Event 1: $330 Opening Event
Entries: 724
Prizepool: $217,256
1st – Naji Hassoun ($51,836)
2nd – Peter Prazis ($32,452)
3rd – Aaron Benton ($17,100)
4th – Luke Kelly ($13,176)
5th – Matthew Woodards ($10,781)
6th – Suzy Khoueis ($8,276)
7th – Ryan Davis ($6,098)
8th – Alan Casas ($4,356)
9th – Tristan Earl ($3158)
10th – Osama Hassan ($2286)
11th – Ross Coveny ($2286)
12th – Gerhard Niess ($2,286)
13th – Adam Ratten ($2069)
14th – Peter McCarthy ($2069)
15th – Laurence Hall ($2,069)
16th – Mark Longhurst ($1,851)
17th – Steven Faulkner ($1,851)
18th – Tu Tran ($1,851)
19th – Samuel Kennedy ($1,633)
20th – Ronnie Shabtay ($1,633)
21st – Robert Chapman ($1,633)
22nd – Alex Wayne ($1,415)
23rd – Alexander Trevallion ($1,415)
24th – Milad Elazzi ($1,415)
25th – Christopher Wong ($1,200)
26th – Rodrigo Meneses ($1,200)
27th – Mark Grant ($1,200)
28th – Florian Taube ($1,200)
29th – Joseph Falcomata ($1,200)
30th – Troy Parkinson ($1,200)
31st – Hun Wei Lee ($1,200)
32nd – Joe Logozzo ($1,200)
33rd – Kenrick Leh ($1,089)
34th – Con Diakovasilis ($1,089)
35th – Fred Madon ($1,089)
36th – Darren Cottrell ($1,089)
37th – Michael Malki ($1,089)
38th – Aaron Mordey ($1,089)
39th – David Mahone ($1,089)
40th – Chris Lee ($980)
41st – Zhanghua Chen ($980)
42nd – Hussein Mrad ($980)
43rd – David Pham ($980)
44th – Nick Velcic ($980)
45th – James Tysoe ($980)
46th – Peter Patrick ($980)
47th – Tony Kondevski ($871)
48th – Karam Bahi ($871)
49th – Russell Davies ($871)
50th – Brad Fowler ($871)
51st – Cezary Klimczak ($871)
52nd – Tomas Navascues ($871)
53rd – Geoff Mooney ($871)
54th – Denis Jankovic ($762)
55th – Ivan Zadravec ($762)
56th – Charbel Boustami ($762)
57th – Stephen Dwek ($762)
58th – Weng Cheong Wong ($762)
59th – John Shin ($762)
60th – Charles Demanuele ($762)
61st – Nabil Edgtton ($653)
62nd – Todd Allison ($653)
63rd – Rick Solomon ($653)
64th – Darryl Lau ($653)
65th – Rathesnan Kulenthiraras ($653)
66th – Sean Lannon ($653)
67th – Sam Ioannou ($653)
68th – Ron Faul ($544)
69th – Anthony Tarabay ($544)
70th – Jamie Porra ($544)
71st – Ning Zhang ($544)
72nd – Hanna Nakhoul ($544)

Event 2: $1,100 Special No Limit Holdem
Entries: 98
Prizepool: $98,000
1st – Blaze Scott-Hutchinson ($29,400)
2nd – James Tai ($19,600)
3rd – John Shin ($14,210)
4th – Zac Boustani ($9,310)
5th – Hong-lin Jiang ($6,860)
6th – Jim Pizanias ($5,145)
7th – Chris Lee ($4,410)
8th – Haibo Chu ($3,675)
9th – Michael Tran ($2,940)
10th – Jackson Zheng ($2,450)

Event 3: $440 Semi-Shootout
Entries: 78
Prizepool: $31,200
1st – Rabii Matouk ($11,544)
2nd – Chris Bridle ($7,800)
3rd – Mel Judah ($4,680)
4th – Alan Bustany ($3,120)
5th – Andrew Scarf ($2,340)
6th – Lawford Edwards ($1,716)

Event 4:$550 Six-Handed
Entries: 126
Prizepool: $63,000
1st – Timo Pfutzenreter ($16,380)
2nd – Rick Solomon ($11,025)
3rd – John Maklouf ($8,190)
4th – Benjamin Pockett ($5,355)
5th – Dale Marsland ($4,095)
6th – Nurlan Boobekov ($3,309)
7th – Daniel Saade ($2,047)
8th – Antonis Kambouroglou ($2,047)
9th – Ross Stevenson ($2,047)
10th – Hung-Tu Wang ($1,575)
11th – Eddie Saade ($1,575)
12th – Jason Pritchard ($1,575)
13th – Martin Kozlov ($1,260)
14th – Andrew Mellado ($1,260)
15th – Manuel Hansimikali ($1,260)

