Apt Brisbane Awards $1.5M In First Series of 2021

The Australian Poker Tour had quite enough of 2020. The coronavirus pandemic forced the tour operator to cancel most of its events last year, so they invited players to Brisbane for the first stop of 2021. They hoped to show good results to start the new year.

And they did.

Brisbane a Player Favorite

The APT is no stranger to Brisbane, and the players appreciate it. Players had gathered at the Eatons Hill Hotel in Brisbane in the past for live tournament series, friendly but serious poker events that offered something for everyone, even a leaderboard contest.

When the APT wanted to try out a live series in the second half of 2020, it did so at that exact location. Both the tour and the venue took extreme precautions to protect players and staff for an APT Brisbane series in October. They did it and succeeded.

• 4,555 total tournament entries
• 972 unique players
• $749,405 total prize money awarded

The Main Event alone drew 802 entries over four starting flights for a $133,250 prize pool. And in the end, Jordan Bromley won that Main Event for $32K.

So, the first logical stop for 2021 was APT Brisbane. They set it for January 19-24 at Eatons Hill Hotel. And with high hopes, they set the estimated prize pools to hit $1M over the course of the 24 events.

Big Numbers, Big Start to Comeback Year

Australians have done more than most countries to restrict the Covid-19 virus and reduce its spread. And it minimized the damage. While there were 28,824 cases in 2020 and through January 2021, there were 909 deaths – far too many but quite low compared to many other nations.

In addition, the trend for positive Covid-19 cases in Australia has been on a downward slop since August 5. There was a bit of a jump around the end-of-year holidays, but the Aussies have kept the numbers down.

APT organizers went to the Brisbane event in January with confidence. The tour had shown itself to be safe in October 2020, and the decline in cases was likely to bring more players to the tables. In addition, midway through the series, the Australian government lifted the mask mandate.

The final numbers for APT Brisbane 2021 were solid:

• 6,546 total entries
• $1,537,420 total prize money awarded

APT Brisbane Results

Let’s get to the final numbers and winners.

• Event 1 / $115 NLHE Opener: 443 entries, $30,010 prize pool, Jade Mitchell won $7,500
• Event 2 / $90 Short Deck: 95 entries, $6,450 pool, John Kururangi won $1,800
• Event 3 / $400 NLHE High Roller Bounty: 260 entries, $37,605 pool, Milton Trickey won $10K
• Event 4 / $2750 NLHE Goliath: 140 entries, $306,500 pool, Jai Pillar won $85K
• Event 5 / $95 NLHE Deepstack: 254 entries, $16,920 pool, Ashley Dunscombe won $4,500
• Event 6 / $225 NLHE Main Event: 971 entries, $162,545 pool, Kris Ilnicki won $37,500
• Event 7 / $400 PLO High Roller: 84 entries, $24,055 pool, Michael Maddocks won $7,305
• Event 8 / $140 NLHE Accumulator: 143 entries, $13,635 pool, Dylan Desmarchelier won $3,300
• Event 9 / $80 Pineapple: 120 entries, $7,405 pool, Ashneel Sharma won $2K
• Event 10 / $1K NLHE Dracakis Players Champs: 159 entries, $129,490 pool, Josh Norvock won $35,600
• Event 11 / $60 NLHE Auslan Deaf Poker Champs: 92 entries, $4,325 pool, Caleb Thorn won $1,300
• Event 12 / $80 NLHE 6-Max Shootout: 177 entries, $11,765 pool, Ryan Brown won $3K
• Event 13 / $150 Mix-Max: 109 entries, $12,495 pool, Toy Wilson won $3,170
• Event 14 / $1,200 NLHE Grind: 247 entries, $248,140 pool, Luke Stewart won $67K
• Event 15 / $80 NLHE Ladies Championship: 90 entries, $5,750 pool, Jade Mitchell won $1,700
• Event 16 / $65 NLHE Big Bounty: 271 entries, $9,120 pool, Brandon Bailey won $2,100
• Event 17 / $300 NLHE Tag Team: 43 teams, Team Mystify won $4,380
• Event 18 / $115 NLHE Pokershop 100: 396 entries, $32,180 pool, Johannes Meijerink won $8,200
• Event 19 / $900 PLO/NLHE High Roller: 56 entries, $37,425 pool, Brandt Williamson won $8,600
• Event 20 / $120 NLHE Tag Team: 102 entries, $10,100 pool Team Sloane won $3,100
• Event 21 / $500 NLHE High Roller: 393 entries, $150,230 pool, George Frilingos won $38,600
• Event 22 / $70 NLHE Mega Stack: 193 entries, $9,170 pool, Geoff Menz won $2,400
• Event 23 / $720 NLHE High Roller 6-Max: 84 entries, $53,770 pool, John Perry won $16,400
• Event 24 / $70 PLO Closer: 144 entries, $6,820 pool, Kalan Shuttlewood won $1,780

APT Brisbane Player of the Series

This challenge is a potentially lucrative payoff for those who play a lot (or all) of the events and do well.

There are four tiers of tournaments in which to earn points, with events like the Main Event and Goliath awarding the most points and tournaments like the Pineapple and Short Deck awarding the least. The only events not included are the team events and the Ladies Championship. All cashes in all events earn points, though. And players are even awarded some base points simply for registering to play. Details are on the APT website.

In the end, Jonathan Kururangi won the APT Brisbane Player of the Series honors for $12,500. The full top-five leaderboard was:

• 1^st place: Jonathan Kururangi with 2,130 points ($12,500)
• 2^nd place: Michael Maddocks with 1,830 points ($6,000)
• 3^rd place: Josh Norvock with 1,820 points ($4,000)
• 4^th place: Michael Henderson with 1,440 points ($3,000)
• 5^th place: Daniel Gabriel and Jai Pillar with 1,360 points each ($1,575 each)

Just Getting Started

The APT should take a little time to celebrate the grand turnout for the Brisbane series, but there is some work to do to prepare for the next one.

The APT Gold Coast is set for March 17-21 at Southport Sharks. There are 21 events scheduled over the course of the five days, and the APT is estimating it will award about $900K for the series. Keep in mind, however, that the APT Brisbane massively surpassed its estimate.

The APT Gold Coast Main Event will require $200 to play and offer four starting flights to get in on the action. The final day will play to a winner on Sunday, March 21.

Check out the full schedule on the APT website.