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Kiwis set to defend their State of Origin title.
Posted on 03 August 2010
In what Australian poker most likely saw as the last years biggest disaster the Kiwis barn stormed 2009′s State of Origin and took the title. It was a bit of a pantsing leaving every Australian state effectivly drawing dead points wise by the end of Day 1. This year New Zealand will field a strong team again that may include newly braceleted Simon Watt. The real Question is with so many Kiwis playing around the world will they get back in time.
State of Origin begins at the Vic Champs on Friday the 20th of August.
Here’s the 2009 team. Who would you have play in 2010?
New Zealand
1. Lee Nelson (C)
2. James Honey bone
3. Graeme Putt
4. Robert Wang
5. Martin Cardno
6. Dan Sing
7. Kevin Clark
8. Simon Bismark
If you’re interested in heading over to the vic champs. Here’s the schedule
Title photo: Poker Network.
Facebook comments:
From Tony Hachem:
FYI – The concept of the State of Origin was first discussed amongst a number of poker players from different States at a bbq at Joes place during the 2006 Aussie Millions. During the discussions at this bbq you could feel the players excitement. Later in the year during the 2006 WSOP we decided play a sit & go between three rival states ( Vic, WA & NSW) and at that stage I knew this State Of Origin concept had the legs to succeed with the right people involved and the support of the poker community knowing that the poker boom in Australia was in the process of erupting.
I eventually took the concept to Jonno Pittock in early 2007. It took a lot of planning and organising to get Crown Casino interested and eventually the idea grew on Jonno so we started to plan the event for 2008 during the Vic Champs. This was very exciting and a turning point to think we can finally get Australia’s best poker players to go head to head. It was unbelievable!
Since 2008 we have attracted some of the best poker players that this country had to offer. S.A selected a side of unknowns which had the poker community in an uproar but to their credit they went on to win and were crowned 2008 State of Origin Champions.
In 2009 we included a New Zealand team lead by Lee ’Final Table’ Nelson and to everyone’s surprise they went on to win the event as Ted Whitten Jnr was in disbelief as Victoria failed again after being favourites for two consultative years.
Now in 2010 we have the best live & on line players to compete against one another. Mate Vs Mate , State Vs State with both pride and ego’s on the line. It will be an exciting event that I can guarantee!
I have no doubt there will be players who will be very disappointed for not being selected to represent their States. Unfortunately you will find that with most team sports in any form of competition.
I’m looking forward to the event as I know the Victorian team will have a very strong side that doesn’t include brother’s, cousins or friends. But it may have some kebabs for rest of you bananas. See you on the green felt. Lol
Thank You!
Last year, before State of Origin started, a player from NSW team said “New Zealand has a whole country to choose their players but they still couldn’t make a decent team.”
The result?
ALL Australian teams was drawing dead after Day-1!!!
On day-2, Team New Zealand swept the top 3 prizes at the final table!!! The only 3 paid spots!!!
At the end, Team New Zealand had twice as many points as the runner up!!!
After the tournament, what did Aussies say? Nothing!! What could they say???
04:37pm, 2 August 2010, An Aussie player nicknamed “Hof” said on Pokernetwork Forum:
” HOW THE F*** can NEW ZEALAND have won an Australian State Of Origin Event?
Will you guys unite and bring this trophy back across the Tasman or what ?????? ”
Go Kiwis! Show Aussies the lesson again!!!
Hey everyone. James Honeybone here. I’m in charge of organising the New Zealand State of Origin Team for the Victoria Champs in Melbourne and will captain the team in event that Lee Nelson is unavailable. The actual event takes place over two days from 8.10 pm on Friday 20 August with the first round of shootouts followed by the final table on Saturday 21 August at 8.10 pm.
It is a simple format where 8 players from each team come up with $10,000 AUD ($1,250 per player) between them and 1 player from each team is allocated to a table participating in a sit and go and earning points for their team. The competing teams are New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia,
Tasmania, Territories (A.C.T./Northern Territory), Victoria and Western Australia.
Individual prizes are won for winning the first shootout table and overall for teams that claim the competition overall. Last year the consensus amongst the team was to share the individual money with everyone in the team regardless of the individual performances. This build a strong bond between the team and ultimately paved the way for our success.
If you were part of the winning team in 2009 and would like to play again could you email me: jamesrh@ihug.co.nz by Friday the 13th of August and let me know. Alternatively you can contact me on my mobile number (those that have it) or via facebook to confirm this. To recap the team from last year was:
1. Lee Nelson (C)
2. James Honeybone
3. Graeme Putt
4. Robert Wang
5. Martin Cardno
6. Dan Sing
7. Kevin Clark
8. Phil Willcocks
If spots open up in the team from people not playing this year the first selection criteria will be live tournament winnings recorded by The Hendon Mob. The link to that site follows and will allow the likes of Simon Watt to be first in line to play.
http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/ranking/205
If spots are still open then there will be a first in first served basis applied. If you plan to go to Melbourne for the tournament and would liked to be added to the waitlist for the team contact me by the aforementioned methods or via the site. Bear in mind that you will have to contribute $1,250 AUD to the team as part of our buyin.
In the meantime, good luck to you in your tournaments and more updates will be posted as players confirm their availability.
Cheers.
Robert Wang & Martin Cardno are not playing this year.
I vote Simon Watt & Jackson Zheng to join the team.
They are young! They are aggressive!! And they are good!!!
Note: Do not forget to bring mouses for them!!
Apart from Simon Watt & Jackson Zheng mentioned above, Cole Swannack & Koray Turker should be considered.
Also, strongly suggest Brooke be the manager & coach.
True, I would make a pretty amazing coach… First step, team to run 5 laps of the crown gaming floor… Then drop and give me 20… No, 20 bucks ow… For the buffet…
FYI Here are some of the names being thrown around…
James Honeybone
Dan Sing
Kevin Clark
Graeme Putt
Shaun Goldsbury
Damon Lum
Joseph Allis
Paul Hockin
Phil Willcocks
Jackson Zheng
Simon Watt
Mike King
Richie Lancaster
Send this link to all the poker players you know. I’d be interested to hear what Kiwis have to say as the team will be repping NZ
Brooke would be a great coach and masseur
if spots on the team didn’t open up I’m happy to step down to let Simon play for the greater good of Aotearoa. Obv he isn’t shit.
10% sounds like a nice gesture
Brooke, let every player wear Pokernz Pocket Kings T-shirt in Crown during the tournament. You reckon?
It’s the color of All Black!
Maybe you should ask Danny for more NZPT black caps too.
AWLLB_vs_BHS – Reveal your identity…
Dan, I am your buddy!
:-)
Saw this on Pokernetworks Forum:
—————————-
New Zealand Team 2010
—————————-
Graeme ‘Kiwi G’ Putt (Capt)
James Honey bone (V. Capt)
Simon Watt
Kevin Clark
Damon Lun
Dan Sing
Cole Swannack
Richard Lancaster
Jackson Zheng
Martin Cardno
Phillip Wilcox
Simon Bismark
Mike King
I have no problems with any players in this team. They are all good.
However, I strongly recommend that Kevin Clark should captain this year’s team.
Reason: He won his table last year. At the final table, he, Lee & Phil had the most amazing performance I have ever witnessed in tournaments. He has got all the knowledge Lee passed him in such kind of tournaments.
Believe me or not, all players have to listen to Kevin & Phil this year so that we have a chance to defend the champion.
For this special event, it’s all about strategy & experience!!!
I have enormous respect for Graeme Putt & James Honeybone. Both of them are strong & experienced tournament players.
I have no problems at all if they captain team NZ this year. On the other hand, I even think they well deserve that. However, in terms of strategy, they should talk & listen to Kevin & Phil.
Good luck team NZ! Show Aussies the lesson again!!!
:-)
AWLLB_vs_BHS is a lucky chans regular methinks
Does Soren Erikson qualify as a Kiwi? Surely the back to back NZ Champ has to be considered.
Simon Watt
Soren Erikson
Kevin Clark
Cole Swannack
Richard Lancaster
Jason Brown
Robert Wang (if available)
Shaun Goldsbury
Kiwi G
Dan Sing
Elliot Nicholls
Richard Grace (if he was in town)
Dan, you got it!!!
