Poker NZ

Kiwi Champ Paul Hockin Takes Melbourne ANZPT

Brooke Howard-Smith — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:04:15 +0000

ANZPT Melbourne 2012 Champion – Paul Hockin

Paul Hockin is the ANZPT Melbourne 2012 Champion. He wins $101,275* after outlasting334.

Paul is 25 years old and comes from New Zealand, this is the second year in row a New Zealander has won ANZPT Melbourne, Lee Nelson
was the defending champion.

After winning he said, “I am absolutely stoked, this has been a really exhausting tournament. Finishing yesterday at 6am, I am just really relieved to have made it to the finish line.”

Paul has been playing poker for six years with many impressive results both live and online. He has several major online poker scores to his credit under the handle “KingPaulie” including a3rd place in the PokerStars Sunday Million. This is Hockin’s second ANZPT final table, after finishing 5th on the Gold Coast in 2011.

Ashley Warner and Paul Hockin – Heads Up ANZPT Melbourne 2012

Second place was Ashley Warner a 24 year old student from Perth he takes home $130,000*. The Heads up battle was a hard fought affair. Warner had the lead but Hockin wore him down. He finally got the chip lead four hands before eliminating Warner, when he made trip sixes against Warner’s pair of jacks. The final hand saw a very short stacked Warner shove the remainder of his chips into the middle holding jack five against Hockin’s queen nine. The board changed nothing and Paul Hockinbecame our first ANZPT Champion of Season Five.The tournament has seen some of the best and brightest come to Melbourne’s Crown Casino in the hopes of taking home the title. Some of the big names included Team PokerStars PROs Bryan Huang and Angel Guillen. There was a World Champion in Joe Hachem and some fellow Australian Poker Hall of Fame members, in the form of Leo Boxell, Billy The Croc Argyros, Gary Benson andJason Gray. A host of big online poker players and some who were new to tournament poker hoping to take home the title.

The tour now heads to ‘the land of the long white cloud.’ ANZPT Auckland will be held fromNovember 21 to 25.

For all the payouts in ANZPT Melbourne click here

For the ANZ Player of the Year points table click here

*A deal was done between the top three finishers.

Heads up at 2012 Snowfest!

Brooke Howard-Smith — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 07:53:07 +0000

We are down to two in the 2012 NZPT Queenstown Snowfest. It will fought out between Ken Demlakian and David Allan. Ken has the chip lead with 1.7 million to David’s 1.06 million.

It was Jordan Westmorland the American who currently resides in Thailand who fell in third place, he takes with him $41,200 NZD. Demlakian was the one to send the ever smiling Lakers fan to the rail. Jordan shoved when his two spades had him drawing to the flush but it never came and Ken’s pair of sevens was able to win the day.

Ken Demlakian

David Allan

Out in fourth place was 2010 ANZPT Gold Coast’s 2nd place, Ricky Kroesen ($34,200 NZD). Ricky has been a regular on tour for a few years now and his strong performance today has moved him well within striking distance of the ANZ Player of the Year. He is now in 13th position with one event left to play. Jordan Westmorland has been on the right side of the majority of bust outs today and so it was with this one. Ricky was short and shoved his stack in the middle with ace ten only to find Jordan call him and turn over a pair of queens. The board was no help for Ricky and he will have to wait for that elusive victory.

Jordan Westmorland – 2nd in Chips

After a cracking start at the NZPT Queenstown Snowfest 2012 Final Tablethe players have eased off the throttle, when it comes to players hitting the rail.

There were three players eliminated in the first hour and half. Since then we have seen two players sent to the rail. This is not to say players have been afraid to put their chips in the middle as the chip lead has change several times.

Ken Demlakian is our chip leader at present, with Jordan Westmorland andRicky Kroesen at different times holding the chip lead.

5th place went to Australian, Xin (David) Zhao and he will walk away with $28,200 NZD. He was not able to really get things going today and had been steadily losing chips all day. His tournament dreams were dashed by Jordan Westmorland. David chose to make his last stand with a pair of threes only to find Jordan had woken up with a pair of tens and to add insult to injury Jordan made a his set on the river and we lost the plucky Sydneysider.

