The PokerStars Estrellas Ibiza main event came to a conclusion and Grzegorz Gosk took down the title in about four hours – and with it a trophy and a cheque for €92,100. The Polish PokerStars qualifier had a bookend of a tournament, in that he led the field at the end of Day 1 and he led the field when it mattered most; with one left.

On his victory he said: “This is the best time in my life. It’s my sixth live poker tournament and this is my biggest win.”

He had to defeat the Season 2 TLB winner Alvaro Santamaria in a tense heads-up battle that saw the lead pass from one to the other. Very early on in heads-up play Gosk doubled up and took over the lead when his pocket jacks held against Gosk’s ace-king. It was then the turn of the Spaniard to double back up with his favourite hand A♥Q♥ to even things up. Ironically it was ace-queen that did it for Santamaria in the end. His ace-four was no match and he had to settle for second place, a consolation prize of €58,600.

He said afterwards: “Gosk was a very good player and I knew it. He was not aggressive at all and it was impossible for me to pick up any tells.”

The start of the final table at Casino Ibiza couldn’t have been more different to the end of play. Then, it took nearly two hours to go from nine players to eight and set our final table.

The first player to fall was Alvaro Marino who pushed his short-stack in with 6♦2♦ from the small blind only to run into Alavaro Marino’s A♠T♥ in the big blind. There were a couple of quick double-ups before he was followed to the payout desk by Javier Tazon. His A♥9♥ couldn’t stay ahead of Jeff Zsolt Soros’ J♠T♠.

The next two to fall were Raul Paez and Manuel Martinez. The remaining players would have been happy to see the back of the hugely talented Paez, who had his pocket kings cracked by Gosk’s ace-jack. A few minutes later Martinez got his last 800,000 chips in bad, with A♦7♦ to Santamaria’s A♣Q♣.

The very aggressive Jeff Zsolt Soros found it hard to get the better of Santamaria and it was ironic the first time he did, in a pre-flop showdown, his hand couldn’t hold up. Carlos Simon Martinez was the happiest to see him go as he had blinded down to a micro stack and laddered to thousands more in winnings by waiting. He was eliminated when his ace-queen lost out to Santamaria’s jack-four.

By Marc Convey
Sponsored by PokerStars.net

It was one of the most gruelling tournaments that we’ve ever seen in three seasons of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour. A big field, talented players and very long days, not to mention the minefield of bad beats that lay in between. It was always going to prove to be a massive challenge to overcome. Three days before, we said we expected to see the cream to rise to the top in this event, and indeed that’s what happened with victory going the way of Lee Nelson.

Nelson is one of the most successful players of all time in the Australasian region. With results dating back decades, Nelson’s reputation was so solid that he picked up the nickname “Final Table” in recognition of his incredible tournament strike rate. In recent years, Nelson has reduced his playing schedule a little, but has once again proven that he still has what it takes to compete with the whiz kids as he adds an ANZPT trophy to the cabinet.

It’s a long way from the two-orbit penalty that Nelson was whacked yesterday when he acted out of turn. Like the true professional he is, Nelson maintained his composure and made it through to the final day in third chip position.

After we lost Erich Stadler (11th) and Seonglee Ang (10th) in the early stages, the scene was set for an exciting final table. However early on the play was very slow, with the short stacks waiting for the right spot and the tight players biding their time. New Zealand’s Phil Willcocks and overnight chip leader Tom Wing were pushing the action, but it was tough going.

Justin Sanchez departed in 9th place but then it took over two more hours before Brett Chalhoub was the next player to fall. Chalhoub was pretty unlucky and it was a defining hand in the tournament when his ace-king was rivered by the ace-queen of Lee Nelson. That lucky lady would jump Nelson into the chip lead while Chalhoub was sent packing in 8th place.

From there the pace of play picked up as the short stacks did their best to double up or die trying. Stephen Eliesen got caught shoving light into Phil Willcocks to fall in 7th place before overnight chip leader Tom Wing crashed and burned when he called with ace-seven only to run into a dominant ace-jack held by Willcocks. Wing was crippled and couldn’t recover to fall in 6th place.

