Kiwi poker player wins $153,000 at Sky City Auckland main event

Ken Chan (pictured) topped a field of 333 entries to win the WPT New Zealand Main Event. Photo / WPT.

Kiwi poker player Ken Chan topped a field of 333 entries to win the WPT New Zealand Main Event, taking home NZ$153,200 in first-place prize money.

The tournament cost $2,200 to enter and ran over three days, with the final table concluding in eight hours yesterday at SkyCity Auckland.

The final table kicked off with John Pye scoring a double up before Gary Bignell was the first player to fall in ninth place. The second level of play then saw the pace go crazy as Renae Baker (eighth place), Glen Young (seventh place), Adrian Stockman (sixth place), and John Pye (fifth place) all fell within 35 minutes of quick play.

There was a slight lull in play for the four-handed battle with no player falling during the level of play after the first break. It took close to two hours for the next player to fall when Fotios Mandakos busted in fourth place. The three-handed battle was lengthy as well as Sarah Saifi scored some key doubles to survive. Simon Thwaites wasn't so lucky when he got the last of his chips into the middle and busted in third place.

That set up a final battle between the perennial chip leader at the final table Ken Chan who took 6,605,000 into the final match against Saifi's 3,390,000. Saifi eventually took the chip lead, but then Chan doubled up to start his march back to the top.

On the final hand, Saifi raised all in preflop for 2.33 million from the small blind, and Chan called to cover her from the big blind. The two players then flipped over their cards.

Chan: QJhh
Saifi: Ah4c

Board: 9d6s5s8h10h

Saifi was eliminated in second place, and she took home $101,560 in prize money. Chan took home the top prize worth $152,200, the trophy, and his first WPT title.

"I don't know yet, everything seems so surreal. I was a nervous wreck coming into Day 2, and I was still nervous coming into today. But I ended up running really well, and I got into a few lucky spots. I tried to play my best game. It feels crazy, I'm feeling very happy obviously, but it hasn't really fully sunk in yet, it's a dream to win a Main Event, so I'm really, really happy," said Chan when he was asked how it felt to become the second WPT New Zealand champion ever.

Chan took control of the chip lead in the tournament during the play-down stretch at the final two tables last night. "When we were playing down during the final two tables I tried to take advantage of a few players who play quite tight, so I ended up raising a lot to try and steal blinds and chip up, and then I got into a lucky spot where I had aces and another guy had kings so that pretty much plays itself," said Chan.

"When it got to three-handed I had a massive chip lead so I remember I was trying to apply a lot of pressure to the two other shorter stacks. I got into a situation with Sarah [Saifi] where we flipped twice and I lost twice, so that kind of slowed down my momentum a little bit," said Chan.

"I guess bad beats always happen, so you've just got to try and stay focused and play a solid game, don't get too affected by swings."

WPT New Zealand Final Table Results

1st: Ken Chan – NZ$153,200
2nd: Sarah Saifi – NZ$101,560
3rd: Simon Thwaites – NZ$64,940
4th: Fotios Mandakos – NZ$49,950
5th: John Pye – NZ$39,960
6th: Adrian Stockman – NZ$31,950
7th: Glen Young – NZ$25,300
8th: Renae Baker – NZ$19,650
9th: Gary Bignell – NZ$15,310