Eriksen wins 2009 New Zealand Poker Championships

[Eric]

New Zealand based poker player, Soren Eriksen, won the final of the
New Zealand Poker Championships last night to walk away with $100,000
in prize money.

Danish born, Blenheim based Eriksen took out 101 other players to face
2008 New Zealand Poker Championship winner, David Borg, in a heads-up
duel for the title. The second to last hand briefly put Borg back in
the chip lead, but Eriksen went all in next hand with Ks-Qh while Borg
made a big call with Ah-7h. The board fell in Eriksen's favour,
confirming victory for the Dane - the first since taking out a
preliminary event in Las Vegas, 2007.

"It has been such a great tournament, I still can't believe I've won!"
says Eriksen

Borg was disappointed he didn't win the New Zealand Poker Championship
title again, but is thrilled with his top-two placing two years
running and credits Eriksen for a great challenge.

"I'm definitely gutted that I couldn't keep the title, but as always,
it's been a great tournament with quality players - Soren showed great
skill this evening", says Borg.

Eriksen moved to New Zealand from Denmark three years ago. This is the
second time Eriksen has competed in the New Zealand Poker
Championships.

The Main Event of the New Zealand Poker Championships rounded out nine
action-packed days of poker at the Christchurch Casino. The next major
poker tournament at Christchurch Casino is the Wellington
Championships which are to be held 6-9 August 2009.

Results table

1st Soren Eriksen

2nd David Borg

3rd Mike King

4th Dimitris Merentitis

5th Mike Mayar

6th Graeme Putt

7th Shaun Gray

8th Atamu Manuel

9th Dan Sing

10th Mark Lin