Incredibly it was Willcocks who was next to go after a series of hands went against him.

First he doubled up Nick Georgoulas on a 9♣7♠3♠ flop when Willcocks shoved Q♣J♣ and Georgoulas made a huge call with A♥3♦ for bottom pair. Clearly rattled, Willcocks shoved all in moments later with T♣6♣ and Lee Nelson called with A♣8♥. Willcocks flopped a pair but Nelson ran him down with a backdoor straight to send Willcocks crashing out in 5th place just prior to the dinner break.

With hungers satisfied, the rapid eliminations continued with Karan Punjabi recovering from a short stack before eventually falling in 4th place before Danny Chevalier’s run came to an end in 3rd. Lee Nelson was the man responsible for both bustouts as he couldn’t put a foot wrong. Chevalier was looking not only for the title and cash, but valuable points in the ANZ Player of the Year race. He three-bet all in with pocket threes but Nelson made the call with ace-ten and won the race when he improved to a full house. With this result, Chevalier moves to second on the ANZ POTY and will be heading to Darwin confident of another big result.

That left us heads up with the unlikely duo of Lee Nelson and Nick Georgoulas. Nelson had the lead, but Georgoulas was quick to find a double up as the two players were prepared to play big ball and gamble for the title.

The final moment came when Nelson three-bet shoved all in with J♥T♥ and Georgoulas made the call with pocket fours. Nelson flopped a flush on the 8♥A♥K♥ flop and it was all but over. The 9♥ turn and 2♠ river sealed the deal as the Australian Poker Hall of Famer grabbed the title!

Final table results
1st Lee Nelson (New Zealand) – $156,550
2nd Nick Georgoulas (Australia) – $99,200
3rd Danny Chevalier (Australia) – $55,180
4th Karan Punjabi (Australia) – $43,090
5th Phil Willcocks (New Zealand) – $34,100
6th Tom Wing (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) – $27,900
7th Stephen Eliesen (Australia) (PokerStars Player) – $22,320
8th Brett Chalhoub (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) – $17,670
9th Justin Sanchez (Australia) – $13,020

By Heath Chick
Sponsored by PokerStars.net
Photo: Shannon Morris

There’s an old saying that the cream always rises to the top. During times of intense pressure, when the game is there to be won and everything is on the line, the best will not only survive, but thrive. Tonight we find ourselves in the city of Melbourne and the heart of poker down under. However there’s something a little bit special in the air tonight, and we’re not talking about body odour.

While the Crown Poker Room is choc-a-block full of tournaments, sit & gos and cash game tables, everyone in the room only had one eye on their cards. The other was firmly fixed on one of the plethora of big screens around the room as the Australian Football League Preliminary Final had the local crowd glued to the enthralling action.

For those not familiar with our great game, tonight’s match was a battle of the titans with the irresistible force of Hawthorn pitted against the immovable object in Collingwood. It was a heads-up battle to the death that went down to the wire. 90,000-plus screaming fans filled the MCG to see Collingwood spike a two-outer river for a memorable come-from-behind victory to stay alive to reach the AFL Grand Final. It was one of the great games of all time.

Perhaps it’s a sign of things to come for us in this great city over the next few days as the PokerStars.net ANZPT Melbourne series prepares for a final of its own. The $2,200 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event is set to pitch the best poker players in the country against each other in the country’s premier poker room.

When a poker player gets off the plane and walks in the doors of the world-class Crown Casino, they know there is big money, silverware and bragging rights up for grabs. They too must rise to the challenge.

Already we’ve seen several players do exactly that, with well-known local pros grabbing wins in the preliminary events throughout the week. Luke McLean, Peter Aristidou, Trung Tran, Jai Kemp and 2009 APPT Sydney champion Aaron Benton have all risen to the top this week to claim impressive wins to add another trophy to their collection. And as this article is beamed out to the world, the $5,000 High Rollers event is heading towards an exciting conclusion. Aussie Millions third place finisher Jeff Rossiter currently leads the way, with Australian Poker Hall of Famer Billy Arygros and young guns Andy Hinrichsen and Jarred Graham still in contention.

