KOSTRITSYN THIS YEAR'S AUSSIE MILLIONS POKER CHAMP

25 January 2008

$1.65 payday for beating 780 poker players


The Aussie Millions Main Event culminated in an exciting two hour heads up contest over the weekend, with Alexander Kostritsyn taking home the title and a cheque for $1 650 000, beating veteran and multiple WSOP bracelet holder Erik Seidel who enjoyed a million dollar payday for his second placing.

The two men were part of a group of 22 players who survived a gruelling 5 days of poker action at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, against a Main Event entry field of 780 players, many of them international stars in their own right (see previous InfoPowa reports) The 22 player field was narrowed down to seven players who went forward on Saturday to a final table.

Facing off across the baise were chip leader Michael Chrisanthopoulos in a strong position with 6 806 000 in chips against nearest rival and local player Antonio Casale (1 995 000) Other final tablers were Nino Marotta (1 649 000) Erik Seidel (1 491 000) Alexander Kostritsyn (1 439 000) Peter Mobbs (1 357 000) and Peter Ling (877 000)

Aggressive play from Mobbs almost immediately kicked the game into high gear, but he came short when he lost an exchange with Kostritsyn and found himself on the way to the rail and a $225 000 seventh place payout. To the disappointment of some partisan Aussie spectators, local player Antonio Casale was next to go - another victim of Kostritsyn, playing cool and calculating poker. Casale's consolation was the sixth place purse of $300 000.

Kostritsyn was by now in the chip lead, and a few hands later faced up to a challenge from a determined Nino Marotta, winning it to consolidate his position by taking his third opponent at the final table down. Marotta headed for the cashier and a fifth placing pay cheque of $400 000.

Play settled down and it was another two hours before things warmed up again with Ling and Chrisanthopoulos going at it in an aggressive and skilful display of card playing that culminated in Ling leaving the table to collect his fourth place payout of $500 000.

Now three handed, the originally overwhelming chip leader Chrisanthopoulos was the next to fall when he crossed cards with Kostritsyn. Erik Seidel started a move and then folded, leaving Kostritsyn and Chrisanthopoulos to fight it out. Chrisanthopoulos was the loser, eliminated in third place and taking home $700 000. As the last Australian in the game, it meant that once again the Aussie Millions trophy would leave the antipodean shores.

Entering the heads up, Kostritsyn held a strong lead of 9 925 000 against Seidel's 5 685 000 - the American ace had quietly built up his chip lead without directly eliminating anyone and it took another two hours of tough, expert poker to decide the winner.

In the end it was the young Russian who prevailed, taking his first Aussie Millions trophy and that major $1.65 million winner's cheque. Seidel takes a bank booster of a million dollars back to the States as his reward for second place.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa