First ANZPT Winner Crowned

Get the low-down on one of Australia and New Zealand's largest poker tournaments here, featuring information on the tournament, dates, locations, players, buy-ins, winnings and more.

One of the world's newest poker tournaments to have hit the scene, the Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT), has kicked off officially, and there are already some very impressive wins that have taken place.

The ANZPT was initially organized following the massive success and popularity of the Asia Pacific Poker tour, which stopped in Sydney to literally masses of eager players. Running from February through to July 2009, this is the first of all poker tournaments to bring professional competition to up to six different locations around Australia and New Zealand, and will see a league-based series of events dish out points to players as they make the way through the rounds.

The most up-to-date schedule of events for the poker tournaments is as follows:

• February 4-7: $3,000 Main Event in Adelaide, Australia
• April 30 – May 3: $2,200 Main Event in Sydney, Australia
• July 21-25: $2,500 Main Event in Queenstown, New Zealand

The first stop of the ANZPT has already been played out and won by Melbourne's own Karl Krautschneider. Lasting for three days at Adelaide's Skycity casino, and boasting a total prize pool of AU$586,950, Krautschneider managed to overcome no less than 215 world-renowned Poker professionals to take home the final pot of AU$170,215.00, and of course, the title of first ever winner of the ANZPT poker tournaments.

Krautschneider's most challenging opponent was Tony ""Bond18"" Dunst, the 20-year old Milwaukie-born American. The two players started head-to-head with chip stacks of 2,454,000 to 1,824,000 to Krautschneider. For a while it seemed as though Dunst might overtake Krautschneider, yet Krautschneide pulled a Straight on the River to beat Dunst's 2 pairs and maintained his lead. On the Turn, Dunst again drew a 2 pair, yet was thrashed by Krautschneider who lay down a Flush and sealed his win.

The final table results were as follows:

1. Karl Krautschneider -- $170,215
2. Tony “Bond18” Dunst -- $111,520
3. Daniel Noja -- $64,565
4. Mike Stecker -- $52,825
5. Dean Nyberg -- $41,085
6. Julius Colman -- $29,345
7. Celina Lin -- $23,475
8. Bruno Portaro -- $17,610
9. James Broom -- $11,740

Whilst Krautschneider has not competed in more than a handful of poker tournaments, Tony Dunst has been playing professionally since 2005. He has since taken part in 11 official poker tournaments and banked more than $1 million in winnings alone. Krautschneider's win will no doubt fling his career into the industry spotlight.