There are plenty of people drifting around the poker scene on a raft. I’m sure at one point in his career, Kahle Burns also held an oar in his hand. Not today. Today, Burns is floating around the high stakes poker scene in a luxury yacht, armed with torpedoes and railguns, and he’s blowing everyone away.
The 2020 AUD 1000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Challenge attracted 54-entrants, the second most attended AUD 1000 NLHE Challenge in history (Richard Yong defeated 70-entrants in 2015), and the final table was MTV.
In December, Kahle Burns led the Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) race only to see Alex Foxen snatch the honour from his grasp with an incredible performance at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Burns had his opportunity for revenge when the pair squared off, heads-up, for the AUD 100k Challenge title, although to be fair, Foxen did have to compete without any oars, as you’ll see in our nutshell action review.
The Nutshell Action
Only seven players would find a piece of the treasure map leading to an in the money finish (ITM), with the person finishing in eighth finding a route to the rail.
With blinds at 25k/50k/50k, Bryn Kenney moved all-in from the button for 1.7m, and Michael Zhang called for his last 605k from the small blind. The big blind melted away, and Kenney’s Ad7d beat the pocket jacks of Zhang when a second ace landed on the river. The AUD 1000 Challenge Bubble Boy had a name.
One level on and Timothy Adams would follow Zhang into the crowd. Alex Foxen min-raised to 160k from the first position, holding pocket queens, and Adams called from the big blind holding Qs3s. The one remaining queen in the deck appeared on the flop like a lone gull in a dump. Adams check-raised all-in, and Foxen made the call. A flush draw appeared on the turn for Adams, but never materialised on the river. Adams left the competition with an AUD 317,250 consolation prize.
Sam Grafton had to scrap and scrape throughout this final table, and his luck eventually ran out at the same level that saw Adam ousted from the competition. Grafton moved his last 610k into the middle holding Jc9c, and Kenney called and killed him in the big blind holding Kd8d, with king-high holding. It may have been an earlier exit than Grafton would have imagined, but the man from the UK continues to demonstrate his ability to compete with the best in the business.
Michael Soyza fell next.
The man from Malaysia moved all-in for 350k from the small blind holding Jc4h, and Burns called and bettered him with Kc7c in the big – once again king-high proving an effective finishing weapon.
Chip Counts
Kahle Burns – 6,420,000
Alex Foxen – 2,815,000
Bryn Kenney – 2,615,000
Aaron van Blarcum – 1,650,000
Burns was running away with it, and he placed one hand on the trophy after eliminating Kenney. With blinds at 50k/100k/100k, Foxen opened to 220k from the button with As4c, Kenney made it 975k from the small blind holding AdKc, and Burns moved all-in from the big blind holding pocket tens. Foxen felt a little homesick for his chair, Kenney called and lost his tournament defining flip.
Burns then took a massive chip advantage into heads-up when he eliminated Aaron van Blarcum in the third spot. Burns opened to 210k from the button, and then called a 950k Van Blarcum shove. The Australian’s Kh7c began behind the AdJc of the American, but a rivered straight fixed that minor complication.
Heads-Up
Kahle Burns – 10,645,000
Alex Foxen – 2,855,000
Do you know those people turned into chickens by stage hypnotists, well they never stand a chance.
And neither did Foxen.
In a short and shrift heads-up scrap, the pair found a cooler with Foxen’s Ac9s losing to Burns’ AsTs, and Burns, and not Foxen, became the newest AUD 100k NLHE Challenge winner.
Burns’ win capped a memorable week for the man who joined the Australian Poker Hall of Fame a few short days ago.
Final Table Results
- Kahle Burns – AUD 1,746,360 (USD 1,198,161)
- Alex Foxen – AUD 1,111,590 (USD 762,651)
- Aaron van Blarcum – AUD 740,880 (USD 508,311)
- Bryn Kenney – AUD 582,120 (USD 399,387)
- Michael Soyza – AUD 423,360 (USD 290,451)
- Sam Grafton – AUD 370,440 (USD 254,145)
- Timothy Adams – AUD 317,250 (USD 217,653)