While they duke it out, many others will now be focussing on the $2,200 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event. It’s the second-last event of Season 3, and with a big field expected, there are valuable points up for grabs to try and reel in the lead of ANZ Player of the Year leader Leo Boxell. Jesse McKenzie and Ricky Kroesen are certainly within striking distance while several others can still challenge for the top three for a share of the approx $80,000 in cash and prizes for the Player of the Year award.

ANZ Player of the Year Top Ten
1st – Leo Boxell – 244.10
2nd – Jesse McKenzie – 193.90
3rd – Ricky Kroesen – 190.78
4th – Danny Chevalier – 178.60
5th – Octavian Voegele – 162.45
6th – Charles Caris – 161.40
7th – Oliver Grujic – 150.45
8th – David Gorr – 141.95
9th – Mario Ljubicic – 141.15
10th – Grant Levy – 139.50

By Heath Chick
Sponsored by PokerStars.net

There are still no decisions after three days of the hearing between The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) and Full Tilt Poker. Today begins the fourth day of the private sessions in London.

The indictments from New York US Attorney’s office include CEO Ray Bitar, Howard Lederer, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Rafe Furst and original names in the first indictment. US Attorney Preet Bharara has stated that Full Tilt Poker was “an international Ponzi scheme” that defrauded players out of money while it was paying many people in the company millions of dollars over the past five years.

There were no information or indications as to how the hearing was going until yesterday when Full Tilt attorney Jeff Ifrash made a statement on a poker forum.

Ifrash’s post to a question from one of his friends was the following: “Right now it is important to encourage the AGCC to delay any ruling for a minimum of 30 days in order to permit a timely transition to a new ownership structure. The AGCC is aware of the identity of the new ownership group. It does not involve anyone associated in the slightest way with the current FTP membership. I plead with all of you to do this and unite in this one effort.”

“A negative AGCC ruling will cause all efforts that have been undertaken to secure this investor group to fail and leave customers in the cold.”

“It is not necessary for the AGCC to issue any negative ruling now. The company is not operating and there are investors truly interested in closing a deal with the company. I can assure you that the investor deal includes repayment of ALL player obligations. We have come too far in these months since Black Friday to let this fall apart now. Please.”

By Alfred Markarian

Displaying skills that are both versatile and adaptable, Australian Poker Weekly columnist Danielle Adams-Benham has once again ventured into the international music scene. Earlier this year APW reported that Adams-Benham had co-written I’m All In – with country rock artist Jimmie Lee – a song which is now a perennial favourite on the iPods of many poker players. The single sold well throughout the international poker scene.

Known as the Jersey Outlaw, Lee has just launched another extra special poker song, co-written by our own Hot Aussie Chick. Hit the River Running is set to make its mark into the entertainment industry as part of Lee’s soon to be released album Kid Vegas. Danielle has put much of her own persona into the songwriting process, once again in partnership with Jimmie Lee.

The Jersey Outlaw and Danielle were hoping to generate more of the same excitement within the poker community when Hit the River Running was released on iTunes and CD Baby. The pair’s hopes have become reality! The song is merely one week old and has already been publicised globally, and with its sales beginning to skyrocket.

Hit the River Running and I’m All In both appear on Jimmie Lee’s forthcoming album Kid Vegas due for release soon. The album features both these hit songs together with an array of others – also co-written by our very own Hot Topics columnist – which have yet to be released as singles.

Hit the River Running features a driving rock beat complemented by Jimmie’s killer vocals. It perfectly captures the emotions poker players experience as they sweat out the river card turnover that could seal their fate! Jimmie Lee has already received widespread critical acclaim for I’m All In and now Hit the River Running is also being aired on poker and mainstream stations all over the globe.

Lee is set to make a series of select guest appearances at celebrity poker tournaments throughout the year, playing songs from his new Kid Vegas album. These live shows feature live performances from Jimmie and The Bandito Girls, and are always a big hit with the poker players.

