This year has seen a great deal of NZ based poker successes, with our players making some deep appearances at a number of key events. There was also some success in the online felts, though most of the regular performers were kept at bay by the variable nature of tournament poker. Since I myself am involved primarily tournament poker — and do a semi-decent job of spewing chips at mid-stakes, I can’t comment so much on cash; but would like to have a shot at summarizing some of this years most successful tournament players. Since it’d risk being unfair or missing something rating players from the top to bottom — the players listed here are in no particular order.

Phillip Wilcocks

Willcocks has had an amazing 2011, with the main focus being his second place finish at APPT Melbourne. Willcocks faced off against Australian veteran tournament grinder Leo Boxell for the title, eventually coming short but pocketing $207,000 AUD for his efforts. What was truly impressive however, was that just a few months later, Willcocks returned to the final table in Melbourne, after making another deep run in the ANZPT $2,000 Main Event.  The competition was tough, with kiwi Lee Nelson also a strong presence at the table, and it was with his soundly aggressive game that Willcocks’ demise came in 5th. While not quite the boost that his six figure score would’ve been, $34,100 is certainly not a bad day at the office. Moreover, Willcocks’ reputation has become as such that most regulars on the circuit have learned to fear him, which says a lot about his game.

Jackson Zheng

After winning the Auckland based NZ Open in 2010, Jackson begun 2011 with a bang, earning an early final table in a side $1,000 6-handed event at Aussie Millions. After tallying up another impressive 2nd place at a $500 teams event which netted him another five figures, Zheng walked away with nearly $40,000 in cashes at Crown Casino. This was to be only the beginning of Zheng’s outstanding year, as he returned to the NZ poker open to win it again, netting back to back titles and another $50,000 in the process. It was then on to APPT Melbourne, where he played with Willcocks but came short in 8th. Another impressive run, Zheng received one more five-figure score worth $36,000 for his efforts, totaling a significant amount of cashes in 2011. To top it off, he cut his way through a difficult field at APPT Queenstown, taking a brutal river beat to send him out in 10th; illustrating just how frequently he’d made the right decisions to put him in a position to win. Sometimes tournament poker isn’t about results — it’s about making the right decisions and seperating the results from the way you played, and more than anything , Jackson showed he is capable of just that. After winning a seat online — look out for Zheng this year at the Pokerstars Carribean Adventure.

Elliot “EeeTee2008″ Nicholls

Primarily a sit and go grinder, Nicholls has been killing the online felts since 2008, with his “breakout” year being 2009. Since then he’s kept up an impressive amount of volume, chalking up more than 40,000 games, which is comprised of both SnG’s and Multi Table Tournaments (MTT’s). This year saw his total cashes move over $1.5 million, with just $300,000 in profit, but no doubt a massive amount in bonuses.  Unlike some SnG players, EeeTee has had some great success playing some of the highest buy-ins online, with two impressive top 3 finishes in Pokerstars $1,050 “Super Tuesday.” This year he managed a post Black Friday 3rd place in the tournament, tearing through the hardest of fields online, and netting himself $20,000 in the process. Moreover, Nicholls sits atop the Pocket Fives sortable rankings for New Zealand, which while focused a little more on volume as opposed to “skill” (which is hard to quantify in cashes alone), is an impressive feat indeed. Expect to be see much more of Nicholls in 2012, as he continues to crush the online game, and branches out his action into live.

“Proto” — The Anonymous WCOOP Hero

While he declined to interview with us, and he was unknown until his WCOOP 2nd place — Prot0 is still deserving of a tonne of credit. Taking home $145,000 for besting a field of more than 8000 entrants in a $215 tournament is no small feat, and Prot0 managed it with class. Many players who make such final tables are often privileged with great luck but lack in the skill department –  but anyone who watched the final table with hole cards shown would realise that he had the skill to make it. Prot0’s second place finish represents the deepest run ever made by a kiwi in WCOOP, and to that end, we congratulate the unknown star. As if to prove that it wasn’t simply a lucky run, our anonymous hero then went on to claim 31^st in event #32, once again putting himself in a position to take down a massive score. Seemingly involved in a smaller amount of volume with a good amount of success, Prot0 appeared on the radar again in December, besting a field of hardened tournament regulars in a Pokerstars $100 rebuy tournament. Rewarded roughly $16,000 for his efforts, winning such a tournament is about more than money — as many tournament pro’s regard $100 rebuy’s as the pinnacle of online MTT competition. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of this up and coming grinder in 2012.

