PokerStars Crowns First-Ever ANZPT Tournament Winner

Dreams came true down under as yet another PokerStars qualifier has taken down a major live event, this time it was the inaugural Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) event in Adelaide.

A total of 205 showed up just days ago for the first ever event on the ANZPT with their $3,000 AUD buy-in in hand. Only the top 18 finishers would get a cut of the $586,950 AUD ($396,270 USD) prize pool. To the winner, a cool $170,215 AUD ($114,918 USD).

The final nine competitors made their way to the Skycity Casino Saturday for one last run on the felt. A handful of notables, such as former WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem, 2009 $100,000 Aussie Millions Challenge winner David Steicke and 2009 Aussie Millions champ Stewart Scott, each were bounced before any money was handed out. Joe Hachem's brother Tony was in the field, and the tourney vet was one of those to make the money, but miss the final table. Also in that group is two-time WSOP bracelet winner Mel Judah, who finished in 16th.

Here are Friday's payouts:

Thanks to a late double up through fellow Melbourne resident and final table mate James Broom, Karl Krautshneder would enter the final table with 662,000 chips and the chip lead. Broom, the 2008 Melbourne Championships Main Event winner, would quickly see his AK fall in a race to finish in 9th. Bruno Portaro, who took care of Broom, would assume the chip lead, only to give it right back to Krautshneder. Krautschneder would then river a set of queens to eliminate Portaro, who was forced to throw his top pair of kings in the muck and walk away in 8th. PokerStars sponsored player Celina Lin would finish in 7th after her sixes couldn't win a race.

Not long after, Julius Colman ran into a set for the second and last time to finish 6th. Mike Stecker would then run a weak ace into the AQ of Krautshneder to finish 5th. Dean Nyberg was next on Krautschneder's hit list and would eventually run his second nut flush into nut flush to go out in 4th-place. Short-stacked Daniel Noja was able to battle, before eventually getting it in with KJ against the AQ of American poker pro Tony "Bond18" Dunst. Both players tabled club flush draws and after the 2c5c4d8h4c board ran out, Dunst's nut flush had cleared the table for heads-up.

Dunst trailed slightly, but each were sitting behind more than 100 big blinds and had lots of play. Surprisingly, less than an hour in, a series of raises would see Dunst call off his stack holding Kd2d against a Kc2s4c flop. Krautshneder tabled 9c8c and would be drawing for the championship against Dunst's two pair. The 3d on the turn allowed Dunst to hold onto the lead, but the 7c on the river ripped it away. Dunst would be forced to settle for $111,520 AUD as runner-up.

Karl Krautshneder is the first-ever champion on the ANZPT. And in typical PokerStars fashion, Krautshneder qualified online for just $33. He will take $170,215 AUD back to Melbourne with him as the ANZPT Adelaide champion.

Final Results:

Next up for the ANZPT is a stop in Sydney, scheduled to begin on April 30th.

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