Sixty-eight-year-old Lee Nelson has delivered a veiny-handed backslap to all the young whippersnappers who dared do battle against him at the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) Melbourne. Despite his age, Nelson outlasted a starting field of 310, most of which probably thought the retired doctor couldn’t play past 5pm without needing a nap. After three days of play, Nelson personally eliminated five of the final table’s nine players, including runner-up Nick Georgoulas. With the win, Nelson earned AUS $156k and brought his live tournament title total to 11 and his lifetime earnings to over $2.35m. Georgoulas earned $99k for placing second while Danny Chevalier took $55k for coming third.
In online tournament news, Thomas ‘Kallllle’ Pedersen has triumphed at the PokerStars’ 2011 World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) $5,200 buy-in main event. Over two grueling days, Danish dynamo Pedersen saw off 1,626 competitors to earn top honors and $1.26m. The Czech Republic’s Vojtech ‘Vojta_R’ Ruzicka took second place and $710k, while Canadian Mike ‘goleafsgoeh’ Leah took third and $560k.
This year’s WCOOP garnered a total of 119,832 buy-ins over 62 events, with event champions hailing from 24 different countries. Russia, which boasted the largest number of entrants, came out ahead in the country rankings with 10 wins, edging out the UK’s eight victories and the Netherlands’ seven. Canada placed first on the money list, followed by Russia and the UK. On the individual level, Canada’s ‘Big_Nemo’ was the big kahuna with 17 cashes, while Spain’s Joel ‘2FLY2TILT’ Gordon had the most final table appearances (4). ‘Big_Nemo’ and Gordon were deadlocked in the WCOOP Player of the Year point rankings, but Gordon’s higher cash earnings earned him the tie-breaker. Canadian Daniel Negreanu settled for third, but he does have a hot new girlfriend to help console him in his hour of need, so we can’t feel too sorry for him.
