Lee Nelson

Lee Nelson is the elder statesman of New Zealand poker and second on the country's all-time money list. His record runs back to 2000 and takes in 80 recorded cashes, most of them in Australia, where he was a fixture of the Crown Melbourne circuit long before the game went mainstream.

His defining result is the 2006 Aussie Millions main event, which he won for A$1,295,800 - about $949,694 - and which remains his biggest cash twenty years later. He also won the Party Poker World Open final in England in 2005 for $400,000, the ANZPT Melbourne main event in 2011 for roughly $160,551, and a A$20,000 speed poker event at the 2005 Crown Australian Poker Championships for around $93,293.

Nelson is a genuine mixed-game player rather than a Hold'em specialist: his wins include Pot Limit Omaha at the 2009 Aussie Millions and at the Irish Poker Open in 2005, Seven Card Stud and Limit Omaha Hi/Lo titles in Melbourne, and a draw event at the 2002 New Zealand Poker Championships in Christchurch. He was still cashing at home as recently as June 2022, when he finished second in the Canterbury Championships at the New Zealand Poker Championships. His global all-time rank has slipped to 1,249th as the game's prize pools have grown - his best was 103rd.