Further regarding to the captain issue, I think James Honeybone + Kevin Clark are a good combination!
yusss another good read on my part. Hope i can translate that shit to the felt this weekend at macau millions.
Otherwise it will be expensive noodles
Soren Erikson is a good call…
Agree! Brooke, as a coach and/or manager, you might want to contact Soren Erikson to see if he is willing to take part in!
Hi Dan, you did have a good read!!!
Good luck with the Macau Millions! Bring the title back!!! 
I don’t have Soren’s contact. If anyone does, please send to me on brooke@pokernz.com.
Hey Brooke. I’ll be in Melbourne for Vic Champs, I think I told you before. Just read up on this event and I’d really be keen to join in if there is a spot. Lemme know.
Soren is a great call but is he eligible? Also, just to break it down for everyone, the team can be only 8 strong. So of the numbers available it’s got to be whittled down.
A player must have been living in the state / country for at least 5 years… So I think so.
but bone says he’s about to have a kid so a no go… Congrats Soren…
Put Tim McBeth in the mix….
When the team is decided, there needs to be some slagging defence on the pokernetwork blog, part of the tradition of any State of Origin is to peel as many strips as possible off the opponents and talk some smack, they’re quite vocal on their blog that NZ is not the team of choice. This would have to fall under pre-match strategy, atm we are looking quite meek and mild, we need to look aggressive even now, let them know we are taking this seriously and are there to give them a pantsing 2 years running!! If we give it to them now off the felt, it will help later on the felt.
And this year we have nothing to lose so we can afford to be more aggressive than ever, watch the fuck out Aussie!
They’re fielding by far their strongest teams and the places on those teams have been hard fought and fiercley defended. Read some of their blogs and you’ll see any places that were given to mates of captains etc have had their asses handed to them and the teams changed, even the original team captain from SA was forced to step down to Full tilt red pro Jonathan ‘monster donk’ Karamilakis.
I don’t know Tim Macbeth, and no disrespect intended but he’s 100th on the hendon mob list?!?
For everyone’s reference these are the proposed teams so far.
South Aus
Jonathan Karamalakis(cap)
Pierre Aoukar
Jarred Graham
James Obst
Stewart Scott
Matthew Pearson
Satelite- TBD
Satelite- TBD
Western Aus
Jeff Lisandro (Capt)
David Saab
Jay ‘Seabeast’ Kinkade
Nik Lackovic
Vesko’Prpfessor’Smukic
Dale’Crackerjack’ Marsland
Lynn ‘Cougar’ Brooks
Qualifier ChoirBoys Pkr
QLD
Jamie Pickering (Capt)
Stephen Lindeblad “The Jeweller”
Robert Trask
Graham Woodbine
Sean Dunwoodie
Kosta Varoxis
Karsten Kobbing
Alex “The Donkey”
VIC
Tony Hachem
Billy Argyros
Tino Lechich
Yann Pauchon
Julian Cohen
Steve Leonard
Kristian Lunardi
James Broom
Julian Powell
TAS
George Mamacas (c)
Heath Chick
Will Jones
Chris Edgar
Dallas Joiner
Ben Richardson
Anthony Dickson
Toby Meredith
ACT, NSW, NT, NZ all to be confirmed.
Sorry NSW team here.
1. Eric Assadourian (c)- Winner 2007 APPT Macau High Rollers, 2006 Melbourne Championships Main Event
2. Tyron Krost – Winner 2010 Aussie Millions
3. Aaron Benton – Winner 2009 APPT Sydney Grand Final
4. Daniel Neilson – Winner 2009 Sydney ANZPT High Rollers, 4th place Aussie Millions 6 max 2010, winner APPT Macau Teams Event 2010
5. Brendan Rubie – Winner 2010 Melbourne Champioships Main Event, currently #2 in Australian Online Rankings
6. Grant Levy – Winner 2007 APPT Sydney Grand Final, 2010 ANZPT Adelaide High Rollers, 2nd place ANZPT Sydney High Rollers 2010.
