The 2012 Melbourne Poker Championships have concluded with Melbourne’s own Jackie Glazier claiming a memorable victory in the Main Event to take home the trophy and $95,000 in prize money.

It’s been another huge week in the Crown Poker Room as 433 players took to the felt over three opening flights in the repechage format of the Melbourne Poker Championships Main Event.  The field contained Melbourne’s finest, plenty of interstate invaders and a string of previous Australian poker champions.

After a couple of days of toil, the final table of ten formed today with talented young gun Ryan Hong holding a big chip lead.

After a cautious start, the players started to drop away as the big cards were passed around the table and the short stacks were unable to find the double ups they required to stay alive.  Ismail Ismail was first to go when his king-queen ran into Liwei Han’s ace-queen, before Paul Schembri pushed his ace-jack into the pocket jacks of Nishi Gamage.

Gamage was the wild card as he splashed around, but it was the elimination of Stelios Yenofkian in 8^thplace that kick-started the run of Jackie Glazier.  She moved all in on the river with a full house and induced a call from Yenofkian for his tournament life.

Glazier chipped up towards the chip lead while the other female at the final table, Sherrie Gelberg was unlucky to be next to fall.  Gelberg got her chips in with ace-king against Simon Moshi’s ace-jack but a jack on the flop was a dagger through the heart for Gelberg.  After final tabling this very same event last year, Gelberg was unable to improve on that result as she lands back-to-back 7^th place finishes.

Simon Kidson was one of the few short stacks who managed to get himself back into contention, but his run came to an end with ace-five against the ace-king of Simon Moshi, before Nishi Gamage was sent to the cashier in 5^th place.  Gamage moved all in with A♣6♣ as Moshi showed he was prepared to gamble with his 5♣5♦.  A third five on the flop and it was all over for Gamage as Moshi continued to climb.

Liwei Han was always in for a tough day at the office with the dangerous Ryan Hong on his direct left, but it didn’t help when Hong also found good cards.  When Han shoved Q♥J♦ from the small blind, Hong woke up with K♣K♠ in the big blind and made the easy call with the queen-high board leaving Han to depart in 4^thplace.

Hong was in front but a key hand went down three-handed on a flop of 4♣6♠2♠.  A bet from Hong, raise from Glazier, re-raise from Hong and then an all-in by Glazier saw Hong’s cards hit the muck and he never recovered.  Moments later his chips were all in with A♥K♣ as Moshi was able to win another race with J♦J♥ when the board ran out ten-high.

Simon Moshi held a small advantage over Jackie Glazier when heads-up play started, and with both players about 100 big blinds deep, we thought we might be in for a long haul.  But incredibly, on the very first hand of heads-up play, Moshi stuck it all in with K♥J♦ and Glazier made the call with 6♠6♣.  Moshi can coinflipped very well up until this point, but this one went the way of Glazier as the board ran out 3♥7♥4♦8♥2♦.

Glazier was back in control and it was all over soon after when a cheap pot saw the players get to the river on a board of 7♥4♠8♠5♣2♣.  Glazier surprised all by overbet shoving all in, and even more surprising was that Moshi called with Q♦7♦ for just second pair.  Glazier showed 8♣4♦ for two pair and it was all over.

Glazier was one of the first eliminated on the first two opening flights of this event, barely lasting the first level each day.  But she took full advantage of the repechage format, navigating her way through to Day 2 with her third bullet.  From there, she always loomed as a threat, making a surge towards the chip leaders day on Day 2 to sit third in chips when today’s final table got underway.

After finishing second in the Joe Hachem Deep Stack event at the start of the series, Glazier only had eyes on the title this afternoon.

With her victory today, Glazier will move into the top 50 Australian all-time tournament money earners and also into the top 50 female all-time tournament money earners from any country.  That’s an impressive accomplishment right there. She now also adds her name to the honour roll as Melbourne Poker Championships winners.  Congratulations Jackie!

Final table results

1st Jackie Glazier – $95,000
2nd Simon Moshi – $67,000
3rd Ryan Hong – $47,000
4th Liwei Han – $35,000
5th Nishi Gamage – $27,000
6th Simon Kidson – $21,000
7th Sherrie Gelberg – $17,000
8th Stelios Yenofkian – $13,000
9th Paul Schembri – $10,000
10th Ismail Ismail – $7,000

By Poker Asia Pacific

Aaron Lim has won the third gold ring of the Aussie Millions Poker Championships after taking down the $1,100 No Limit Holdem / Pot Limit Omaha rotation event late on Thursday.

After entering the heads-up battle with a near ten-to-one chip advantage over Ali Ghezelbash, the blinds were at 12,000-24,000 when Lim moved all in from the button during No Limit Holdem.

Ghezelbash made the call with K♣8♦ for the best hand as Lim tabled Q♠3♠. However the board of J♥3♥A♦J♠J♣ paired up Lim to take the title and $36,735 prize money.