Event 5: $440 Team No Limit Holdem
Teams: 65
Prizepool: $26,000
1st – Alexander Antonious & Nabil Edgtton ($8,450)
2nd – Peter Aristidou & Toan Nguyen ($5,460)
3rd – Colin McComley & Dave Traynor ($3,900)
4th – Olivia Andre & Valerie Defossez ($2,600)
5th – Fabrice Ho & Florent Mathey ($1,950)
6th – Sidney Brandon & Robert Harris ($1,430)
7th – Robert Spano & Peter Dykes ($1,170)
8th – Jazz Mathers & Garan Sharpe ($1,040

Event 6: $440 Pot Limit Omaha
Entries: 89
Prizepool: $35,600
1st – Dennis Huntly ($10,680)
2nd – Tommy Yi ($7,120)
3rd – Simon Palmer ($5,162)
4th – Albeir Moussa ($3,362)
5th – Andrew Stergiotis ($2,492)
6th – Ludovic Citerne ($1,869)
7th – Andrew Mellado ($1,602)
8th – David Maclean ($1,335)
9th – Liem Tran ($1,068)
10th – Marcus Pritchard ($890)

Event 7: $2,200 ANZPT Sydney Main Event
Entries: 461 players
Prizepool: $922,000
1st – Gordon Huntly ($226,812)
2nd – Liam O’Rourke ($144,754)
3rd – Anthony Aston ($80,214)
4th – Stewart Ballard ($62,696)
5th – Jason O’Brien ($48,405)
6th – Oliver Speidel ($39,185)
7th – Craig Blight ($29,965)
8th – Bradley Lancken ($23,511)
9th – Martin Rowe ($17,518)
10th – Alec Smith ($11,525)
11th – Erich Stadler ($11,525)
12th – Nicholas Heather ($11,525)
13th – Mishel Anunu ($9,220)
14th – Stephen Lindeblad ($9,220)
15th – Kristina Griffiths ($9,220)
16th – Sam Capra ($7,837)
17th – Toby Ryall ($7,837)
18th – Jason Pritchard ($7,837)
19th – Jim Collopy ($6,454)
20th – Laurence Hall ($6,454)
21st – Luke Downes ($6,454)
22nd – Damien Walsh ($5,532)
23rd – Peco Stojanovski ($5,532)
24th – John Parker ($5,532)
25th – Luke Brabin ($5,071)
26th – Luke Edwards ($5,071)
27th – Bill Kennedy ($5,071)
28th – Nicholas Polias ($4,610)
29th – Jim Sachinidis ($4,610)
30th – Lee Hun ($4,610)
31st – Zhu Wei ($4,610)
32nd – Daniel Ibrahim ($4,610)
33rd – Didier Guerin ($4,610)
34th – Shaun Elliot ($4,610)
35th – Zhixin Yao ($4,610)
36th – Jason Hamilton ($4,610)
37th – Dean Yuen ($4,149)
38th – Suzy Khoueis ($4,149)
39th – Toan Nguyen ($4,149)
40th – Paul Roseta ($4,149)
41st – Ronnie Shabtay ($4,149)
42nd – Nabil Edgtton ($4,149)
43rd – Adam Bevis ($4,149)
44th – Edgar Monenegro ($4,149)
45th – Chad Awerbuch ($4,149)
46th – Tony Kondevski ($3,688)
47th – Omer Silatozija ($3,688)
48th – Michael O’Grady ($3,688)
49th – Nicholas Lamport ($3,688)
50th – Guy Delahaye ($3,688)
51st – Rhys Gould ($3,688)
52nd – Andrew Mellado ($3,688)
53rd – Dean McIver ($3,688)
54th – Gerhard Niess ($3,688)

Event 8: $220 Turbo No Limit Holdem
Entries: 117
Prizepool: $23,400
1st – Peter Aristidou ($6,435)
2nd – Adam Cosgrave ($4,446)
3rd – Dale Marsland ($3,276)
4th – Martin Comer ($2,223)
5th – Philip Dong ($1,638)
6th – Peter Matusik ($1,229)
7th – Brian Mcallister ($994)
8th – Uday Poonia ($819)
9th – Russel Davies ($703)
10th – Alan Bustany ($585)
11th – Mitchell Macedo ($526)
12th – David Lacchia ($526)

Event 9: $5,000 Challenge
Entries: 23
Prizepool: $109,250
1st – Grant Levy ($54,625)
2nd – Michel Bouskila ($32,775)
3rd – Jai Kemp ($21,850)

Compiled by: Poker Asia Pacific

The schedule has been released for the first ANZ Poker Tour event of 2012, with the national poker spotlight set to shine on The Star in Sydney from March 14-25.