It was Australia’s finest online player Matthew Wakeman who fell in 6th place ($23,100 NZD). This is his best result in a major live tournament but we are sure to see more from the Novacastrian. He was also eliminated by Jordan Westmorland when, short stacked he shoved all-in with ace five to be called by Jordan’s pair of sixes and could not catch a break when the cards came down.

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NZPT Queenstown Snowfest 2012 Final Table

The Final Table if the 2012 NZPT Queenstown Snowfest is underway.

Players took their seats on another beautiful day in this mountainside paradise.

After an hour of play we have already lost three players. Unfortunately one of the unlucky early eliminations isTeam PokerStars PRO Bryan Huang.

Bryan was caught out by Jordan Westmorland when he raised all-in pre-flop to be called by Westmorland. They turned their cards over and Bryan would need a lot of help as his pair of sevens faced Jordan’s pair of kings. The board offered no assistance and he was sent to the rail in 7th placefor $19,100 NZD. Westmorland has been catapulted into the chip lead.

The other two players who join Bryan are David Evans in 9th place ($12,070 NZD) and Ivan Zalac in8th place ($15,100 NZD).

NZPT Queenstown Snowfest Frisbee Golf Finalists

Glenn Maiden – NZPT Queenstown Snowfest Frisbee Golf Champion

There was another title decided this morning in the Queenstown Botantical Gardens. The inauguralNZPT Queenstown Snowfest Frisbee Golf Championship. There were 27 brave souls who participated in the qualifying round on Thursday. This was open to all, however to qualify for the final you also needed to play the main event.

Five competed in the final for a PokerStars Snowboard in a hotly contested match. The field comprised of Team PokerStars PRO Bryan Huang, Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Billy ‘the Croc’ Argyros, Jon Lister-Smith, Glenn Maiden and Denver Lee.

Denver and Glenn had good local knowledge of the course, but Bryan Huang brought a new four pack of Frisbees singnalling his serious intentions to take this one down. If it was a one hole final Bryan would have been the winner with an impressive first hole birdie but as the first 9 holes completed Glenn and Denver exerted their dominance with 28 and 29 shots respectively. Bryan was on 35, Billy on 38 and Jon with 40 shots. The Team PokerStars PRO after 9 holes, had a big decision to make – go for gold in the Frisbee golf or concentrate on the final table of the NZPT Queenstown Snowfestmain event! Being 7 shots adrift of the leaders Bryan elected to pass on the second nine and give up all hope of achieving an amazing double.

So it became a race in two with Denver and Glenn both shooting 57 or one under par for the course. It actually took a third playoff hole to decide the winner with Glenn Maiden eventually triumphing to become the inaugural champion.

For a list of the results from last night’s side event click here

Regards,

Sam Dawson

The final table is set for 2012 Snowfest Queenstown

Brooke Howard-Smith — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 20:18:39 +0000

Ken Demlakian – chip leader going into the final table (529,500 chips)

The final table for the NZPT Queenstown Snowfest is set. After only four and half hours of play we have reached our final nine.

Ken Demlakian a structural engineer from Sydney is our chip leader with 529,500 chips. He has been among the chip leaders all week, finishing Day 1A as the chip leader and today saw him eliminate some very tough opponents to storm to the front of the pack.

There was drama right to the end. Chiu Yeung Lee was all-in against Jordan Westmorland. Chiu was ahead with a pair of queens against Jordan’s pair of jacks. The cards came down 10, 2, 9 all hearts with Jordan holding the only heart. An 8 of spades fell on the turn, meaning the flush was no longer an option but Lee now had to avoid a queen or 7 to stay in the tournament. The queen of clubs was delivered on the river and Chiu let out a cheer, thinking he had the best hand, he had failed to see Jordan had hit his straight and our final nine was decided.

Team PokerStars PRO Bryan Huang has made his first final table in ANZ. A player with one of the most impressive results in Asia has a great opportunity to achieve success in the ‘land of the long white cloud.’ Bryan has 263,500 chips to his name.

This final table is going to be very tough. There are some really well known players from both the live and virtual felt. David Allan (393,500 chips) and Matthew Wakeman (165,000 chips) are two of Australia’s best online players, consistently at the top of the online player rankings. Ricky Kroesen(191,000 chips) came second in 2010 ANZPT Gold Coast. There is also a player originally from the states who now lives in Thailand, Jordan Westmorland who came seventh last month at PokerStars Macau’s Red Dragon. We have an action packed day to look forward to with such a quality field.

