Jack ‘The Godfather’ Efaraimo has won several New Zealand titles and will be at Rotorua's competition this weekend.
Jack ‘The Godfather’ Efaraimo has won several New Zealand titles and will be at Rotorua's competition this weekend.
Poker players will be folding, calling, bluffing, raising and going all-in as part of a bid to get their hands on a prize pool worth more than $235,000 in Rotorua this weekend.
More than 360 poker players from around New Zealand will be in Rotorua this weekend for the Rotorua Poker Open, the largest tournament outside a New Zealand casino.
It has taken the Rotorua Poker Club three years - and months of going through paperwork - to get the proper licensing from the Department of Internal Affairs to be allowed to run the tournament.
Now all the hard work has been done, and the players are ready to put on their best poker faces and vie for the top prizes.
Some of the big names in poker will be among the hopefuls, including Jack ‘The Godfather’ Efaraimo, who has won multiple New Zealand titles.
The Rotorua poker scene has grown rapidly since the success of local Rotorua players like Kuru Whiston and Renae Baker, who came first and second respectively in the 2018 New Zealand Poker Championships in Christchurch, each scooping just over $70,000 for their efforts.
Renae Baker from Rotorua will be among the hopefuls this weekend.
Former national champ Kuru Whiston from Rotorua will be among the 360 competitors this weekend.
Baker, who has helped organisers with this weekend’s event, said Rotorua had worked hard for the event, and it was a big deal to be allowed such a large-scale competition outside a casino licence.
She said getting the licence had involved months of paperwork, and ensuring their processes for handling the money were perfectly “clean”.
She said the club usually played its competitions at the Rotorua Sports Bar, but this weekend’s event had grown so big it had to move to Rotorua Citizen’s Club.
There will be three sold-out events as part of the weekend, starting on Friday at 4.30pm with a $200 buy-in and a $10,000 prize pool. The main event is on Saturday, with a $1100 buy-in and $35,000 prize pool.
The $700 Bounty Event will be held on Sunday in memory of the late local stockcar legend and avid poker player, Barry Hunter. For this event there will be a top mystery bounty prize valued at $10,000.
“Rotorua is becoming the new home of poker; it’s pretty cool. We are really looking forward to this weekend.”
Spectators are welcome to attend the three days, but playing spots have been sold out.
There will be one more chance to win a final ticket to Saturday’s main event at the Rotorua Sports Bar on Thursday, from 5.30pm.
