After thirteen days and nine events Sydney Championships has finally wrapped up.

The third annual Sydney Championships was a successful campaign and had many of Australia’s top pros participating.

Congratulations to Star City Big Game Poker’s management Stephen Ibrahim and Julie Smedley (pictured), Poker marketing manager Peter Yang and all the poker staff  for designing and running a magnificent tournament campaign.

Congratulations also goes out to all the winners of the nine events.

There are more big  poker tournaments to come at Star City. We will keep you updated as they are announced.

Below are the results for each event:

EVENT 1 – OPENING EVENT NLH
1st – Kristina L. Jeney – $37,408
2nd – Kristivoje Nestorovic – $23,485
3rd – Michael Ryan – $12,928
4th – Yekta Gokyidrim – $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
10th – Michael J Harrington – $1,989
11th – Kiel Cram – $1,989
12th – Benny Phillips – $1,989
13th – Adrian Liew – $1,607
14th – Sam Khouiss – $1,607
15th – Brendan Rubie – $1,607
16th – Todor Kondevski – $1,377
17th – Ashley Johnstone – $1,377
18th – Todd Allison – $1,377
19th – Chris Lee – $1,224
20th – Christopher Harris – $1,224
21st – Fereno Matus – $1,224
22nd – David Hirst – $1,071
23rd – Nathan Sawyers – $1,071
24th – Jason Pritchard – $1,071
25th – Shuai Chang – $918
26th – Adam Agresta – $918
27th – David J Menz – $918
28th – Shiva Panchalingam – $841
29th – En Xin Jan – $841
30th – Alan Casas – $841
31st – Jimmy Ghobrial – $841
32nd – John Dale – $841
33rd – Joshua Foster – $841
34th – Chris Bridle – $765
35th – Marcus Pritchard – $765
36th – Ross Stevenson – $765
37th – Tat Hung Wong – $765
38th – Chris Ayoub – $765
39th – Teresa-Ann Natoli – $765
40th – Matthew J Rolfe – $765
41st – Quoc Nguyen – $689
42nd – Joey Masangcay – $689
43rd – Timothy De Pater – $689
44th – Jeremie lopez – $689
45th – Jonathone Prime – $689
46th – David Ndaira – $689
47th – Mete Teoman – $689
48th – Sam Capra – $612
49th – Khee-Trung Tran – $612
50th – Simon Cartile – $612
51st – Peter Apostolu – $612
52nd -Azz Benton – $612

EVENT 2 – AUSTRALIAN POKER WEEKLY NLH
1st – Rhys Gould – $18,270
2nd – Steve Zhou – $11,340
3rd – Effie Bouyioukos – $7,245
4th – Amit Shahi – $5,040
5th – David Logan – $4,410
6th – Nathan Davis – $3,780
7th – Vlastimil Kral – $3,150
8th – Simon Palmer – $2,520
9th – Obrad Milinkovic – $1,890
10th – Giuseppe Gumina – $1,575
11th – Craig Blight – $1,260
12th – Michael Weiss – $1,260
13th – Julian Malki – $1,260

EVENT 3 – LADIES NLH
1st – Cheryl Paton – $2,660
2nd – Suzy Khoueis – $1,596
3rd – Ruth Jones – $1,064

EVENT 4 – $1K SYDNEY SPECIAL NLH
1st – Nhon Ta – $21,450
2nd – Eddie Saade – $13,860
3rd – Nicholas Wright – $9,900
4th – David Sanis – $6,600
5th – Trudie Sultana – $4,950
6th – Honglin Jiang – $3,630
7th – David Menz – $2,970
8th – Wei Zhu – $2,640

EVENT 5 – POT LIMIT OMAHA
1st – Minh Hau Nguyen – $12,838
2nd – Gregory Cook – $8,097
3rd – Neil Mortimer-Fox – $5,333
4th – Martin Poytress – $3,752
5th – Zhixin Yao – $2,963
6th – Anthony Kanaan – $2,567
7th – Michael Mariakis – $2,173
8th – Michael Cook – $1,777

EVENT 6 – SIX HANDED NLH
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
7th – Jackqeline Glazier – $2,100
8th – David Rodwell – $2,100
9th – Peco Stojanovski – $2,100
10th – Michael Comer – $1,400
11th – Nhon Huu Ta – $1,400
12th – Guilano Nobili – $1,400

EVENT 7 – TEAMS NLH
1st  -  Michael Barnes / Tom Barnes – $8,100
2nd – Toby Ryall / Nick Polias – $4,500
3rd – Nashman Nashaar /Adrian K Liew – $3,240
4th – Graeme Putt / Joseph Cabret – $2,160

EVENT 8 – MAIN EVENT
1st – Errolyn Strang – $119,542
2nd – John Donohue – $75,600
3rd – Kamyar Ekrami – $42,525
4th – Michael O’Grady – $33,075
5th – Graham Hounsell – $27,169
6th – Tom Motherwell – $22,207
7th – Nick Polias – $17,483
8th – Narbeh Hovsepian – $13,703
9th – Hang Ngoc Nhan – $9,923
10th – Daniel Leather – $7,087
11th – Maryann Farrugia – $7,087
12th – David Campbell – $7,087
13th – Yekta Gokyildirim – $5,906
14th – Jason Gray – $5,906
15th – Nhon Huu Ta – $5,906
16th – Jackqueline Glazier – $5,198
17th – Hun Wei Lee – $5,198
18th – John Thompson – $5,198
19th – Trudyie Sultana – $4,725
20th – Tty Ly – $4,725
21st – Justin Cohen – $4,725
22nd – Bruce Hall – $4,253
23rd – Michel Bouskila – $4,253
24th – Nabil Edgtton – $4,253
25th – Sheldon Mayer – $3,780
26th – Connie Lal – $3,780
27th – Sam Steindl – $3,780
28th – Laurence Hall – $3,307
29th – Chris Bridle – $3,307
30th – Obrad Milinkovic – $3,307
31st – Jason Ward – $2,835
32nd – Minh Hau Nguyen – $2,835
33rd – Marc Liddell – $2,835

EVENT 9 – CHARITY EVENT
1st – Joel Cohen – $1,400
2nd – Phillip Baker – $600

THE field was packed full of seasoned professionals and live tournament regulars but in the end it was a mother of two from Wollongong that outlasted them all to be crowned Sydney Championships main event winner.

Errolyn Strang, who returns to her full-time job as a TAFE teacher this morning, survived a rollercoaster final table and a heads-up battle that lasted an exhausting four hours to score the biggest win of her career and the $119,542 first prize.

Still shaking after finally dispatching of runner-up John Donohue at around midnight last night, Strang described her victory as one of the proudest moments of her life.

“I love playing poker and I’m just really excited – really, really excited,” she said. “I just felt good today and I had a great heads-up match that went for about four hours. The luck and the cards fell my way.”

Strang outlasted a field of 313 players, including former champions Jarred Graham and Andrew Capelin, to win the Main Event but it was the dramatic final table that will linger on her mind forever.

Playing the patience game early, she found herself short on chips at one stage before a huge double-up set her on her way when she got it in holding 6-7 on a K-5-8 board and rivered a straight. From there Strang was never short on chips and looked set to make light work of heads-up play until Donohue decided to make life difficult.

Three times the Sydney Pizza Hut owner – who also finished third in the 6-handed event earlier in the week – was all-in for his tournament life and three times he doubled up to get himself back in the contest.

The first of those saw him flop a set of 3s against Strang’s A-K all-in pre, while one of the more dramatic hands of the day saw him turn the nut straight to Strang’s on a board that read K-J-7-8-x.

“The adrenalin was just running crazy the whole time,” Strang said when asked how she coped with so many near misses before eventually finishing the job.

“I had to change my game so I limped in with Kings, flopped top set and he turned the straight. I only tried one massive bluff early in the day and that didn’t work so when something wasn’t working I’d think ‘Okay change that’ or ‘What does this mean?’

“But heads-up has always been a really weak part of my game so I had to just slow down and think more about the hands.”
Although she is far from a household name just yet, Strang has enjoyed an impressive run of results of late with a sixth place finish at the recent NPL 500 and a second in the Wednesday $440 at Star City in July.

Ironically, this latest success comes as she prepares to take a year off work in 2012.

“I’ve got a whole year off… so watch out,” she laughed. “The world here I come. “It’s been such an exciting week and I’m just so glad that women are coming to the fore in poker. I saw that another lady won the opening event too (Kristina Jeney) which is really good.”