It was a long bubble which was eventually burst when Ken Demlakian called the short stackedMichael Kanaan. The two had already tangled earlier when Ken’s set of kings bested Michael’s set of threes, crippling Michael’s large stack. The ace jack of Michael was looking great on the flop as a jack and ace made him a two pair but a six on the river gave Ken a set and sent the 2011 ANZPT Sydney Champion to the rail as this year’s bubble.

Team PokerStars PRO Bryan Huang – 263,500 chips

Matthew Wakeman – 165,000 chips

Today saw some movement on the ANZ Player of the Year points table. Both Jason O’Brien, who finished in 14th place and Stewart Ballard who finshed in 11th have moved into the top five. The race to ANZPOY looks like it will be going right to the wire with over twenty players able to take the lead with one event left to play.

For the seat draw and chip counts for the final table click here

For a list of prize winners to date click here

Seat 1 – Matthew Wakeman

Seat 1: Mattew Wakeman, Australia – 165,000 chips

One of Australia’s premier poker talents, Matthew “mjw006″ Wakeman is a 27-year old from Newcastle with a formidable online poker record. After getting started in home games with friends, Matthew has dominated mid-high stakes MTT’s online for the past five years, amassing more than US$1.2 million in career winnings and earning the honour of Australia’s #1 ranked online player.

Matthew says that he has loved everything about his time here in Queenstown and is thankful for hitting a two-outer with pocket threes against Dave Allan’s pocket jacks to help him reach this final table. Matthew is a keen rugby league fan, he enters the final as one of the shorter stacks.

Seat 2 – Jordan Westmorland

Seat 2: Jordan Westmorland, Thailand – 523,500 chips

One of our International players at the final table, Jordan Westmorland is an energetic American who now resides in Thailand in order to continue grinding online poker. With over US$500,000 in lifetime online winnings under the handle “JWPRODIGY”, Jordan is starting to make an impression on the Asian live poker circuit after a cash result at the 2011 APPT Macau Main Event and final tabling at the recent Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon.

After winning a huge pot to end Day 3, Jordan will carry the second biggest stack into play on this final table.

Seat 3 – David Evans

Seat 3: David Evans, Australia – 95,000 chips

David Evans is a Real Estate Agent who has flown a long way to be here from his home in Perth, Western Australia. David got started in poker through his local WA Poker League and has been playing for around five years. He won his way into this event through a PokerStars online satellite.

While David is largely unknown on the local scene, this is actually not his first major final table, after he finished 6th in a major poker event in Cebu in February for a US$10,534 score. Away from the tables, David enjoys horse racing, so if he can win a few races early on the final table, he may be an outside chance at the title.

Seat 4 – Ken Demlakian

Seat 4: Ken Demlakian, Australia – 529,500 chips

Our chip leader entering the final table is Sydney’s Ken Demlakian. A Structural Engineer by trade, Ken has been playing poker socially for a long time. He first got interested as a teenager before recently getting more involved in the game with his brother and his friends.

Ken can usually be found playing the $5/5 NLHE cash games, and this is his first tournament result of note. The most defining moment of this tournament for Ken was a devastating set over set hand that crippled Michael Kanaan. It proved to ultimately be the difference between chip leader and bubble boy.

Ken enjoys playing competitive tennis and basketball, and says that he has really enjoyed the variety of outside activities here in Queenstown.

Seat 5 – Xin (David) Zhao

Seat 5: Xin (David) Zhao, Australia – 511,000 chips

David Zhao is one of the most aggressive and talented young players in Australia, and will be very dangerous on this final table. David is a 27-year old from Melbourne with seven years experience in the game. David is normally found grinding the $5/5 and $5/10 NLHE cash games in Melbourne, but is also extremely competent in tournaments with a runner-up finish in the 2011 Melbourne Poker Championships to his credit.

David won a key coinflip with pocket queens against the ace-king of Kristian Lunardi on the final hand of Day 2 to jump towards the top of the counts, and with a big stack in hand, he was never threatened as he dominated Day 3.

David has loved Queenstown, and says the great food and friendly people have highlighted his trip so far. Winning the title will cap it off perfectly!