7. Star City Qualifier TBA
8. Star City Qualifier TBA
From some of the Aussie blogs – They’re serious!!
” i love state of origin rugby,its awesome and its the best teams…thats why its respected,players will die to make the side .
there are 2 sides,but this is iether as tony said “fun and a few beers” or state of origin{die out there to win}
i like the second option….there enough other “fun ” events for beer and m8,s ”
And they think we’re not
“Just wondering if any sporting team has ever won a title one year then received the wooden spoon the next…..”
“Hey Boner how many Rugby World Cups have the Blacks won?”
Cheeky buggers.
I’m not saying I’m in the team and chances are I can’t be, but I am saying whoever IS in the team, step up, defend! give them some shit back, don’t let them think they can walk all over us.
I would have done it already but my account there is suspended lol.
ok, said my piece, feel better now.
Hi Brooke, if you are keen to be the manager of this year’s team, I’d suggest you talk to James Honeybone & Kevin Clark & all the players. Make a strong team & beat the Aussies again this year!
Last year, Aussies lost their faces! So this year, they are doing & will do all their best to beat us. We have got to be super ready for the challenge ahead!
who ever plays better win
Is that all you could come up with Jeff?
rahahaha
“mathclub” , Richard Grace.
Mathclub?, Richard Grace?
yeah google is a funny thing…
being an online player myself, I had never heard of ANYONE in that NZ team, except for Simon Watt.
So I looked those guys in the NZ team, I have cashed more than most of them, and I suck.
Mathclub and RMgrace have made way more than that whole team COMBINED, you take Simon Watts vegas win out and both Mathclub and RMGrace have made more individually than that whole team comined… infact Mathclubs cashes by HIMSELF nearly eclipses what that whole team has done.
but all that said, I don’t think you are gonna be able to get either of those 2 to give up a few days for a play money State of Origin poker tourney.
AWLLB_vs_BHS is 100% correct..
———–
“I strongly recommend that Kevin Clark should captain this year’s team.
Reason: He won his table last year. At the final table, he, Lee & Phil had the most amazing performance I have ever witnessed in tournaments. He has got all the knowledge Lee passed him in such kind of tournaments.
Believe me or not, all players have to listen to Kevin & Phil this year so that we have a chance to defend the champion.”
———–
Kevin Clark and Philip Willcocks should be Captains – if they are playing.
.
Daniel Francis, one of the best in New Zealand agreed. Can’t be wrong!!!
However, I still prefer Kevin captain; James vice captain. I respect Phil but he is a shy boy!
onlinekillslive,
These are just cashes from Hendon Mob reported tournis. No Online results in there at all.
Richard is in England, Mathclub said no. But remember this is a live tournament. Very very different to straight cash grinding online or it’d be a 100% different team (Although it should be said that many of these guys are good online as well. I like your screen name, good to get the old guys wound up a little lol…
Also, I mentioned it before. Playing in a “play money” tournament is the best way to get coverage and coverage is how to make real money in the future of poker, online, live or form the afterlife. Durrr has tripled what he makes now he’s a brand no just some kid living at his mums. Staying at home and grinding vs the party, I’ll take the party every time.
Keep it coming!
Ask Horus7 tbh.
So with all the banter and suggestions from poker players nationwide, with half of last years team unavailable this year namely
Lee Nelson – playing overseas
Robert Wang – Unavailable
Martin Cardno – unavailable
Myself – On remand in Hong Kong
Aside from Simon Watt’s solid appearance – thank god
and with all due respect, how did we end up with:
Jackson Zheng – Possibly a great player in the making but has only won one local event with no internationals or Aussie guns playing
Vic Thornton – who seems to be an Aussie that no one really knows
and
Linda Bennett – who to my recollection is a black jack player that sometimes used to play the 1/2 at sky city. It seems though she has tournament cashes of approximately $3k over 4 tournaments with the avg buy in being $200
Thankfully Philip Wilcocks salvaged some respect for the Kiwis
Embarrassing. Not the performance. I’m sure everyone played well. But not being able to field a team??? Having to ring in players? What happened James???