Welcome to the site. May have to visit NZ in a week or so for a short work visit. Any poker there?
Hi grantc54,
There is a pub league that is either "Free" or small buy ins of around $25 to $40 that happen most nights in different pubs around the whole country, mainly Christchurch and Auckland.
The cash entry is pretty normal low stakes super fast tournament. Some times they mix it up with bounties, re buys, etc. It depends on the pub
The free ones are based on a 4k starting stack, with extra chips given for buying food or drinks at the bar, registering early, and buying $1 per number raffles. i.e. you buy $20 raffles and choose 20 numbers from the deck of cards, the host will draw the cards and everyone who picked that number gets the prize. first number drawn is 1k chips, second is 2k, etc. up to 10k chips.
The prize is sometimes a mix of cash and a Bar Tab, usually it is just a Bar Tab.
The annoying thing with this structure of "Free" Tournament is that it is not really based on poker until after the raffles are over, some start with a HUGE advantage, and by the time 'poker skills' are in play, near the end, those unlucky to not win a raffle are usually blinded out or so short stacked they get run over. But it is a bit of fun to maybe test some new ideas/strageties relatively cheaply
As this is a league system (to get around gambling laws), you have to 'join' the league, you can register on the night and it is free. League Points are awarded to top 8, based on the number of players who entered that night. A winner wins the prize and a spot in a regional tournament that happens once every 4 months. Winners sometimes also win a challenge coin(card protector chip) to keep/collect.
Often cash games start up during and/or after the League games at the pubs, although this may not be entirely legal, i think police have more important things to do than bust a $50 cash game at a pub.
Last time the Christchurch Regional tournament had maybe 150 people, Prize pool (or top prize I can't remember) was $4k and the top 50 get entry into the National tournament. No idea how many people enter into the Auckland tournament, I imagine much more than 150 as it is the biggest city in NZ.
Additional to this there are poker tournaments and small stakes at the Casinos; Sky City in Auckland, and Christchurch Casino in Christchurch. (no idea about the other city's casinos)
I know many of the people who play in the pub league play home games but I have never joined any.
here is the National Pub Poker League's website:
http://www.nationalpubpoker.co.nz/
And the WPT link :
https://www.worldpokertour.com/event/wptdeepstacks-wpt-new-zealand-season-2018-2019/#eventTab1
WPT Main event starts 1 June. So you may miss it
Hope this helps.
Enjoy NZ
