MELBOURNE POKER ACE WINS THE AUSSIE MILLIONS
3 February 2012
26-year-old takes home A$1,6 million
26-year-old Oliver Speidel from Melbourne is A$1.6
million richer after winning the Aussie Millions main
event poker championship at the Crown Casino in his home
town.
The professional poker player relied on
experience gained after three years travelling the world
as a professional poker player to emerge victorious from
five days of action this week that included some 12-hour
sessions against 658 determined and talented
international opponents.
The competition
culminated in an eight-hour final table battle against
Canadian ace Kenneth Wong, Yann Dion, Bjorn Li, Patrick
Healy, Mohamad Kowssarie, and Mike Krstanoski, whose
departure in third place with A$610,000 cleared the way
for the final heads up between Speidel and Wong.
Wong's pocket nines proved no match for Speidel's pocket
aces in the final hand, played before nearly 200
spectators and a worldwide audience watching on the
internet.
Speidel's skill, chip advantage and
good cards enabled him to win the day and claim the main
prize, but Wong collected an impressive second placing
cheque for A$ 1 million.
Speaking to Australian
reporters, Speidel said he felt "exhilaration and
disbelief" at his major win. The young pro worked in
risk management at the Australian Reserve Bank before
turning to poker as a livelihood, and says he will take
a conservative approach with his new wealth, having
previously been burnt playing the share market with
poker earnings.
"I'm looking to maybe getting an
apartment in the city," he said, adding that the
greatest advantage the big prize gives him is the
ability to enter poker tournaments around the world,
where entry fees can rise to $100,000, but earnings can
be equally substantial.
Speidel revealed that
after the big match he unwound by....playing poker late
into the night with friends, winning a few hundred more
dollars from them.
The young ace also has a word
of advice on emotion control for tournament hopefuls:
"When I first started playing poker I would get
really upset when I lost, really happy when I won. The
emotional swings were crazy and that's not optimal.
"If you want to play your best all the time you need
to keep your emotions under control and not let the
losing streaks get to you."
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
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