Already known as one of Australia’s top live tournament players, Daniel Neilson added yet another trophy to his rapidly growing cabinet last night with victory in the $550 6-Handed event at Star City.

The sixth event on this year’s Sydney Championships schedule attracted a quality field of 112 players with the likes of Jackie Glazier, Grant Levy, Jai Kemp, John Caridad and Aaron Benton all hitting the felt but none could match it with Neilson.

Having won the High Stakes event at last year’s Sydney Champs for $103,500, he continued his impressive run in the Harbour City as he proceeded to make light work of the final table over the course of three hours last night.
“It’s always good to get another win but it was a bit of a roller-coaster,” Neilson said.

“I kept losing hands at showdown at the start, I couldn’t win one, but I just kept raising and getting chips back that way. The table was pretty tight other than Ciaran (Sharpe, runner-up) so it gave me some good opportunities to build my stack.”

Ironically, Sharpe finished third in this same event 12 months ago – as well as running deep in the Main Event – and went one better this time around but fell agonisingly short of a breakthrough win.

On the final hand, Neilson turned two pair holding K-9 on a 9-6-7-K board and snap-called Sharpe’s 4-bet shove – the latter showing K-10 and unable to catch his three-outer on the river.

“Ciaran was playing pretty well – he took the chip lead at one stage heads-up and he was tough to play against but he got unlucky on that last hand,” Neilson said.

While Sharpe will have to wait a while longer to score his first trophy, Neilson added yet another notch to his belt to take his 2011 earnings to around $130,000.

His deep runs over the past 12 months alone have included his win in the High Rollers event at last year’s Sydney Championships, success in a Turbo NLHE tournament at ANZPT Darwin, sixth in the APT Macau Main Event (good for $30,000), second in the 6-Handed event at the Aussie Millions for $56,175 and another win in the High Stakes event at ANZPT Perth for $50,000.

He joked after his win that it might be time he finally bought himself a trophy cabinet, “because I haven’t actually got one yet”, but more satisfying was matching the feat of good friend and 2010 APPT Sydney champion Jonathan Karamalikis who won a WCOOP (World Championships of Online Poker) event only hours earlier (with Neilson, ironically, finishing seventh in the same event).

The pair have made any number of final tables together over the years – particularly in High Stakes events – and are always quick to let each other know about their own achievements.

“There is a definitely a rivalry there to see who can win the most trophies,” Neilson laughed.

The final table placings were as follows:

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

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

Aussie poker’s whiz kid Jonathan “Monster_Dong” Karamalikis has taken down (WCOOP) World Championship Of  Online Poker 6^th event ($215.00 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Re-buy) to take home $179,569.13

The final table of nine hopefuls looked like this with the blinds at 60,000 and 120,000 and  15,000 ante.

Iftarii – 3,413,184
gp18089 – 2,445,735
filfedra – 1,755,384
Monster_Dong – 1,110,676
medmar – 1,034,061
lotos64 – 758,782
ShippityShip – 603,778
FrankThomas8 – 480,176
4kinghellll – 98,224

With just four players remaining Jono took down the championship in six crucial hands. His pocket fives held against Czech Republic’s filfedra who showed A2. Then his A8 improved with an 8 on the flop against loto64’s A9 and finally his A10 was good against medmar’s K8 in heads up play.

Jono walks away with $179,569.13

Entries 1,589
Buy-in $215.00
Re-buys 3,130
Add-ons 754
Prize pool  $1,094,600
The Guarantee was ½ million dollars
Top 216 cashed

Final table cash finishes

1- Monster_Dong – $179,569.13
2- medmar – $131,352.00
3- lotos64 – $98,514.00
4- filfedra – $73,338.20
5- Iftarii – $51,993.50
6- gp18089 – $41,047.50
7- ShippityShip – $30,101.50
8- FrankThomas8 – $19,155.50
9- 4kinghellll – $10,946.00

He might not be big on words but his actions spoke volumes last night as Nhon Ta crushed the final table in under three hours to win the $1100 Sydney Special event at Star City.