Seat 6 – Team PokerStars PRO Bryan Huang

Seat 6: Team PokerStars PRO Bryan Huang, Singapore – 263,500 chips

Team PokerStars PRO Bryan Huang is one of the most respected and decorated poker players in Asia, with over US$500,000 in live tournament cashes to his credit. Bryan is Singapore’s all-time leading tournament money earner with his biggest result coming at the 2008 APPT Macau where he finished in 3rd place.

The 2010 Asia Player of the Year has flown largely under the radar in this event, successfully forcing folds from his opponents to accumulate chips rather than taking unnecessary big risks. It’s a strategy that has worked so far as Bryan enters the final table nicely placed in the middle of the pack.

Hopefully Bryan is able to get some rest as he has also qualified for the finals of the inaugural PokerStars Frisbee Golf Championships. Could we see a rare double here in Queenstown for the Team PokerStars PRO?

Seat 7 – Ricky Kroesen

Seat 7: Ricky Kroesen, Australia – 191,000 chips

32-year old Ricky Kroesen has been playing poker for six years after getting started when he was invited to a $10 home game with some of his mates. It’s a hobby that he’s turned into a very profitable venture, with a string of results in Australia as a regular on the ANZ live poker circuit. Ricky’s biggest result was a runner-up finish in his home town tournament at the 2011 ANZPT Gold Coast. That result was worth AU$116,235, but he’ll be keen to go one better at this final table.

Away from poker, Ricky enjoys triathlons and touch football, and while he is blessed with plenty of sun back home, he also enjoys the snow, so he’ll be hoping to squeeze in some skiing here in Queenstown.

Ricky feels that his success in this tournament has come down to nothing but staying patient and avoiding mistakes. It’s a solid game plan that will be tough for his opponents to crack on this final table.

Seat 8 – Ivan Zalac

Seat 8 – Ivan Zalac, Australia – 92,500 chips

Ivan Zalac is one of the most lovable characters that we’ve encountered on the ANZ tours. His personality away from the felt belies a deceptively-steely focus and determination to succeed on it.

Ivan has been playing poker for three years after first seeing the game on TV and jumping into his local pub poker tournaments. Ivan describes himself as a semi-professional player and has become a master of winning satellites into these events on PokerStars.

Ivan has already tasted success this week after winning the Pot Limit Omaha trophy during the week which he is looking forward to taking back home to show his biggest fans – his wife and kids. Although even as these bios were being written, Ivan was overheard asking about the structure for tonight’s side event, so perhaps he’s looking for yet another trophy…or two! He has some work ahead of him, entering the final table as the short stack of the field.

Seat 9 – David Allan

Seat 9: David Allan, Australia – 393,500 chips

One of Australia’s most feared online poker players, Dave “dave798111″ Allan is looking to make his first major impression on the live tournament scene here in Queenstown.

Dave had a mighty start to the year with a 3rd place in thePokerStars Sunday Million and a 2nd place in the PokerStars Sunday Storm on the very same day. An incredible achievement in itself, but just weeks later, Dave secured a win in the Super Tuesdayto give him online winnings in excess of US$200k in the first two months of the year.

After flopping a straight early in the tournament to double up, Dave has dominated proceedings. He was the chip leader after Day 1 and Day 2, and only lost the lead late on Day 3 after copping a two-outer against Matthew Wakeman. Dave will still enter the final table in good shape in fourth chip position.

Head to the PokerStars Blog for the all the details of the tournament.

For the Final Table draw and full chip counts download here

For the NZPT Queenstown Snowfest 2012 Payouts to date download here

Regards,

Sam Dawson

Day 2 of the NZPT Queenstown Snowfest has come to an end.

Brooke Howard-Smith — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:29:03 +0000

David Allan – Day 2 Chip Leader

Day 2 of the NZPT Queenstown Snowfest has come to an end.

There are only 31 remaining in the chase for the title.

Our chip leader is one of Australia’s most feared online players, David Allan has a big lead with 280,000 chips. David is yet to have a live score but this looks like being his coming out party as he continued his dominance from Day 1.

