Phil Ivey wins the 250k challenge again, Aussie Millions wrap
HE came, he saw, he conquered — again.
It must have seemed like Groundhog Day for American poker champion Phil Ivey, after he was crowned winner of the highly coveted Aussie Millions event, the LK Boutique $250,000 Challenge at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
Ivey, an American poker hero with a net worth of over $100 million, won the traditional Aussie Millions closer for a third year in a row, bringing in a mouthwatering cash prize of $2,205,000. Known as “the most feared poker player in the world”, Ivey started the day out as chip leader, but had an all-star cast breathing down his neck.
With 25 entrants all up, the LK Boutique $250,000 Challenge came down to a hopeful five; joining Ivey was Mike McDonald, Doug Polk, Scott Seiver and Erik Seidel.
After facing Polk’s pocket Kings, Seidel was the first to hit the cashier, clocking out with a healthy half a million dollars. Seiver was next to go, flushed out, with winnings that didn’t quite make up for the three buy ins he had forked out for the event.
Polk busted not long after, leaving Ivey and McDonald to battle it out heads-up. Despite giving Ivey a good run for his money with As Qh to Ivey’s three-bet shove, Ivey pulled out a king on the flop in order to take the champion title for a third year.
The final results of the 2015 LK Boutique $250,000 Challenge are as follows:
1st Phil Ivey – $2,205,000
2nd Mike McDonald – $1,592,500
3rd Doug Polk – $1,041,000
4th Scott Seiver $735,000
5th Erik Seidel – $551,000
$1,500 NLHE Deep Freeze Results
As one of Aussie Millions most popular events, the $1,500 No Limit Holdem “Deep Freeze” saw 343 hopefuls participating over three days. The entrants dwindled down to the remaining nine players, returned on Monday with a strong table that included Kevin Nguyen, Aussie’s Ben Richardson and Michael Addamo, 2014 Poker Asia Pacific Player of the Year Dean Blatt and former WPT runner up, Kane Kalas.
But it was Jason Giuliano who pushed his way to victory, bulldozing the game from the start, eventually winning against Kane Kalas with a final board of 6s, 4c, 8d, 6d, Jd. Giuliano’s winning hand consisted of 6c, 8s, for the full house beating Kalas’s 6h, 5s. Giuliano, who placed eighth in the same event in 2014, took home the Aussie Millions gold poker ring and $112,660 in cash.
The final results of the 2015 $1,500 NLHE Deep Freeze are as follows:
1st Jason Giuliano – $112,600
2nd Kane Kalas – $71,350
3rd Ben Richardson – $39,680
4th Kevin Nguyen – $31,000
5th Michael Addamo – $24,530
6th Diego Zeiter – $20,050 7th Akash Malik – $16,050
8th Dean Blatt – $12,700
9th May Siu – $9,370
$1,150 Australian Poker Hall of Fame Results
What started with a field of 107 entrants, all came down to one player — New Zealand’s Graeme Putt. The pre-tournament Sit and Go saw Putt winning his way straight to the final event and entering the table with a fairly average stack of chips and a $3K bounty on his head.
Although not winning a live cash award since 2013, Putt battled it out against Germany’s Heinz Kamutzki for the winning gold ring and a sweet $35,000 cash prize.
The final results of the $1,150 Hall of Fame Event are as follows:
1st Graeme Putt – $35,000
2nd Heinz Kamutzki – $20,800
3rd David Heskin – $12,000
4th Daniel Levy – $9,600
5th Tony Kondevski – $8,000
6th Rajesh Sabapathy – $6,930
7th Davor Derek – $5,875 8th Yanji Ge – $4,800
9th Steven Zhou – $3,750
10th Stuart Barron – $2,920
2016 Dates for Aussie Millions Poker Championships
Asia-Pacific’s most loved poker event returns in 2016 for the 18th year in a row and will take place at Melbourne’s Crown Casino. The action will begin in January and continue for 20 consecutive days, with the full 2016 schedule due for release in the very near future.