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Here are some early images from before today's event kicked off. Included in here are some fun shots of APPT President Danny McDonaugh and Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang playing some trademark Queenstown "Frisbee Golf".
Denver Lee managed to win his way into the ANZPT Queenstown Snowfest Main Event through a satellite ran here at the SKYCITY Queenstown Casino. Lee didn't have a great start to the day, seeing his stack fall well under 10,000 in chips. However, that has all changed recently, thanks to the following hand.
With a raise and three callers in front of him, a short-stacked Denver Lee moved all in from the small blind with the initial raiser, Campbell Melville, the only one to make the call.
Lee opened 
and was racing against the 
of Melville with tournament life on the line. The flop was a dry 
, and the 
turn card changed nothing. But the river was the 
as the ace from space landed to keep the satellite winner’s tournament alive with a nice double up. Lee now has a stack of around 17,000.
We just noticed that Daniel Neilson was wondering past the media desk and exiting the tournament area. With no chips left in front of his seat, it is safe to say that Neilson's tournament has come to and end. We managed to find out from some of the tournament staff that Neilson recently ran his 
into the 
of an opponent. The player his a queen on the flop and apparently, that was it for Neilson.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
While there are a few stacks hovering around 50,000 in chips, we can't see any player with a larger stack than World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner, Andrew Hinrichsen.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
55,000
34,000
|
34,000 |
|
||
|
45,000
-1,500
|
-1,500 |
|
|
40,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
35,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
30,000
-4,000
|
-4,000 |
|
30,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
|
30,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
|
25,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
21,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
18,000
-11,000
|
-11,000 |
|
16,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
13,000
-13,000
|
-13,000 |
|
12,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
7,000
-11,000
|
-11,000 |
Dave Allan has a great start to the day and is still sitting with the chip leaders after recently taking down a big pot to eliminate an opponent. We arrived on the turn to see a board of 
with Allan moving all in over his opponent’s bet of 4,200. Allan was met with a quick call and was shown 
for two pair but Allan had him pipped with 
for a better two pair on a rather cruel flop.
The flop fell the to see Allan send one to the rail to climb to 45,000 in chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
47,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
Level: 4
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 25
Antonin Duda is one of the few international players in the field, coming all the way from the Czech Republic to take part in the ANZPT Queenstown Snowfest Main Event. He is doing just fine here on Day 1a, as we recently watched him rake in a handy pot.
The hand in question began with Andrew Hinrichsen opening the pot to 500 from early position. The player on the button, Erich Stadler, made the call, and it was on Antonin Duda in the small blind. Stadler raised it up to 1,100 and both his opponents called as the dealer turned over a 
flop. Duda led for 1,400 here and Hinrichsen folded, while Stadler got out of the way.
A 
on the turn would see Duda led again, this time for 2,200. Another call from Stadler and the dealer would complete the board on the river with a 
. Duda kept firing away here, flicking out a bet of 5,100. "That's a good river," said Stadler as he folded at the sight of a fourth diamond and another bullet from Duda. With that, Duda's stack is up above 30,000.
It was around 11 months ago today that Day 1a of the 2011 version of this event was taking place. On that day it was New Zealand's Cole Swannack who finished up as the chip leader. One player who wasn't far behind Swannack was fellow New Zealand native, Jackson Zheng. Both Zheng and Swannack are in today's field and will be looking to see similar success. Only time will tell if Swannack and Zheng will survive the night. Stay tuned to find out.
We recently noticed that both Jackson Zheng and Tristan Bain are missing from Table Six. Unfortunately for these two notable names, they will not be the next ANZPT Queenstown Snowfest champion. However, luckily for them, they now have plenty of time to explore the beautiful city that is Queenstown.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
One of the good things about traveling to great poker destinations like Queenstown is that putting all of your chips in the middle becomes a win-win situation. You either double your chips in the tournament or you get to go outside and enjoy all the thrills of the town.
That’s a coinflip situation that doesn’t happen too often in poker.
It means that sometimes players are prepared to gamble in a spot that they might otherwise let go. Previous ANZPT Sydney champion Michael Kanaan just gave us the perfect example.
With a raise to 450 from the big stack of Lithuanian Laurynas Levinskas in front, Kanaan was next to speak and three-bet to 1,025. Levinskas came back with a four-bet to 2,150 to which Kanaan decided to five-bet jam all in with a wave of his arms. Levinskas didn’t wait for a count as he quickly called an opened 
.
“Is that all?” replied Kanaan as he tabled a dominated 
.
Kanaan packed up his headphones and was ready to head out into the cool air of Queenstown, but the poker Gods decided he wasn’t done just yet as the board rolled off 
to give Kanaan kings and jacks to take down the pot and more than double his stack of 16,875.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
35,000 |