Australians can be proud of Danielle Adams-Benham’s songwriting contribution in this new poker and casino gaming album. Listen to Hit the River Running at www.jimmieleesongs.com or download a copy from iTunes or CD Baby. Congratulations to Danielle and Jimmie on this wonderful collaborative songwriting effort.

By John Golledge

It is with regret that we report on the outcome of the sentencing of David Saab and Robert Reemus.

Saab and Reemus are well known by many in the Australian Poker Community, sadly now also known by main stream media after the conclusion of their sentencing for drug offenses on Monday.

The pair and a third person Darren Hughes pleaded guilty to the importation of a large quantity of cocaine with an estimated street value of between $6.5 million and $8.5 million in January this year from Vancouver to Australia. The cocaine was concealed in agriculture machinery parts and replaced by customs before entering their hands for collection.

Saab, the winner of 2007 Australian Heads-up Championship and APT Philippines who allegedly was to profit $100,000.00 has been sentenced to 14 years prison with no chance of an early release for 10 years.

Reemus and Hughes who were set to profit around $10,000.00 each have been sentenced to 8 years of prison with a minimum of 5 years of their life behind bars.

As the poker community is aware, Australian Poker Weekly is, and has always been about positive news about our game, making avoidance of publishing anything negative. APW has had a large number of inquiries about the outcome of the sentencing, so it was decided to post this update.

By Danielle Adams-Benham

After thirteen days and nine events Sydney Championships has finally wrapped up.

The third annual Sydney Championships was a successful campaign and had many of Australia’s top pros participating.

Congratulations to Star City Big Game Poker’s management Stephen Ibrahim and Julie Smedley (pictured), Poker marketing manager Peter Yang and all the poker staff  for designing and running a magnificent tournament campaign.

Congratulations also goes out to all the winners of the nine events.

There are more big  poker tournaments to come at Star City. We will keep you updated as they are announced.

Below are the results for each event:

EVENT 1 – OPENING EVENT NLH
1st – Kristina L. Jeney – $37,408
2nd – Kristivoje Nestorovic – $23,485
3rd – Michael Ryan – $12,928
4th – Yekta Gokyidrim – $10,021
5th – Patrick Vartuli – $8,109
6th – Patrick Fletcher – $6,579
7th – Marcial Dias – $5,049
8th – Terry Tserdanis – $3,825
9th – Joseph Deguara – $2,754
10th – Michael J Harrington – $1,989
11th – Kiel Cram – $1,989
12th – Benny Phillips – $1,989
13th – Adrian Liew – $1,607
14th – Sam Khouiss – $1,607
15th – Brendan Rubie – $1,607
16th – Todor Kondevski – $1,377
17th – Ashley Johnstone – $1,377
18th – Todd Allison – $1,377
19th – Chris Lee – $1,224
20th – Christopher Harris – $1,224
21st – Fereno Matus – $1,224
22nd – David Hirst – $1,071
23rd – Nathan Sawyers – $1,071
24th – Jason Pritchard – $1,071
25th – Shuai Chang – $918
26th – Adam Agresta – $918
27th – David J Menz – $918
28th – Shiva Panchalingam – $841
29th – En Xin Jan – $841
30th – Alan Casas – $841
31st – Jimmy Ghobrial – $841
32nd – John Dale – $841
33rd – Joshua Foster – $841
34th – Chris Bridle – $765
35th – Marcus Pritchard – $765
36th – Ross Stevenson – $765
37th – Tat Hung Wong – $765
38th – Chris Ayoub – $765
39th – Teresa-Ann Natoli – $765
40th – Matthew J Rolfe – $765
41st – Quoc Nguyen – $689
42nd – Joey Masangcay – $689
43rd – Timothy De Pater – $689
44th – Jeremie lopez – $689
45th – Jonathone Prime – $689
46th – David Ndaira – $689
47th – Mete Teoman – $689
48th – Sam Capra – $612
49th – Khee-Trung Tran – $612
50th – Simon Cartile – $612
51st – Peter Apostolu – $612
52nd -Azz Benton – $612