ANZPT Sydney has consistently been among the larger events on the tour since Paren Arzoomanian won a staggering AUD $246,000 in 2009, which was the largest ever ANZPT event. Since then, he’s been joined on the honour roll by Angelo Hanataj (2010) and Michael Kanaan (2011).

The series kicks-off with the $330 Opening Event that offers three day one flights and a repechage format, meaning players can re-enter if eliminated on either day 1A or 1B. Next up is the PokerMedia Australia $1k Special, offering a generous start stack of 15,000 and 40-minute levels.

The schedule also includes a $440 NLHE Semi-Shootout, $550 NLHE Six-Handed event, $440 NLHE Teams Event, $220 NLHE Turbo along with a $$0 Pot Limit Omaha tournament.

The highlights of the series are the $2200 ANZPT Main Event – one of only three such events scheduled so far for 2012 – and a $5000 buy-in NLHE Challenge on the final day.

Join the Star Poker team of Grant Levy, Aaron Benton, Brendon Rubie, Daniel Neilson and Jonathan Karamalikis at The Star for one of the highlights of the 2012 Australian tournament schedule from March 14. Check out www.starpoker.com.au for details of satellites in coming weeks.

2012 ANZPT Sydney schedule

March 14 (6.15pm) Event 1: $300 + $30 No Limit Hold’em Opening Event day 1 flight 1 (start stack 10,000, 40-minute levels)

March 15 (6.15pm) Event 1: $300 + $30 No Limit Hold’em Opening Event day 1 flight 2 (repechage, start stack 10,000, 40-minute levels)

March 14 (12.30pm) Event 1: $300 + $30 No Limit Hold’em Opening Event day 1 flight 3 (repechage, start stack 10,000, 40-minute levels)

March 17 (12.30pm) Event 1: $300 + $30 No Limit Hold’em Opening Event day 2

March 18 (12.30pm) Event 2: $1000 + $100 PokerMedia Australia No Limit Hold’em Special (start stack 15,000, 40-minute levels)

March 18 (4pm) Event 1: $300 + $30 No Limit Hold’em Opening Event final table

March 18 (6.15pm) $220 + $30 ANZPT Mega Satellite (start stack 5000, 20-minute levels)

March 19 (12.30pm) Event 3: $400 + $40 No Limit Hold’em Semi-Shootout (start stack 8000, 30-minute levels)

March 19 (4pm) Event 2: $1000 + $100 PokerMedia Australia No Limit Hold’em Special final table

March 19 (6.15pm) $220 + $30 ANZPT Mega Satellite (start stack 5000, 20-minute levels)

March 20 (12.30pm) Event 4: $500 + $50 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed (start stack 10,000, 40-minute levels)

March 20 (6.15pm) Event 5: $400 + $40 No Limit Hold’em Teams Event (start stack 8000, 20-minute levels)

March 21 (12.30pm) Event 6: $400 + $40 Pot Limit Omaha (start stack 8000, 30-minute levels)

March 21 (4pm) Event 4: $500 + $50 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed final table

March 21 (6.15pm) $220 + $30 ANZPT Mega Satellite (start stack 5000, 20-minute levels)

March 22 (12.30pm) $220 + $30 ANZPT Last Chance Mega Satellite (start stack 5000, 20-minute levels)

March 22 (6.15pm) Event 7: $2000 + $200 ANZPT Main Event day 1 flight 1 (start stack 20,000, 60-minute levels)

March 23 (12.30pm) Event 7: $2000 + $200 ANZPT Main Event day 1 flight 2 (start stack 20,000, 60-minute levels)

March 24 (12.30pm) Event 7: $2000 + $200 ANZPT Main Event day 2

March 25 (12.30pm) Event 8: $200 + $20 No Limit Hold’em Turbo (start stack 6000, 20-minute levels)

March 25 (2pm) Event 7: $2000 + $200 ANZPT Main Event final table

March 25 (4pm) $5K ($4750 + $250) Challenge No Limit Hold’em (start stack 15,000, 45-minute levels)

By Poker Media Australia

No, Not the Andy Lee that has formed one half of that great Australian comic duo Hamish & Andy, but the young gun poker player Andy Lee. Andy outlasted a small but select field of 42 in Event 2 (6-Handed $660 PLO) of The Star Poker Summer Series held in the plush surrounds of the Oasis Lounge. Some of the players who had come and gone during the day were the likes of Grant Levy, Daniel Nielsen, Barry Forrester, Rhys Gould and last years Omaha champ James Siu.

It was actually a case of so close yet so far for last year’s winner Siu who would make another final table but end up with the unenvious bubble tag finishing 6th with only the top five being paid.

Andrew Davis would be the first of the players who made the cash to be eliminated. A 5th place finish would wrap a pretty fair couple of days for Andrew who also finished 11th in Event 1 the previous day.

Walter Holt would be next to vacate the building after getting his money in good with KKQ8 against Andy Lee’s AJT7 pre-flop, the “window” card would be that dreaded Ace, and that being enough for Andy to take the pot. Walter would walk away with a 4th place finish.

Our next magic moment would involve the “doyen” of The Star poker room Antonis “Toothpick Tony” Kambrogliou who after seeing a flop of A♦10♣5♣ would ship all his money into the middle. Big stack Andy Lee made the call. Tony showed A♥J♣5♥2♦ for a flopped two pair whilst Andy tabled A♣J♠7♣2♥ for top pair with the nut flush draw. Whilst Tony was in front there, things went from bad to worse as firstly the turn card was the 10♦ giving both players two pair with a Jack kicker, and then the ultimate blow when the 8♣ landed on the river giving Andy the nut flush and in the process ending Tony’s tournament, sending him to the rail in third place.

This gave Andy a commanding 3 to 1 chip lead ($315K-$105K) over Russel Davies when play went heads up. Similarly to event one, it didn’t take long for all the money to go into the middle. With blinds $8K/$16K, Russel raised “pot” with Andy calling. Russel would go all-in “blind” before the flop. The flop of A25 (rainbow) would see Andy instantly call rolling over 3456 for the nut straight. Russell showed JJ54. The board blanked out on 4th and 5th street and Andy was victorious.

By Perry J Tilted
Sponsored by The Star

December used to be the month all the poker

When it comes to poker in Australia, the month of December and The Star have been intrinsically linked since Grant Levy became the first Australian player to win AUD $1 million on home soil back in 2007.

The Star can proudly announce that to help celebrate the launch of its new poker brand Star Poker that the first Star Poker Summer Series has been scheduled for 29 November to 11 December.

Star Poker manager Stephen Ibrahim said he was thrilled to announce the schedule for the Star Poker Summer Series and build on the Big Game Poker brand. “The Star Poker Summer Series will offer a minimum prize pool of AUD $1,000,000. Along with major tournament series such as this, we’ll continue to offer our regular weekly and monthly games,” he said.

The Star Poker Summer Series will feature 10 events, and kicks-off with the traditional Opening Event. The buy-in of $330 means this event is accessible to aspiring pros and enthusiastic amateurs alike, who’ll take their seats alongside some of Australia’s best players. The event will be played under a repechage format, which means if players are eliminated in either flight one or two, they can re-enter the event in flights two or three.

Next up is a short-handed Pot Limit Omaha event with a buy-in of $660, a starting stack of 10,000 and 30-minute levels. This format is growing in popularity and is sure to attract a crack field of the country’s finest PLO exponents.
Sunday, December 4 promises to be one of the biggest days in the history of the Star Poker room with the first Sydney Special No Limit Hold’em event. With a buy-in of $1100, a deep start stack of 15,000 and 40-minute levels, organisers are expecting a field of both quality and quantity. Later the same day, the spotlight shifts to Australia’s premier female players and the $400 Ladies Event. This is the biggest buy-in event for female players in Australia, and unlike other ladies events, the start stack of 8000 and 30-minute levels will provide ample opportunity for their skills to shine through.

Event five is another innovative addition to the schedule, and is sure to bring the poker equivalent of adrenalin junkies out of the shadows. It’s a $220 Turbo Rebuy event, with a start stack of 5000 and just 20-minute levels. Expect a big prizepool to build in the early stages of this one!

