ANZPT3 Melbourne, September 24th - 26th, 2011 - Event Coverage
On this page you will find Player Lists, Gallery Photos, Payout, Side Events and Final Table from the event.
For more information, please see the ANZPT Melbourne event page.
Full reports from Melbourne are on the PokerStars blog.
Player Lists
Player Lists
Gallery
Gallery
Payout
Payout
The 2011 PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne Main Event saw 310 players cough up the $2,200 buy-in for their shot at becoming Australia's newest poker champion.
The top 36 players will divide up the $620,000 prizepool, with a minimum cash worth $3,410. The final table of nine will be guaranteed $13,020 while the winner will take home the trophy and $156,550 in prize money.
1st Lee Nelson (New Zealand) - $156,550
2nd Nick Georgoulas (Australia) - $99,200
3rd Danny Chevalier (Australia) - $55,180
4th Karan Punjabi (Australia) - $43,090
5th Phil Willcocks (New Zealand) - $34,100
6th Tom Wing (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $27,900
7th Stephen Eliesen (Australia) (PokerStars Player) - $22,320
8th Brett Chalhoub (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $17,670
9th Justin Sanchez (Australia) - $13,020
10th Seonglee Ang (Australia) - $8,680
11th Erich Stadler (New Zealand) - $8,680
12th Pat Dillon (Australia) - $8,680
13th Robert Nowak (Australia) - $7,750
14th Scott Davey (Australia) - $7,750
15th Aaron Benton (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $7,750
16th Tom Motherwell (Australia) - $6,820
17th Ryan Hong (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $6,820
18th Jesse McKenzie (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $6,820
19th Aun Lim (Australia) - $5,890
20th Quyet Pham (Australia) - $5,890
21st Peter Matusik - $5,890
22nd Ben Gilholme (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $5,270
23rd Nali Kaselias (Australia) - $5,270
24th John Apostolidis (Australia) - $5,270
25th Ben Savage (Australia) - $4,650
26th Brett Watson (Australia) - $4,650
27th Peng Khoo (Australia) - $4,650
28th Paul Khoury (Australia) - $4,030
29th Paul McKay (Australia) - $4,030
30th Matthew Rolfe (Australia) - $4,030
31st Benn Skender (Australia) - $4,030
32nd Stephen Ford (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $4,030
33rd Fabian Craib (Australia) - $3,410
34th Geoff Nye (Australia) - $3,410
35th Geordie Cutler (Australia) - $3,410
36th Henry Wu (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $3,410
Side Events
Side Events
Final Table
Final Table
Tom Wing (Melbourne, Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - 1,027,000 chips
Tom Wing is a PokerStars qualifier from Melbourne, with three years of experience under his belt, despite only being 21 years of age. His online achievements are highlighted by a win in a $109 buy-in event on PokerStars for over $25,000 in prize money, but this will be his first major live tournament final table. Wing is also a highly skilled Roulette player where he uses his "bossing" and "winning" skills to great effect. A breakthrough win for this young gun could be the start of a big career.
Danny Chevalier (Melbourne, Australia) - 833,000 chips
Danny Chevalier is an experienced tournament and cash game player from Melbourne who is a regular on the ANZPT circuit. In fact, 2011 has been one of his most successful seasons with cashes in three stops including an 8th place in the opening event in Adelaide. The 2009 ANZPT Queenstown champion will be looking to finish at least in 9th place to move up into second in the ANZ Player of the Year rankings. Danny credits his grandmother as his biggest influence in poker, and away from the felt, he enjoys piano, travelling and sports.
Lee Nelson (Auckland, New Zealand) - 750,000 chips
Poker player, author, commentator and ambassador. Lee Nelson has worn many hats in the poker industry over the years, but ultimately he is best known as "Final Table" for his incredible strike rate in tournaments. He'll be looking to confirm that nickname with another final table this afternoon. The 2006 Aussie Millions champ plays a reduced schedule nowadays but he is still one of the most feared players in the region as New Zealand's leading all time money earner with over $2.2 million in career cashes. Despite copping a severe two orbit penalty during play yesterday, he was able to recover and build an impressive stack by the end of the day. Most definitely one of the sharks left in the field.