The final table had initially looked set to finish in quick time when Hang Ngoc Nhan ran his top pair into Donohue’s set of 7s early on to become the tournament’s ninth-place finisher and overnight chip leader Tom Motherwell lost his advantage in similar circumstances against Kamyar Ekrami’s set of 4s.

But after the first four players were sent to the rail in a little over two hours, play grinded to a standstill five-handed as another three hours passed before we lost our fifth-place finisher (Graham Hounsell).

There would also be no breakthrough win for final table regulars Michael O’Grady or Ekrami – the latter taking an early chip lead but riding his luck throughout before he ran his A-Q into the Kings of Donohue to bow out in third.
Strang will forever hold a special place in Sydney’s poker history as the last person to win a poker tournament at Star City: this week represents the official relaunch of Star City Casino which will be known as The Star from now on following its spectacular $860 million redevelopment.

The Sydney Championships final table placings are:

1st: Errolyn Strang – $119,542
2nd: John Donohue – $75,600
3rd: Kamyar Ekrami – $42,525
4th: Michael O’Grady – $33,075
5th: Graham Hounsell – $27,169
6th: Tom Motherwell – $22,207
7th: Nick Polias – $17,483
8th: Narbeh Hovsepian – $13,703
9th: Hang Ngoc Nhan – $9,923

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

IT took the best part of 14 hours on a dramatic Day 2 to get there but the final table of the 2011 Sydney Championships Main Event is set and ready to go.

A total of 121 players returned to the Star City poker room yesterday – every one of them hoping to reach the last nine – but in the end only a handful survived to take their shot at the $119,542 first prize.

Among those on the final table are local regulars Kamyar Ekrami and Graham Hounsell, John Donohue who ran deep in the same event last year and 2010 ANZPT Sydney final fourth-place finisher Michael O’Grady who is looking to put a run of near misses behind him with his first major live victory.
O’Grady currently sits second in chips behind chip leader and tournament veteran Tom Motherwell – the only player to currently crack the million chip mark.

Play began with a rush yesterday as the short stacks looked to double up or head home with the 121 surviving players slashed to less than 60 within only a few hours but play tightened up considerably as the money bubble approached.

The top 33 finishers at this year’s event were guaranteed a minimum of $2,835 with those to make the money including Connie Lai (26th), Sheldon Mayer (25th), Justin Cohen ($4,725) and Jackie Glazier ($5,198).

Mayer now holds the rare distinction of having reached the money in all three Sydney Championships Main Events since the tournament was first held in 2009.

The final table kicks off at 2pm today with the chip counts as follows:

Seat 1: Tom Motherwell – 1,222,000
Seat 2: Hang Nhan – 703,000
Seat 3: Nick Polias – 406,000
Seat 4: Graham Hounsell – 555,000
Seat 5: Errolyn Strang – 548,000
Seat 6: Kamyar Ekrami – 915,000
Seat 7: Michael OGrady – 978,000
Seat 8: John Donohue – 599,000
Seat 9: Narbeh Horsepian – 401,000

The final table payouts will be:

1st: $119,542
2nd: $75,600
3rd: $42,525
4th: $33,075
5th: $27,169
6th: $22,207
7th: $17,483
8th: $13,703
9th: $9,923

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

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

He might not be big on words but his actions spoke volumes last night as Nhon Ta crushed the final table in under three hours to win the $1100 Sydney Special event at Star City.

The fourth event of this year’s Sydney Championships, Ta and overnight chip leader Eddie Saade wasted no time in cutting down the field with the eight remaining players slashed to just three within an hour before Ta took control to claim the $21,450 first prize.

Saade had previously looked set to continue his impressive run through the 66-man field after cracking Nicholas Wright’s Aces when he flopped trip 9s to go into heads-up play on an even keel but Ta was ruthless as he proceeded to chip away at his rival before finishing the deal when his A-8 held on against Saade’s K-9 all-in pre-flop.

“I’m very happy,” he said. “I played very well today. He (Saade) liked to protect his blinds and I was very aware of that so I picked my spots against him and tried to get it in good. I wanted to wear him down and that’s what I did.”
Ta, 33, from Cabramatta, is a regular cash game player at Star City but can now count Sydney Championships tournament winner among his list of achievements.

