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Something's in the air as Day 2 begins at the SKYCITY Festival of Poker

Friday 17 September 2010, 4:55PM

By SKYCITY Entertainment Group

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AUCKLAND

Excitement and anticipation filled the air of the SKYCITY Poker room this afternoon as the final 96 players made their way to the tables to begin Day 2 of the 2010 SKYCITY Festival of Poker. The field of 96 players is made up from the 41 who survived Day 1a and the 55 that survived Day 1b creating a prize pool of NZD $654,000.00 securing the winner of the 2010 SKYCITY Festival of Poker NZD $170,000.00.

The mood in the poker room had intensified from the excitement of the first two days of play in the tournament with players getting down to business with the title and prize money in their sights.

This year’s tournament has had many surprises such as the busting of SKYCITY Poker Ambassador Brooke Howard-Smith, PokerStars.net Team Pro Tony Hachem and 2009 SKYCITY Festival of Poker winner and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Simon Watt.

Early into Day 2 the short stacked players were quickly eliminated leaving a field which included SKYCITY Poker Ambassador and PokerStars.net Team Pro Lee ‘Final Table’ Nelson, the Godfather of New Zealand Hip-Hop Brotha D, Radio Sport host Miles Davis and 2009 SKYCITY Festival of Poker fourth place getter Richard Lancaster who is looking at keeping the trophy in New Zealand and taking home the tournament title. Players in today’s Day 2 will play seven levels or down to the money (24 players) whichever comes first. Those remaining 24 will come back tomorrow for Day 3 where the Final Table will be decided.

A total of 28 countries were represented across five continents. New Zealand boasted the most entrants with 106 players which is approximately 49% of the field. Australia yielded the second-most with 53.

For more information, including structures, schedules, terms and conditions and how to buy into the remaining events during the SKYCITY Festival of Poker, see www.festivalofpoker.co.nz.

SKYCITY Poker is located at SKYCITY Auckland and boasts 18 world-class tables and plays host to four tournaments throughout the poker year, including the SKYCITY Auckland Anniversary Poker Champs, Lee Nelson Deep Stack Series, SKYCITY New Zealand Poker Open and the SKYCITY Festival of Poker. SKYCITY Poker also hosts the annual SKYCITY Blue September Challenge of the Codes charity poker tournament which raises money and awareness for the New Zealand Prostate Cancer Foundation of NZ.