Edison Nguyen Wins Record-Breaking 2014 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event

The largest ANZPT in the history of the tour, the 2014 ANZPT Melbourne Main Event has come to a close after a grueling 15-hour final day. One of Australia’s finest poker talents, Edison ‘GooGieMonA’ Nguyen (cover image) walked away with the prestigious title and AU $217,500 in prize money.

Nguyen closed the day after a deal with his heads-up opponent, Corey Kempson, who despite holding a chip advantage of 5.4 million to Nguyen’s 4.9 million chips threw up a generous deal to end the long drawn final day. Nguyen received $210,000 to Kempson’s $195,500 with $7,500 and the title left in play.

Despite the heads-up deal, Kempson was suspected of throwing away the match for an undisclosed amount. ANZPT Commissioner Danny McDonagh and Crown Poker Tournament Director Joel Williams discussed the situation with the players and implored them to maintain the integrity of the tournament.

After about ten hands of heads-up, the final hand saw both players moving all in without looking at their cards. Kempson tabled against Nguyen’s . The board brought to the table and just like that Nguyen was crowned the new ANZPT champion!

Nguyen widely considered one of Australia’s finest poker talents, both live and online was ecstatic after his win and said, “this is incredible but I think my victory dinner will have to wait till tomorrow”.

The day that started with 34 hopefuls vying for the title, saw eight eliminations in just the first two levels of play. Notables like Michael Chrisanthopoulos (34th), Anthony Aston (30th) and Phil Willcocks (27th) made an early departure today.

Michael Caruana was the final table bubble boy and his elimination in tenth place set up the official nine-handed final table with Denis Huntly in the chip lead.

Denis Huntly, a regular at Crown Melbourne’s Poker Room eventually ended his tournament run at third place adding $87,800 to his poker repertoire.

There has been some movement in the ANZ Player of Year race. The big movers are Luke Spano who has moved into fourth place but the most impressive is Edison Nguyen’s jump to the top of the leaderboard with just one event left to be played.

ANZPT Melbourne Final Table Results

* Denotes private heads-up deal