At the Australian Poker Open (APO), two events remain untouched, like fresh bread resting in the oven, and Stephen Chidwick knows he needs to finish in the money in at least one of them if he is to turn his championship lead into a title.
The former U.S. Poker Open winner, is on course to become the first player to win two Opens in different countries, after pummelling and persecuting people in the 47-entrant Event #5: AUD 25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE).
Chidwick is a powerhouse in these types of events. All told he had made the final table of just under half of the 33 Open events to date, including winning six of them, and his win also catapulted him above David Peters into the sixth position in the all-time live tournament money leaderboard with $33,888,888.
Let’s see how Chidwick ended up smelling like a bed of roses.
The Nutshell Action
The first player at the final table to exit stage left was the man who won the previous event. Farid Jattin got it in with ace-ten versus the pocket sixes of Michael Addamo, and the better won.
Jorryt van Hoof arrived in Queensland on the back of an AUD 25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha victory at the Aussie Millions, and once again underlined his capability of cross-pollinating the final tables of the two most popular forms of poker, finishing fifth in this one. The Dutchman suffered a cooler, running pocket jacks into the pocket queens of Seth Davies.
Davies then took a significant chip advantage into four-handed play when he ousted the recently crowned AUD 50,000 NLHE winner at the Aussie Millions, Michael Addamo. The Australian held king-eight, but Davies had the superior ace-king.
That left Davies, Chidwick and Erik Seidel to battle for the trophy, and it was Chidwick who took the fight to Davies, doubling once before eliminating him after king-nine beat ace-five. Davies flopped an ace, but Chidwick rivered a flush.
No need for vilification during the heads-up bout with Seidel facing an 8:1 chip deficit – a miracle was not in the offing. After a few short and sweet hands, Seidel found pocket queens and was unlucky when Chidwick flopped a second king, holding king-six, with all the money in the middle.
ITM Results
- Stephen Chidwick – $269,852
- Erik Seidel – $174,610
- Seth Davies – $119,052
- Michael Addamo – $79,368
- Jorryt van Hoof – $63,495
- Farid Jattin – $47,621
- Matthias Eibinger – $39,684
APO Leaderboard
- Stephen Chidwick – 510 points
- Andras Nemeth – 480
- Mike Watson – 450
- Farid Jattin – 360
- Joni Jouhkimainen – 330
Australian Poker Open Remaining Events
Event #6: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Event #7: $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em