At the start of the day it was Casey Kastle with the chip lead as Crown Poker Room regular Dean Francis was first to take a brutal hit. Francis was on the verge of moving into a strong position when he looked down at his K♠K♥ during No Limit Holdem and was shoved on by Eric Sclavos and his A♣K♣. Sometimes the poker Gods can be cruel as the 4♠A♠6♣3♣Q♠ flop rewarded Sclavos, as two other players commented that they had folded an ace. Sclavos doubled up as Francis tumbled down the leaderboard.

However Francis did manage a pay jump after Sam Vakili was first to visit the cashier in 9th place. During Pot Limit Omaha he got his chips in the middle with top pair and a gutshot straight draw against the bottom pair and nut flush draw of Aaron Lim. A third club on the turn was enough for Lim to complete his flush to end the tournament for Vakili.

With the blinds at 5,000-10,000, Francis was down to his last 40,000 chips which he committed preflop in a battle of the blinds with Casey Kastle in No Limit Holdem. Francis held 9♠7♥ and was happy to have live cards against Kastle’s K♠Q♥ , however the board ran out Q♦3♥8♠3♣4♥ to pair up Kastle and eliminate Francis in 8th place.

Kastle could manage no better than 7th, and he was soon followed by Eric Sclavos in 6th place who backed up from his final table in the Shootout event yesterday with another strong performance. Michael Benvenuti departed in 5th before the elimination of Khiem Nguyen in 4th place during the PLO orbit. Nguyen committed holding K♠K♣3♠8♣ and was called by Aaron Lim and his A♦Q♣J♣10♣ , but when the board of 8♠Q♦5♣2♠Q♥ was dropped by the dealer, Nguyen hit the rail.

Cheng Liu was next to go in 3rd place before Lim disposed of Ghezelbash to wrap up the title.

While the final table took over the feature table in the Crown Poker Room, there were just 47 players remaining at the dinner break from a starting field of 385 for today’s $1,100 No Limit Holdem 6-Max event.

Stefan Jedlicka was out in front with Brian Roberts of “Two Months, Two Million” fame and Australia’s World Champion Joe Hachem also with the chip leaders.

It was a stacked field for the 12:30pm start with the Asia-Pacific well represented by the likes of Simon Watt, Leo Boxell, Andrew Hinrichsen, Tony Hachem, David Gorr, Van Marcus, Aaron Benton, Jackson Zheng, Daniel Neilson, James Obst, Amanda De Cesare, Phil Willcocks and Jackie Glazier.

Jonathan Karamalikis, Jai Kemp, Peter Aristidou and Poker Asia Pacific blogger Matthew Wakeman were among the early casualties, with Wakeman’s pocket aces cracked by an opponent’s pocket jacks.

Michael Pedley also joined them on the ropes after he recalled to us that he got his chips in the middle with top set against two opponents who were drawing to straight and flush possibilities. Unfortunately for Pedley, an ace on the turn gave his opponent a straight to win the massive pot and send Pedley to an early exit.

Chris Moorman and Jesse “On The Mac” McKenzie were the early moves with McKenzie gaining most of his chips after turning a flush to leave his opponent drawing dead. On a multi-way flop, McKenzie called a bet of 2,100 on the flop of betting 3,100 on the 9♦ turn. His opponent check-raised to 6,200 before McKenzie moved all in. His opponent made the call with ace-queen for top pair but, without a diamond, he was without hope as McKenzie showed 7♦6♦ for the flush.

Later in the evening, the players got a chance to kick off their heels at the official player’s welcome party. The doors opened at 8pm at Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons with some quality food and plenty of beverages enjoyed. The evening also included the official Australian Poker Hall of Fame ceremony where Danny McDonagh and Leo Boxell were inducted as part of the class of 2011, while Jason Gray and David Gorr were announced as the new inductees for 2012.

By Poker Asia Pacific

The 2012 Aussie Millions is now in full swing with two championship rings having already been awarded in the past few days. Today will see yet another Aussie Millions Championship ring awarded as play at the final table of event 3 $1,100 NLH Shootout concludes at midday inside the Crown Poker Room.

Leading the charge at today’s final table will be Oliver Speidel who carries to the table the chip lead and enough experience to take down the title. Last year Speidel won a Championship ring at the 2011 Aussie Millions in the $1,100 NLH event, and to make things even more interesting he is joined by Englishman Mark Segal who has also experienced the thrill of winning an Aussie Millions Championship event taking down the $1,100 NLH event in 2010. Mark comes to the table relatively short in chips, but what he lacks in chips he no doubt makes up for in experience.

Without doubt though, all eyes will be on local favourite and female poker sensation, Jackie Glazier who comes to the final table third in chips and looming for a major title. Jackie burst onto the poker scene in early 2010 when she made a deep run in the worlds most prestigious poker event, the $10,000 buy-in World Series Of Poker. Jackie will be railed by a large crowd today hoping she can cement her position in the poker world as one of the best players on the tour.