The schedule continues with a testing $440 buy-in Mixed No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha tournament (10,000 start stack and 30-minute levels) before the ultra-popular $440 Team Event (10,000 start stack and 25-minute levels).
Now we get to the business end of the Series, starting with one of the most popular events on any major tournament schedule – the No Limit Hold’em Six-handed event. The buy-in for this event is $660, start stack in 10,000 and the levels are 40 minutes.

Later in the day is the $10,500 No Limit Hold’em High Rollers tournament, which looms as the ultimate battle between our young guns and old guard. It’s been a banner year for some of our most experienced players but High Stakes events at The Star have been owned by our best young stars in recent years. Players will start with a stack of 20,000 with levels of 45 minutes.

Now, for the culmination of the Star Poker Summer Series – the $5000 buy-in Main Event. The best players from Australia and the Asia-Pacific region will turn out in force for a shot at one of our nation’s most prestigious titles. Levy, Rowe, Benton, Karamalikis … who’ll be the next to add his or her name to the honour roll? Players will have plenty of time to stake their claim, with a start stack of 30,000 and 60-minute levels.

Players ill have plenty of chance to win into the Main Event for a slice of the full buy-in via one of the numerous satellites scheduled in coming weeks.

Click here to check the tournament schedule.

By Poker Media Australia

Adelaide… Perth… Sydney… Gold Coast… Canberra… Queenstown… Melbourne… Darwin…

The 2011 Australia New Zealand Poker Tour has been an incredible ride as we’ve ventured to new locations, seen some amazing highlights and unearthed some of the brightest poker talent in the region.

From Octavian Voegele’s dominant win in Adelaide to Grant Levy’s epic victory in Perth. Lee Nelson’s win for the ages in Melbourne and the ultra-consistency of Jesse McKenzie, Leo Boxell and Player of the Year Danny Chevalier. And now 28-year old Queenslander Jack Drake adds his name to the record books as our newest ANZPT champion.

Drake was impressive throughout the ANZPT Darwin Main Event across the four challenging days of poker inside the SKYCITY Darwin Casino. While many of his better-known counterparts threw uppercuts and hooks to attempt to land a knockout blow, Drake was content to throw jabs from the outside and rarely had his tournament life in jeopardy. It was a mature, composed exhibition of poker and perhaps the start of something even bigger in his blossoming career.

At the start of the day, Drake would have been relieved to see the early eliminations of Aaron Benton and Danny Chevalier – the two most experienced players at the table. Benton played four pots and lost them all while Chevalier had his pocket aces unfortunately cracked by Jamie Hill who rivered trips.

Following his elimination, we had a chance to catch up with Chevalier for his thoughts on the ANZ Player of the Year award…

“In the last month when it became a realistic possibility, I was very, very keen to achieve it. In fact, I became very single-minded about it. When I came here to Darwin, I had just one intention and that was to make the points. It was a very exciting finish with Jesse and Leo and it was a relief when Jesse busted as I had second place at least. I just concentrated on my game – surviving. I knew what I had to do so I just kept at it.”

“Coming into the final table I was very relaxed. I was just happy to be there. Making the points yesterday was my final table. No matter what happened today I was happy.”

Chevalier plans to use his POTY prize to head to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January as well as play the APPT and ANZPT events next season.

As play continued, the short-stacked Glenn Parry fought back well from being crippled on the bubble to collecting a nice payday for his seventh place before Jamie Hill was jacked by Drake when Hill’s A♦4♥ was outflopped by Drake’s J♦5♥ when a jack hit the flop. It wouldn’t be the last time we would see that happen.

New Caledonian PokerStars Qualifier Jonathan Dangio looked dangerous throughout the final table, especially early on when a burst of big cards, including pocket aces three times within the first two hours, saw him climb to the chip lead. However the aces failed him when Fotios Manolakos turned a straight and rivered a sweet king-high straight flush.

From there Dangio was on the short stack and couldn’t recover. He three-bet shoved his pocket threes and Drake was again the destroyer as his K♥9♠ paired both cards on the board.

However it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Queenslander as he exchanged chips back and forth in a titanic struggle with local Mark Taylor. Drake doubled up the short stack with his A♣Q♥ falling to Taylor’s K♠J♥ before Drake got some revenge moments later with his 6♦8♣ catching a pair against Taylor’s A♣3♥. It was one of the rare moments that Drake needed some luck and, crucially, he found it.

