As the WPT Main Tour Season XVI came to a close in Las Vegas with Matthew Waxman winning the Tournament of Champions, in another part of the globe, one event getting ready to fire up was the inaugural WPT New Zealand at SkyCity in Auckland. WPT New Zealand is part of the brand’s WPTDeepstacks Season V tour that started out in Berlin in January.
The 11-day festival ran from May 25 to June 4 with the Main Event highlighted on the last four days. Earning all the bragging rights as the first WPT New Zealand Main Event champion was Australian Nauv Kashyap who overcame the record-breaking 360 entries, the largest field ever seen in New Zealand poker history. Kashyap shipped in NZ$169,200 (~US$118K) and the third major title of his career.
Nauv Kashyap wins second title in one month
Nauvneel Kashyap may not be very active in the live tournament circuit but with his recent successes, it’s possible we will see more of him this year. Kashyap has been a force to reckon with at the tables having taken down two major tournaments in a a span of just one month.
At the end of April, Kashyap won the A$1,650 Main Event of the 2018 Crown Poker Championship in Melbourne. The win broke his ten-year victory drought; his first title was earned back in 2010 at the ANZPT A$2500 No Limit Hold’em.
With this recent win, Kashyap (ranked 129th) will be moving way up in the Australian rankings, possibly enter into the top 100 with over US$460K in earnings.
Final Table payouts
1st Nauv Kashyap – NZ$169,200
2nd Jack Efaraimo – NZ$108,000
3rd Sosia Jiang – NZ$68,400
4th Kelvin Li – NZ$54,000
5th Anthony Inns – NZ$39,600
6th Zac Metin – NZ$32,400
7th Nic Southorn – NZ$25,200
8th Daniel Neilson – NZ$21,240
9th Eden Smith – NZ$17,280
Main Event recap and numbers
Briefly recapping the WPT New Zealand Main Event results, the 360 entries at NZ$2200 each generated a sizable NZ$720,000 prize pool.
Day 1A = 175 entries
Day 1B = 185 entries
156 players advanced to Day 2 which further dropped to 16 players entering the Final Day. The eventual winner Nauv Kashyap dominated the Day 2 rankings and kept himself in the upper tier at the start of the final table of 9 running third-in-chips.
After all was said and done, among the 36 players that earned a cut of the prize money were highly decorated Australian pros Daniel Neilson (8th), Michel Bouskila (17th), Joe Hachem (24th), and New Zealand pro Darryl Hussey (31st).
Upcoming WPT events in the region
The World Poker Tour will return to the Asia-Pacific region in September for WPT Japan and WPT Korea so make sure to mark your calendars for these upcoming events.
WPT Japan: September 15 -17 in Tokyo with Main Event qualifiers at various locations around the country starting September 1 leading up to the event
WPT Korea: September 18 to 24 at Paradise City in Incheon, South Korea
More: World Poker Tour announces Japan and Korea stops in September
Article by Tricia David
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
Follow Me:
