American Patrick Mahoney Wins the 2014 PokerStars.net ANZPT Perth Main Event
The second stop on Season 6 of the PokerStars.net Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT), and the first stop of 2014, came to close at Crown Perth in the late hours of Sunday evening as the USA’s Patrick Mahoney was crowned the ANZPT Perth Main Event champion.
The final table featured seven Australians, and two players from the USA, one of which was the eventual victor in Mahoney. This was Mahoney’s first major live tournament win, and the AU$120,000 first-place prize was added to his record to push him to nearly $540,000 in career live tournament earnings. Following his win, Mahoney told PokerNews that he will be heading to Sydney in a couple of weeks where he will try and win back-to-back ANZPT titles.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize (AU$) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Patrick Mahoney | $120,000 |
| 2nd | Dean Blatt | $86,100 |
| 3rd | Scott Davies | $57,400 |
| 4th | Brian Mcallister | $37,100 |
| 5th | Sal Fazzino | $30,700 |
| 6th | Matthew Rolfe | $25,600 |
| 7th | Paul Murray | $20,500 |
| 8th | Vesko Zmukic | $16,400 |
| 9th | Justin Walch | $12,300 |
The final table began at 2:10 p.m. local time, and it took just over two hours for the first player to be eliminated. Falling in ninth place was Justin Walch. He was short stacked when he three-bet jammed preflop after Mahoney had opened to 40,000. Mohoney called, and Walch was ultimately eliminated when his A♣9♥ couldn’t catch up against Mahoney’s A♠J♣. He took home AU$12,300.
Australian poker veteran Vesko Zmukic was ground down to just a few big blinds on several occasions, but kept doubling up during the first few levels. Zmukic couldn’t hang on forever, though, and eventually fell to the rail in eighth place when his A♥9♥ couldn’t compete against Mahoney’s J♠J♥. Zmukic took home AU$16,400 for his finish, and Mahoney scored his second elimination of the final table.
The start-of-day chip leader, Paul Murray, had a rotten time at the final table. First, he lost most of his chips to fellow big stack Scott Davies in a set-over-set situation. Then, he lost most of the rest holding the J♠J♣ all in preflop against Dean Blatt’s 10♣10♠ when Blatt rivered a set. After those two gut-wrenching beats, Murray wasn’t able to rebuild and was sent home in seventh place for AU$20,500.
Just moments after Murray hit the rail, Matthew Rolfe joined him in sixth place. Rolfe’s final hand saw him all in holding the 3♣3♥ from the small blind and unable to compete against Davies’ J♥J♠ from the big blind. Rolfe left with a payday of AU$25,600.
The action didn’t slow down from there, as recent Aussie Millions 14th-place finisher Sal Fazzino was quickly eliminated in fifth place for AU$30,700. He moved all in for 335,000 from the cutoff seat holding the A♠6♦ when the blinds were 10,000/20,000. Mahoney called with the A♦J♣ from the button, and Fazzino wasn’t able to catch up.
Four-handed play would see the action once again reach a bit of a lull as it would be almost two hours before another player hit the rail. Eventually it was Brian Mcallister who was eliminated in fourth place. He was short stacked and shoved for 170,000 from the small blind holding the 7♦4♣. Blatt was already in for 30,000 in the big blind and made the call with the K♥6♣. Mcallister couldn’t survive and pocketed AU$37,100 for his efforts.
Right before three-handed play was about to begin, Blatt asked if Davies and Mahoney wanted to look at the numbers for a deal. Mahoney declined, so the action kicked back off. Blatt was the short stack at this point, but soon regained plenty of chips. Once the players were more even, the talks of a deal reemerged. The players decided instead of doing a deal that they would flatten the payout structure, basically making it so the third-place finisher was guaranteed at least AU$10,000 more.
Not long after the restructuring of the payouts, Davies lost a big preflop all-in pot holding the 10♦10♠ against Blatt’s Q♠Q♣ and was left very short. Davies then lost the rest of his chips a couple of hands later when he was all in preflop holding the Q♠J♦ and couldn’t catch up against Blatt’s K♠5♥. With that, Davies was out in third place, collecting AU$57,400, and the tournament was down to two.
At the beginning of heads-up play, Blatt had just over 3 million in chips to Mahoney’s stack of just around 1.7 million. At this point, the players once again discussed a deal. The deal talks were cut short, though, when the Crown Perth management deemed it was taking too long, so the original payout restructure remained intact.
With the cards back in the air, it wouldn’t take long for the tournament to be all over. The final hand played out during Level 26 after Mahoney had moved into the chip lead, with blinds at 25,000/50,000. Blatt had the button and opened to 100,000. Mahoney called, and the dealer flipped over a J♦6♣3♦ flop. Mahoney five-bet all in for just over 2.4 million here and Blatt called off his stack of just under 2.3 million. Blatt held the 7♦6♦ for middle pair and a flush draw, while Mahoney had the K♥J♠ for top pair. The J♣ turn gave Mahoney trip jacks, and the K♠ river meant that Blatt was the runner-up, taking home AU$86,100.
Congratulations to all the final table players on their effort, but most importantly to Patrick Mahoney for winning the ANZPT Perth title and AU$120,000 to go along with it!
The next stop on the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour is ANZPT Sydney, which will run from March 20-24 at The Star in New South Wales.
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