David will certainly have his work cut for him tomorrow as there are some formidable players on his tail. Michael Kanaan the 2011 ANZPT Sydney Champion is looking to add to his trophy cabinet, he will return with 239,100. There is Jordan Westmorland with 184,000 fresh from a final table atPokerStars Macau’s Red Dragon event.

Team PokerStars PRO Bryan Huang still has a chance at his first title in New Zealand, he faces an uphill battle with 64,200 chips. We have one local Queenstown player remaining, a restaurant and bar owner Fergus Spary has 73,500 chips. There are two women in the field Tatjana Zizic (43,500 chips) and Kristina Griffiths (16,000 chips). Kristina will be joined tomorrow by her husband Mark Griffiths(17,000 chips). Other notable players still alive include: Billy ‘the Croc’ Argyros (120,400 chips),Matthew Wakeman (66,200 chips), Ricky Kroesen (201,000 chips) and Aaron Benton (29,500 chips).

Michael Kanaan – 239,100 chips

Tatjana Zizic – 43,500 chips

The day was played in stages. The size of this boutique casino has meant the field needed to be split for the first three levels. The players all came together for the first time this week at 7.30pm. Tomorrow we play down to the final table.

There were some well known players unable to see the cards fall their way today, these included:Team PokerStars Online Rohit ‘GodlikeRoy’ Bhasin, Leo Boxell, Danny Chevalier, Hung-shen ‘Shaq’ Lin, Andrew Hinrichsen, James Honeybone, Jarred Graham and Anthony Aston.

For the table draw and chip counts for Day 3 click here

Last night the side event was a $550 Turbo No Limit Hold’em, for full results click here

Regards,

Sam Dawson

Stick a fork in it, Day 1b of Queenstown is done…

Brooke Howard-Smith — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:38:05 +0000

Ken Demlakian – Day 1B Chip Leader

A beautiful sunny day greeted the players as they sat down for Day 1B of the NZPT Queenstown Snowfest 2012. There were 49players who began the day taking the overall total to 100 for the tournament.

This means it is guaranteed to be the biggestQueenstown Snowfest ever held and is also the largest poker tournament ever held on New Zealand’s South Island. Important to remember with the numbers is the boutique casino has been at capacity on both days. Players come for the amazing experiences and camraderie as much as for the prize money on offer.

31 remained at the end of Day 1B after six levels of play. The chip leader is the Australian, Ken Demlakian who finished the day with 70,750 chips.

Well known New Zealand player James Honeybone, who sat beside the chip leader for much of the day is second in chips with60,875.

Anthony Aston – current ANZ PoY point leader

Danny Chevalier – ANZ Player of the Year

The current point leader for the ANZ Player of the Year has the opportunity to increase his advantage over the rest of the chasing pack in the race to ANZPOY for this year. Anthony Aston has 25,450chips. Not to be forgotten is the reigning ANZ Player of the Year Danny Chevalier. He has 14,050chips and is also the only player capable of winning this event for a second time. Danny was the inaugural winner of the NZPT Queenstown Snowfest in 2009 and is the only Queenstown Snowfest Champion to be playing in this year’s event.

The other notable players to make it through the day include: Billy ‘the Croc’ Argyros (32,675 chips),Luke Edwards (9,225), Ricky Kroesen (45,525 chips) and Matthew Wakeman (24,925 chips).

The day saw an illustrious list of casualties, these included the likes of: Tom Grigg, Jesse McKenzie,Jacky Wang and Alex Lynskey.

For a list of all the entries and chip counts at the end of play today click here

Last night the side event was a $550 Turbo No Limit Hold’em, for full results click here

Regards,

Sam Dawson

Day 1A Queenstown SnowFest is done

Brooke Howard-Smith — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:35:11 +0000

David Allan – Day 1A Chip Leader

The NZPT Queenstown Snowfest is underway. Day 1A has just completed with 51players starting the day, there will be 27returning to do battle on Day 2.

The chip leader, David Allan was in a battle with another Australian for most of the day,David Wonson for the lead but it was not until the last hand of the day that he was able to claim the minor victory.

