Just What the Doctor Ordered: Jim Psaros Wins ANZPT Sydney Main Event
After five long days, the latest stop on Season 7 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour drew to a close on Monday evening at The Star Casino in New South Wales, Australia. In the end, it was Jim "The Doctor" Psaros who overcame a field of 445 entrants to be crowned champion.
Psaros, a 56-year-old Sydney local, is a Professor of Accounting at the University of Newcastle who previously had just $13,666 in tournament cashes to his name. With this victory, Psaros can now use his accounting expertise to add AU$183,000 to his poker record.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize (AU) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Psaros | $183,000** |
| 2 | Emanuel Seal | $175,000** |
| 3 | Denis Sekuloski | $90,000* |
| 4 | Murray Roach | $62,000 |
| 5 | Li-ta Hsu | $48,000 |
| 6 | Zhi Ma | $38,750 |
| 7 | Tom Rafferty | $29,500 |
| 8 | Shaneel Chand | $23,000 |
| 9 | Chung Liew | $17,000 |
*Denotes three-handed deal
**Denotes heads-up deal
Psaros started the final table as the chip leader and never looked in danger all the way to the heads-up battle with Adelaide's Emanuel "Curly" Seal.
Throughout the final table, however, it was Denis Sekuloski who looked the biggest threat. During the early stages of the day, Sekuloski played a part in the elimination of Chung Liew (9th), Tom Rafferty (7th), and Zhi Ma (6th).
While Sekuloski played table captain, Psaros had been building his stack at a steady pace until he looked down at the A♥A♣ in the big blind when faced with an all-in shove from Li-ta Hsu with the A♠J♠. The pocket aces held up and with that, Hsu was eliminated in fifth place and Psaros once again found himself as the chip leader.
Seal had been relatively quiet up until this point, but ultimately picked up the pace when he eliminated Murray Roach in fourth place. Roach shoved all in from under the gun for around 15 big blinds holding the A♠8♠ and Seal made the call from the big blind with the J♣J♥. Seal's pair held up and so Roach was on the rail.
The remaining players opted to flatten the payouts a little when three-handed action begun and it wasn’t long after that when Sekuloski was eliminated in third place. Sekuloski ultimately got aggressive with the K♠K♥ on the turn of a 4♦2♣7♠8♦ board and ran into Seal's 2♥2♦ for a flopped set of twos. No miracle on the river and as per the revised prize pool structure, Sekulsoki pocketed AU$90,000.
Psaros began heads-up with a slight chip advantage, but eventually the chips were even and that's when the two players opted to make a deal. It was an even chop of AU$175,000 each and that left AU$8,000 for the champion. Following the deal, it would take just 30 minutes for Psaros to chip away at Seal and for the final hand of the tournament to play out.
With blinds at 100,000/200,000, Psaros limped the button and Seal checked. The dealer spread out a J♥Q♥Q♣ flop and Seal quickly moved all in for 1.7 million. Psaros announced the call and turned over the K♥5♥ for the king-high flush draw. Seal, meanwhile, simply cringed as he showed the 8♥4♥ for a smaller flush draw. No help on the turn or river and Seal was deemed the runner-up, while Psaros was the champion.
The next stop on Season 7 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour is several months away with ANZPT Melbourne taking place at the Crown Casino from October 8-20, 2015.
The next event for players in this region, however, will be APPT Macau which runs from May 20-31. The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand for both of these events, so be sure to return and find out who becomes the next poker champion from the Australasian region.
Photo courtesy of Poker Asia Pacific.
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