Justin Sanchez (Melbourne, Australia) - 635,000 chips
Justin Sanchez is clearly not a fan of filling out bio sheets and with a limited tournament record, he remains mostly a mystery on this final day. We can tell you he's a 26-year old from Melbourne, he considers himself a "degenerate" and he enjoyed "sucking out on Willcocks and McKenzie" yesterday. Despite the limited info, Justin has impressed us over the past two days with some solid play so he'll be one to watch this afternoon.
Phil Willcocks (Auckland, New Zealand) - 559,000 chips
Phil Willcocks is from the school of hyper-aggressive Kiwis, although he has largely flown under the radar for much of this tournament. From Auckland, New Zealand, Phil is a 28-year old poker pro who is quickly developing an impressive resume. Of course it was only two months ago that Phil was in this very poker room playing heads up for the APPT Melbourne title. With a runner-up finish that day, and another runner-up in the ANZPT Queensland event in 2009, Phil will be desperate for another shot at that elusive trophy.
Brett Chalhoub (Central Coast, Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - 530,000 chips
ANZPT regular Brett Chalhoub is a 26-year old from the Central Coast in New South Wales with four years of experience in the game. He's an online MTT grinder who is frequently spotted dominating the ANZPT satellites on PokerStars under the username "brett_thret". Always presenting a mysterious image at the table from underneath his dark hoodie, Chalhoub was responsible for the elimination of Jarred Graham on the bubble which catapulted him into the chip lead where he never looked back.
Seonglee Ang (Melbourne, Australia) - 530,000 chips
Seonglee Ang is a 34-year old businessman from Melbourne who considers himself a casual player with a few years in the game after getting started in home games with his friends. Seonglee describes his tournament so far as a rollercoaster, which couldn't have been more evident than when he survived an all-in clash for his tournament life with ace-queen against pocket aces when a straight fell on board. Away from poker, Seonglee enjoys music, eating out and drinking coffee. He'll need plenty of caffeine if we're in for another long day on the tables today!
Karan Punjabi (Melbourne, Australia) - 372,000 chips
Karan Punjabi is a 26-year old Export Manager from Melbourne who has been playing poker for three years, mostly in $2/$3 and $2/$5 No Limit Holdem cash games at Crown Casino. This is Karan's biggest live tournament result, however he does have a $24,000 score to his credit after finishing 3rd in a $215 buy-in tournament online. Karan says he has enjoyed the structure of this tournament, so he'll probably enjoy the clock wind back if he reaches the final table.
Erich Stadler (Queenstown, New Zealand) - 267,000 chips
Erich Stadler is from the beautiful city of Queenstown in New Zealand and is a 39-year old businessman with seven years of experience in the game. Erich is a regular online MTT player and loves nothing more than satelliting into live tournaments like the ANZPT. Erich has enjoyed his holiday in Australia and says that the quality of staff at Crown have been excellent. Away from poker, Erich enjoys golf, squash and skiing.
Nick Georgeoulas (Melbourne, Australia) - 249,000 chips
Nick Georgeoulas is a local player with 45 years of experience behind him in all forms of poker. With multiple titles dating back to 1998 throughout the country, Nick is certainly no stranger to a final table, although this could potentially provide the biggest cash of his career. Nick enjoys a spot of fishing, not only at the $5-$10 cash games, but when on holidays away from the poker felt.
Stephen Eliesen (Queenscliff, Australia) (PokerStars Player) - 219,000 chips
Stephen Eliesen is a Physician from Queenscliff in New South Wales with seven years of experience to his credit as an amateur player. Stephen has two other small tournament cashes on his record but this will be his first major final table. Stephen claims that "raising 8-4 suited and flopping hard" was the key to his success so far, but coming into the final day as our short stack, he might need to adopt a new strategy today.

2014 Player of the Year
Place | Player | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Aristomenis Stavropoulos | 180.74 |
2 | Yew Fatt 'Raiden' Kan | 136.81 |
3 | James Rann | 135.38 |
4 | Li-Ta Hsu | 122.89 |
5 | Joel Douaglin | 109.44 |
6 | Dimitrios Psaros | 108.90 |
7 | Anthony Legg | 107.81 |
8 | Lennart Uphoff | 107.19 |
9 | Stevan Chew | 105.00 |
10 | Bryan Huang | 100.73 |