With the final table upon us I made my way to Christchurch Casino a little earlier to make sure everything was set up fine.

Final Table coverage (PokerNetwork browser) / Final Table coverage (PokerNews browser)

Since the numbers were substantially down on the previous years, only a NZ$180,000 prizepool had been generated but NZ$60,000 of it was reserved for whoever could best the 72-player field.

Amazingly the reigning Champion in Soren Eriksen had also made the final table, and feeling at home, he kicked off proceedings playing very aggressive. Comedian Mike King exited first courtesy of a bad beat as one-time chip leader Alfred Saliba fell next, but in the end it would be a battle between Eriksen, Cole Swannack and Michael Spilkin as the three swapped chips back and forth.

Even with some poker heavyweights in his corner, Spilkin fell in third when he committed with middle-pair against Eriksen’s top pair to put play into a heads up battle with Eriksen holding a two-to-one advantage.

Only a few hands into heads up play and it would be Eriksen’s 7♦ 7♣ holding in a race against Swannack’s A♦ Q♣ to see the Swede go back-to-back!

Champion Soren Eriksen
Champion Soren Eriksen

* * * * * * * *

With the final table all wrapped up, but a 6am flight awaiting me the next day, there wasn’t too much I could do tonight.

I returned to the room to have a shower before heading to the bar across from the casino to catch up with some of the boys. I ordered some pizza and enjoyed some good company for a while before making my back to my room to be greeted by this!

Hotel Room

Since I had been upgraded to a suite and had two additional beds in what I used as the lounge room, it had become the dumping ground of all my crap. Consequently I spent a good hour sorting through all the junk and packing my bag before heading over to the casino with my remaining $40 in chips.

With a couple of EPL games on I decided to kill my time by sitting on the Baccarat tables and placing the occasional bet while trying to stay up until my 4am airport pick up.

Although I got some odd looks, I managed to stay awake and profit $90 from my sporadic bets before making my way to the airport in a joint courtesy van with Leo and Bev Boxell.

I checked in, grabbed a drink, caught up with Yann and boarded my flight back to Australia hitting the hay as soon as the wheels left the tarmac.