At the dinner break, Brett Dannevig was the chip leader but with stomachs satisfied the pace of play picked up following the break.

Fotios Manolakos found some luck when he rivered a three-outer when his K♣9♠ caught a nine-ball against Mark Taylor’s K♠Q♦, before Taylor’s defiant run came to an end in fourth place. Taylor had doubled up on numerous occasions throughout the day, and would never say die, but the good run ended when his 6♥6♠ fell behind the Q♠J♠ of Jack Drake when a jack appeared on the flop.

Maybe there’s something in a name as Jack Drake’s love affair with the knave continued soon after when he called the all-in bet of Fotios Manolakos on a flop of 6♥J♥5♠. Drake had once again paired the jack with his K♠J♣ as Manolakos was drawing with his 8♦7♦. The turn and river bricked to eliminate Manolakos and leave us heads up for the title.

Jack Drake held a massive chip lead over Brett Dannevig, but that all changed around very quickly as two double ups flipped the advantage. The second double was an astonishing three-outer river after the two got their chips in on a 7♦7♣T♣ flop with Drake’s J♠T♠ in front of Dannevig’s T♦8♦. The turn was the 5♣, leaving nearly half the deck for Drake to win the title. Even a chop would’ve been ok, but the 8♣ river was the only card Drake didn’t want to see as his world had just been turned upside down.

However Drake stuck to his task and also stuck a flop when his K♦T♣ got paid off on a 2♣5♦T♦ flop against Dannevig’s A♥5♣. That put Drake back in front and he finished the job when he moved all in with A♦4♦ and Dannevig called with K♥9♥. The board ran out Q♣Q♥2♣5♦5♣ and the title had been decided as Jack Drake was crowned the ANZPT Darwin champion!

Final Table Results
1st Jack Drake (Australia) – $36,480
2nd Brett Dannevig (Australia) – $24,960
3rd Fotios Manolakos (Australia) – $16,640
4th Mark Taylor (Australia) – $12,800
5th Jonathan Dangio (New Caledonia) – $10,880
6th Jamie Hill (Australia) – $8,960
7th Glenn Parry (Australia) – $7,040
8th Danny Chevalier (Australia) – $5,760
9th Aaron Benton (Australia) – $4,480

ANZPT will be back again next year so keep an eye on PokerStars for further announcements and online satellites to the first event of Season Four. Until then, the next major event on the local calendar is the Macau Poker Cup Championships which kicks off Tuesday at the Grand Lisboa Casino in Macau.

By Heath Chick
Sponsored by PokerStars.net
Photos: Kirsty Chick

There’s an old saying that the cream always rises to the top. During times of intense pressure, when the game is there to be won and everything is on the line, the best will not only survive, but thrive. Tonight we find ourselves in the city of Melbourne and the heart of poker down under. However there’s something a little bit special in the air tonight, and we’re not talking about body odour.

While the Crown Poker Room is choc-a-block full of tournaments, sit & gos and cash game tables, everyone in the room only had one eye on their cards. The other was firmly fixed on one of the plethora of big screens around the room as the Australian Football League Preliminary Final had the local crowd glued to the enthralling action.

For those not familiar with our great game, tonight’s match was a battle of the titans with the irresistible force of Hawthorn pitted against the immovable object in Collingwood. It was a heads-up battle to the death that went down to the wire. 90,000-plus screaming fans filled the MCG to see Collingwood spike a two-outer river for a memorable come-from-behind victory to stay alive to reach the AFL Grand Final. It was one of the great games of all time.

Perhaps it’s a sign of things to come for us in this great city over the next few days as the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne series prepares for a final of its own. The $2,200 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event is set to pitch the best poker players in the country against each other in the country’s premier poker room.

When a poker player gets off the plane and walks in the doors of the world-class Crown Casino, they know there is big money, silverware and bragging rights up for grabs. They too must rise to the challenge.

Already we’ve seen several players do exactly that, with well-known local pros grabbing wins in the preliminary events throughout the week. Luke McLean, Peter Aristidou, Trung Tran, Jai Kemp and 2009 APPT Sydney champion Aaron Benton have all risen to the top this week to claim impressive wins to add another trophy to their collection. And as this article is beamed out to the world, the $5,000 High Rollers event is heading towards an exciting conclusion. Aussie Millions third place finisher Jeff Rossiter currently leads the way, with Australian Poker Hall of Famer Billy Arygros and young guns Andy Hinrichsen and Jarred Graham still in contention.

While they duke it out, many others will now be focussing on the $2,200 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event. It’s the second-last event of Season 3, and with a big field expected, there are valuable points up for grabs to try and reel in the lead of ANZ Player of the Year leader Leo Boxell. Jesse McKenzie and Ricky Kroesen are certainly within striking distance while several others can still challenge for the top three for a share of the approx $80,000 in cash and prizes for the Player of the Year award.

ANZ Player of the Year Top Ten
1st – Leo Boxell – 244.10
2nd – Jesse McKenzie – 193.90
3rd – Ricky Kroesen – 190.78
4th – Danny Chevalier – 178.60
5th – Octavian Voegele – 162.45
6th – Charles Caris – 161.40
7th – Oliver Grujic – 150.45
8th – David Gorr – 141.95
9th – Mario Ljubicic – 141.15
10th – Grant Levy – 139.50

By Heath Chick
Sponsored by PokerStars.net

After an eventful fortnight that has seen seven new side event champions crowned, the long awaited Sydney Championships Main Event finally got underway yesterday with 135 players taking their seats and a shot at winning one of Australia’s most prestigious titles.

The first of two flights lasted just under 10 hours with 48 players surviving the cut to progress through to Saturday’s Day 2 and despite the generous blinds structure the action was fast and furious in the closing stages as the short stacks endeavoured to go hard or go home.

Among those to fall short 2007 APPT Sydney champion Grant Levy, the always dangerous Andrew Scarf, 2010 APPT Sydney fourth-place finisher Peco Stojanovski and Martin Comer.
However there were no such worries for Australia’s top female player, Jackie Glazier, who cruised through with a healthy stack of 106,400 – good for third spot in the chip counts.

“I pretty much sat around with double the average all day which was nice,” she said. “I actually turned up about two hours late but I pulled off a big bluff early on and the pot was fairly big so it all went from there. “I didn’t actually have a lot of showdowns today which is always a good thing. I’m pretty happy with how it all went and the structure is good too.” Asked about wielding one of the big stacks on Saturday, Glazier smiled “Yeah, I’m going to win it!”

Although Glazier is looking good for a deep run this week, she still trails the two monster stacks of the day with Hun Wei Lee and Julian Malki almost doubling their nearest flight one rivals.

Lee currently leads the way with a whopping 212,000 while Malki isn’t far behind on 198,600.

Also through to Day 2 are Michael O’Grady, Justin Cohen, Sheldon Mayer and Aaron Benton who endured a roller-coaster ride through the day before a late double-up allowed him to stack up a very playable 31,000 with blinds at 500/1,000 when play resumes on Saturday.

Flight Two kicks off just after midday today with a big field expected to take their seats including last year’s Main Event champion Andrew Capelin.

Top chip counts after Flight 1:

Hun Wei Lee – 212,000
Julian Malki – 198,600
Jackie Glazier – 106,400
Eamon Lunders – 97,600
Michael O’Grady – 91,100
Honglin Jiang – 90,500
John Donohue – 86,600
Obrad Milinkovic – 85,300
Manase Ova – 83,400
Mark Abay – 83,000
Minh Nguyen – 81,400
Trudie Sultana – 68,800
Justin Cohen – 68,200
Chris Ciardi – 68,000
Sheldon Mayer – 66,900

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

Already known as one of Australia’s top live tournament players, Daniel Neilson added yet another trophy to his rapidly growing cabinet last night with victory in the $550 6-Handed event at Star City.

The sixth event on this year’s Sydney Championships schedule attracted a quality field of 112 players with the likes of Jackie Glazier, Grant Levy, Jai Kemp, John Caridad and Aaron Benton all hitting the felt but none could match it with Neilson.

Having won the High Stakes event at last year’s Sydney Champs for $103,500, he continued his impressive run in the Harbour City as he proceeded to make light work of the final table over the course of three hours last night.
“It’s always good to get another win but it was a bit of a roller-coaster,” Neilson said.

“I kept losing hands at showdown at the start, I couldn’t win one, but I just kept raising and getting chips back that way. The table was pretty tight other than Ciaran (Sharpe, runner-up) so it gave me some good opportunities to build my stack.”

Ironically, Sharpe finished third in this same event 12 months ago – as well as running deep in the Main Event – and went one better this time around but fell agonisingly short of a breakthrough win.

On the final hand, Neilson turned two pair holding K-9 on a 9-6-7-K board and snap-called Sharpe’s 4-bet shove – the latter showing K-10 and unable to catch his three-outer on the river.

