteed to yield over $35,000 — an impressive sum indeed. At the Casino’s last news update, only 7 seats still remained at the championship event, which look to fill up by the end of today.

Jackson enjoying his victory at the NZ Poker Open.

New Zealand’s finest will be out in force at the event, with such well-respected players as Cole Swannack, Koray Turker and Graeme Putt. Also coming straight from the final table of APPT Melbourne are the likes of Jackson Zheng, who finished 8th, and Phillip Willcocks, who finished an impressive 2nd for $218,319.  Jackson comes off a streak of recent wins, which include taking down the NZ Poker Open earlier this year in Auckland, chalking up back to back titles.

Thus far Christchurch Casino has been thrilled with the turnout. Along with the attraction created by the Media Charity Event, the city is buzzing with energy — a welcome diversion since encountering harder times earlier this year when the quake hit. NZPC”s spokesperson, Alesha Stefanissin, expressed her enthusiasm earlier today in a press release:

“Many of the events have been sold out and we have even had to add extra tables to cope with the demand. It really has shown us how strong a legacy the tournament has.”

Phillip Willcocks at the Final Table of APPT Melbourne.

Also worth mentioning, and perhaps of less potential risk to those managing a smaller bankroll, are the smaller events still coming up, which have generated a great deal of interest too. The South Island Champs take place early on Friday, and The Wellington Champs start alongside the second day of the Main Event on Sunday, around midday. With a $775 buy-in and a set small field, these events cater well to those not necessarily involved in the Main Event, or looking to prove themselves on a regional level.

Finally, if you’re more interested in cash, The High Stakes Cash Game, which boasts $25/$50 blinds and a $2,000 – $10,000 buy-in, is certainly a must see. Starting from  8pm Saturday, it’s unclear exactly who will be playing. You can be sure that there will be some serious action, and the best will be there to rake in the largest pots.

A full schedule of events and their time frames can be found here at Christchurch Casino’s website.

So, if you’re nearby, or simply interested in all the commotion, drop into NZPC this weekend and have a look. Otherwise, keep us bookmarked for comprehensive coverage of the event as it unfolds.

It’s going to be an exciting weekend.

Everyone that has entered or won a seat may transfer to the later event, otherwise those who would like a refund will be able to do this, but this will happen at a later . We look forward to a great event later this year. Thanks. Take care and look after yourselves. ]]> http://www.pokernz.com/news/nz-poker/chrischurch-casino-postpones-nationals/feed/ 0 http://www.pokernz.com/news/9-casino-news/new-zealand-poker-nationals-schedule/ http://www.pokernz.com/news/9-casino-news/new-zealand-poker-nationals-schedule/#comments Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:01:10 +0000 Brooke Howard-Smith http://www.pokernz.com/?p=3194

Although there hasn’t been an official press release SKYCITY Auckland Employees have told PokerNZ.com that plans to shut down the Poker Zone have been put on hold. There are currently 8 tables still in action. PokerNZ.com understands that these will remain as cash tables for the time being while SKYCITY reasesses it’s plans for tournaments.

We expect a press release explaining SKYCITY Auckland’s plans in detail soonish.