Allan finished the day with 98,200 whileWonson ended up at 92,575. There were players from six different countries in the field today and some of those who made it through include: Antonin Duda from the Czech Republic (79,450 chips), Levinskas Laurynasfrom Lithuania (84,625 chips). There were some Queenstown locals who will be back to battle on Firday: Fergus Spary (67,250 chips) and Erich Stadler (29,725 chips), as well asWSOPE Bracelet Winner Andrew Hinrichsen(20,575 chips) and 2011 ANZPT Sydney Champion Michael Kanaan (88,350 chips).

Andrew Hinrichsen – WSOPE Champion

Michael Kanaan – 2011 ANZPT Sydney Champion

Some of the players were not so lucky and will have to console themselves with skiing, snowboarding, bungy jumping, ski diving and fantastic food. The second and third on the ANZ Player of Year race did not survive - Mishel Anunu and Didier Guerin. Other notable players eliminated today were Daniel Neilsen and Michael Egan.

For a list of all the entries and chip counts at the end of play today click here

Regards,

Sam Dawson
Web: www.anzpt.com
FB: www.facebook.com/anzpt

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Jono Turner Gives us his Top 10 New Zealand online poker players…

Brooke Howard-Smith — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 00:34:20 +0000

Poker NZ is pleased to provide the top 10 movers and shakers from the online poker world. This particular article will cover the period from 1 July 2012 to 19 July 2012.

Overall, New Zealand has remained pretty stable and lies 30th overall, with Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia holding the top 3 spots respectively.

Although there has been no six-figure cashes, Kiwis have still been putting in some very notable deep runs during this month – some of which we will cover below!

Kingpaulie started the month on fire, on 1 July 2012 he finished 5th in the Pokerstars $215 (Turbo $30k Gtd) for $4,267 USD, followed by a 3rd place in the Pokerstars $109 (Turbo $30k Gtd) for $6,570 on the very same day.

However, the three biggest scores came from EeeTee2008 who won the Pokerstars Big $55 ($80k Gtd) for $16,873, Slav0uchka who took down the Pokerstars Hotter $75 (Turbo $60k Gtd) for $18,227 and last but definately not least Akasherin who came 2nd in the Pokerstars Bigger $109 ($160k Gtd) for a handsome $27,948!

So after all that, here are the current top 10 online poker players in New Zealand:

1 - Kingpaulie     (Up 1 place)
2 - DevolveNZ    (New to top 10)
3 - EeeTee2008   (No change)
4 - KlClark          (New to top 10)
5 - Slav0uchka    (New to top 10)
6 - Starkstud       (Down 2 places)
7 - Akasherin      (New to top 10)
8 - Revengaa       (New to top 10)
9 - Zebkiwi         (New to top 10)
10- Emufart69     (Down 5 places)

Something important to note is that HesBluffingx has unfortunately changed his country registered for online poker results to the Phillipenes which is where he now apparently resides and as such will no longer be recorded on the leaderboard.

Until next time!

Jono ‘T2000′ Turner

PKR LAUNCH FACEBOOK FANTASY POKER APP

Brooke Howard-Smith — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:47:03 +0000

Press Release:

PKR LAUNCH FACEBOOK FANTASY POKER APP 3D poker pioneers fuse WSOP, fantasy sports & social network

London, 24th May, 2012 – Next-generation online poker room PKR has released a Fantasy Poker League application on Facebook, ahead of next week’s World Series of Poker opening events.

The WSOP fantasy league puts Facebook users in the managerial hot seat with $100 million to spend. League participants are tasked with selecting a team of eight players from more than 180 of poker’s biggest names, who will earn points based on finishing position in 59 bracelet events. Once a team has been chosen, players can invite Facebook friends and create private leagues. The prizes offered by PKR include an iPad 3 for the league’s eventual winner – crowned once the Main Event’s final table has been reached – and a range of poker chipsets for the next best performers.

“Fantasy sports are all the rage,” said Community Manager Dan Grant, “but the poker world is lacking its own established WSOP equivalent. While poker’s biggest stars are making history in Vegas in the coming weeks, we’ll be following their progress even more closely and sharing in their success. The Fantasy Poker League is our first Facebook app, and one that we hope thousands of players across the world will enjoy.”

The Fantasy Poker League can be found here: https://apps.facebook.com/fantasy_poker About PKR (www.pkr.com)

PKR is a revolutionary new concept in online poker that has changed the way the game is played. Featuring stunning real-time 3D graphics and a uniquely engaging and immersive gaming system, PKR brings an unparalleled and previously unseen level of realism to online poker. Developed by some of the brightest stars in the video games and poker industries, PKR continues to be the most innovative poker room in the world.

