The Star Gold Coast is ground zero, and we’ve just had another explosion of activity, with Andras Nemeth taking down the 43-entrant Event #2: AUD 10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) at the Australian Poker Open (APO).
Given the fact that mother nature has decided to burn the face off most of Australia these past few weeks, it’s not top of the ‘Places to Live’ list for many people.
The Hungarian star is not in that camp.
After securing the third live tournament win of his career, Nemeth waxed lyrical on the virtues of Australian life, suggesting if it weren’t so far away from Budapest, he would live there.
That distance is 9.6k miles, and Nemeth is glad he made the trip. It’s his second final table of the APO after finishing sixth in Event #1: AUD 10,000 No-Limit Hold ’em (NLHE), and you can be sure he will be pressing for full APO honours.
Nemeth defeated Najeem Ajez in heads-up action. Ajez had a decent Aussie Millons cashing three-times, and making two final tables, including 3/59 in the AUD 25,000 PLO for $136,840 – the most significant score of his career.
Let’s see how the pair came to lock horns in this one.
The Nutshell Action
Erik Seidel came into the APO on the back of a final table appearance at the Aussie Millions Main Event. Seidel had a great chance to win that event, and he’s given himself a shot of having a run at the APO, after eking onto the scoreboard with a sixth-place finish. The New Yorker went out after running jack-ten-seven-four rainbow into the pocket kings of Ajez.
Sean Winter had an outstanding 2019, and when there’s a Poker Central event, it seems Winter is in tow. The top man finished fifth in this one after running his pocket kings into the double-suited queens and nines of Mike Watson, with the Canadian finding a flush.
Joni Jouhkimainen is a dab hand at the four-card game and finished in fourth place after running ace-king-eight-six into the queen-ten-eight-four double-suited of Ayez. Two pair on the turn for Ajez, sending the Finn into a prism of pain.
After eliminating the partypoker pro, Ayez held a commanding lead three-handed against Nemeth and Watson with 2.6m chips v 655,000 and 985,000. Still, the Event #1 winner, took the chip lead, before Nemeth put together a run that his ancestors would have been proud of to snatch it from him. Nemeth then ousted Watson when his two-pair hand held against an open-ender.
Twice, Ayez came within a single card of winning Event #2, and twice the Poker Gods went to the Hungarians’ rescue. The final plotline arrived when kings beat a suited ace hand to hand Nemeth the victory.
ITM Results
- Andras Nemeth – $99,811
- Najeem Ajez – $63,901
- Michael Watson – $44,034
- Joni Jouhkimainen – $29,356
- Sean Winter – $23,485
- Erik Seidel – $17,614
- Chino Rheem – $14,678
APO Leaderboard
- Mike Watson – 450 points
- Andras Nemeth – 360
- Michael O’Grady – 210
- Najeem Ayez – 210
- Benjamin Shannon – 150
Australian Poker Open Remaining Events
Event #3: 25,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Event #4: $25,000 Pot-Limit Pmaha
Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Event #6: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Event #7: $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em