Daniel Craker Wins APPT Main Event in New Zealand
A little over three hundred players showed in New Zealand from twenty one different countries to try and win the biggest prize a poker tournament has ever seen in New Zealand. Up for grabs was a seat toe the Asian Pacific Poker Tour Main Grand Final in Sydney, Australia and $257,040 NZD.
Nine players made the final table of the main event with chip counts ranging from small to substantial. Luke Stanford was in the lead with a little over 800,000 with Daniel Craker behind him at 447,000. Stanford had quite a lead, especially over those players who were below 100,000 chips.
When final table play began, Wai Yeun would be the first to go. Yuen would move all in with A-K while Wang Jung called with Q-J. The flop came J-4-2 with a 3 and 10 on the river, pairing Jung and knocking Yeun out of the competition.
Just a couple hands later, Michael Mariakis was knocked out by Jung when Mariakis went all in with A-Q against Jung’s pocket 7s. The flop gave Jung trip sevens and Mariakis drew dead and was eliminated in eighth place.
Jani Karke was out in seventh place due to Daniel Craker and Nathanael Seet was out in sixth aftet Jung knocked out yet another player. Next out was Luke Stanford as Dan Sing made a pair on the river during their battle.
Now it’s down to four players. Sing, Jung, Craker and Matthew Konnecke. Sing would the first out as Jung called him in with J-10 to Sing’s K-Q. Jung got lucky yet again drawing a full house and knocking Sing out in 4th place.
Jung finally ran out of luck when Craker called Jung’s all in. Craker held pocket 8s to Jung’s K-6. Jung did not get any help with the flop or the river, so he was out in third place. Heads up play then began between Craker and Konnecke. It took only two hands for Craker to knock Konnecke out and take the title and large first place prize.
Final Standings:
1st Place: Daniel Craker (New Zealand) - $257,040
2nd Place: Matthew Konnecke (Australia) - $162,972
3rd Place: Wang Che Jung (New Zealand) - $85,680
4th Place: Dan Sing (New Zealand) - $59,976
5th Place: Luke Stanford (New Zealand) - $46,267
6th Place: Nathanael Seet (Singapore) - $34,272
7th Place: Jani Karke (Finland) - $25,704
8th Place: Michael Mariakis (Australia) - $19,706
9th Place: Wai Kwan Yuen (United Kingdom) - $14,565