The first six events of Season 2 of the PokerStars-sponsored Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) were announced in recent days, with Adelaide set to host the first event from February 9th to 14th.
The buy-in for the kickoff tournament of the tour’s second season weighs in at AUD $3,000 and the festivities will be held at the Adelaide Casino. The venue’s Poker Manager, David Galpin, commented in a press release distributed by the world’s largest online poker site, “We are looking forward to the return of the ANZPT in Adelaide after the wonderful success of the first year and we are excited to see the event grow and flourish.” The Main Event is capped at 360 players and preliminary tournaments will get underway in the Australian city on February 2nd.
In an interesting rule found on the ANZPT’s website, iPods are not allowed at the Adelaide event due to government policy. In addition, the casino has a strict stance against string betting and out of turn bettors will forfeit their contribution to the pot should they ultimately choose to fold. Poker players who win their way in through PokerStars will tour wineries and other nearby attractions during their trip.
After Adelaide, a brand new ANZPT event in Perth will play out, with the Burswood Entertainment Complex serving as the epicenter of the Australian poker market beginning on March 17th. The AUD $2,500 buy-in Main Event will name a champion four days later and the field is capped at 300 runners. On the new event, Jason Barry, General Manager of Table Games at Burswood Entertainment Complex, commented in the same release, “We feel this is just what our players have been waiting for and we expect big numbers will take part in the first PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth tournament.”
A total of five events made up Season 1 of the ANZPT, which kicked off in February in Adelaide. Tournaments followed in Sydney, Melbourne, Queenstown, and Queensland. In the finale of ANZPT Season 1, Scott Kerr earned AUD $168,075 for defeating a field of 249 players back in August. The largest field during Season 1 turned out in Sydney, where nearly 500 players took to the felts. The conclusion of that event saw Paren Arzoomanian scoop the AUD $246,500 first place prize.
A combined 1,309 players took part in Season 1 events and nearly $3 million in prize money was doled out. Here is the schedule for what promises to be a lively Season 2 on the PokerStars-backed ANZPT:
ANZPT Adelaide: Adelaide Casino
February 9th to 14th
Buy-in: AUD $3,000
ANZPT Perth: Burswood Entertainment Complex
March 17th to 21st
Buy-in: AUD $2,500
ANZPT Sydney: Star City Casino
April 21st to 25th
Buy-in: AUD $2,200
ANZPT Queenstown: Sky City Queenstown
July 17th to 25th
Buy-in: NZD $2,500
ANZPT Gold Coast: Conrad Jupiters
August 11th to 15th
Buy-in: AUD $2,500
ANZPT Melbourne: Crown Casino
October 8th to 11th
Buy-in: TBD
More stops will likely be added to Season 2 of the ANZPT, although no further information was available at the time of writing. A tournament leaderboard held during the first season of the tour saw Tony Hachem emerge victorious after cashing in four of the five ANZPT Season 1 events. For his leaderboard win, Hachem took home entry into Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) events as well as the 2010 Aussie Millions. Chris Levick, who finished in second place on the leaderboard, gained entry into every ANZPT Season 2 event.
In addition to the ANZPT and APPT, PokerStars also sponsors the European Poker Tour (EPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), Italian Poker Tour (IPT), Czech-Slovak Poker Tour (CSPT), Russian Poker Tour (RPT), and U.K. and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT).