Thursday, 28th March 2024 15:40
Home / Uncategorized / ANZPT Auckland Day 1b: The road to fame

One of the questions that we get asked as tournament reporters, is how do we decide who are the “notable” players in the field? The truth is that the pathways for poker players to emerge from relative obscurity to fame can be quite varied.

The most obvious way is to win a big tournament. That one will surely get you noticed. If it’s a big tournament, say perhaps the WSOP Main Event, then we’ll be keeping a close eye on you wherever you play. We might even watch you when you walk to the bathroom, eat dinner or sleep at night. We’re committed to our job.

Ok, so you’re not a world champion but you won something decent. You’ll instantly become notable. At least for a year. But don’t slack off. You’ll have to keep winning or at least make a few deep runs to maintain your notable status, or we’ll drop you.

Well, what if you haven’t won anything? Don’t fret. It’s the tough road, but it’s possible to still become notable. Maybe you have a big personality at the table. You’re a character of the game. We love those type of players. You give us stuff to write about when there’s nothing to write about. Or maybe you just came over to the media desk and pestered us time and time again to add your name to the chip counts page so that your mum could follow your progress at home, and now we just add it in when we see you so you’ll leave us alone. Yeah, that works too.

Or the other way to get noticed is to set a world record. It’s the rarest form of fame but it comes with great prestige. And today, on Day 1b of the ANZPT Auckland Main Event, we have two players who have done exactly that.

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Meet Jon-Pierre Narbey and Chiu Lee. They’re Kiwis and probably nice guys. They have modest tournament records – about $60,000 in earnings between them. Yet they have stood out in today’s ANZPT Auckland Day 1b field.

You see, back in August, Lee and Narbey set a world record together at the APPT Queenstown event. Yep, world record. Totally official. They achieved this by playing a hand on the final table that lasted over seventeen minutes and the clock was called no less than four times – three times on the river alone! It was absurd stuff, but from that one hand, they achieved one thing – instant fame on the ANZPT.

Now here in Auckland, we couldn’t believe it when we saw Lee and Narbey take a seat directly next to each other on Table 3! Do they know each other? We’re not sure. Are they aware they played against other in Queenstown? Probably. Do they know they are world record holders? Doubt it.

Let’s just hope they don’t try and break their world record here in Auckland.

Heath “TassieDevil” Chick is a Freelance Contributor for the PokerStars Blog.

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