Jack Drake Crowned Champ at ANZPT Darwin

The 2011 PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour came to a close in Darwin over the weekend with the Main Event title going to Australia’s Jack Drake.

A field of 64 of the region’s finest players crammed into the SKYCITY Darwin Casino over the five day event, with the $2,200 entry fee making for a $128,000 prize pool and when all was said and done it was a PokerStars ANZPT title and the $36,480 first place prize that went to Drake.

It wasn’t an easy field for any player to contend with, as the likes of Brendon Rubie, Michael Guzzardi, Ryan McKay, Aaron Benton, Octavian Voegele, Grant Levy and ANZ Player of the Year contenders Leo Boxell, Jesse McKenzie and Danny Chevalier all took to the felt late last week.

While McKenzie would only progress far enough in the tournament to lock up a third place finish on the ANZ player of the year board, a final table berth from Chevalier would see him knock Boxell off the top of the leader board and secure himself the title of Australia and New Zealand’s player of the year.

The player of the year title may have already been in Chevaliers hands but after finishing in third place at the 2011 ANZPT Melbourne he would be looking to utilize his position in Darwin to take down a victory this time. Of course it’s not always that simple and there would be eight players standing in Chevaliers way, including eventual winner, the 28-year old Drake.

Final Table Lineup
Seat  1 | Jonathan Dangio
Seat  2 | Danny Chevalier
Seat  3 | Fotios Manolakos
Seat  4 | Jack Drake
Seat  5 | Mark Taylor
Seat  6 | Aaron Benton
Seat  7 | Glenn Parry
Seat  8 | Jamie Hill
Seat  9 | Brett Dannevig

Well known Australian Aaron Benton would be the first player to bow out before Chevalier was out of the tournament in 8th place when he had his aces cracked by Jamie Hill.

Glenn Parry would be next the next player sent to the rail before Hill was also sent home, while the eliminations of New Caledonia’s  Jonathan Dangio (5^th place), Mark Taylor (4^th place) and Fotios Manalakos (3^rd place ) would make way for the heads-up battle between Drake and Brett Dannevig.

Early into heads-up play Drake would almost secure the title as he held against the of Dannevig on a flop showing . All the chips went in the middle and it was looking to be an early night, but when the spiked on the river, Dannevig took down the pot and it was back to the drawing board for Drake.

It wouldn’t take long for Drake to gather another lead and eventually the inevitable final hand of the night would be played out. The final action of the tournament started with an open from Dannevig, at which point Drake three-bet shoved his stack in the middle, holding . Dannevig made the call with. and when the board was spread , it was all over for Dannevig as Drake was crowned the victor.