The fourth event of this year’s Sydney Championships, Ta and overnight chip leader Eddie Saade wasted no time in cutting down the field with the eight remaining players slashed to just three within an hour before Ta took control to claim the $21,450 first prize.

Saade had previously looked set to continue his impressive run through the 66-man field after cracking Nicholas Wright’s Aces when he flopped trip 9s to go into heads-up play on an even keel but Ta was ruthless as he proceeded to chip away at his rival before finishing the deal when his A-8 held on against Saade’s K-9 all-in pre-flop.

“I’m very happy,” he said. “I played very well today. He (Saade) liked to protect his blinds and I was very aware of that so I picked my spots against him and tried to get it in good. I wanted to wear him down and that’s what I did.”
Ta, 33, from Cabramatta, is a regular cash game player at Star City but can now count Sydney Championships tournament winner among his list of achievements.

However, the award for unluckiest player at the final table goes to sixth place finisher Honglin Jiang who got it in good with Queens against Ta’s A-10 early in the day only for an Ace to appear in the window. For those with long memories, Jiang enjoyed a stunning run at last year’s Sydney Championships with a win in the $1100 6-handed event for $19,600 and a third-place finish in the Main Event – good for another $48,461. He added another $3,630 for his efforts over the past two days.

$1100 Sydney Special NLHE Results:

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

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

It was a hectic day in the Star City poker room with two more events also kicking off as the Sydney Championships hit top gear.

The $300 Ladies Event was run and won within the space of around seven hours with the players quickly working their way down to the final table before Cheryl Paton emerged victorious.

Paton bubbled the final table of the Victorian Poker Championships two years ago but went all the way here in Sydney to pick up the coveted trophy for her efforts.
Suzy Khoueis finished runner-up with Ruth Jones third.

And the eight remaining players in Event 4 – $1,100 Sydney Special No Limit Hold’em – return today to fight it out for the $21,450 first prize. A total of 66 players took their seats yesterday including Daniel Neilson, Jackie Glazier and 2010 APPT Sydney fourth-place finisher Peco Stojanovski with the final table chip counts as follows:

Seat 1: Trudie Sultana – 138,000
Seat 2: Nhon Ta – 210,900
Seat 3: David Sanis – 128,500
Seat 4: Eddie Saade – 219,000
Seat 5: Honglin Jiang – 78,000
Seat 6: Wei Zhu – 53,000
Seat 7: David Menz – 52,000
Seat 8: Nicholas Wright – 107,500

Click here to see all the photos

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

An eventful final table almost saw a remarkable comeback win before overnight chip leader Rhys Gould finally prevailed to clinch his first live trophy in the Australian Poker Weekly $550 event at the Sydney Championships last night.

The Sydney student looked set to cruise to victory after dominating early play to build a stack of over 1,000,000 in chips but a bizarre hand that should have seen him reach heads-up play inside two hours briefly threatened to turn the tournament on its head.

With four players remaining, Gould min-raised on the button only to see Yibo Zhou 3-bet out of the small blind. Amit Shahi then shoved from the big blind with Gould shipping all-in over the top.

Zhou tanked for a good three minutes before eventually folding Kings face-up. Gould showed Aces and Shahi Q-Q as the board blanked to cut the field to three. Zhou’s fold almost proved a masterstroke, however, as he proceeded to win a series of flips to take the lead in heads-up play before Gould regained the ascendency for the title. But he admitted afterwards that he was baffled by Zhou’s big fold.

“It was honestly a ludicrous fold – you never fold Kings there – but the previous day I saw him fold Queens twice in similar spots so I wasn’t that surprised,” Gould said. “At the end of the day it was good to pick up the win.”
Gould was by far the most aggressive player at a final table that boasted six players on little more than 10 big blind stacks at the start of play (Gould had more than 100) and his victory was well deserved.

