After a one year leave of absence from the APPT, Auckland 2006 WSOP Main event champion Joe Hachem is rumoured to be returning to Auckland for this years event.

Joe’s brother and ANZPT tour leader Tony Hachem will almost certainly make the trip to the City of Sails in September but not many expected to see the return of his much in demand brother. Pokerstars have recently narrowed their Australasian team to just Tony, Joe and New Zealander Lee “Final Table” Nelson dropping regular visitors Grant Levy, Emad Tahtouh and perenial crowd favorite Eric Assadourian.

Instead SKYCITY expects a swarth of Australia’s latest poker sensations to make the journey many of whom played just a month ago in The ANZPT Queenstown.

Things got underway at around half past twelve today as the first group of players took to the tables in the SKYCITY Festival of Poker Main Event. Certainly no shortage of caps, hoodies, headphones and sunnies as the field got down to business.

Massage was the preference for many to ease away early tournament nerves.

Auckland DJ Sam Hill has his first hand pocket K’s busted by a set on the river, sits back and ponders the poker gods.

Tony Hachem and Eric Assadourian (looking to keep his nose clean until tomorrows sitting)

Brooke Howard Smith host of NZ’s Celebrity Joker Poker always a tiger at the table

The Dealers let their fingers do the work as the cards began to fly and the chip stacks began to change shape

Other local faves Dan Singh and Mike King were also in action in the early session, keep an eye out for more pictures.

The first ever ANZPT at Sky City Queenstown will be a celebrity filled event that’s sure to please.

So far the following have been confirmed:

Lee Nelson (New Zealand’s Celebrity Joker Poker co-host)
Eric Assadourian (2007 NZ Poker Champs winner)
Grant Levy
Emad Tahtouh
Celina Lin
Tony Hachem

The event will see the Queenstown Sky City Casino transformed into a poker players paradise with plenty of different single and multi-table tournaments making up the 5 day event.

The popular ‘Teams’ event will return (you might remember this from Adelaide?) with each team allowed up to 3 players, kicking off on Saturday 25th July.

Flights are already booking fast and if you didn’t manage to score a $20 Jetstar flight or an early AirNZ flight, expect to pay upwards of $200+ ea way.

Michelle Baillie, SKYCITY Queenstown’s Executive Manager said: “We are thrilled to host such an iconic event and look forward to welcoming international and local poker players to SKYCITY Queenstown Casino in July. We hope that this week long event will benefit a wide range of Queenstown businesses as well as being positive for SKYCITY and New Zealand poker.”

The expected prize pool is over $450,000 (depending on full subscription of 200 players) and already the tournament is over 50% sold.

Those still wishing to enter can do so by visiting the Sky City Poker website for more details.

www.skycity.co.nz/poker

Pokerstars.net ANZPT Adelaide leg of the tour kicks off in less than 24 hours and already the excitement is building.

Several NZ players were on the Air New Zealand  Adelaide flight this morning including Lee ‘Final Table’ Nelson and online satellite winners ‘sampleOG ‘ and ‘magicNZ’. One noticeable absentee from the flight was Sky City’s Poker Ambassador, Brooke Howard-Smith, who is forfeiting an appearance at the ANZPT to get married this weekend.

With the Pokerstars VIP Party tonight and the first day of play tomorrow, you can be sure Adelaide will be buzzing with poker fever!

Stay tuned to PokerNZ.com for full updates throughout the tournament.