-Press release_

Poker Update from SKYCITY Auckland – 21 January 2011

SKYCITY Auckland will be removing our remaining poker tables on 7 February, with the final day of play being Saturday 5 February.  Poker has been a great asset to SKYCITY Auckland but due to our extensive building enhancements across the property, including in the gaming areas, we are no longer able to offer it to our customers at this time.

We have been privileged to have played a part in the international poker circuit and extremely pleased and impressed with the calibre of domestic and international players we have attracted and seen develop.  SKYCITY plans to revisit poker once the construction has been completed as we believe it is a great part of our entertainment offering and brings a fun and exciting feeling to our diverse range of games.

As we have previously announced, this means that we are no longer able to hold the Auckland Anniversary Poker Tournament or the Festival of Poker which we have previously held in October.

The SKYCITY Casino in Queenstown is still offering poker and will remain an active part of the tournament poker circuit.

SKYCITY Auckland has a loyal following of poker players and we will be contacting them in due course to advise them of the changes and invite them to continue enjoying the entertainment experience at SKYCITY which includes other gaming offers as well as our hotels, restaurants and bars.

Simon Watt wins The 2009 FOP

After a fantastic Festival of Poker, Simon Watt from Auckland’s North Shore took out the main event and won for himself over $200,00!

It was another brilliant festival this year with many of the big names in the Australasian poker scene making the effort to compete in what has been the most successful festival yet.

The final standings and payouts were as follows:

The final standings and monies earned are as follows:

1. Simon Watt – Auckland, New Zealand – $209,085.00 NZD

2. Gerome Guitteau – Paris, France – $142,020.00 NZD

3. Jason Brown – Auckland, New Zealand – $82,845.00 NZD

4. Ke Sijia– China – $55,230.00 NZD

5. Richard Lancaster – Auckland, New Zealand – $42,606.00 NZD

6. Jens Walther – Germany – $31,560.00 NZD

7. Assadour Assadourian – Sydney, Australia – $23,670 NZD

8. Lance Climo – Hamilton, New Zealand – $18,936.00 NZD

9. Michael Shinzaki – Los Angeles, United States of America – $14,202.00 NZD

The final table FOP 2009

It’s final table time at the Auckland Festival of Poker and with that top prize of over $200,000 sitting out there, it’s only a matter of hours and we’ll see who takes it down.

Pictured here are the final table players and some info about them below.

Seat 1: Jason Brown from Auckland, New Zealand (709,000 in chips): The married father-of-two was as high as 1,000,000 in chips on day three of this event, but had to battle through some tough spots and comes to the final table in second chip position.

Seat 2: Richard Lancaster from Auckland, New Zealand (568,000 in chips): This 35-year-old local real estate agent and father of one is one of the more experienced players at the final table. He’s played in major tournaments around the world including Macau, Milan and the Aussie Millions in Melbourne. He also harnessed some valuable experience at last year’s SKYCITY Festival of Poker, and qualified for his Main Event here via a live satellite.

Seat 3: Ke Sijia from China (294,000 in chips): The 42-year-old full-time poker player has been jet setting between Australia and New Zealand in the past few years. He won his seat into the NZPT Auckland Main Event via a $120 satellite here at SKYCITY.

Seat 4: Assadour Assadourian from Sydney, Australia (231,000 in chips): The surname may be familiar to a lot of people, but this time it’s Assadour, the father of international player Eric Assadourian that takes his seat on the final table with 231,000 in chips.

Seat 5: Simon Watt from Auckland, New Zealand (581,000 in chips): A 26-year-old software developer, he was a former chip leader in this event with the size of his stack swinging wildly over the past two days. He is already assured a massive return on investment having qualified via a $22 rebuy event online.

Seat 6: Gerome Guitteau from Paris, France (1,204,000 in chips): Guitteau comes into the final table as our chip leader with more than 1.2 million in chips, a far cry from his early days learning the game of poker on his yacht while sailing the Indian Ocean. The 30-year-old full-time poker player was happy to reminisce about his nautical adventures, but it’s not only Gitteau that’s got game – his wife Claude-Estel is also a keen poker player having performed well in international tournaments.

Seat 7: Lance Climo from Hamilton, New Zealand (350,000 in chips): Just days before the SKYCITY Festival of Poker Main Event, this bar owner won his spot in a Last Chance Seat Only satellite online. The father of two has been playing poker for five years and this is by far his biggest result in the game.

Seat 8: Michael Shinzaki from Los Angeles, California, USA (620,000 in chips): Having made his start five years ago playing college home games, the 22-year-old UCLA sociology graduate has built up a bankroll online and is now traveling the world playing poker full-time.  “It feels really nice to make the final table,” Shinzaki said. “I’ve been playing really well and I’m looking forward to seeing more of New Zealand after this event.”

Seat 9: Jens Walther from Germany (335,000 in chips): The story of this qualifier from Germany should give hope to every aspiring pro. After winning an NZPT Auckland seat online, he decided to take the opportunity to journey to New Zealand to play in his first live event.

We are VERY lucky to have the following video provided to us by NotoriousBHS as he interviews some of the celebrities at the Auckland Festival of Poker. It’s a fantastic clip, please comment if you want to see more!

CELEBRITY – noun, a famous or well known person.

CELEBRITY POKER TOURNAMENT – noun, a chance to see who out of selected NZ celebrities has an ounce of game at the Poker table.

The SKYCITY Celebrity Invitational gets underway on Tuesday night at 6.15. A stellar field of around 150 entrants from all walks of life will take to the tables for the most part to enjoy the occasion but don’t be fooled by the smiling and handshaking, there is more at stake here than purely bragging rights. That’s the great thing about our game, almost everyone fancies themselves as a contender and you can be sure the tension levels will be high come the business end of this event.

Here is the just a sample of the ‘talent’ this tournament has attracted and what could be better than to watch your favourite celebs making calls they should never make and taking down pots the experts tell them they have no rights to be in. Just imagine the fun with some of these potential head to head battles.

Ian Smith & Mark Richardson, Mark Sainsbury & Paul Holmes, Hamish McKay & Neil Waka, Richard Loe & Allan Whetton, Siobhan Marshall & Fleur Saville, Vicky Lee & Aja Rock, Savage & Mareko, Kathryn Powely & Kylie Bailey

So as the SKYCITY Festival of Poker rolls on, get a crew together come up to Level 3, grab a drink then sit back and watch the best live drama there is – POKER !

Poker players across NZ will relate to this…

Ever feel like poker just doesn’t get the recognition it deserves in NZ? Sick of seeing all kinds of other sports being featured on TV but never seeing anything about NZ poker, unless it’s one of those celebrity shows?

Well you’re not alone, ‘poker’ himself has had a crack at TVNZ recently about this very issue, check it out…(it’s genius!)

Link: ‘Poker’ addresses TVNZ about their lack of coverage