July 28 2012, Josh Bell

The 2012 PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Queenstown Snowfest Main Event played down to a final table on Saturday. Ken Demlakian leads the final nine and is in the best position to take home the title and the NZD$110,000 first-place prize.

The penultimate day of play began with 31 players, all with high hopes of making the final table. It took just a few minutes to eliminate three players at the start of Day 3 and from there, the eliminations kept flying fast and furiously. Six players were eliminated during the first level of the day, and almost half the field was gone by the end of the second.

In the early stages of the third level, 2009 APPT Sydney champion Aaron Benton was crippled when he three-bet shoved holding and ran into Tatjana Zizic’s . Benton held just a couple of big blinds after that hand and was eliminated a short while later when he ran into Ricky Kroesen’s .

It was also during the third level of the day that the money bubble was reached. First, Billy “The Croc” Argyros was eliminated in dramatic fashion two spots off the money. Argyros got his stack all-in holding against David Zhao’s and managed to turn a set after the flop housed an . It was looking good for Argyros to stay alive, but an on the river would give the lead back to Zhao and eliminate Argyros with no money to show for his three days at the felt. After Argyros’ elimination, hand-for-hand play would last around half an hour before Michael Kanaan was sent home as the “bubble boy.”

Kanaan had a roller coaster afternoon, first losing a huge chunk of his stack in a cooler situation when he lost set versus set against the eventual chip leader, Demlakian. It would then be Demlakian who sealed Kanaan’s fate, with Demlakian hitting a set on the river of a board after Kanaan got it in good on the flop holding .

With the bubble popped, the 15 remaining players were guaranteed at least a min-cash of NZD$7,050. The first few in-the-money eliminations occurred quickly, with Jason O’Brien going home in 15th place, Tatjana Zizic in 14th and Michael Fadersen in 13th. David Wonson was then eliminated in 12th place and only 11 players remained.

Play started to slow down at this point, with the prospect of making the final table fresh in the players’ minds. Eventually Stewart Ballard was eliminated in 11th place, followed by Chiu Yeung Lee in 10th. Lee got all his chips in the middle holding against Jordan Westmorland’s . The board ran out , giving Westmorland a straight and sending Lee home as the unlucky final table bubble-boy.

A stacked final nine includes some of the best players from around Australasia. Demlakian, who finished Day 1b as the chip leader, is followed closely by Westmorland and Zhao. Also at the final table are David Allan, Matt Wakeman and Kroesen. These three players are some of the most talented in Australia and so can not be ruled out. Also still in contention and looking to solidify his name as one of the best in the region is Team PokerStars Pro, Bryan Huang.

The full final table lineup, including chip counts, can be seen below.

2012 ANZPT Queenstown Snowfest Final Table

One of the above nine players will claim the ANZPT title and the NZ$110,600 first-place prize. Who will become the newest ANZPT champion? Make sure to join the PokerNews live reporting team from 1230 NZST Sunday (Sunday 1700 PDT) to find out!

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March 22 2012, Josh Bell

The fourth season of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour kicked off with Day 1a of the ANZPT Sydney Main Event. There were 214 players who began the day on Thursday evening, making it a huge field and setting the event on target to easily surpass the 393 players who took part in last year’s ANZPT Sydney. Of those players, approximately 98 will return on Day 2.

The player who finished up in the best shape at the end of Day 1a was Tobin Ryall. Throughout the day, Ryall accumulated chips and ended with a stack of 138,500. His largest pot came when he held on a board showing . That hand was enough to send his opponent’s cards into the muck and so began Ryall’s late domination.

Joining Ryall at the top of the counts will be Nabil Edgtton (125,100), Gordon Huntly (121,500) and Rhys Gould (119,600).

Although those players prospered on Day 1a, it wasn’t the same story for others. Tom Grigg, David Steicke, Aaron Benton, Daniel Neilson, Grant Levy and Andrew Hinrichsen were all eliminated throughout the day.

Also joining the above players on the rail was 2010 APPT Sydney champion, Jonathan Karamalikis.

Karamalikis was one of the early chip leaders on Thursday evening, but that all changed late in the night when nothing seemed to go his way. First Karamalikis lost a massive flip holding against and then he lost all but a few of chips when he missed his double-belly-buster draw holding on a board which showed . On the next hand, Karamalikis was all in for just 250 in chips and found no luck to save him from an exit.

Returning with plenty of chips on Day 2 will be Mishel Anunu (80,600), Oliver Speidel (70,900), Dan Kelly (70,600) and 2011 ANZPT Sydney champion, Michael Kanaan (70,200).

Peter Aristidou (52,400), Tony Hachem (48,100), Jackson Zheng (24,000) and Billy Argyros (22,600) will also return with a fighting chance on Day 2.

ANZPT Sydney End of Day 1a Chip Counts

The play on Day 1b is set to kick off on Friday at 1230 AEST (1930 PST Thursday). Make sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as they will again be on the floor providing all the action from the 2012 ANZPT Sydney Main Event.

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