“Ciaran was playing pretty well – he took the chip lead at one stage heads-up and he was tough to play against but he got unlucky on that last hand,” Neilson said.

While Sharpe will have to wait a while longer to score his first trophy, Neilson added yet another notch to his belt to take his 2011 earnings to around $130,000.

His deep runs over the past 12 months alone have included his win in the High Rollers event at last year’s Sydney Championships, success in a Turbo NLHE tournament at ANZPT Darwin, sixth in the APT Macau Main Event (good for $30,000), second in the 6-Handed event at the Aussie Millions for $56,175 and another win in the High Stakes event at ANZPT Perth for $50,000.

He joked after his win that it might be time he finally bought himself a trophy cabinet, “because I haven’t actually got one yet”, but more satisfying was matching the feat of good friend and 2010 APPT Sydney champion Jonathan Karamalikis who won a WCOOP (World Championships of Online Poker) event only hours earlier (with Neilson, ironically, finishing seventh in the same event).

The pair have made any number of final tables together over the years – particularly in High Stakes events – and are always quick to let each other know about their own achievements.

“There is a definitely a rivalry there to see who can win the most trophies,” Neilson laughed.

The final table placings were as follows:

1st: Daniel Neilson – $15,260
2nd: Ciaran Sharpe – $10,220
3rd: John Donohue – $7,840
4th: David St Eloi – $5,320
5th: Andrew Scarf – $3,920
6th: Kyle Greenway – $2,940

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

Kristina Jeney overcame illness, a monster field and an aggressive final table to score arguably the biggest result of her burgeoning poker career by taking out the $330 Sydney Championships Opening Event at Star City.

Buoyed by a breakthrough year in which she has cashed for well over $100,000, Jeney showed tremendous composure to build a big stack early and then dominate the latter stages of a final table that boasted the likes of 2010 NPL 500 champion Terry Tserdanis, noted tournament pro Patrick Fletcher and overnight chip leader Michael Ryan, who finished fourth at this year’s Aussie Millions.

She collected $37,408 for her win.“I played really solid,” she said. “I started Day 2 with about 30,000 in chips which was right on average but made it to the final table third which was really good. “It’s great to win but I’m exhausted now. I’ve been sick the past three days and wasn’t even supposed to play so I’m pretty happy to get this one.”

Jeney won a big pot early when she flopped a full house holding pocket Jacks but it was a massive flip against fellow big stack Michael Ryan with three players remaining that set her on the path for victory.

The pair had tussled throughout the day with Jeney at one stage calling time as Ryan tanked to consider a shove from a shorter stack with five players still in the hunt. Ryan, in disbelief, replied ‘Are you serious? You’re out of line’ before eventually folding but it was Jeney that had the final say when she later called Ryan’s shove to be racing with A-10s against his 3s.

The flop was a safe one for Ryan but running diamonds gave Jeney the nut flush and saw her take a huge 7:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Kris Nestorovic. Facing such a deficit, Nestorovic barely put up a fight as Jeney steamrolled her way to victory.

On the final hand, the chips all went into the middle on a 3-4-6 board with Jeney holding 10-5s for an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw and Nestorovic with 4-7 for middle pair.

The 8 on the turn didn’t change anything but the river 2 gave Jeney the straight and the win. “I felt like I played heads- up pretty solid – I put the pressure on him,” she said. “I didn’t have amazing cards but I had the stack so I thought I could use that to put him to some decisions.
“Also, he was very aggressive so he was an easier player to play back at. “But I think I played the final table really well and I picked my spots. There were a few hands when I got a bit lucky but to win any tournament you’ve just got to play the best you can and hope that your hands hold. You can’t do any more than that.”

A total of 510 players – including Aaron Benton, Grant Levy, Brendon Rubie, Sam Khouiss, Andrew Scarf and Martin Rowe – stumped up the $330 entry fee for the Opening Event, creating a prize pool of $153,000 and setting the tone for a huge week ahead.

2011 Sydney Championships Opening Event Results

1st Kristina Jeney – $37,408
2nd Kris Nestorovic – $23,485
3rd Michael Ryan – $12,928
4th Yek Goky – $10,021
5th Patrick Vartuli – $8,109
6th Patrick Fletcher – $6,579
7th Marcial Dias – $5,049
8th Terry Tserdanis – $3,825
9th Joseph Deguara – $2,754

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker