By JAMES PUGSLEY, November 23rd, 2011

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.

Renae Baker has added to her already impressive resumé with her maiden (pun intended) win at the National Women’s Poker Champs in Christchurch.

2010 was a great year for the Rotorua local who took out all comers in the Rotorua Open & claimed the Mrs G memorial trophy after already taking down 3rd at the APPT women’s event in Auckland & 6th in the New Zealand Open, but it looks like 2011 could be even better. 30 of the countries best female poker players started the tournament & throughout she looked calm comfortable and in control rarely, if ever dipping below average stack.*

Eventual champ Renae Baker ponders a decission.

The women’s event kicks off the schedule at Christchurch Casino who’ve hosted Zealand’s longest running poker event for 11 years. The rest of the schedule (below) includes The Christchurch Champs, South Island Champs and of culminates with The National Champs on the weekend of the 13th & 14th of August and is expected to attract players from New Zealand and Australia including legends Graeme ‘Kiwi G‘ Putt and WSOP Bracelet winner Simon Watt*.

After an early chip lead TV presenter Amber Peebles was knocked out in 11th

Results:
1st: Renae Baker
2nd: Rocky Kennett
3rd: Kirby McKay
4th: Connie Cootes

*Unconfirmed as it’s 7.44am and no poker player on earth is awake at 7.44am!

Week’s schedule:

WPC at Chch Casino

The Wellington Poker Championship kicks off this week at Christchurch Casino with the 80 seat FreezeOut this Thursday 6th August ($200+$30) and satellite events on Friday to the main event on Saturday (1pm, $500 + $50).

If you’re wanting to get in the tournament, head over to the NZ Poker Champs website now to sign up and enter.

https://www.nzpokerchamps.com/wellington-poker-championship/

Sunday night saw Soren Erikson emerge as the new NZ Poker Champ after a heads up battle with last year’s winner David Borg.

After an exciting few days at the NZ Poker Champs and the field of 101 being whittled down, it was Erikson’s KsQh that beat Borg’s Ah7H in the final hand.

Erikson has only been in New Zealand for three years, moving from Denmark and this is his first major tournament win in Aotearoa.

Pork spokesman Mike King managed to take 3rd place and Kiwi G, Graeme Putt took home $14,000 for his 6th place.

Auckland favourite Dan Sing was also in the money, managing to squeeze $8,000 for his 9th placing.

The main event finished off 9 days of poker action at Christchurch Casino, the home of the NZ Poker Champs.

With many poker celebs in town and plenty of media coverage, it wasn’t unusual to see the standard level of ‘talking it up’, especially from the Aussies. After a brave statement on NZ national television earlier in the week that he would “win this tournament”, Eric Assadourian didn’t manage to finish in the money.

Here’s how the final players were placed:

The NZ Poker Champs at Christchurch Casino are only a few weeks away now, so if you haven’t booked your seat, there are still satellite packages available on 888.com.

The NZPC is one of those events which always attracts the biggest names in poker in our region, and with a schedule as big as this year’s, you can be sure all the famous players will be out in force.

Christchurch is easily one of NZ’s most beautiful cities and the casino is certainly one I would describe as ‘pleasurable’ to play in.

If you haven’t got your seat booked yet, try your luck at 888.com. The next satellite is on March 12, tournament number 22697013, kicking off at 21:30 (9:30pm). It’s only $24 to buy in and could be your ticket to the Qualifier!

The Qualifier tournament (22575517) kicks off at 21:30 (9:30pm) March 15, is $110 to buy in and winner receives a $2750US package to the NZ Poker Champs!

If you don’t have a 888 account, use this link for a 100% deposit bonus up to $400! You could win this on FREE money!

100% deposit bonus!

If you’re planning on going to the NZ Poker Champs in Chirstchurch at the end of March but don’t have the cabbage to pony up the entry fee, a satellite seat is your answer.

888.com have kindly put on some satellite games to help you win your seat at the NZ Poker Champs.

Upcoming games as follows:

(22315636) NZ Poker Champs Satellite Feb 3rd, 08:30 – $24 / $2 REGISTRATION OPEN!

(22315576) NZ Poker Champs Qualifier Feb 7th, 08:30 – $110 / $10 REGISTRATION OPEN!

If you don’t have an account at 888, use this link to get 100% Bonus up to $400