However, the award for unluckiest player at the final table goes to sixth place finisher Honglin Jiang who got it in good with Queens against Ta’s A-10 early in the day only for an Ace to appear in the window. For those with long memories, Jiang enjoyed a stunning run at last year’s Sydney Championships with a win in the $1100 6-handed event for $19,600 and a third-place finish in the Main Event – good for another $48,461. He added another $3,630 for his efforts over the past two days.

$1100 Sydney Special NLHE Results:

1st: Nhon Ta – $21,450
2nd: Eddie Saade – $13,860
3rd: Nicholas Wright – $9,900
4th: David Sanis – $6,600
5th: Trudie Sultana – $4,950
6th: Honglin Jiang – $3,630
7th: David Menz – $2,970
8th: Wei Zhu – $2,640

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

It was a hectic day in the Star City poker room with two more events also kicking off as the Sydney Championships hit top gear.

The $300 Ladies Event was run and won within the space of around seven hours with the players quickly working their way down to the final table before Cheryl Paton emerged victorious.

Paton bubbled the final table of the Victorian Poker Championships two years ago but went all the way here in Sydney to pick up the coveted trophy for her efforts.
Suzy Khoueis finished runner-up with Ruth Jones third.

And the eight remaining players in Event 4 – $1,100 Sydney Special No Limit Hold’em – return today to fight it out for the $21,450 first prize. A total of 66 players took their seats yesterday including Daniel Neilson, Jackie Glazier and 2010 APPT Sydney fourth-place finisher Peco Stojanovski with the final table chip counts as follows:

Seat 1: Trudie Sultana – 138,000
Seat 2: Nhon Ta – 210,900
Seat 3: David Sanis – 128,500
Seat 4: Eddie Saade – 219,000
Seat 5: Honglin Jiang – 78,000
Seat 6: Wei Zhu – 53,000
Seat 7: David Menz – 52,000
Seat 8: Nicholas Wright – 107,500

Click here to see all the photos

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

An eventful final table almost saw a remarkable comeback win before overnight chip leader Rhys Gould finally prevailed to clinch his first live trophy in the Australian Poker Weekly $550 event at the Sydney Championships last night.

The Sydney student looked set to cruise to victory after dominating early play to build a stack of over 1,000,000 in chips but a bizarre hand that should have seen him reach heads-up play inside two hours briefly threatened to turn the tournament on its head.

With four players remaining, Gould min-raised on the button only to see Yibo Zhou 3-bet out of the small blind. Amit Shahi then shoved from the big blind with Gould shipping all-in over the top.

Zhou tanked for a good three minutes before eventually folding Kings face-up. Gould showed Aces and Shahi Q-Q as the board blanked to cut the field to three. Zhou’s fold almost proved a masterstroke, however, as he proceeded to win a series of flips to take the lead in heads-up play before Gould regained the ascendency for the title. But he admitted afterwards that he was baffled by Zhou’s big fold.

“It was honestly a ludicrous fold – you never fold Kings there – but the previous day I saw him fold Queens twice in similar spots so I wasn’t that surprised,” Gould said. “At the end of the day it was good to pick up the win.”
Gould was by far the most aggressive player at a final table that boasted six players on little more than 10 big blind stacks at the start of play (Gould had more than 100) and his victory was well deserved.

On the final hand, he 3-bet all-in with Kings – Zhou calling with A-9 before a King on the flop all but sealed the deal.

“There were a lot of 10bb stacks so I couldn’t just aggress relentlessly but as soon as people got to 20 or 30 big blinds I started opening every hand to try and pick up every dead pot,” the 24-year-old said.“Everyone was fairly tight so it made it quite good for me.”

A total of 126 players took their seats in Event 2 including Brendon Rubie, Daniel Neilson and tournament host Tony Hachem with Gould picking up $18,270 for his win.

Left to right: Kamyar Ekrami APW champion 2009, Joel Cohen APW Champ 2010
and APW Tournament host 2009 and 2010 ANZPT Player Of The Year Tony Hachem.

