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.

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.

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.