Lee “Final Table” Nelson

An old hand on the live tournament circuit, Nelson solidified his reputation by outright winning ANZPT Melbourne this year, pocketing a healthy $156,000 and change for his work. Perhaps more importantly, Nelson was heavily involved in the release of one of the year’s most well received tournament strategy books — “The Raisers Edge: Tournament-Poker Strategies for Today’s Aggressive Game.” The book covers a multitude of key tournament concepts, and follows as a sequel to the now renowned “Kill Everyone”, which provided many players with the baseline concepts important to consistently profit in MTT’s. You can guarantee that we’ll be seeing more of Lee — he’s proved himself time and time again to be one of NZ’s finest.

So there you have it — there’s my take on this years most successful tournament players.  It’s also worth mentioning that others had put in some great play, but fell short when matters were out of their control. Jason “Poker_Lord76″ Brown was certainly one such player, running near the final table in a number of WCOOP events, and chalking up a nice deep Sunday Million run to boot. Joel “Acesdreams” Davies was another notable player — who plays on Pokerstars under the screen name “AQUA RAIDER.” Davies managed to tally up around $100,000 in profit online alone, and took second in the Pocket Fives sortable rankings for NZ players. Let’s hope that 2012 can bring many more successes for New Zealand poker — and a happy new year to everyone.

Lee Nelson is the winner of ANZPT Melbourne.

Wilcocks has found himself at the head of many live final tables recently, and apparently had lead quite a quiet tournament to find himself starting with around 1 million chips when the clock was wound back by tournament officials to start play at 8,000/16,000 blind levels. Nelson shared a similar stack as the final table began, and for quite some time, play was very tight. It wasn’t until 2 hours after play had resumed that Danny Chevalier claimed the first scalp of the final table, sending Justin Sanchez of Australia home in 9^th place for $13,020.

Play continued in a relatively solid manner, with Willcocks pushing some action against Chevalier, and Lee chipping up substantially to around 1.7 million. Another two hours gone by, and it was time for a succession of eliminations, which included Brett Chalhoub (8^th), and Stephen Eliesen who took 7^th after shipping Q5o with 10 big blinds into the KQo of Phillip Willcocks from the button. Sporting a self-styled t-shirt with the words “Degenerate Gambler” emblazoned on it — Elisen watched as the board ran out dry, departing with $22,320 for his efforts.

As the blinds continued to increase, effectively making play extremely short-stacked and pre-flop based, more competitors joined the rail. Previous chip leader Tom Wing found the exit shortly after he called a pre-flop all-in from Willcocks who shoved the button, with Wing tabling A7s from the big blind for what he likely thought would be the best hand, but Willcocks held AJs to have him crushed. After there were just five, it was Nelson who would eventually knock out Willcocks, after he lost a succession of pots, firstly against Nick Geogoulas, and secondly against Nelson post-flop. The two eventually got it all-in afterwards when Phillip put in his last 550,000 with 106s from the cut-off position, only to be called by Nelson’s A8 off-suit. While he was able to find a pair on the 6 4 Q rainbow flop that followed, the turn and river came 5 and 7 to deliver Lee with a four to a straight, cementing Willcocks’ 5^th place finish for $31,100.

Phillip Willcocks made yet another impressive run this year at ANZPT Melbourne, unlucky to take 5th -- but $34,000 richer for his pains.

What followed after was a chain of all-in situations, the first of which coming when Nelson opened with a raise to 100,000 from the button with the blinds at 25,000/50,000, and Karan Punjabi moved all in for his last 430,000. Lee made the call and tabled a virtual monster with TT, while Punjabi trailed with just A9o. It was not to be for Australian, as no help came with the dealer, with Karan awarded a healthy $43,090 for his commitment. It was not long after that a similar spot had unfolded, when Danny Chevalier put in his last 825,000 with 33 and was called by Nelson’s ATo. Again Lee found his magic as the board ran out a boat with tens full of Aces, and Chevalier was sent home in 3^rd for $55,180 in change.

