Top poker players in New Zealand

Although a great multitude of New Zealanders play online casino games and poker, the country hasn’t produced a lot of big-name poker pros like the kinds you find in UK, Canada or the United States.

However, all that could begin to change in the times to come. There are many Kiwi online poker players that landed notable scores in 2018 and have been doing pretty well in 2019 as well. Some of their winning streaks suggest that we can expect big things from them in 2020. Let’s tell you about some such top-quality poker players emerging from New Zealand.

Sosia Jiang

Sosia Jiang rapidly shot up the all-time poker money list in New Zealand during 2018. She made headlines in 2017 after winning the Pokerstar’s championship in Macau. What stood out in that performance was that she raced ahead of 179 other players and won over the likes of Nick Petrangelo and Dan Smith at the final table, bagging a victory bonus amounting to around US$ 500,000. Thereafter, she won the Sydney Highroller Championship in August 2018. She has had notable successes in multiple poker tournaments in 2019 too, including in Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure and World Series of Poker. Having won close to US$ 1.5 million in her poker career so far, she is definitely one of the top poker players in New Zealand right now.

Neil McFayden

Best known for his prowess in the online poker tournaments, Neil McFayden is widely recognised as amongst the best poker players in New Zealand. He cashed out $ 200,000 after winning the Party Poker May Madness $ 1 million Guaranteed Tournament, back in 2008. He is a two-time Triple Crown Winner at PocketFives.com, but has been a little quiet in the live tournament domain over the past few years. He won his first ever major live poker event after taking down GUKPT Luton Main Event, bagging an impressive $ 76,861.

Tae Hoon Han

Han’s breakout performance was in the year 2017 when he won the PokerStars Festival Korea Main Event, bagging $ 73,954. He performed well in the 2018 as well and managed another impressive career year, scoring 14 live cashes, including 10 final table appearances, as well as a prelim event victory at the 2018 Macau Millions. Although he is more of a cash game player, Tae Hoon Han has started showing consistency in the live tournaments too and is expected to deliver even bigger scores in 2020.

Honglin Jiang

The brother of Sosia Jiang, Honglin Jiang is another prominent Kiwi poker player that must be watched out for in 2020. He had an impressive pair of six-figure score in 2018 and also finished as runner-up at the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event, where he won an impressive $ 525,233. Jiang also finished in 9th position at the Partypoker Millions Grand Final Barcelona Main Event, bagging $ 185,000. His total earnings for the year 2018 were $ 847,000.