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