Finally as heads-up began, it seemed that Lee was ready to gamble with his massive chip advantage. A few all-in confrontations later,  with relatively equal stacks, both players got all their chips in quite thin. Nick Georgoulas opened to 150,000, and Lee moved all-in, with the effective raise being roughly 2.1 million given Georgoulas own stack size. Whatever the odds though, Nick quickly made the call and tabled 44; with Nelson turning over JhTh for “classic” flip. It was virtually over almost immediately, as the dealer fanned out a flopped flush for Lee, bringing a royal flush re-draw when the board came A K 8, all hearts. The turn brought a harmless brick, leaving Lee as the champion and winner of the $156,550 first prize. The final results are shown below:

1st Lee Nelson (New Zealand) – $156,550
2nd Nick Georgoulas (Australia) – $99,200
3rd Danny Chevalier (Australia) – $55,180
4th Karan Punjabi (Australia) – $43,090
5th Phil Willcocks (New Zealand) – $34,100
6th Tom Wing (Australia) – $27,900
7th Stephen Eliesen (Australia) – $22,320
8th Brett Chalhoub (Australia) – $17,670
9th Justin Sanchez (Australia) – $13,020

Stay tuned to PokerNZ as we continue to follow the ANZPT, with the next chapter in Darwin. We’ll also be on the lookout for Lee, as we’re hopefully able to interview him over his latest tournament conquest.

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.

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…

The SKYCITY Auckland Poker room was bustling over the weekend as poker players from all over the world played it out in Day 1 and Day 2 of the Auckland leg of the New Zealand Poker Tour (NZPT) Queenstown – SKYCITY Alpine Adventure.  The NZPT Queenstown – SKYCITY Alpine Adventure will be held at the SKYCITY Queenstown Casino from Wednesday 21 July until Sunday 25 July. Based on full participation of 200 players, the expected total prize pool will be $450,000.00 NZD*.

Sunday saw the remaining 15 players in the Auckland leg of the Tour qualifying to head down to the scenic south and play off against players who make it through to Day 3 at SKYCITY Queenstown.

The Auckland leg started on Saturday 17 July with a mixed field of 38 international and domestic players from nine countries including representatives from Australia, Singapore, Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

Of the 38 on Day 1, 13 players had won their way through to the main event by playing in SKYCITY’s satellite tournaments with some players winning a main event ticket from as little as $30.00 NZD.

At the end of Day 1, 24 players had made it through to Day 2. Home-grown talent was outshining the international field in Auckland with 58% of Day 2 players coming from New Zealand. Late on Sunday afternoon the final 15 players had kept their cool to qualify to head down to snowy Queenstown to join the Queenstown based players in an exciting Day 3 on Saturday 24 July. Of the remaining 15 players, 73% are New Zealand players sending the majority of international players home. Of the remaining 15 players, three came from Rotorua and have long been high performers at SKYCITY poker tournaments.

Entries are still open for SKYCITY Queenstown Day 1a and Day 1b which is taking place on Wednesday 20 July and Thursday 21 July at SKYCITY Queenstown Casino.

For full terms and conditions, more information including entry forms, structures and prize payouts see www.skycity.co.nz/poker <http://www.skycity.co.nz/poker> .

SKYCITY Queenstown Casino is Queenstown’s premier entertainment destination located in the heart of central Queenstown offering fun and excitement seven days a week. With eight gaming tables, 86 gaming machines, free live entertainment and great value local cuisine at Wild Thyme Bar and Restaurant, SKYCITY Queenstown is the place to be. SKYCITY Queenstown Casino is part of the SKYCITY Entertainment Group, comprising properties across Australasia in Auckland, Hamilton, Queenstown, Adelaide and Darwin.

* The actual prize pool will depend on the actual number of participants.