A lucrative championship finale brings together the top professional poker players in New Zealand this week. The 2017 Waitangi Deep Stack Championship Main Event is one of the biggest poker tournaments in the country to take place Thursday to Monday at Auckland’s Sky City casino.

The event features a likely $150,000 prize pool, with a share of roughly $40,000 for the winner of the final table. An additional set of eight side events including a $550 Heads Up will be held at 2 PM on Saturday. Furthermore, there will be a series of smaller games such as the $275 Deep Stack Turbo event at 6 PM on Sunday and the $50 NLH Flip Out tournament at 3 PM on Monday.

Sky City Auckland’s table games manager Radha Vellanki expects impressive attendance this year. He believes that “the Waitangi Deep Stack Championship has always been one of our most popular tournaments with its relaxed summer atmosphere and the long weekend timing that sees more players from around New Zealand travel to participate. This year we have a strong contingent from Thames and Wellington as well as numerous players from throughout the South Island.”