22 YEAR OLD TAKES POKERSTARS ASIA PACIFIC TOUR TROPHY

31 August 2007

California college student earns $179 775 main prize in 3 hour heads up


Creating exciting vibes over the weekend was the three day inaugural PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour Main Event, for which 255 players from 34 countries signed up in Manila, Philippines. Top players like Vanessa Rousso, Daniel Negreanu and 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe Hachem were on the list of aspirants for the $179 775 main prize, although they did not last the course.

By Day 2 the field was down to 72 with David Saab leading the chip stacks with over 100 000 in chips as the contestants fought it out for a place on the final nine seat table.

That final table - and the chip counts as the contestants sat down - looked like this:

Van Marcus - 738 000
Roger Spets - 413 000
Derick Hernandez - 287 000
Nicholas Bamman - 240 000
Bas van Liere - 207 000
Maor Feldinger - 199 000
Ira Blumenthal - 184 000
Brett Parise - 173 000
Kazuhiro Sato - 109 000

Two of the final table players were live tournament novice, and several others had never played in a tournament of this magnitude. The Australian professional player Van Marcus was the exception, with a 2007 WSOP final table in Pot Limit Omaha and two final tables at this year's Aussie Millions event under his belt.

Despite a lowly starting position, 22-year-old Brett Parise was the eventual winner, having secured his entry into the tournament in a Poker Stars freeroll. He successfully played his way through the impressive field to first the final table and then the extensive, three hours of heads up play against 45 year old lawyer Ira Blumenthal to take the main prize. Blumenthal collected $113 858 for his second-place finish.

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