EVENT 2 – AUSTRALIAN POKER WEEKLY NLH
1st – Rhys Gould – $18,270
2nd – Steve Zhou – $11,340
3rd – Effie Bouyioukos – $7,245
4th – Amit Shahi – $5,040
5th – David Logan – $4,410
6th – Nathan Davis – $3,780
7th – Vlastimil Kral – $3,150
8th – Simon Palmer – $2,520
9th – Obrad Milinkovic – $1,890
10th – Giuseppe Gumina – $1,575
11th – Craig Blight – $1,260
12th – Michael Weiss – $1,260
13th – Julian Malki – $1,260

EVENT 3 – LADIES NLH
1st – Cheryl Paton – $2,660
2nd – Suzy Khoueis – $1,596
3rd – Ruth Jones – $1,064

EVENT 4 – $1K SYDNEY SPECIAL NLH
1st – Nhon Ta – $21,450
2nd – Eddie Saade – $13,860
3rd – Nicholas Wright – $9,900
4th – David Sanis – $6,600
5th – Trudie Sultana – $4,950
6th – Honglin Jiang – $3,630
7th – David Menz – $2,970
8th – Wei Zhu – $2,640

EVENT 5 – POT LIMIT OMAHA
1st – Minh Hau Nguyen – $12,838
2nd – Gregory Cook – $8,097
3rd – Neil Mortimer-Fox – $5,333
4th – Martin Poytress – $3,752
5th – Zhixin Yao – $2,963
6th – Anthony Kanaan – $2,567
7th – Michael Mariakis – $2,173
8th – Michael Cook – $1,777

EVENT 6 – SIX HANDED NLH
1st – Daniel Neilson – $15,260
2nd – Ciaran Sharpe – $10,220
3rd – John Donohue – $7,840
4th – David St Eloi – $5,320
5th -Andrew Scarf – $3,920
6th – Kyle Greenway – $2,940
7th – Jackqeline Glazier – $2,100
8th – David Rodwell – $2,100
9th – Peco Stojanovski – $2,100
10th – Michael Comer – $1,400
11th – Nhon Huu Ta – $1,400
12th – Guilano Nobili – $1,400

EVENT 7 – TEAMS NLH
1st  -  Michael Barnes / Tom Barnes – $8,100
2nd – Toby Ryall / Nick Polias – $4,500
3rd – Nashman Nashaar /Adrian K Liew – $3,240
4th – Graeme Putt / Joseph Cabret – $2,160

EVENT 8 – MAIN EVENT
1st – Errolyn Strang – $119,542
2nd – John Donohue – $75,600
3rd – Kamyar Ekrami – $42,525
4th – Michael O’Grady – $33,075
5th – Graham Hounsell – $27,169
6th – Tom Motherwell – $22,207
7th – Nick Polias – $17,483
8th – Narbeh Hovsepian – $13,703
9th – Hang Ngoc Nhan – $9,923
10th – Daniel Leather – $7,087
11th – Maryann Farrugia – $7,087
12th – David Campbell – $7,087
13th – Yekta Gokyildirim – $5,906
14th – Jason Gray – $5,906
15th – Nhon Huu Ta – $5,906
16th – Jackqueline Glazier – $5,198
17th – Hun Wei Lee – $5,198
18th – John Thompson – $5,198
19th – Trudyie Sultana – $4,725
20th – Tty Ly – $4,725
21st – Justin Cohen – $4,725
22nd – Bruce Hall – $4,253
23rd – Michel Bouskila – $4,253
24th – Nabil Edgtton – $4,253
25th – Sheldon Mayer – $3,780
26th – Connie Lal – $3,780
27th – Sam Steindl – $3,780
28th – Laurence Hall – $3,307
29th – Chris Bridle – $3,307
30th – Obrad Milinkovic – $3,307
31st – Jason Ward – $2,835
32nd – Minh Hau Nguyen – $2,835
33rd – Marc Liddell – $2,835

EVENT 9 – CHARITY EVENT
1st – Joel Cohen – $1,400
2nd – Phillip Baker – $600

THE field was packed full of seasoned professionals and live tournament regulars but in the end it was a mother of two from Wollongong that outlasted them all to be crowned Sydney Championships main event winner.