Seat 1- Eric Sclavos – 34,000 chips
Seat 2- Salman Behbehani – 79,500 chips
Seat 3- Mario Ljubicic – 95,500 chips
Seat 4- Joey Lawrence – 135,500 chips
Seat 5- Mark Segal – 94,500 chips
Seat 6 – Sandeep Pulusani – 128,000 chips
Seat 7- Ashish Gupta – 270,000 chips
Seat 8- Oliver Speidel – 384,500 chips
Seat 9- Matthew Pearson – 74,000 chips
Seat 10- Jackie Glazier – 204,500 chips

By Rob Huxley of Miller’s Guide

The Crown Poker Room was abuzz with activity this weekend as the spin king himself played host to the inaugural Shane Warne Super Stack event with Steve Baker emerging victorious to grab the $35,000 first place prize.

To get there, Baker had to overcome a field of 606 entries which is an excellent turnout for a $300 event. Players enjoyed the generous 30,000-chip start bank and plenty of game time that saw the field reduced to 138 after the first day of play. Shane Warne was among the chip leaders late in the day before crashing and burning, with Ben Pockett leading the way.

Only the top 54 players would finish in the money, so there were a few nervous moments around the bubble, but the rapid eliminations throughout the day saw the final table reached by the dinner break. Some of the notable players to reach the final few tables included Nick Porta, Andrew Watson and Andrew Demetriou.

Steve Baker carried the chip lead into the final table, but the rapidly rising blinds and antes soon shook things up.

Chris Whitmee and Alex Ung were first to go in a double KO as they ran into Canaan Johnson’s pocket kings, before Jeffrey Harris launched his pocket tens into the set of eights held by Katrina King.

Day one chip leader Ben Pockett fell in for 7th place when his pocket queens were cracked by the king-jack of John Tuckman, before Crown regular Petar Vujic bowed out in 6th place.

When Katrina King ended John Tuckman’s run in 5th place, King and Canaan Johnson held the majority of chips in play but with the blinds so large, the swings were keeping everyone in the game.

Janine Atkinson fell in 4th place before the remaining three players settled on a deal to divide up the prize money and duke it out for the title. That of course encouraged the action, with Katrina King quick to fall in 3rd place, before the final hand of the event saw Canaan Johnson move all-in preflop with ten-eight and Steve Baker made the call with king-jack. The board bricked out to secure Baker a tremendous victory!

1st Steve Baker – $35,000
2nd Canaan Johnson – $22,555
3rd Katrina King – $14,200
4th Janine Atkinson – $11,010
5th John Tuckman – $9,440
6th Petar Vujic – $7,865
7th Ben Pockett – $6,290
8th Jeffrey Harris – $4,720
9th Chris Whitmee – $3,150
10th Alex Ung – $1,890

The next big event on the Crown Poker calendar is the upcoming eighth instalment of the Joe Hachem Deep Stack Series (November 10th-20th) where 12 events will grace the schedule with buy-ins from $50 up to $550. Get down to the Crown Poker Room to and qualify today!

By Poker Asia Pacific

The ever popular Joe Hachem Deepstack Series returns to Crown this November, for it’s eighth instalment. Designed to give players a chance to hone their Deepstack, Championship style play without blowing their entire bankrolls.

From Thursday 10th through Sunday 20th November 2011, the Crown Poker Room will again be packed with tournament hopefuls vying for that elusive Championship title. The majority of events on this schedule are No Limit Holdem, with a sprinkling of some mixed games for good measure.

The highlight of the Series is the $550 buy-in Main Event. This event is arguably the best value for money tournament in the world. The event runs using Crowns unique “repechage” format, whereby players who have been eliminated from either of the Day 1 Flights are eligible to pay another $550 and re-enter.

With so much value in this Series, you would be crazy to miss it.

Click here to check the schedule.

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

Crown Poker has introduced the Shane Warne Super Stack event; a great value poker tournament that will be held in the home of Australian poker in the Crown Poker Room. This event will be open to all Crown players and external satellites will also be held online.

The Shane Warne Super Stack will be a repechage event with two Day one’s, play will commence with a 30,000 start bank and blinds set at 30 minutes. This buy in for this event is set at a very inexpensive AU$300 ($260 + 40) the unique repechage format allows players who bust in Day 1a the opportunity to have a second chance by buying into Day 1b.

This event will be held in the Crown Poker Room on the following dates:

Day 1a – Friday, October 21 at 7.10pm
Day 1b – Saturday, October 22 at 12.10pm
Day 2 – Sunday, October 22 at 12.10pm

With the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship set to have a 30,000 start bank this event provides the perfect opportunity for players to hone their deep stack skills. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to the event date.

Ted Whitten Jnr welcomes you to join him to help find a cure for Prostate Cancer.
Head to Crown and play poker to help raise money for the E.J. Whitten Foundation, and put on yourbest poker face to honour a true football legend who dedicated his life to Australian Rules Football.
Hosted by Tony Hachem, the $300 buy-in event with $100 rebuys will see the winner take home a $10,600 seat in the 2012 Aussie Millions.
Time: 3.00pm arrival for a learn to play session for a 4.15pm start
Date: Sunday 25 September 2011
Place: Crown Poker Room, Level B2, Crown Entertainment Complex
To register visit www.crownpoker.com.au