NZ’s Online Tournament lowdown Saturday 5th May – Friday 19th May.

Jub — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:30:09 +0000

NZ’s Online Tournament lowdown Saturday 5th May – Friday 19th May.

So the last two weeks have seen plenty of action on the MTT online felt, with SCOOP running on Stars. We will have a full recap of how kiwi’s faired in the SCOOP shortly. In the meantime, we will cover all the action across the hundreds of tournaments daily across the web.

Tournament Victories

We kick off with KingPaulie who took down $4343 in the 109$ No Limit Turbo, taking down a tough field of 202 players.

Mstark87 this fortnight continued to crush the tournaments on Carbon Poker (CrazyPakeha). Taking down an exceptional 5 tournaments (and 3 runner-up performances)! Rather than go through them, we will simply list them:

Tournament	Buyin	Entrants	Prize
$5.5k Turbo Gtd 1R/1A	$11	248	$1265
$3k Gtd Knockout	$33	107	$889.17
$6k Gtd rebuy	$11	199	$1440
$2.5k Bounty	$33	87	$497.64
$6k Gtd Deepstack Turbo FO	$11	643	$1286.01

Also string together a bunch of victories was KillerNorbit, once again lets list them.

Tournament	Buyin	Entrants	Prize
$12k Gtd NL Holdem 2R/1A	$33	269	$5405.40
$2k Gtd NL Holdem 4max	$4.40	366	$824.97
$2k Gtd NL Holdem Knockout	$13.50	606	$1139.41
NL Holdem 2R/1A	$4.40	156	$377.54

SiacO took down one of the few tournaments on Stars that does not have a guarantee winning the $109 No Limit Holdem tournament that still managed a $9800 prize pool taking home $2450 defeating the 98 players.

In what is quickly coming a pattern, Snowman888 put up multiple victories again, this time taking 2 tournaments down on TitanPoker (playing as Houusnurhh). Winning the $1000 GP Freeze earned him $310.55 in the 135 player field. Taking down $3000 GP R/A earned him a nice, $705.63, nice return on the $5 entry.

And new entrant into the top 10 revengaa, who put in significant volume came out with a bang, putting in some epic volume, which resulted in four wins in the last two weeks, including three in one day on Pokerstars! Once again let’s see them in a list!

Tournament	Buyin	Entrants	Prize
$4k Gtd NLHE 360 Cap	$16.50	360	$1104.30
NL Holdem 2R/1A	$4.40	148	$331.10
$8k Gtd NL Holdem Hyper	$23.45	403	$1793.79
$5k Gtd NL Holdem	$22	93	$1500

Also notching up wins for New Zealand was botoxman ($2966.68), ssfulbynam21 ($1988.12)

Current Top 10 in New Zealand

The top 10 this week saw the addition of revengaa who joined P5’s two weeks ago but has been playing the micro – mid MTT’s since mid-2010, and slots into 8^th place. There were some small changes in the rankings, with emufart69 having the largest fall of 3 places, in saying that he has not put in significant volume as of late. With mstark87 putting up so many victories, will he be able to break into the top 2 in the coming weeks?

New Zealand maintained its ranking of 30^th in the Country rankings.

1. BluffingX ( – )

2. KingPaulie ( – )

3. mstark87 (up 1)

4. EeeTee (down 1)

5. zebkiwi ( – )

6. KillerNorbit ( up 1)

7. SiacO (down 1)

8. revengaa (new entry)

9. emufart69 (down 3)

10. Snowman888 ( down 1)

Interview with Daniel ‘Hesbluffingx’ Francis

Jub — Sat, 12 May 2012 03:55:04 +0000

On March 11^th PokerStars was celebrating its 6^th Anniversary. Over the last few years PokerStars has celebrated various achievements by giving back to the players, by creating insane promotions that all players can take advantage of. This time PokerStars upped the ante and gave the Sunday Million a whopping $6 million dollar guaranteed prize pool.