On the final hand, he 3-bet all-in with Kings – Zhou calling with A-9 before a King on the flop all but sealed the deal.

“There were a lot of 10bb stacks so I couldn’t just aggress relentlessly but as soon as people got to 20 or 30 big blinds I started opening every hand to try and pick up every dead pot,” the 24-year-old said.“Everyone was fairly tight so it made it quite good for me.”

A total of 126 players took their seats in Event 2 including Brendon Rubie, Daniel Neilson and tournament host Tony Hachem with Gould picking up $18,270 for his win.

Left to right: Kamyar Ekrami APW champion 2009, Joel Cohen APW Champ 2010
and APW Tournament host 2009 and 2010 ANZPT Player Of The Year Tony Hachem.

APW Sydney Champs Event 2 final table

APW $550 Sydney Championships Event 2

1st: Rhys Gould – $18,270
2nd: Yibo 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 – $3,520
9th: Obrad Milinkovic – $1,890

Click here to see all the photos

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker

PokerStars’ World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) with 62 tournament schedules and $30,000,000 in guaranteed prize pools starts today.

It’s the series where fortunes are made and new stars of poker are born, and anyone can play. If you think you’re ready to become a world champion, qualify exclusively with PokerStars satellites now.

Every year this tournament series attracts huge fields and awards massive prize pools. Since 2002 the WCOOP has been the world’s premier online poker event, and this year tens of thousands of players will compete across 62 events in 23 days for millions of dollars in prize money.

It all starts with Event 1, the $215 No Limit Hold’em 6-Max, and concludes with Event 62, the two-day, $5,200 No Limit Hold’em Main Event, which will take place on September 25-26 and award at least $5,000,000. Make sure you are part of it.

The European Poker Tour has a new champion, with Martin Schleich, from Germany, winning the title, the trophy and a first prize of €850,000 after what has been a record-setting event in Spain.

After an epic day, Schleich’s ace-nine proved enough to undo the last of the resistance, put up by Dragan Kostic, from Spain. It wasn’t needed but Schleich hit a nine on the river to put EPT Barcelona to bed.

Runner-up Kostic defied everyone’s expectation, not least his own, to finish second collecting €532,000, his career best result, although not the first Spanish winner on home soil that the locals would have wished.

Both he and Schleich, a chip leader from earlier in the week, put in all the necessary work and had the ability required to outlast the field, as well as the mental endurance to withstand the passing of time.

The strain on players was obvious but it also took its toll on those watching. One railbird, cheering on Schleich, seemed to crack as the hour hand reached Friday. “Martin, it is enough!” he cried, in a last plea for mercy and for his man to end it once and for all.

But those watching the main stage in the tournament room at Casino Barcelona had come to watch the real story of the day, which lay elsewhere. And when it came to a close you couldn’t help but feel a sense of anti-climax.

After more than 13 hours of play, Eugene Katchalov’s Triple Crown hopes came to an end. The exhausted Katchalov got the last of his chips in, backed by a pair of sevens. Schleich had found pocket nines and called. At such a late hour the hand – a moment of excitement – was more relevant as proof that time hadn’t actually begun to stand still.

The dealer dealt the flop, the window card seven prompted a huge roar, until the rest of the flop revealed a nine, deflating those looking to witness poker history being made. Katchalov missed the turn and river and had missed poker’s ultimate badge of honour, exiting in third place, earning €315,000.

Without losing impartiality, Katchalov had been the best player of the day, and possibly the week. To watch him was to watch a man at the top of his game playing poker in such a way as to convince others that it was easy. Graciously putting his success down to luck, he nevertheless outplayed his opponents, starting with a bluff with pocket fives on day one, to the man-handling of his opponents in the final.

Katchalov might not be the most flamboyant player to watch, not the most entertaining or exciting. But what you see is a unique poker talent, almost super human, one that has now recorded six final tables this year alone to top of the rankings.

But Schleich lifted his trophy aloft, in front of a loyal crowd that had watched the final since doors opened at noon.

Regardless of all eyes being on the Team PokerStars Pro, Schleich’s win gives him automatic entry into the aristocracy of European poker, topping a final table that demanded talent and stamina in equal measure.

It seems a long time ago that Isobel Baltazar departed in eighth. Her elimination sparked off a long final, the results of which are below:

1. Martin Schleich, Germany, €850,000
2. Dragan Kostic, Spain, €532,000
3. Eugene Katchalov, Team PokerStars Pro, Ukraine, €315,000
4. Raul Mestre, Spain, €244,000
5. Tomeu Gomila, Spain, €185,000
6. Saar Wilf, Israel, €145,000
7. Juan Manuel Perez, Spain, €105,000
8. Isabel Baltazar, France, €73,000

Another great event on the PokerStars European Poker Tour comes to an end, with new records set, a new champion and the promise of more to come. The third leg of the eighth season is only a matter of weeks away when the EPT bandwagon rolls into London – from one permanent feature on the EPT to another.

By Stephen Bartley

Kristina Jeney overcame illness, a monster field and an aggressive final table to score arguably the biggest result of her burgeoning poker career by taking out the $330 Sydney Championships Opening Event at Star City.

Buoyed by a breakthrough year in which she has cashed for well over $100,000, Jeney showed tremendous composure to build a big stack early and then dominate the latter stages of a final table that boasted the likes of 2010 NPL 500 champion Terry Tserdanis, noted tournament pro Patrick Fletcher and overnight chip leader Michael Ryan, who finished fourth at this year’s Aussie Millions.

She collected $37,408 for her win.“I played really solid,” she said. “I started Day 2 with about 30,000 in chips which was right on average but made it to the final table third which was really good. “It’s great to win but I’m exhausted now. I’ve been sick the past three days and wasn’t even supposed to play so I’m pretty happy to get this one.”

Jeney won a big pot early when she flopped a full house holding pocket Jacks but it was a massive flip against fellow big stack Michael Ryan with three players remaining that set her on the path for victory.

The pair had tussled throughout the day with Jeney at one stage calling time as Ryan tanked to consider a shove from a shorter stack with five players still in the hunt. Ryan, in disbelief, replied ‘Are you serious? You’re out of line’ before eventually folding but it was Jeney that had the final say when she later called Ryan’s shove to be racing with A-10s against his 3s.

The flop was a safe one for Ryan but running diamonds gave Jeney the nut flush and saw her take a huge 7:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Kris Nestorovic. Facing such a deficit, Nestorovic barely put up a fight as Jeney steamrolled her way to victory.

On the final hand, the chips all went into the middle on a 3-4-6 board with Jeney holding 10-5s for an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw and Nestorovic with 4-7 for middle pair.

The 8 on the turn didn’t change anything but the river 2 gave Jeney the straight and the win. “I felt like I played heads- up pretty solid – I put the pressure on him,” she said. “I didn’t have amazing cards but I had the stack so I thought I could use that to put him to some decisions.
“Also, he was very aggressive so he was an easier player to play back at. “But I think I played the final table really well and I picked my spots. There were a few hands when I got a bit lucky but to win any tournament you’ve just got to play the best you can and hope that your hands hold. You can’t do any more than that.”

A total of 510 players – including Aaron Benton, Grant Levy, Brendon Rubie, Sam Khouiss, Andrew Scarf and Martin Rowe – stumped up the $330 entry fee for the Opening Event, creating a prize pool of $153,000 and setting the tone for a huge week ahead.

2011 Sydney Championships Opening Event Results

1st Kristina Jeney – $37,408
2nd Kris Nestorovic – $23,485
3rd Michael Ryan – $12,928
4th Yek Goky – $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

By Ben Blaschke
Sponsored by Star City Big Game Poker