Rotorua Poker Open: David Thai wins main event claiming $32k prize

The Rotorua Poker Open Main Event winner David Thai took home a cash prize of $32,000.

Wellington’s David Thai claimed first prize and $32,000 at the Rotorua Poker Open’s main event on Sunday night.

Rotorua’s Atapo Moore came second, winning $24,000.

More than 360 poker players from around New Zealand were in Rotorua on the weekend for the three-day event - the largest tournament outside a New Zealand casino.

It took the Rotorua Poker Club three years - and months of going through paperwork - to get the proper licensing from the Department of Internal Affairs to be allowed to run the tournament.

The Rotorua Poker Open Main Event finalists Atapo Moore and David Thai.

Thai, who has been playing poker for 13 years, said he was “so happy” after winning his first poker tournament.

“I don’t believe it - I can win,” Thai said.

Thai planned to send some of the prize money back to his family in Vietnam.

Finalist Atapo Moore said it was “mind-blowing” to come second, but it was a “hard grind,” playing for 12 hours on Saturday and 10 hours on Sunday.

Moore has been playing poker for about 10 years and competes regularly in tournaments.

With the prize money, Moore planned to rent the Wish4Fish boat in Tauranga and go out for a day with friends and whānau.

“I’m in an electric wheelchair [and] the boat’s been specially designed.”

Moore thanked the Rotorua Poker Club and the event’s sponsors.

“It just ran so smoothly... what an awesome tournament that they put on.”

Tournament director James Shelford said the Rotorua Poker Club had three Class 3 tournaments approved for a prize pool of about $230,000, with the main event being $144,000.

Saturday was day one of the main event, starting with 144 players and playing through until that was whittled down to 32 players.

“This was a 12-and-a-half-hour poker session, [which] causes mental and physical fatigue on the players,” he said.

“Once we reached 32 players, all chips were counted and bagged up and the players returned at 10am on Sunday for day two of the main event, where we eventually reached our winner, [that] being David Thai.”

Shelford said the event had been “really incredible”, with people travelling everywhere from Christchurch to north Auckland.

“We’ve just had so much support. Everyone’s wearing their attire from their club; we’ve got so many clubs represented all throughout New Zealand.”

Shelford said the event was planned to happen every six months.

The Rotoroa Poker Club formed about three years ago with the intention of creating a fun yet safe environment for amateur or expert players to learn and play the game, he said.

“We run it because we have a passion for the game. We understand that the outside poker world frowns upon the game socially, but we guarantee that every single person who is exposed to the game learns very quickly that poker has such a large element of skill to it, and it’s not like pushing a button hoping for a win.”

Rotorua Poker Open Main Event Final Table

1st - David Thai - $32,000 (Wellington)

2nd - Atapo Moore - $24,000 (Rotorua)

3rd - Ken Marcum -$16,000 (Hamilton)

4th - Charlie Hawes - $12,000 (Wellington)

5th - Hemi Mulligan - $10,000 (Hamilton)

6th - Kuru Whisron - $8,000 (Rotorua)

7th - Alex Bott - $7,000 (Tauranga)

8th - Manny Kumar $6,000 (Rotorua)

9th - Rodney Smith - $5,000 (Auckland)

10th - Jordan Mills - $5,000 (Wellington)

11th - Dion Mahutoto - $4,000 (Whakatāne)

12th - Wally Lee - $4,000 (Rotorua)

13th - Shane Lafu - $3,000 (Auckland)

14th - Gwen Te Hiko - $3,000

15th - Loraine Belworthy - $2,500 (Hamilton)

16th - Charles Lee - $2,500 (Auckland)