In total 33,732 players entered, and navigating all his way to the final table was New Zealand’s own Daniel ‘Hesbluffingx’ Francis. With 8 players remaining they made a deal that saw Daniel lock up 552,973.00$. Despite not taking the win, ultimately coming in 3^rd place, it is an outstanding achievement.

We managed to pose some questions to Daniel.

Could you provide a brief poker intro (have you always played tournaments?)

I first started playing regularly when SkyCity, Auckland opened their poker room quite a few years ago. The games started at around 7pm and it was always full, so I’d usually get there around 6, put my name on the waiting list and then read poker strategy books until the tables opened. I’ve always played cash games and tournaments, both online and live.. I think being a specialist at one game would be more profitable in the short term, but if you can’t adapt to new environments you won’t last long in poker.

Do you play the Sunday Million every week?

Not if I’m broke… I’ve actually been travel ling around Asia for a few years and the Sunday Million starts at 3am here, so I don’t play it often.
How did the Sunday start out for you?

I was in Philippines at the time and the online tournament schedule is pretty harsh with the time zone difference. I remember pretty clearly getting ready this Sunday, because the prize pool was going to be huge – I wanted to play good. I spent most of the afternoon at the beach trying to make myself extra tired before having an early dinner at around 5pm and going to sleep. At 11pm my alarm went off, I got up and started playing a bunch of tournaments – The Sunday Million started at around 3am I think… and we kept playing until maybe 6pm? I really can’t remember anything about the other tournaments I played that day… I was pretty much just clicking buttons on 20 tables.

There was some crazy bubble action I hear from Brooke, can you give a hand history or two perhaps?

I don’t remember anything really crazy, the short stacks were playing tight trying to move up the pay ladder and some of the big stacks would have been abusing them. I was just making the plays I thought were best, after taking everything in to consideration.

————-
t125000/t250000 Blinds + t25000 – 9 players

HesBluffingx is BB with 9h 9c
7 folds, SB raises to t5825567 all in, HesBluffingx calls t2319392 all in

Flop: 2h 4d 7d
Turn: 3c
River: 3h

SB shows Js Td (a pair of Threes)

HesBluffingx wins t5363784
————-

This is a really easy call under normal game conditions, but when this hand took place there were about 13 players left with prize money of around $30,000 for 13th and $80,000 for 9th ? so you can understand why some people might opt to fold it and collect an extra $50,000 risk free. I definitely take all of this in to consideration, it would be a huge mistake to forget about the payouts and just play your normal strategy – but still a pretty easy call with 99 anyway.

When did you realise you could make the final table?

Before the tournament started I sent this message to Phillip Willcocks. “..ends up to be a 24 hour session if I go deep, will start a bit later today coz I plan to final table it”. There was never any doubt, but next time I’ll plan to win it.

Hesbluffingx, 2nd in chips

What was your thought process for the deal?

Firstly, it seemed obvious that a deal would take place with 6, 7 or 8 players remaining.. so this influenced my play quite a lot heading in to the final table. I can’t say how exactly, but it was just another thing that I took into consideration when making decisions during hands. Regarding the money specifically, I wanted to lock up 350k.. so if at any point they could offer me more than that I would take it. I’m really happy with the way I played at the end, I feel like I manipulated the situation to get the most money with the least amount of risk.

How long did it take to sink in you had a big 6 figure score/how has life been since?

I had to wait a while for PokerStars to do security checks before I was able to cash-out the money, so that changed things a bit. I didn’t feel like partying or anything. Now, since receiving the money I’ve just had more time to relax and start learning other things. I’ve been reading a lot about different investment opportunities and looking more deeply into the real estate market.

Will you be playing the WSOP?

I won’t be playing any of the side events, not sure about the Main Event. I’ll decide about a week before, if I really feel like playing.. I’ll go.

What are the most important ingredients for a beginner tournament player in your mind to give them the best chance of success?

There’s a ton of strategy and math to learn, but if you just pay attention to what is happening at the table and think about things logically you’ll put yourself in a good position to get lucky. Poker is just so weird, two players playing completely different strategies can both be winners.. it’s stupid to try tell someone THIS is the correct play. The most important thing is to eliminate emotions from your decision making process – just make the play you think is correct.

There is some great insight there for players of all levels. We thank Daniel and hope that it can provide the foundation for another Kiwi to make a deep run in a massive event, either live or online.