The SKYCITY Casino in Auckland played host to the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Auckland event, which wrapped up on Sunday. There were 306 entrants and in the end, a local Kiwi, Daniel Craker, triumphed over the field and pocketed NZD $250,000. Four New Zealand natives made the nine-handed final table and the tournament lured some of the top names into the United States to make the transpacific flight to Auckland.
The SKYCITY Casino is located in downtown Auckland in the base of the Sky Tower, a 1,000 foot high spire rising high above the city’s skyline. It was a picturesque setting for this APPT event, which is sponsored by PokerStars. After his win, Craker commented, “I am so excited to take out New Zealand’s biggest poker tournament at SKYCITY Casino. I felt confident throughout the day though now I have the title, I think it will take at least until tomorrow morning for the victory to sink in.”
Here were the final ten who were left standing in Auckland along with their payouts. All prizes are listed in NZD:
1st Place: Daniel Craker (New Zealand) – $257,040
2nd Place: Matthew Konnecke (Australia) – $162,972
3rd Place: Wang Che Jung (New Zealand) – $85,680
4th Place: Dan Sing (New Zealand) – $59,976
5th Place: Luke Stanford (New Zealand) – $46,267
6th Place: Nathanael Seet (Singapore) – $34,272
7th Place: Jani Karke (Finland) – $25,704
8th Place: Michael Mariakis (Australia) – $19,706
9th Place: Wai Kwan Yuen (United Kingdom) – $14,565
10th Place: Eric Mutrie (Canada) – $10,281
In the final hand of the event, Craker’s pocket twos held up in a race situation against Konnecke’s A-9 of spades. Yuen was the only member of the final table who won his way on from a satellite on PokerStars, which serves as the official sponsor of the APPT, Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), and European Poker Tour (EPT). PokerStars customers can find a bevy of ways to satellite into these major live poker tournament series.
Craker actually entered the final table second in chips with 447,000, trailing Stanford’s leading stack of 860,000. He’s 30 years-old and from the country’s capital of Wellington, which is located south of Auckland. Stanford lives right by SKYCITY and is a regular in the Casino’s cash games.
The tournament itself broke records in New Zealand, manifesting the growing popularity of poker in that part of the world. Jeffrey Haas, the President of the APPT, describes some of the marks set in this year’s event: “With a prize pool of NZD $856,800 and 306 players confirmed, with 67 of these players qualifying online at PokerStars – this is more than double the top prize pool at any previous poker tournament in this country. This is a huge step forward for tournament poker in the Oceania region.” Also turning out for the event were PokerStars pros Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem, both WSOP Main Event winners.
Also held at the SKYCITY Casino was the High Roller Event, which was won by American Carter Gill, who took home nearly $50,000. Cashing for fifth in that event was Team PokerStars Pro member Lee Nelson, the winner of the 2006 Aussie Millions. Gill finished third in a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the 2008 World Series of Poker and banked $228,897. He is fresh off a 23rd place showing in the EPT London Main Event, where he cashed for £16,313.
From Auckland, the APPT will make its next stop in Manila, The Philippines. Here’s a look at the remainder of the schedule for the tournament series:
APPT Manila – Hyatt Hotel and Casino
November 13-16, 2008
Buy-in is PHP 100,000 (approximately USD $2,350)
APPT Sydney – Star City Casino
December 2-7, 2008
Buy-in is AUD $6,300 (approximately USD $5,930)