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.

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 !

Kiwi Poker League

The new Kiwi Poker League dates were announced this week and a new tournament kicked off yesterday at the Provincial Tavern in Dunedin.

The Kiwi Poker League is a professional poker league with events played every week in bars and pubs around New Zealand. Players compete for points and prizes by playing at the various tournaments around the different venues.

The points system is simple:

- Every time you make a final table, you receive points

- The top 6 point scorers from each venue at the cut-off date will receive a ticket to the regional monthly final.

- When you qwin the KPL Regional Final, you will be flown to Sydney and play for your share of $45,000 AND win an APPT ticket at Star City Casino (tournament prize pool is based on 260 players).

You can find out more info about the Kiwi Poker League on their website: www.kiwipokerleague.com

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

Stewart Scott $2m richer today

Unfortunately the final table had to shift into a TV studio, so the general public was unable to witness the final table in the flesh, but those who did get to view it certainly got their fair share of poker excitement.

Heading in to the final day it didn’t take long for the first player (Barney Boatman) to fall. He did start off short stacked and Zach Gruneberg despatched him in 8th place, giving him $100,000 for his troubles.

The Brit, Richard Ashby was next to fall only moments after Boatman and joined him on the rail following a battle with Rajkumar Ramakrishnan, putting $150,000 in his pocket.

Zach Gruneberg, the young American freeroller who won his seat from a Cake Poker satellite was next to hit the skids, ending a profitable journey Down Under adding $210,000 to his $35,000 win from Event #4.

Sam Capra was another player who won his seat in a $320 satellite, leaving in 5th place with $300,000.

Rajkumar Ramakrishnan busted out in 4th place to pick up $400,000 after an enduring battle that saw half of the final table’s hands played between the four players.

Just before midnight Elliott Smith went down, taking away $700,000 and leaving Stewart Scott and Peter Rho to go heads up. Rho’s stack of 2.9 million against Scott’s 10.7 million soon took a walloping and Rho walked away with $1m while Australian Stewart Scott took away the bracelet, the $2m and the pride of his nation as he managed to do what Joe Hachem tried to, and bring the Aussie Millions back home.

For full hand by hand run-down, visit PokerNews.com

Zach Gruneberg with his ultimate poker face

When I first came into the poker room, I don’t know what it was, but something about this kid just shone out to me.

His crew were supportive and humble, hes a solid player and it’s going to make a great story! Zach Gruneberg, the youngest in the field that’s left and he goes out tonight with a high chip stack.

Here’s how they finishd up at the end of the day:

Seat 1: Zach Gruneberg – 1,355,000
Seat 2: Barny Boatman – 349,000
Seat 3: Elliot Smith – 1,120,000
Seat 4: Richard Ashby – 658,000
Seat 5: Stewart Scott – 4,520,000
Seat 6: Peter Rho – 2,420,000
Seat 7: Rajkumar Ramakrishnan – 2,050,000
Seat 8: Sam Capra – 1,161,00