By JAMES PUGSLEY : AUGUST 20TH, 2011

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.

Success would be an understatement. ANZPT Queenstown 2010 was a home run,  a blow out, and what some are calling the highlight of the APPT/ANZPT tour so far.

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…

MEDIA RELEASE

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.

With the ANZPT Circus well and truly settled in and distracting most Kiwi poker players it’s easy to forget that 11000 kilometers away in Las Vegas over 7000 punters signed up for Event #57 of this years World Series aka The Main Event. (That’s Main with a capital M) The good news for poker is that it looks like the dip in entries over the last two years was recession based and that numbers are once again on the rise. More good news is that as the field has narrowed there have been a healthy amount of pros, sponsored and semi sponsored players doing well. I think the odd “every day guy doing well” in The Main Event is ok, but god forbid poker’s main display piece becomes the domain the of Jamie Goldesk luck fest and it’s seen more as pokies than poker. This year it’s best especially interesting for Kiwis, Simon Watt is fresh off OUR (lol) first bracelet win and local favorite and often honorary Kiwi Tony Dunst traveled deep (50th) (Tony has only been here twice but they were GOOD trips) For Simon it’s been an amazing 12 months. An APPT win, A WSOP win and now a cash in the main event.

The real question I have as this phase of the WSOP wraps up and finds it’s “November 9″ is will Simon’s success in the US inspire more New Zealanders to move there for the business end of the season. We have plenty of talented poker players (I should know, my dead money funds their buy ins) Simon should just be the start of what is an invasion of the continental United States. Kiwis all looking for the same thing. The Main event Bracelet in 2011… Do it… Do it…

Brooke Howard-Smith

ANZPT hits Queenstown as part of the NZ Poker Tour

(from Press Release)

SKYCITY Entertainment Group is pleased to announce the second annual New Zealand Poker Tour (NZPT) Queenstown – SKYCITY Alpine Adventure at SKYCITY Queenstown Casino.

The tournament will take place from Saturday 17 July and run until Sunday 25 July. The NZPT Queenstown – SKYCITY Alpine Adventure will offer players an expected total prize pool of $450,000* in the $2,500 NZD buy-in Main Event. Participation in this event will be capped at 200 players and it’s already 50% sold out so interested players are advised to register now to avoid disappointment.
This year the NZPT Queenstown event will differ slightly from the 2009 event. Players will have a choice as to where they would like to play the first part of the tournament. Players can play Day 1 and Day 2 of the NZPT event at the SKYCITY Auckland Casino on Saturday 17 July and Sunday 18 July for a buy-in of NZD $2,625. Players that choose the Auckland qualifier can expect to play down to 15-20 players (dependent on actual number of players) who then qualify for Day 3 of the NZPT Queenstown event and each receive a return flight from Auckland to Queenstown and three nights’ accommodation from Friday 23 July to Sunday 25 July inclusive – covered by the additional $125 buy-in.
Players who instead begin the tournament in Queenstown will play in their Day 1 on either Wednesday 21 July or Thursday 22 July.

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