Errolyn Strang, who returns to her full-time job as a TAFE teacher this morning, survived a rollercoaster final table and a heads-up battle that lasted an exhausting four hours to score the biggest win of her career and the $119,542 first prize.

Still shaking after finally dispatching of runner-up John Donohue at around midnight last night, Strang described her victory as one of the proudest moments of her life.

“I love playing poker and I’m just really excited – really, really excited,” she said. “I just felt good today and I had a great heads-up match that went for about four hours. The luck and the cards fell my way.”

Strang outlasted a field of 313 players, including former champions Jarred Graham and Andrew Capelin, to win the Main Event but it was the dramatic final table that will linger on her mind forever.

Playing the patience game early, she found herself short on chips at one stage before a huge double-up set her on her way when she got it in holding 6-7 on a K-5-8 board and rivered a straight. From there Strang was never short on chips and looked set to make light work of heads-up play until Donohue decided to make life difficult.

Three times the Sydney Pizza Hut owner – who also finished third in the 6-handed event earlier in the week – was all-in for his tournament life and three times he doubled up to get himself back in the contest.

The first of those saw him flop a set of 3s against Strang’s A-K all-in pre, while one of the more dramatic hands of the day saw him turn the nut straight to Strang’s on a board that read K-J-7-8-x.

“The adrenalin was just running crazy the whole time,” Strang said when asked how she coped with so many near misses before eventually finishing the job.

“I had to change my game so I limped in with Kings, flopped top set and he turned the straight. I only tried one massive bluff early in the day and that didn’t work so when something wasn’t working I’d think ‘Okay change that’ or ‘What does this mean?’

“But heads-up has always been a really weak part of my game so I had to just slow down and think more about the hands.”
Although she is far from a household name just yet, Strang has enjoyed an impressive run of results of late with a sixth place finish at the recent NPL 500 and a second in the Wednesday $440 at Star City in July.

Ironically, this latest success comes as she prepares to take a year off work in 2012.

“I’ve got a whole year off… so watch out,” she laughed. “The world here I come. “It’s been such an exciting week and I’m just so glad that women are coming to the fore in poker. I saw that another lady won the opening event too (Kristina Jeney) which is really good.”

The final table had initially looked set to finish in quick time when Hang Ngoc Nhan ran his top pair into Donohue’s set of 7s early on to become the tournament’s ninth-place finisher and overnight chip leader Tom Motherwell lost his advantage in similar circumstances against Kamyar Ekrami’s set of 4s.

But after the first four players were sent to the rail in a little over two hours, play grinded to a standstill five-handed as another three hours passed before we lost our fifth-place finisher (Graham Hounsell).

There would also be no breakthrough win for final table regulars Michael O’Grady or Ekrami – the latter taking an early chip lead but riding his luck throughout before he ran his A-Q into the Kings of Donohue to bow out in third.
Strang will forever hold a special place in Sydney’s poker history as the last person to win a poker tournament at Star City: this week represents the official relaunch of Star City Casino which will be known as The Star from now on following its spectacular $860 million redevelopment.

The Sydney Championships final table placings are:

1st: Errolyn Strang – $119,542
2nd: John Donohue – $75,600
3rd: Kamyar Ekrami – $42,525
4th: Michael O’Grady – $33,075
5th: Graham Hounsell – $27,169
6th: Tom Motherwell – $22,207
7th: Nick Polias – $17,483
8th: Narbeh Hovsepian – $13,703
9th: Hang Ngoc Nhan – $9,923

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

IT took the best part of 14 hours on a dramatic Day 2 to get there but the final table of the 2011 Sydney Championships Main Event is set and ready to go.

A total of 121 players returned to the Star City poker room yesterday – every one of them hoping to reach the last nine – but in the end only a handful survived to take their shot at the $119,542 first prize.

