Sheng Ye Goes Big Down Under; Wins WPT Prime Gold Coast Main Event (AUD $374,953)
Image courtesy of the World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour's popular WPT Prime returned to the Gold Coast in Australia towards the end of February, for a fortnights worth of poker action inside the The Star Gold Coast Casino.
The festival has finally wrapped up proceedings and saw Sheng Ye walk away as the WPT Prime Gold Coast $2,000 Main Event champion. Ye, who resides in Sydney, Australia, secured a career-high payday of $374,953 (USD $253,843), which includes a $16,500 package to play in the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
The Main Event had three starting flights and saw 1,224 entries, creating the $2,203,200 (USD $1,493,899) prize pool.
All monetary amounts are Australian dollars unless otherwise specified
WPT Prime Gold Coast Fina Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (AUD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheng Ye | Australia | $374,953 | $253,843 |
| 2 | Ben Richardson | Australia | $238,978 | $161,788 |
| 3 | Mostafa Haidary | Australia | $176,753 | $119,662 |
| 4 | Josh Forster | Australia | $132,046 | $89,396 |
| 5 | Anita Savage | Australia | $99,654 | $67,466 |
| 6 | Gary Lin | China | $75,981 | $51,439 |
| 7 | Slav Rypinski | Australia | $58,534 | $39,628 |
| 8 | Andreas Vasiliou | Australia | $45,564 | $30,847 |
| 9 | Noman Mizra | Australia | $35,847 | $24,268 |
Final Table Action
By the time the final day began, the field of 1,224 had been whittled down to the final 16 players. Jack Hardcastle was one of the early eliminations on Day 3 and was followed out of the door by others. The departure of Christopher Zenonos set up the final table, where the top nine players had locked up $35,847.
Noman Mizra was the first player to leave the official final table after his king-seven could not leapfrog the ace-seven held by Andreas Vasiliou in an all-in preflop encounter. Vasiliou then headed to the payout desk next. He had ace-nine and flopped top pair on a nine-high board. He ended up getting his stack in against Ye, who had pocket kings. There would be no help on the runout, and he finished in eighth place.
Ye then secured his second final table bust out after his jack-ten rivered a pair to win the race against the ace-nine of Slav Rypinski. Nearly an hour later, Mostofa Haidary put the pressure on the short-stacked Gary Lin in a blind versus blind battle. Haidary moved all in with nine-three, and Lin called off his stack with ace-deuce. The former would go on to make two pair and send Lin to the rail.
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The last woman standing was Anita Savage, and her deep run came to end shortly after Lin was eliminated. Savage put in her last big blind and was called by Ye and Josh Forster. Ye folded out Forster on the Q♦10♦7♦7♠ board for the cards to be tabled. Ye had a pair of queens with his queen-eight but was behind the pair of kings that belonged to Savage. However, another queen hit the river to give Ye the winner with a full house.
Ye then claimed Foster's stack after ripping his monster stack from the small blind with ten-nine. While playing on his birthday, Foster called for his tournament life with king-deuce. However, any birthday wishes of a WPT Prime title evaporated after Ye flopped a queen-high straight.
Ben Richardson then made it heads-up play after his ace-seven held against Haidary's king-queen after another all-in preflop situation.
Ye had a slender chip lead over Richardson but soon began to pull away. The eventual winner at one stage had a 14-1 chip lead, but Richardson found several double-ups to stay in contention.
On the final hand of the night, Ye ended things when his queen-deuce turned top pair against Richardson's ace-five. The latter was awarded $238,978 as his runners-up prize to take his all-time live tournament earnings to USD $922,596.
WPT Prime Cambodia Right Around the Corner
While WPT Prime Gold Coast may have finished, there's plenty of action to come still as the WPT heads to Asia in just a few days for WPT Prime Cambodia.
The series is hosted at the beautiful Nagaworld Integrated Resort, Phnom Penh and runs from March 9-21.
With buy-ins varying from $110 to $10,000, events are suited for all poker players. The schedule is also packed with exciting events, which include but are not limited to Pot-Limit Omaha, Short Deck, and Mystery Bounty tournaments.
And, of course, there will be the $1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event, which kicks off on March 16 and comes with a $500,000 Guarantee.
Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen's Meet-Up Game Returns to WPT Prime Cambodia
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Although it is too late to win a seat or package to WPT Prime Gold Coast and Cambodia online at WPT Global, you can start trying to win your way into the $110 Passport Qualifiers that take place every Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET and again at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.
At least one $1,500 WPT Prime Passport is guaranteed, which you can use for any of the following events:
- Amsterdam, Netherlands – March 29-April1
- Bratislava, Slovakia – May 11-15
- Hanoi, Vietnam – May 25-29
- San Remo, Italy – June 1-11
Satellites for the $110 Passport Qualifiers start at $5, giving every WPT Global player a chance to win a potentially life-changing live poker package.
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