Poker Big Guns No Challenge for David Steicke

Gus Hansen & Phil Ivey

Poker hot shots descended upon the Crown Poker Room for the biggest buy-in tournament for the 2009 Aussie Millions, Event #8 - $100,000 No Limit Holdem Challenge. Players such as Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Gus Hansen, Chris Ferguson, Nam Le and JC Tran were on hand for the two day event. The tournament featured the "speed poker" format, where players had 30 seconds to act before their hands were killed. In another twist, the betting was pot-limit preflop and no-limit after the flop. Even with the preflop pot-limit action, the action was fast-paced, as several of the big names headed to the rail in the first few levels.

2008 Aussie Millions Champion Alexander Kostritsyn was the first eliminated by Sandor Demjan who then followed Kostritsyn to the rail shortly after. Other early eliminations included Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Tony G and Jamie Pickering. 

It took two levels after dinner for the next player to head to the rail. John Hennigan and Patrik Antonius tangled in a huge pot that started off well for Hennigan but turned Antonius' way, sending Hennigan on his way. Chris Ferguson was next to go after his pocket Queens didn't make the cut against Antonius' three Jacks. Later eliminations included Erik Seidel, Nam Le and then Patrik Antonius who busted to JC Tran on the final-table bubble.

Chip counts for the remaining six players at the end of Day One:

• David Steicke - 631,000
• JC Tran - 528,000
• John Juanda - 480,000
• Dan Shak - 356,000
• Tony Bloom - 181,000
• Bill Jordanou - 139,000

Players started slow on Day Two, taking nearly two hours for the first elimination - John Juanda against JC Tran's full house. Soon after, Bill Jordanou bubbled the money spots in fifth place. Dan Shak was the next to fall at fourth place, picking up $200,000. JC Tran headed to the rail in third place, worth $300,000. David Steicke, who lost his lead early on Day Two, but battled back to eliminate all but one of his opponents, held a 10:1 chip lead going into heads-up play, and it took longer to spread the prize money across the table than it did for Steicke to dispatch Tony Bloom in second place ($600,000).

Steicke overcame a field of the toughest pros on the tournament circuit to claim the Raymond Weil watch and the $1.2 million top prize. 

Links:

Crown Poker Gallery | PokerNews Introduce the Final Table | PokerNews Interview David Steicke