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.

Following the overwhelming success of SKYCITY poker tournaments during 2009 and success of tournaments during the start of 2010, SKYCITY is delighted to announce the SKYCITY New Zealand Poker Open to be held over Queen’s Birthday weekend at SKYCITY Auckland.

SKYCITY has guaranteed a minimum prize pool of $50,000 NZD but given the level of interest in poker that has built over the last few years year the prize pool could be much higher.

Satellites for the Main Event which is held on Sunday 6 June and going through until Monday 7 June will begin Monday 31 May and range from $20 NZD to $235 NZD. The Main Event buy-in for the New Zealand Poker Open is $1,100 NZD.

Amongst the largely domestic based players competing in this event will be SKYCITY’s Poker Ambassadors’, Lee ‘Final Table’ Nelson and Brooke Howard-Smith.

More details including registration can be found at Sky City’s website.

NZ Poker Open

After an exciting weekend of poker at Auckland’s Sky City, it was Jamie Kristov who emerged victorious last night, taking home $41,300 in prize money.

Day one kicked off on Sunday with 140 players competing for the $140,000 in prize money. Throughout the afternoon and evening, this was whittled down to only 24 players who then came back to play on the final day of the Main Event.

The final results ended up like this with Aucklander Jamie Kristov taking out the main prize, Joe Alis took 2nd place and Tokoroa’s Wendy Cook picking up $16,100 for 3rd place.

1st Jamie Kristov, Auckland, NZ $41300
2nd Joe Alis, Auckland, NZ $26880
3rd Wendy Cook, Tokorua, NZ $16100
4th John Pye, Auckland, NZ $12880
5th David Boyd, Hamilton, NZ $10640
6th Steven “Smitty” Smith Auckland, NZ $6720
7th Jarm “Bad Beat” Joseph $5600
8th James Keenan, Auckland, NZ $4480
9th Kevin Clark, Auckland, NZ $3920
10th Renae Baker, Rotorua, NZ, $3500
11th Bob Sova Palmeston North, NZ $2800
12th Tony Yaldan $2380
13th Warren Price Auckland, NZ $1400
14th Josko Sestan Auckland, NZ $1400

The SKYCITY New Zealand Poker Open Pot Limit Omaha Event was also held this weekend and won by Adrian Kitto.

So it was another successful weekend of poker at Auckland’s SkyCity and another event to add to the calendar for next year.

Dan Sing and Claire Chitham

Many familiar faces were on the felt including Elemeno P’s Dave Gibson, Che Fu, Otis Jackson, Mareko and Dawn Raid’s own ‘Brutha D’. Savage was seen leaving around 9:30pm while Poker Zone resident Dan Sing was still in the game, joined by Claire Chitham and fellow ex Shortland Streeter, Craig Parker.

Dave from ElemenoP

The drinks were flowing and the cameras were still blazing after 10pm when the field was narrowed. While there was no money at stake, it was still a fun event and a great start to the Sky City Poker Open this weekend.

The results finished up like this:

1 – Dan Sing

2 – Mike King

3 – Claire Chitham

According to winner Dan Sing, “…the rest of the night got a little hazy,  think it had something to do with shots and fried chicken!”

If you fancy getting in on the action this weekend, you can get all the information you need at http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz

Che Fu & Craig Parker

The main event kicks off on Sunday with an $1100 buy-in.

However, if this is a little rich for you, how about trying your hand in one of the satellite games? There’s one game tonight at 7:15p and another on Saturday at 4:45p. You can be sure a selection of NZ’s top players will be out to win their share of the $50,000 prize pool so even if you just want to watch, don’t miss the main events on Sunday and Monday.

SkyCity Poker Open

This Queen’s Birthday weekend SkyCity Auckland will be presenting it’s first National Poker Tournament, The Sky City NZ Poker Open.

With a guaranteed minimum $50,000 prize pool you can be sure this will bring all the top players out of their caves and onto the felt for what looks like a fantastic weekend of poker.

SkyCity Auckland has 18 poker tables in it’s Poker Zone and some of the best dealers in the game so if you haven’t visited Auckland’s SkyCity before, why not come along this Queens Birthday weekend and try your hand at the NZ Poker Open?

Entry is $1100 and the main event starts Sunday May 31 and finishes Monday June 1st.

For all the details and entry forms, head to

http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/Casino/Poker-Zone/SKYCITY-New-Zealand-Poker-Open.html