Skycity Auckland Poker Tournament
Poker As many of you may appreciate, SkyCity and New Zealand are facing unique times in the wake of Covid-19 and returning to our same standards of operations is a complex and lengthy process. Our Poker community is wonderfully engaged and have shown there is a great demand for the return of our Poker product, but we need to ensure we can meet. In addition to our tournaments, cash games are also available on demand in the Poker Room at SkyCity Auckland (subject to table availability and the number of participants). For tournament or registration enquiries, please phone (09) 363 6190 to speak to a Table Games Operations Manager or email poker@skycity.co.nz. Thanks to all involved - players, staff, friends, fans and media - for an incredible tournament of exhilarating action inside the SkyCity Auckland Poker Room. We hope you enjoyed being a part of the action as much as we enjoyed hosting the tournament. With satellites and side events running from 20 May in the build up to the Main Event of the 2017 Auckland Poker Championships, just under1,000 people participated in the tournaments. 100 people would take the field for the Main Event starting on 2 July featuring fantastic local talent such as Sarah Saifi and Jamie Sadlier alongside international players including Shurane. The WPT schedule concludes overseas in Auckland, New Zealand and Skycity Auckland. The NZD $2,200 buy-in WPT Main Event goes from May 31-June 3 and is the second WPT event in New Zealand. The 2018 tournament drew 360 entries and set the record for the largest tournament ever in New Zealand.
Almost all of the nearly 1,000 casinos in the United States have reopened and most of the world’s casinos have done so as well after months of lockdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All major casinos, though, are still enforcing health and safety measures such as mandatory mask wearing, social distancing, severe capacity restrictions, and closures of certain service. All except one. On Wednesday, the SkyCity Auckland casino in New Zealand eliminated all of its COVID-19 protocols, as the city official had its coronavirus restrictions lifted.
To celebrate, the property’s famous Sky Tower lit up in rainbow colors as a way of “thanking Aucklanders for coming together in the ongoing fight against COVID-19.”
New Zealand has been arguably the Earth’s greatest success story when it comes to battling the pandemic, as now the entire country is at Alert Level 1. This is the lowest tier of the government’s COVID-19 Alert System.
“We can let ourselves once again feel pride,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, “that we managed to get to that position together.”
Though protective face coverings are no longer required, they are still encouraged “on public transport and when you cannot maintain physical distance from people you do not know.”
Ardern added that this does not mean COVID-19 has been eradicated from New Zealand, just that “there’s no sign of it currently.”
“We all want to avoid further restrictions,” she said, but “we need to stay vigilant.”
When the pandemic struck New Zealand earlier in the year, the country took action, creating isolation and quarantine facilities in hotels and quickly implementing a contact tracing program. Part of that included an app that would keep track of where individuals went so that if a COVID-19 case was detected, it would be easier to determine who may have been in contact with the infected person.
New cases peaked on March 28 at 146, but the number of daily new cases largely stayed under 100. By late April, COVID-19 was virtually gone. Until mid-August, most days had zero new cases and any days with new cases were only in the single digits.
There was an unfortunately resurgence of cases in August, though even then, new daily cases stayed under 20. Though the number of new cases was still low, Auckland had to go to Alert Level 3, which meant lockdowns. People were required to say home except to do things like go to the grocery store or engage in low-risk, socially distanced exercise. Public, non-essential venues, including casinos, were closed.
Ardern said this week that the summer cluster of 179 cases is now “under control.” There are three new cases, but the people are in isolation and none of them were the result of community spread. That is to say they were imported from elsewhere.
SKYCITY Auckland is dealing up the biggest poker tournament in recent years, holding the inaugural World Poker Tour New Zealand (WPT NZ) from 25 May – 4 June.
The WPT NZ will span 11 days, featuring nine tournaments including The Main Event which runs from June 1 – 4.
Skycity Auckland Poker Tournaments
SKYCITY Auckland Senior Gaming Operations Manager, Martin Coughlan, is excited to give Kiwi poker players another opportunity to play poker at a professional level.
“New Zealand has some exceptional poker talent, and SKYCITY is committed to delivering the best opportunities for local players to test and develop their skills, and we couldn’t think of a better way of doing that than to deliver the World Poker Tour New Zealand tournament,” says Coughlan.
There will be plenty of opportunity for Kiwi poker players to get involved, with 40 qualifying satellite events held from 16 March to 2 June. The qualifying satellites offer locals the opportunity to win a seat to the WPT NZ Main Event and Opening Event (Auckland Poker Championship), with some satellites offering buy-ins at just $60.
The Main Event, which expects to attract more than 300 players, will have a final table of just nine players and will be live streamed.
The tournament has already secured professional poker player Joe Hachem, WPT champion, 2005 WSOP winner, and one of the top tournament money winners of all time. The WPT NZ will be also be hosted by WPT anchor and Irish-Australian actress and poker player Lynn Gilmartin, who will be competing in the event.
SKYCITY Auckland will build a dedicated WPT NZ Poker Arena on the Main Casino Floor, increasing the number of poker tables to 25.
The WPT NZ series champion will be the player with the most points in each of the first six tournaments including the Main Event and will be awarded a $4,000 package including automatic entry into the WPT NZ Main Event 2019 along with accommodation at SKYCITY Hotel.
Skycity Auckland Poker Room
Key dates and highlights:
- WPT NZ qualifying satellite events, from 16 March – 2 June
- WPT NZ, 25 May – 4 June
- WPT NZ Player Party, 2 June
- WPT NZ Main Event, 1 – 4 June
Full tournament schedule, registration details and full terms and conditions for the 2018 World Poker Tour NZ can be viewed at:
Online registration is available for all tournaments.
All WPT NZ tournaments are exclusive to SKYCITY Premier Rewards members. You must be 20 years or over to enter the Casino. Game responsibly.