It’s a year of celebrations at Casino Canberra. On November 14, the casino will celebrate 20 years since opening. This year also marks a decade since Canberra hosted the final edition of the National Poker Championships.
So it’s only appropriate that poker plays a prominent role in the birthday celebrations with the return of the National Poker Championship this weekend.
In the period that immediately pre-dated the Aussie Millions, Casino Canberra was the home of tournament poker in Australia. From 1996-2002, players journeyed to the national capital to crown the Casino Canberra National Champions.
The honour roll of winners features four Australian Poker Hall of Fame members – Jeff Lisandro (1996), Billy Argyros (1997), Lee Nelson (2000) and Gary Benson (2001). Aussie poker stalwarts Mike Ivin, Nick Georgoulas and Michael Sampieri also won national titles in Canberra during this time.
After a seven-year hiatus, major tournament poker returned to Canberra in 2010 as part of the ANZPT but after just two years the event was disappointingly axed as part of the 2012 tour.
However, that minor setback won’t stop Casino Canberra celebrating its milestone birthday in style, with the National Poker Championship returning this weekend (October 6-7). It will be an $1100 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament capped at 80 players (plus alternates).
For more details on this event and information relating to Casino Canberra’s weekly Thursday night tournament, check out the website www.casinocanberra.com.au.
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