Among those on the final table are local regulars Kamyar Ekrami and Graham Hounsell, John Donohue who ran deep in the same event last year and 2010 ANZPT Sydney final fourth-place finisher Michael O’Grady who is looking to put a run of near misses behind him with his first major live victory.
O’Grady currently sits second in chips behind chip leader and tournament veteran Tom Motherwell – the only player to currently crack the million chip mark.

Play began with a rush yesterday as the short stacks looked to double up or head home with the 121 surviving players slashed to less than 60 within only a few hours but play tightened up considerably as the money bubble approached.

The top 33 finishers at this year’s event were guaranteed a minimum of $2,835 with those to make the money including Connie Lai (26th), Sheldon Mayer (25th), Justin Cohen ($4,725) and Jackie Glazier ($5,198).

Mayer now holds the rare distinction of having reached the money in all three Sydney Championships Main Events since the tournament was first held in 2009.

The final table kicks off at 2pm today with the chip counts as follows:

Seat 1: Tom Motherwell – 1,222,000
Seat 2: Hang Nhan – 703,000
Seat 3: Nick Polias – 406,000
Seat 4: Graham Hounsell – 555,000
Seat 5: Errolyn Strang – 548,000
Seat 6: Kamyar Ekrami – 915,000
Seat 7: Michael OGrady – 978,000
Seat 8: John Donohue – 599,000
Seat 9: Narbeh Horsepian – 401,000

The final table payouts will be:

1st: $119,542
2nd: $75,600
3rd: $42,525
4th: $33,075
5th: $27,169
6th: $22,207
7th: $17,483
8th: $13,703
9th: $9,923

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

After an eventful fortnight that has seen seven new side event champions crowned, the long awaited Sydney Championships Main Event finally got underway yesterday with 135 players taking their seats and a shot at winning one of Australia’s most prestigious titles.

The first of two flights lasted just under 10 hours with 48 players surviving the cut to progress through to Saturday’s Day 2 and despite the generous blinds structure the action was fast and furious in the closing stages as the short stacks endeavoured to go hard or go home.

Among those to fall short 2007 APPT Sydney champion Grant Levy, the always dangerous Andrew Scarf, 2010 APPT Sydney fourth-place finisher Peco Stojanovski and Martin Comer.
However there were no such worries for Australia’s top female player, Jackie Glazier, who cruised through with a healthy stack of 106,400 – good for third spot in the chip counts.

“I pretty much sat around with double the average all day which was nice,” she said. “I actually turned up about two hours late but I pulled off a big bluff early on and the pot was fairly big so it all went from there. “I didn’t actually have a lot of showdowns today which is always a good thing. I’m pretty happy with how it all went and the structure is good too.” Asked about wielding one of the big stacks on Saturday, Glazier smiled “Yeah, I’m going to win it!”

Although Glazier is looking good for a deep run this week, she still trails the two monster stacks of the day with Hun Wei Lee and Julian Malki almost doubling their nearest flight one rivals.

Lee currently leads the way with a whopping 212,000 while Malki isn’t far behind on 198,600.

Also through to Day 2 are Michael O’Grady, Justin Cohen, Sheldon Mayer and Aaron Benton who endured a roller-coaster ride through the day before a late double-up allowed him to stack up a very playable 31,000 with blinds at 500/1,000 when play resumes on Saturday.

Flight Two kicks off just after midday today with a big field expected to take their seats including last year’s Main Event champion Andrew Capelin.

Top chip counts after Flight 1:

Hun Wei Lee – 212,000
Julian Malki – 198,600
Jackie Glazier – 106,400
Eamon Lunders – 97,600
Michael O’Grady – 91,100
Honglin Jiang – 90,500
John Donohue – 86,600
Obrad Milinkovic – 85,300
Manase Ova – 83,400
Mark Abay – 83,000
Minh Nguyen – 81,400
Trudie Sultana – 68,800
Justin Cohen – 68,200
Chris Ciardi – 68,000
Sheldon Mayer – 66,900

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker