After a nine hour final table that included two and a half hours of heads-up play, we have our champion. He is Martin Rowe of Australia. Rowe's trophy presentation ceremony was short and sweet.
"On behalf of the APPT, PokerStars.net and Star City Casino, I'd like to congratulate you on winning the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Grand Final here in Sydney, this beautiful trophy, and one million dollars," said APPT President Jeffrey Haas as he handed over the trophy. All of Rowe's friends and supporters cheered and applauded.
Rowe steamrolled his way to the victory, knocking almost all of the players off of the final table. The heads-up portion of the match would have been a mere five minutes long if Jason Gray had not managed to outdraw Rowe early on. Gray put up a spirited battle, narrowing an eight-to-one chip deficit to five-to-four, but he could never quite get over the hump. Rowe seemed to sense that the strategy he employed in the early portions of heads-up play was not working and changed gears to great effect.
For outlasting a field of 477 tough competitors, Rowe walks away with a cool AU$1,000,000. He also has earned himself a spot in tomorrow's Tournament of Champions. PokerNews will be providing live coverage of that tournament before we bid our fond farewells to a Land Down Under. Play begins at 1:30pm local time.
With the blinds having gone up to 50,000 and 100,000, Jason Gray may have decided he needed to take a few more risks. He limped into the pot from the small blind, then jammed all in for roughly 2 million after Martin Rowe raised to 250,000. Rowe snap-called, and we had our first all in since Gray doubled up two and a half hours ago.
Gray:
Rowe:
Rowe caught Gray making a move, but the outcome was far from certain. Gray had two very live cards against Rowe. Rowe's supporters let out a roar on a flop of . Rowe made top two pair against Gray's bottom pair. Gray picked up a few outs with the turn; he needed a nine or a five on the river to stay alive. That didn't happen; with everyone on their feet and holding their breath, the dealer peeled off the . Rowe raised his arms over his head and cried out in triumph.
Gray's consolation prize was for second place was AU$476,000.
Martin Rowe is being relentless now. He raised to 600,000 after Jason Gray opened the pot to 240,000. That was too much for Gray.
With that pot, Rowe has increased his chip count to 7,750,000. Gray has 1,650,000, which is almost exactly where we were when heads-up play started two and a half hours ago.
The AU$1,000,000 first prize and the winner's trophy are tantalizingly close for Martin Rowe
Martin Rowe keeps applying pressure, both before the flop and after. He raised to 240,000 after Jason Gray limped in. Gray made the call. On a flop of , Rowe checked to Gray, then raised to 800,000 after Gray bet 300,000. Gray flashed the and folded.
Rowe has now regained all of the chips he had lost since Gray's initial double-up.
The pot was limped between Jason Gray and Martin Rowe. Rowe acted first on a flop of and bet 200,000. Gray called. Both players checked the turn. On the river , Rowe bet 250,000 and was quickly called by Gray. Rowe showed for top pair, top kicker. It was good.
We hold a special place in our hearts for players who play hold'em's worst starting hand -- seven-deuce offsuit, nicknamed "the Hammer" -- as if it's the nuts. That's why we've recently fallen for Jason Gray. His only mistake was not raising preflop in a hand against Martin Rowe. He did bet the turn for 95,000 and the river for 300,000 on a board of . And of course, he showed his hand after Rowe folded the river, as is required for proper Hammer play.
Martin Rowe looks like he's had enough of small ball. He raised to 240,000 after Jason Gray limped in. Gray made the call. The flop was . Rowe didn't hesitate in firing out 250,000 on the flop or in firing out another 250,000 on the turn. Gray called each bet, although he hesitated before calling on the turn. The river was the and brought the third bullet from Rowe for a half a million chips. That was the bet that finally folded Gray.
Rowe has raised the last five hands after there hadn't been a preflop raise in half an hour. As a result, he's rebuilt his chip stack to 6.3 million.