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Australian Julian Cohen is the new New Zealand Poker Tour Queenstown - SKYCITY Alpine Adventure Champion

Monday 26 July 2010, 7:32AM

By SKYCITY Entertainment Group

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Julian Cohen will start today's final table third in chips. Cohen has been playing poker for three years and recently completed a program in commerce arts at Deakin University.
Julian Cohen will start today's final table third in chips. Cohen has been playing poker for three years and recently completed a program in commerce arts at Deakin University. Credit: SKYCITY Entertainment Group
Julian Cohen will start today's final table third in chips. Cohen has been playing poker for three years and recently completed a program in commerce arts at Deakin University.
Julian Cohen will start today's final table third in chips. Cohen has been playing poker for three years and recently completed a program in commerce arts at Deakin University. Credit: SKYCITY Entertainment Group

DUNEDIN

Tonight Julian Cohen from Melbourne, Australia became the second ever NZPT Queenstown – SKYCITY Alpine Adventure Champion, outplaying 119 rivals from both SKYCITY Auckland’s leg and SKYCITY Queenstown to take home the 2010 NZPT Queenstown - SKYCITY Alpine Adventure Championship trophy and NZD $73,630.

The Final Table began with nine players left from an original starting field of 119 battling for a total prize pool of $267,750. More than half the starting field was made up of New Zealand based players, while the others came from 13 countries including Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Singapore, United States, Germany, Korea, Macau, Russian Federation, Spain, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

Julian took the Championship title from Andrew Watson with Ace high over Andrew’s King high. Andrew takes home NZD $46,860 for second place.

The NZPT Queenstown - SKYCITY Alpine Adventure poker tournament attracted some of the sport’s finest talent, including Australian’s Tony Hachem and Chris Levick, Singapore’s Bryan Huang and New Zealand’s Lee Nelson. Coming from 14 different nations, players throughout the tournament were cheered on by local fans at SKYCITY Queenstown, creating a high-energy tournament experience.


SKYCITY Queenstown’s Executive Manager Michelle Baillie is pleased with the way the tournament has run.

“Like last year this has been a fantastic week for SKYCITY Queenstown Casino. We have seen some great poker action and have been thrilled to have so many talented players on site. The players enjoy coming to Queenstown and we know that many local businesses have benefited from the event, as there has been lots of socialising and adventure during the week, as well as a lot of poker. We congratulate Julian and look forward to working with the NZPT team to host events in the future.”

The final standings and payouts earned are as follows:
1. Julian Cohen – Australia - NZD $73,630.00
2. Andrew Watson – Australia - NZD $46,860.00
3. Vesko Zmukic – Australia - NZD $27,440.00
4. Michael Spilkin – Australia - NZD $22,760.00
5. Tim Clarke - Australia - NZD $18,740.00
6. Emerson Rewi – New Zealand - NZD $15,400.00
7. Jason Gray – Australia - NZD $12,720.00
8. John Maklouf – Australia - NZD $10,040.00
9. Bryan Huang – Macau – NZD $8,030.00

About Julian
Julian Cohen will start today's final table third in chips. Cohen has been playing poker for three years and recently completed a program in commerce arts at Deakin University.