Kiwi wins $1.43m poker pot

Lee Nelson

An Auckland doctor celebrated his 63rd birthday by winning the largest poker tournament in Australasia, pocketing a $1.43 million cheque.

"I'm 63 today but I feel like I'm 18," said a jubilant Lee Nelson, moments after the arduous five-day Aussie Millions Poker Championship.

Mr Nelson blitzed 417 rival players at Melbourne's Crown Casino to claim the championship, and the biggest prize in his poker-playing life.

Each player had paid about $11,000 to enter.

The tense final hands came down to a high-stakes face-off between Mr Nelson and 21-year-old business student Robert "Bobby" Neary from Sacramento, California.

Mr Nelson led his opponent to bet all his chips in the final hand.

"I actually put on a real act to get him to keep betting - I looked very indecisive, it looked like I was ready to throw my hand away and he just kept betting. And when all the chips were in the pot I turned over my hand and he couldn't beat it."

Mr Nelson claimed all the chips - and the championship - at 11.55pm Thursday NZ time.

He had played for 15 hours the day before, and had had only four hours' sleep before the final.

"And then we played for 10 hours. I don't think people realise what kind of shape you have to be in, physically and mentally, to play poker at this level."

A cancer scare in 1998 sparked a change in his lifestyle. He altered his diet and took up meditation.

"It served me extremely well at the poker table because I can handle these gruelling, long hours, whereas these young kids in their 20s who have bad habits are looking pretty beat."

Originally from California, Mr Nelson moved here in 1994. His mother taught him poker when he was five.

"My mother had a little game with the ladies, you know, and when she wanted to go prepare the dinner, she'd ask me to pick up her hand. When she finished cooking, she'd always have more chips than when she started.

"After a while, she was spending more and more time cooking and I was spending more and more time playing."

He and his wife Pen plan to buy a house in the Nelson-Motueka area with the winnings. "She's told me she wants a diamond Rolex, so I guess she's going to get that too. There'll be still some change left - I hope."

He still does some consultancy work, but poker sees him on the road for about three months a year. The "active pastime" has taken him to London, Paris and the Caribbean.


Know when to hold 'em
* Lee Nelson's winning hand: Jack + 5 of clubs
* Bobby Neary's hand: 4 + 2 of clubs
* On the table: Ace, king and queen of clubs - both players had a flush.
* No-limit, hold 'em poker: Best five-card hand made up of the two in your hand and three cards out of five on the table. (The other two cards on the table were a 6 of hearts and king of spades).


- additional reporting AAP