The final table began with nine players from an original starting field of 306 who battled for a total prize pool of over $850,000. The final table was made up of four locals and five poker tourists from around the world, including an Aussie, a Singaporean, a Dane and a Brit. Final table play lasted a gruelling nine hours. In the final hand, second-place winner Aussie Matthew Konnecke called with As-9s against Daniel’s unsuited pocket twos and the board fell to the local’s favour, making Daniel Craker the APPT Auckland Champion.
Elated to triumph in front of his home crowd, Daniel commented directly following his win: “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.”
PokerStars.net APPT Auckland attracted a world-class field, with some of the sport’s finest talent, including Team PokerStars Pros Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and New Zealand-based Lee Nelson. Coming from 21 different nations, with as many as 67 players qualifying via online satellites at PokerStars, the 306-strong field was cheered on by hundreds of local fans at SKYCITY, creating a high-energy tournament experience. It was also the largest poker tournament ever in New Zealand, by both player numbers and prize pool.
President of the APPT, Jeffrey Haas commented on Poker in the region: “The second season of the APPT is showcasing the phenomenal growth of Poker and Poker Culture across Asia Pacific. We are delighted to hold the biggest poker tournament in New Zealand history and look forward to working with SKYCITY in the future.”
In its second year, The Asia Pacific Poker Tour, the region’s biggest and most successful poker tour has expanded to five markets, with the first event held in Macau September 1-9 setting records for both the largest number of participants and prize pool ever in Asia. The fourth stop will be in Manila, Philippines at the Hyatt Hotel & Casino on November 13-16 and concludes with the APPT Grand Final at the beautiful Star City Casino in Sydney, Australia on December 2-7, 2008. Today’s winner of the APPT Auckland has received an entry to the tournament in Sydney. For further information on the APPT visit www.appt.com.
The final standings and monies earned in NZD/US dollars are as follows:
1st Daniel Craker (NZD 257,040/USD 234,000)
2nd Matthew Konnecke (NZD 167,792/USD 153,398)
3rd Wai Kwan Yuen (NZD 85,680/USD 51,132.64)
4th Dan Sing New Zealand (NZD 59,976/USD 35,793)
5th Luke Stanford, New Zealand (NZD 46,267/USD 27,611)
6th Nathanael Seet, Singapore (NZD 34,272/USD 20,453)
7th Jani Karke (NZD 25,704/USD 15,339)
8th Michael Mariakis, Sydney, Australia (NZD 19,706/USD 11,760)
9th Wai Kwan Yuen, Birmingham, United Kingdom (NZD 14,281/USD 8,692)