APW Sydney Champs Event 2 final table

APW $550 Sydney Championships Event 2

1st: Rhys Gould – $18,270
2nd: Yibo Zhou – $11,340
3rd: Effie Bouyioukos – $7,245
4th: Amit Shahi – $5,040
5th: David Logan – $4,410
6th: Nathan Davis – $3,780
7th: Vlastimil Kral – $3,150
8th: Simon Palmer – $3,520
9th: Obrad Milinkovic – $1,890

Click here to see all the photos

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

Australian Poker Weekly’s annual No limit Holdem tournament which was usually held on the October long weekend is now part of the excitement of the Sydney Championships. Saturday 3rd September is the date to remember for the Australian Poker Weekly $550 NLH (Event 2). With this event being staged in the ‘prime” Saturday timeslot, a healthy roll up is expected creating what should be a very tidy prize pool in the process.

Back to back Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour Player Of The Year Tony Hachem is the host for the Australian Poker Weekly’s annual No limit Holdem tournament. Tony has told us that while he is the host, it does not mean that he will be taking it easy. “I love to compete and I will be trying my best to win the tournament” said Tony.

Date: Saturday 3 September, 12:30 PM
Buy in: $550^ ($500 + $50)
Starting Chips: $10,000 in non-value tournament chips
Blind Level Duration: 40 minutes

Register online: Go to www.biggamepoker.com.au and click on Tournament Registration button.

Also see Facebook invite by clicking here

Notes:
To enter any event in the Sydney Championships, you must be 18 years or over and a Total Star Rewards member or a Sovereign Room cardholder.

*Conditions apply. Prize pool based on 250 players. If there are less than 250 players Star City reserves the right to reduce the prize pool in accordance with the Pay-Out Breakdown in the Tournament conditions. Please refer to the Pay Out Breakdown in the Tournament Conditions above for details of available prize pools and prize values.

^Buy-in non-refundable less than five days prior to the Tournament, except at Star City’s discretion or if the Tournament is cancelled.

Membership to Total Star Rewards is FREE and available at a Total Star Rewards Centre.

Player activity statements for slot machine play are available on request. Think! About your choices. Call Gambling Help 1800 858 858 www.gamblinghelp.nsw.gov.au.

It only seems like yesterday we were toasting the feats of local cash game specialist Andrew Capelin as he out gunned 362 fellow combatants to take down the prestigious “gong” of Sydney Poker Championships winner for 2010.

It was just desserts for one of the real good guys of the poker scene as Andrew is a long suffering North Sydney supporter, and has done something his beloved Bears have struggled to do since the 1920’s and add some “silverware” to the trophy cabinet.

One year on and a lot of water has certainly flowed under the “Pyrmont Bridge“. As you make your way down Pyrmont Street, the Star City that you once knew is barely recognisable as it is in the finishing stages of a 960 million dollar facelift as part of the Future Star project. With the addition of several new bars, great new restaurants and a five star hotel, it is hard not to get excited about this world class entertainment venue nestled on the foreshores of the beautiful Darling Harbour precinct.

The excitement certainly does not stop there, with the revamped 2011 Sydney Champs schedule certain to whet the appetite of all poker enthusiasts around the land. Heading the revamp is the introduction of some larger starting stacks, longer blind levels and generally cheaper buy-ins for most events. The larger starting stacks and longer blind levels are certainly a recipe for plenty of “play time” on the felt. Couple this with the great value buy-ins and it ensures that all roads lead to the famous Star City poker room come August 30.

Event 1, the $330 NLH will kick off proceedings this year with flight 1 /flight 2 to be held on the 30th/31st of August respectively. There will also be a 3rd flight held on the 1st of September in the form of a repechage. So if you cop an ordinary “beat” in flight 1-2, as much as we want to hear that bad beat story, you may just have to put it on “ice” as the flight 3 repechage offers you a 2nd bite of the “cherry”. The opening event is always one of the most popular events of the championships, and with the great value buy-in of $330, it’s advisable to get your seats early as it would be no surprise to see the “house full” sign posted prior to start time.

Saturday the 3rd of September has been dedicated to the Australian Poker Weekly $550 NLH (Event 2). With this event being staged in the ‘prime” Saturday timeslot, a healthy roll up is expected creating what should be a very tidy prize pool in the process. Back to back ANZPT Player Of The Year Tony Hachem will be hosting the event.

Sunday the 4th of September is certainly known as “ladies day” this year as the fairer sex take centre stage. Our $300 Ladies NLH (Event 3) is another great addition to the 2011 line-up. This is without doubt the best tournament structure we have ever offered for a ladies event (8K starting stack, 40 min blind levels), which will allow plenty of time for the ladies to show all their poker attributes. So come on girls, leave your hubby in charge of the “lamb roast“ and make your way to the felt for your chance to be crowned Ladies Sydney Poker Champion of 2011. Has a nice ring to it… doesn’t it?

“Super Sunday” certainly does not stop there with another great inclusion to the schedule in the form of the $1,100 Sydney Special NLH (Event 4). A “special” event it is… with a massive 15k starting stack and 40 min blind levels awaiting all players here. With that much “bang for your buck”, a good sized turnout is assured, creating a “juicy” pay day for those “podium” finishers.

Monday the 5th of September sees the $550 PLO take centre stage (Event 5). This event gets three big “ticks” as part of the 2011 revamp. Larger starting stacks (10k), longer blind levels (40 mins) and the more affordable $550 buy-in should ensure a larger than usual starting field. PLO is also becoming increasingly popular with 2 cash game versions quite often run daily, so hopefully some of those new players will convert to the tournament format as the PLO is a great event to be a part of.

The 6 handed $550 NLH (Event 6) headlines Tuesday 6th of September. The short hand version of NLH is very popular amongst poker players, with a different skill set required. General consensus is that more “poker” is played on a 6 handed game, and with the increased starting stack up to 10K, I’m sure most players will be “chomping at the bit” to be a part of this event.

“That’s What Friends Are For”… that classic 1985 hit for soul diva Dionne Warwick… sums up Event 7 to a nicety. It’s the $880 Teams NLH, and what better way to spend a Wednesday afternoon (7th of September). The teams are a welcome addition to the 2011 schedule, with 2 players forming a team. At the end of each blind level, players will trade places. So start getting your teams together and remember the added bonus that if you were to “bust” out early, at least you have someone else to lay the blame on.

The words of iconic Aussie rock singer Angry Anderson’s “Bound for Glory” will be ringing in the minds of all players as they take their seats here. This is the one we have all been waiting for; it’s the 2011 Sydney Champs Main Event (Event 8). The Main Event Day 1 will be held over 2 flights (Thursday 8th & Friday 9th of September). A great starting stack of 20k plus 60 min blind levels should ensure there are not too many excuses for any player. Day 2 will take place on Saturday 10th with play culminating on Sunday the 11th of September where we will crown our Sydney Champs Champion for 2011.

Talking recently to last year’s winner Andrew Capelin, he certainly can’t wait for the opportunity to defend his title. With a strong contingent of local, interstate and players from abroad, Andrew knows it will be no easy feat to go “back to back”. Of the other locals with a big hope, this scribe finds it hard to go past the “doyen” of the Star City poker room in the form of Antonis “Toothpick Tony” Kambrogliou. Tony has been in a rich vein of form recently and rarely does a major event go by without the great man taking a major “slice of the pie”. Whatever way you want to look at it, exciting times lay ahead and I for one am marking off the days on the calendar until September 8 rolls around.

We round out proceedings this year with our Charity Event (Event 9). The $400 NLH tournament of which $250 will go to the prize pool and $150 to charity will be held on September 11. Our charity of choice this year is the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. Each year in Australia 3300 men die of prostate cancer with around 20,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Quite confronting statistics when you think about it, so if you’re not one of the lucky 9 on the Main Event table, this Charity Event is a great way to give something to a very worthy cause.

Further to the above 9 events, we will be running 3 multi table Sydney Champs Mega Satellites on Monday the 5th, Wednesday the 7th and Thursday the 8th (last chance) with $330 buy-ins. There is a 5k starting stack for these satellites with 20 min blind levels, and for every $1,650 in the prize pool, 1 Main Event ticket will be awarded. One table Sydney Champs ME satellites will also be available on demand throughout the Championships.

For all of those players travelling from interstate, overseas or just wishing to stay on site during the champs, we are delighted to be able offer a special discounted rate in Star City’s award winning hotel. Just call hotel reservations on 1800 700 700 and mention “Sydney Champs” to receive a great price. If you have any queries about the Sydney Champs or poker in general, please call us on (02) 9657 8787 or speak to one of the friendly poker staff on your next visit. Look forward to seeing you on the felt shortly.

By Shane Fernie